Glen-L.com

Hello,

Finally got my Squirt out on the water for the first time last weekend. It took me approximately 2 years to get it to this point. It performed very well. It moves right along!

I need to add some strips or a fin to the bottom to improve the steering response, and fix my gas pedal, but other than that.. I was totally thrilled with the way it worked. No cavitation problems, no funny noises. I Should have some video to share pretty soon, just as soon as my brother in law sends the CD.

I've only put about an hour and a half on it, but it's already time to start tweaking stuff for more top speed now! My next order of business is to adapt trim/reverse to this pump. A jet boat just isn't a jet boat until it makes a rooster tail ;-) and it's a drag to have to shut it off and row it in to shore, and when docking etc.


Take care,
Matt

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Jet Ski Powered Squirt Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IljNkJjNnw

WOW o WOW o WOW!!!

That boat looks AWSOME! ....and the lake aint bad either. I always love to see photos of this kind of stuff. Between your jet Squirt and Terry's, I think I see a lot more inspiration for people building these great little boats in the future.

Thanx for posting these photos.

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Isn't it amazing!! The person that never has the fortitude to pursue his own dreams, will be the first to try and discourage you from pursuing yours.

Matt,

CONGRATULATIONS!!

Of course, we have seen pictures of your hull before (and it looked great then) but it's really nice to see it in the water (and running). Looks like it was just a tad rough on that lake, though! Where is it?

On your "turning" thing, for what it's worth, I just put a couple of 1x2's along the bottom of the boat, screwed into the outbattens. I can dig up a picture if you're interested. Also, what's the turnbuckle-like thing in the top picture on the side of your jet bracket? Did you build in some potential trim adjustment on the pump cover plate? I've been thinking about doing that to my boat as well. I've also been kicking around adding a reverse scoop - when I built my jet bracket I sized it for the current generation Kawa scoop...

The boat does paddle really easy, though, doesn't it (personal experience speeking!).

I guess I'll admit to being just a bit bummed...first Seve and now you get the boats in the water and they run first time. I feel so inadequate...

Too bad that us jet jockeys are so far apart - wouldn't it be a hoot to get them all together some where?

Congrats again (and forgive my feeling sorry for myself...))

Peace,

TRM

Thanks a lot for the kind words. I am super happy with it.

Dave, this is Lake Cushman, on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington state. it's right in the middle of a really densely forested mountain range. It is truly beautiful out there.

I had a lot of concerns about the whole jet/flatbottom thing going into this project, but the proof is in the pudding, as they say. This setup, while maybe not "ideal" works well enough that I would seriously encourage others to try it. It takes a very substantial wave to get the pump to break free from the water. it just sucks right down on to the surface of the water, and doesn't want to let go. What would be killer would be about a 12 foot long version of the "Rampage" or the "Outrage". The squirt works well, but it is TINY. And a little bit of V in the bottom would go a long way.

Yes Terry, the water got really choppy toward the end. The conditions become ocean-like out there when the wind picks up, Whitecaps and all. The pics of the boat going full speed were taken earlier in the day, but you can see some mega waves in the ones where I'm putting it back on the trailer.

I don't have a speedo yet, but my brother showed up with his ski boat about that time, and offered to "drag race" me to determine my top speed. When we met back up he said "We got up around 30 and it looked like you quit trying". I estimate that the boat does somewhere in the neighborhood of 35-38 mph on smooth water. I hope to have a speedo of my own next time out, so that I can say for sure what it'll do.

It's amazing, because it is twice as big and twice as heavy as the jet ski the engine came from, yet it's faster. The hull really moves effortlessly over the the water. Like you said, Terry... One stroke of that paddle was enough to get it to do a 360 degree revolution, haha.

I do have turnbuckles supporting the ride plate at the back. I figured this may be of some benefit if I had any kind of porpoising issues when i took it out. It gives a few degrees of up and down adjustment at the ride plate. The boat seemed to behave just fine where it was at (flat in relation to the pump intake) so I didn't try messing with it. I've attached a close-up of the completed pump setup as viewed from the back. The angle brackets are cheezy, but I was in a rush to get it done.



I would like to see the pics of your keel strips, I'm getting ready to go work on mine now. I was thinking just a couple 1" square pieces chamfered at the ends. Maybe 36-40" long extending from the transom forward, screwed to the outbd. battens.. like you said.

