"Mudfish(Co30)" wrote

Thanks Cam;

That was very useful.

Your're welcome

Does your Garelick have the spring assist lift and
seperated left and right dropping bars, or are the dropping bars
immediately side by side?

I can't go out and look at it right now because boat is in shop. It is
spring assisted, because even when the kicker's on it, you have to really
push down on it to lower it and it raises itself. I just looked at the
Garelick site (www.garelick.com) and didn't really see anything that
directly corresponds to mine. Mine's probably from the mid 90s - the hull
was built in 96 I think and I'm thinking original owner put the bracket on
then. On the other hand, it's most like # 71090 and 71091 - most alike in
the handle configuration. The weight and horsepower rating is about the same
as well.

That will ID it for me. All of the makes I have
looked at appear to be pretty much the same design inclusive of the
slightly cludge lift mechanism.

I believe my mechanism, especially the latch part - is even kludgier. The
samples I mentioned above aren't exactly the same as mine, but closest.

If you haven't already, check out the Panther line. From what I've seen,
they're top notch too.

Having a lift to get the kicker prop guard
completely clear for running without concern for the tilt lock failing
as well as potentual for trailering with the kicker attached outweighs
the simplicity of a simple transom extension. My transom already has
what I think is sufficient reinforcement so I'm not worried until I can
get
the big 4 stroke monster jet as well. My kicker is standard shaft so there
should be no problem clearing the hull with a 12-14" lift. I don't want it
mounted so it sticks way down there to bang on things.

It works well for me.

For guiding its definitely prefered to have the kicker steering in the
cockpit
as well as the shift and throttle if possible, but a such a full setup is
beyond
my means at the moment. Since the kicker is for trolling large pools/lakes
at
set speeds and distances where the electric would be impractical as well
as backup for the main I can see where the EZ-Steer could be sufficient.
In a situation where a kicker throttle and shifter might save a little
embarrassment
if your grates are clean you can simply fire the main up for 30 seconds to
get outta dodge.

I'm getting so lazy that I often think my ideal kicker would be a 10-15 hp
miniature of my main engine (except prop, not jet) - little power lift, full
remote controls including electric start!

But, the set up with just the EZ steer works just fine for me. But this is
all among friends and family, I'm not guiding, but close to it. The driver
sits up front away from the hubub of fishing with the GPS speedo and tells
the fishers in back to up or down the speed a little depending on wind and
current. Or the fishers make independent command decision depending on the
attentiveness of the pilot and / or behavior of the tackle.

Perhaps a used throttle /shifter off a 20-30 HP from a boat junkyard could
be
tricked up for the small kicker with the EZ-steer.

I've got a spare remote control for an OMC from original boat set up - but I
removed it because it was just a bunch of stuff in the way and the kicker I
happened onto is a Merc. I haven't looked to see if it could be adapted to
the merc. But the system works OK for now. I really think the EZ steer is
a good deal.

Which side is your kicker on?

Unfortunately, this is something I really should change. Kicker is on
starbord side along with battery and driver. Doesn't really cause any
handling or trim probs because the boat is very wide, but it doesn't make
sense for me for all this stuff to be on the starboard. I don't know why
original owner did it except maybe didn't think it through - or maybe the
cables from the remote he had only would reach the starboard side?

Who's your hull manufacturer and is your hull
otherwise hopped up for a jet (center chine removed, tunneled), whatcha
got?
East/west coast? to

Locally built hull, custom for original owner. Not really hopped up or
optimized, but fairly well designed for a jet. But, I really think it was
designed with multipurpose use in mind - shallow river running as well as
bigger river water (not serious whitewater though) and occassional light
duty trolling. Which is what I do anyway.

It's a decent enough hull, and for the set up I ended up with (high HP
outboard jet engine, roominess, space to wt. ratio, accessories), the
package was affordable and suits us well. I've decided the only way to get
exactly what you want is to pay big bucks for new. It's hard to find on the
used market around here. My ideal is pretty much the ideal of others (20-22
ft, extra wide beam, 175+ HP OB jet) - the used market is full of starter
boats that didn't work out due to size or lack of adequate power. The
bigger, well powered boats just aren't sold! When you go the affordable
route, compromises must be made. I feel very lucky that this boat is about
90% of my vision at about 40%, maybe even 30% the price.

