JET JON can some one give me advice?

[walkerwilkin]

I am building a jet jon boat in the coming months. I have a seadoo sp waiting to be torn apart and im still looking for a boat to put the engine in. Im very new here and i would appreciate some advice from some people more experienced than myself.
Questions:
1) V-Hull or flat bottom? Ive heard of cavitation in Jet Jons and i was wondering which hull you all would recommend for a larger lake setting.
2) How do fabricate the jet tunnel?
I would greatly appreciate tips and advice about any aspect of building this boat.

 

[PSG-1]

Check out my boat, ranchero's jet john, scubapro's build, or painlesstom's jetboat. All 4 of these are excellent builds, still going strong, and good references to help you with your project.

As for fabricating the jet tunnel, there's a guy on youtube, bradpete, who did that with his boat. While that is some really good fabrication skills, there's one problem. If it ever had to be replaced, all that has to be cut out and re-built.

Your best bet would be to find a Yamaha XL1200 or GP1200, or SUV1200 jet unit. All of these use a bolt-in aluminum duct. I used an XL1200 on my boat.

 

[thudpucker]

A hunter in AK made "created" a Jet Canoe.
His idea was to go up rivers etc.
It was good on flat water with no weeds. No nav problems either.
He used some kind of pump from Oil Field Machinery with a 5 Hp B&S lawn mower engine.

It seemed to work OK, but Jets need that inlet to be in the Water all the time.
He did say the Paddle was his best friend up there.

I had a 17' 2 stage Jet with a 4 Cylinder English Car engine.

It worked great. Used more fuel than a Barge, but we could go just about anywhere.
Weeds, Fine Gravel and Waves were my enemies.