Tracker Seadoo Jet Jon Build

bnt5 · Apr 25, 2015

I fiberglassed my jetski hull to the aluminum on my jetjon and it is incredibly strong. I tried removing the epoxy from a section of aluminum that was not prepped and ended up using a grinding wheel and 15 minutes of labor to get it off, needless to say I was sufficiently impressed. If the aluminum is prepped correctly ie.. sanded with 80 grit sandpaper then cleaned with acetone the bond using epoxy is permanent. I would not utilize a fiberglass bond as my only means of jetski attachment, but used in conjunction with adhesive caulking and mechanical fasteners it just becomes another safety layer in the build....and its really easy to do.

In all honesty my next build will be welded in, no mechanical failure, no sticky caulk covered fingers...all I need is a $1200 tig welder!!

bdeemo · Apr 26, 2015

bnt: I have no doubt that fiberglass adheres to aluminum very good, almost too good.. but I agree with Cedar that the expansion rates are wayy different. I think that no matter how good it adheres to the aluminum, the bond will always be broke over time of expanding and contracting. I just didnt want to have to redo anything, so I left the structural bond to 5200. I did fiberglass to aluminum in a lot of places though.

PSG-1 · Apr 27, 2015

Nice work so far! You're right, the lack of a center V will probably cut down on cavitation.

Knowing what I know now, I would have repaired my hull with a 3" or 4" wide piece of 1/4" flat aluminum stock, instead of using
2 1/2" angle.

bdeemo · Apr 28, 2015

Just did my first test run, so I need to continue updating this so you guys can hear about it

Mounted the engine

Mounted the jet pump

I puttied / smoothed the front of the jet pump intake, with about three feet of perfectly smooth flat primered surface before the intake I don't expect cavitation.

I purchased some beavertail float pods for $200 from cabelas, they were the medium size... prepped to weld them on:

welded em on

bdeemo · Apr 28, 2015

PSG-1 said:
Nice work so far! You're right, the lack of a center V will probably cut down on cavitation.

Knowing what I know now, I would have repaired my hull with a 3" or 4" wide piece of 1/4" flat aluminum stock, instead of using
2 1/2" angle.

Thanks PSG, I'm glad you replied to my thread! You seem to be like a walking encyclopedia on jet ski jons!

PSG-1 · Apr 28, 2015

It's a labor of love, for sure. But in the end, it's well worth the effort!

While you're at this point, you might want to go ahead and route the exhaust into the jet tunnel, then put rubber skirting around it. You'll be amazed at how much this will reduce your sound signature.

bdeemo · Apr 28, 2015

Boxed the engine in for strength

Created a little steering box with 5/8" stainless rod, welded to itself in a T at the bottom, and a couple of bolt on needle bearings, which mounted to a 1/8"(2x6x12) aluminum rectangular tubing. I cut a channel in the top for the rod to slide freely in, and I drilled a hole in the stainless rod and bolted the jetski steer cable on it. (when I test ran the ski this worked great) Luckily my boat had sliding rail system for bolts, so I adjusted the slack really easily as I could move the entire box as I wanted forward and back and tightened it down.

This is the first version of a deck I tried, with a refurbished road sign. It didn't work out. it was too thin and when I welded it, got all warped to heck.

Ok, I totally ran out of pictures!!! I need to take more, I've done so much more work to this thing, and as I said did my test run two days ago. I'll update soon. Try to take some pics after work

bdeemo · Apr 28, 2015

PSG-1 said:
It's a labor of love, for sure. But in the end, it's well worth the effort!

While you're at this point, you might want to go ahead and route the exhaust into the jet tunnel, then put rubber skirting around it. You'll be amazed at how much this will reduce your sound signature.

Ah I already routed that to the side, pointing at the water using the jetski's original exhaust port. Honestly it's not that loud! Way quieter than my outboard, I love the sound.

CedarRiverScooter · Apr 28, 2015

Wow that engine bracing looks great! I hope you got that metal wholesale. I was having to get my angle at big box retail price, ouch.

amk · Apr 29, 2015

I think the pods are a good addition. I know I'm glad I have them.

PSG-1 · Apr 29, 2015

bdeemo said:
PSG-1 said:

It's a labor of love, for sure. But in the end, it's well worth the effort!

While you're at this point, you might want to go ahead and route the exhaust into the jet tunnel, then put rubber skirting around it. You'll be amazed at how much this will reduce your sound signature.