This boat has lot of interior space, shallow draft, but less than around
3500 lbs wet on the trailer (for towing rig I had at the time). It has a
covered V bow (as opposed to open walk thru bow or jon style), forward walk
thru windshield, 21 foot length, 72 inches at waterline. I really wanted a
large jon or open bow style, at the time, but now that I've used the closed
bow for a couple of seasons, it really has some significant advantages that
I'm coming to like.

I also like the large clear empty space aft of seating for easy packing,
hauling stuff and / or fishing. Not a flat bottom, but pretty shallow
deadrise where hull meets water. According to what I've read, (and once
measured on my boat, but now forget), the deadrise on this hull happens to
be in the range of what's considered good for OB jets. Quite a bit of
freeboard compared to a lot of river boats. Quicksilver scissors type power
lift ($$ - a plus for sure), no tunnel. SS impeller (another $$ plus).

It works well in skinny water - nice shallow draft when still, quick to pop
up on plane at slow speeds even with a load, very shallow draft on plane,
but not really a "sports car" in the handling dept. I have to slow pretty
much for corners to avoid ventilation (cavitation?) and sliding. But it
stays on step at low speeds, so I don't really complain. The wife and kids
actually feel more comfortable with that anyway. I've driven a lot of jet
boats that handle quite a bit better, and go faster straight and around
corners, but again, for the price it worked out well for us. I also have
the prop lower unit with SS prop for rare times I need it for deeper river
water and longer trips with heavy stuff.

This summer, I'll be tinkering with an experienced local boat
repairer/welder for some fairly cheap tweaks for handling - to reduce
cavitation around corners. This welder also does tunnel retro-fits, but
that would cost me more than I want to spend this year. And actually, he
told me today that he's had mixed results with the retrofitted tunnels.
He's curious about trying to work with me on some other solutions and has a
lot of experience to bring into it. Tweaks, not perfection. But this just
isn't a world class pure jet boat design, like others I'm familar with, but
a good compromise that suits the family, for the price.

What I've learned is that the major manufacturers of welded aluminum boats
really have advantages over even the most clever local guys because of
design expertise, experience, variety of materials available, and probably
jigs. A lot of guys think they can build a better boat, but with rare
exceptions, they cant.

My ideal might just be my neighbor's 20 ft, wide beamed, open bow Wooldridge
with the brand new big Honda. But he has serious payments, and I don't.
And for the usable interior square footage, his has quite a bit less for
about the same weight. Mine has more rear, totally uncluttered space and
freeboard (which I like for family functions as well as the ocean trolling).
That and the closed bow really works better for most of the stuff I do
anyway. But I believe his handles quite a bit better and is better built,
and of course has a brand new clean quiet Honda instead of a 20 year old
rebuilt OMC noisy, smelly gas hog! But frankly, his is a little
underpowered for all but light outings because he really couldn't afford the
engine he really needed.

and yeah, that "inexperienced freind on board" isn't going
run the main. That could get you both killed in a sled, even on smooth water
let alone in the rock. Makes me nervous to let anyone else drive my jet,
though it looks cool on TV "skipping out" is not fun in the real world and
sucking crawdads is not good for your pump either...

AND HOW. I know it's especially dangerous for someone who has done lake
boating who thinks they know boat handling. The newbies seem to do better.

Do you want to know about my brother in law's discovery of what happens to a
jet boat when you cut power AFTER you've discovered you entered the corner
too fast? This was a very nice little 5.7 L inboard jet (jetcraft) I had a
while back. What I learned was how far up the rocky bank the boat could go
and the value of a well built hull! =8-O My own fault for not being
attentive enough. But because of the Jetcraft incredible strength, and
fortunate lack of personal injuries, no harm, no foul. He was quite an
experienced lake boater who owns a nice I/O ski boat and has driven boats
since a kid - but never a jet boat on a winding river.

Enough!!

Cam