why are all the jet boats out west?

[mike bryan]

when i look in boattrader.com all the high end jet boats, hallett-eliminator-commander-howard etc are all in ca. az. or. etc. i know most of these are made out west but you can't give away a jet boat in north carolina since the late 70's. just about all our inland water is very shallow too, why do the folks out west love jets?

[triple dude]

Can't say that I know what the current trend is from but I remember back in the 60's, many hotrodders got into boats out west. You could transfer your car engine knowledge to a boat with the same type of engine whether it be Mopar, Chevy, Pontiac, Ford, etc. Living in southern california in the 60's, you could quite often go to a custom/hot rod car show and there would be several show boats also. It wasn;'t even all that unusual back then to see hot boats featured in Hot Rod magazine. I was out in sacramento a few months ago and picked up a Boat Trader. If you want a jet boat--modern, shovelnose, bubbledeck--California has 'em all.

[pyro]

Because the rest of the country discovered outboards about 25 years ago :D

[godspeed]

jets sound cool but they suck over in east coast area except for some lakes , keep them out west :D

[blkmtrfan]

Same reason all of the SOB's (21'-24' single outboard V's) are out east, that is where they are built

The funny thing is now thee are a lot of boats with jets out east. check out all of the latest "down east" lobster style, Hinkley and such

[150aintenuff]

its all the white water fissin boat company boaters movin up to hotboats... hey owned jets b4 and think that is what is the $hit fo goin fast..... ALSO if ya look in fissin boats they ARE ALL JETBOATS!!!!!! heck MY 20'er is an aluminum JET BOAT HULL with a prop drive, when we built it in 1990 Jets were the rage and we got ALL KINDS of funny looks for not puttin a 200 and a pump OR a 460 and a hamilton on it.. Wish we would have gotten the 200 rather than the 150 prop BUT the only option we were given at the time was 150 in prop form , 200 with a jetpump, or 350 hp 460, or 300 hp 351... I keep seein the trend as well but now they are all usin the merc SPORTJETS on all the river boats and the #1 selling boat in the nation right now is an ALUMINUM JETBOAT!!! NORTH RIVER BOATS out of Roseburg OR... # 2 is still Aluminum.... interesting isnt it...

[150aintenuff]

Because the rest of the country discovered outboards about 25 years ago :D


99% of the boats out here are OB... but are jet pump equiped... the FEW hotboats here are also OB but the old ski boats are all JET.. could be that there wasnt a good drive system that an I/O could run in the past... even the BRAVO drive is JUST NOW geting the recognition it deserves, the TRS was to big for most boats and the #1 and alpha were considered to weak to be effective for big power that skiboats needed to operate the way they did with a jet out of the hole..

[triple dude]

Don't forget the roostertail. ;)

[bonswalla]

Not all the jet boats are out west. I still have a taylor ss that i am playing with.I know it sounds great, but i also know there are plenty of ob's that will blow my transom in. I guess i am still old school, love the sound of the big block.

[jeffbare]

Its All About The Rooster Tail. Actually I Wish We Could Send All The Mullet Racers (jet Boats) Back East.

[mike bryan]

what i can't figure out is why so many people out west bought jets to use in havasu and mead. aren't these deep water lakes?

[triple dude]

I think most jet boats are made out west so when you go boat shopping, you trip all over 'em. Many of the california companies even moved to Havasu. That's where my Advantage was made. Back when I was lookin' for a performance bowrider, choices in the midwest were limited. I found my jet version at Boat Trader online down in St. Louis. Used to be an Advantage dealer down there. In five years of boating all over the midwest, I've only seen two others like it.

[150aintenuff]

Its All About The Rooster Tail. Actually I Wish We Could Send All The Mullet Racers (jet Boats) Back East.

NAW its MORE FUN to take their 120 mph jetboats and BLOW THEIR DOORS OFF in a 80 mph ob.....

[150aintenuff]

what i can't figure out is why so many people out west bought jets to use in havasu and mead. aren't these deep water lakes?
and there is SOMUCH white water in the NW.... NOT!!

[jeffbare]

Nick,
Where do you usually run your stream? Do you spend much time on the Columbia?
Jeff

[150aintenuff]

stream is in process of bein built.. the 80 mph remark was from ridin with DREGSZ in his SST (76 mph) and other boats in the area (20' eliminater 81 mph), yes I boat on the columbia, willamette, and i will be cummin up to the sound with it hopefully on newyears day.. I havent updated it lately but thereis a build up thread on here somewhere for the hydrostream..

[Hydropromax]

I had a 73 Kona with 455 olds. I sold it because it burnt alot of gas and only ran 55 mph. Parts were hard to find and rode like crap. Now i have a HydroStream Venom running mid 90's with a 200 pro max and rides good and gets good gas milage.

[mike bryan]

that's kinda the feedback i was looking for.