tips on running jet in bays/flats

[gotmuddy]

I am putting a 50/35 evinrude jet on my boat tonight. Any tips/tricks I need to know about for this weekend? Will there be much grass this time of year?

 

[TexasLoneStar56]

Sorry, can't answer your question about grasses in AR, but I am interested in knowing how your jet runs. We are beginning to see a lot of jet outboards in East Texas. Mostly Mercury 60/40, both remote stick steer with a hot foot and tiller. Please do post how your Evinrude runs; water conditions; depth, speed, etc.....

Also, was it jet from the factory or did you modify to jet by changing the lower unit?

Thanks for your time. Looking forward to your report.

Respectfully~

 

[turbotodd]

I wouldn't give a dime for a jet foot in anything but rocky bottom waters.

 

[amk]

I will gladly pull some grass or other debris from my jet foot any day over shelling out 2k for a new lower unit. Turbotodd idles his jet in shallow water and sands it up don't be like him. I can not imagine down grading to a prop. but some of us like running shallower than others.

 

[RiverBottomOutdoors]

I don't know about that one, Todd. ;-) Run mostly shallow, sandy rivers here with my OBJ.

 

[Lil' Blue Rude]

I run shallow gravel and rock bottom river and the best advice I can give you is if your have trim when your off plane in shallow water keep your motor trimmed as far up as you can get it and keep water feeding the pump and barely give it and gas the more throttle you give it the more likely to suck it full. If it's less then knee deep I'll barely let the foot in the water while idling just be safe. Another thing is if I'm in shallow water like that I never put the motor in reverse because it will kick all kinds of sand and small gravel right up into the jet. I go as far as when the motor first starts in shallow water I immediately shift it out of neutral because the gates still in the way enough to kick sand and small gravel up just like when in reverse. I think that's where 90% of people do damage to their liners and impellers. Another thing is following another jet boat through shallow water they'll kick up rocks and if your not off to the side a little bit you'll pick up the gravel they're stirring up. I know it might all seem like over kill but I've run the same impeller for going on 3 years and I have not had to sharpen it and I knife edge my impellers when put them in and the liners still like new.

 

[PSG-1]

I run an inboard jet, and that's worse than an outboard jet, because I don't have the luxury of being able to tilt up in very shallow water, or to tilt it for cleaning if it jams (weedless/stomp grate helps with that)

If the water is shallower than 18-24" you really have to be careful about idling, keep it at a very slow idle, or you will pull up everything from the bottom. Once you start getting less than 18", the risk becomes even worse when idling. You can run across very shallow water on plane, but at idle, it's a different story.

Do not try to take off in anything shallower than 18-24" either, or it's likely you'll clog the pump with all kinds of debris. This means finding a small pool to take off from. As mentioned earlier by another member, DO NOT use reverse in shallow water with any kind of jet, that's a guaranteed clog in your cooling system.

As for areas where there are sea grasses on sand bottom, I can't really say how a jet performs, as we don't have that kind of bottom here, it's just sand, mud, and oyster shells.

 

[RiverBottomOutdoors]

Rude gave some great advice.

I keep a length of weedeater string on the boat to clear cooling lines and it works like a champ. Jet owners learn to check for peeing religiously. Pretty much every time I stop, I check for pee. Every time I plane off...I check for pee. When I'm running I check for pee. Probably check for peeing 100 times on a trip...no joke.

I keep a southern queen hoe handle in my boat that I use for noodling/walking. It doubles as a push pole so that I don't have to use reverse in shallow water.

 

[gotmuddy]

We got back home Tuesday night. Overall I was extremely impressed with the jet and would recommend it to anyone. We only got grass in the grates once but as soon as I killed the engine it fell out. We confidently ran WAY back into the back bays and lakes. Only experienced locals dared to back there. The first day we took the wrong line and sat the boat down on a reef but we had it free in about five minutes.

There's a lot to be said about cruising in a foot of water without a care in the world. We easily took off in 16" of water, the bait pods on the back of the boat helped with that I believe. The only issue I have is the horrendous mileage but part of that is from the liner/impeller being worn out. I need to find somewhere to buy new ones.

 

[amk]

Jets are King I've ran outboard, airboat, surface drive mud motors im surprised we don't see more on the coast.

 

[gotmuddy]

Jets are King I've ran outboard, airboat, surface drive mud motors im surprised we don't see more on the coast.

most people think they are voodoo, probably they arent much going to run much shallower than a properly set up tunnel/prop setup on the coast and be much slower. I am going to leave a boat down where I fish in the winter next winter and I havent decided if I want to run a jet or get a tunnel boat.