Click to expand...

Ah I already routed that to the side, pointing at the water using the jetski's original exhaust port. Honestly it's not that loud! Way quieter than my outboard, I love the sound.

I thought the same thing when I built mine. It sounded pretty wicked. But, trust me, after a while, you won't like it so much. You'll be wanting to make it quieter.

Good news is that it's still not too late to do a little modifying to make it quieter. Where the exhaust exits the boat, you could fabricate a small box/tunnel to fit around the exhaust hole. Basically 4 sides, with the front side attaching to the boat, (create a flange, and rivet it to the boat) and the back end open. Make it about 4-6" longer than the transom, but don't have it sticking out any farther than the steering nozzle of your jet pump.

Make a flange around the rear opening of the box, using some aluminum angle, and rivet it in place. Then, take some thick rubber, and make some skirting to fit the opening of that box. Since it's a little different that routing it through the jet unit tunnel, I would make it where the bottom edge of the skirting is the flexible part. Attach the rubber skirting using SS bolts with washers.

This will work almost as effectively as routing it into the jet tunnel.

bnt5 · Apr 29, 2015

So how does she run? Inquiring minds want to know...

Did you get a chance to test the boat without pods first to see what difference they made?

Looking good!

Ranchero50 · May 3, 2015

Looks good. Just remember to not bury the motor under covers. Doing a starter replacement on these motors sucks on a good day and the armatures corrode fast.

bdeemo · May 4, 2015

bnt5 said:
So how does she run? Inquiring minds want to know...

Did you get a chance to test the boat without pods first to see what difference they made?

Looking good!

Did not get a chance to test the pods before the jet conversion!
Ok.. I'll just tell ya guys. I need to take more pictures but heres how the test run went:
My brother and I took it down to the local lake, after some trouble starting it(hadn't ran in a year) I finally got it started with some starter fluid to the air box. Then it was really purring, running great. We took it to the buoys at idle, and tried to hammer the throttle from there. With just me, my bro, and his 120 lb wife, we couldn't plane it. It was really lugging. I'm gonna totally blame the impeller. It really is a heavy boat with all the batteries and stuff. I could tell it couldn't get into high rpms(I took off all my gauges including the tach) Anyway after about a minute of lugging it, the motor finally died, and seized. (wouldnt even turn over with plugs out)I was able to get it unseized with some marvel mystery oil in the cylinders overnight... I then flushed out that oil and checked compression: 120 and 125. I figured I might as well just hone the cylinders and put in new rings. I took the engine apart and the cylinders look pretty good! It's the stock cylinders which is good. I'll do a quick hone and rings, new gaskets and just mostly a top end clean up. One of the pistons has two pretty noticeable gouges in one side, but I think they'll be alright. Engine work is waiting on parts. I had a small leak on the fiberglass portion of my hull that I need to seal up now while I have the engine out. I also ordered a skat-trak 15-20 swirl impeller to replace my stock 17-25

pics coming soon!

bdeemo · May 4, 2015

Ranchero50 said:
Looks good. Just remember to not bury the motor under covers. Doing a starter replacement on these motors sucks on a good day and the armatures corrode fast.

Yep just burnt one up! Haha, I was able to replace it fine with the engine in there(blindly ill admit for the bottom bolt)

bdeemo · May 12, 2015

Here is the back deck/engine cowling I made. Broke the front and sides to fit over with a lip and welded a piece of 3/16" angle aluminum on the back. for the hinges to weld to.

.100 aluminum.

For the hinges, took aluminum pipe 1/8" and cut into three pieces. one welded to boat in middle, and other two to deck on sides. then put stainless rod though the three pieces. made two hinges.

Fuel selector, choke, throttle, kill switch, vts

bdeemo · May 12, 2015

Also made this hasp latch. The swivel piece I just bought at the hardware store, but just took some extra 1.00 plate I had and bent it and cut a hole in it and riveted on for the latch. worked great!!

bdeemo · May 12, 2015

Top end is finished. I took it apart, everything looked great. honed cylinders and put new rings in. Sorry I forgot to take pictures. It looked almost brand NEW in there. I think the reason it seized was because the back end was too far out of the water to pump the coolant. Anyway, STILL waiting on impeller from Skat-trak. Called Glenn and apparently it got lost on the assembly line. He quickly straightened it out and got it shipped that day, friday. Should be here today, tuesday. While I was waiting over the weekend I decided to paint the boat while the motor was out.