I don't think you're feeling sorry for yourself terry, haha. I consider it a miracle that nothing failed or broke or sunk for me this first time out. I was definately braced for it. Especially with the way I was slapping stuff together toward the end there. You'll get it fixed, and it will be bad to the bone. Did you check out that female spline yet? The one problem I see is that if it IS that spline inside the pump, you may have to scrap the entire pump. I think you have to insert a splined tool in there to hold the shaft while you back off the impeller. IE, you might not be able to take it apart without the splines intact.

Take care,

Matt

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Jet Ski Powered Squirt Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IljNkJjNnw

Great looking boat. Love the paint job!

It is a beautiful paint job. Hope mine comes out near that good.
Bob

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I just don't understand, I cut that plank twice and its still too short
http://www.narduccimarine.freehosting.net

Thanks a lot! I think it turned out pretty decent. This was actually the first time that I ever used a spray gun on something that I cared about, haha.
My brother (a former body-man) said I wasn't making things any easier on myself with the colors I selected ;-).

The best advice I can give, with my limited experience, is.. spend lots and lots of time preparing the surface, because if there is a flaw in the underlying surface, it WILL show through. And be really patient while applying the paint. Get many even coats on there, and fight the urge you will undoubtedly have to try to get 100% coverage on the first pass.

I would also highly recommend using a base coat / clear coat system, or a compatible clear over your single stage paint. It just looks better, and more importantly.. it will give you a good thick layer to finesse with a rotary buffer after everything has dried thoroughly. It is super easy to fix minor mistakes with a buffer.

I originally attempted to roll on a marine "topside enamel", but it looked like total garbage, so I stripped it all off. It was a complete waste of time and money.

I'm ashamed to admit it, but I used this Dupli-color "paint shop" acrylic lacquer paint that I found at schucks. It was about $17 a quart for the color and the clear. So.... it was 50% of the price of the roll-on boat paint I bought, and IMO, it looks and performs 50 times better.

It's "real" car paint, but.... it's like the absolute bottom of the car paint food chain. Duplicolor is owned by Sherwin-Williams, so I think it's like "Sher-Lac" or something in a different can. At any rate, it was super easy to apply, looks pretty darn good.. and It was relatively cheap. The whole paint job cost me <$175 including the spray gun.

Here's a link to the paint i used...

http://www.duplicolor.com/products/paintshop.html

I used the BSP 201, 202, and 204 colors, and the BSP 300 clear.

Take care,
Matt

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Jet Ski Powered Squirt Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IljNkJjNnw

Matt great looking boat. Nice to see another beautiful jet- powered boat in the water. I work with wood all the time and love wood grain,but, I love cusome paint also good color and design looks really good.
Now wee need some one to do a lime green and yellow boat.

I can't get you're project photos to come up . I looked at those a long time ago.What motor and jet pump did you use?

I emailed Andy Marksa and his Dyno Jet will be ready to launch in about 2 weeks. He put his jet pump all the way up in the hull, not like ours, extending out the backof the transome.

I have cavitation problems on take off. Done every thing right ,put a stainless Scat trak impeller in and it is worse. The boat want's to pull water for a second then gets nothing but air. Give it a little throttle and turn the sterring side to side to get it going, then it grabs and takes off.

I have a lot of kawasaki jet skiers localy helping with advice. They say these pumps can be a problem to figure out some time. They say to get a top loader intake grate next, so looking for one of those for a kawa. 550.

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THE FRAUD WILL NOT GO AWAY..9-11 WAS AN INSIDE JOB...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZEvA8BCoBw

http://s147.photobucket.com/albums/r302 ... rd_photos/

Howdy Steve,

Thanks for the compliments! I was teetering back and forth between the TNT and the Squirt designs for a while before I finally bought the squirt plans. Your TNT looks great. Do you have any photos of your intake grate area? I am by no means an expert on jet drives, but maybe another set of eyes would be helpful. Have you checked the clearance between the impeller/wear ring area? I've read that excessive impeller/wear ring clearance will cause bad cavitation problems at take off, and diminished top speed. Does the boat seem like it's not as fast as it should be? I would look at this first, Esp. if you say you just swapped impellers and it got worse. Maybe the clearance increased?

I don't know the exact figure for your pump, but i do know that the impeller/wear ring clearance must be VERY tiny for the pump to work properly. I'm going to say .005-.010"? (.0025-.005 per side). Terry Mc has a service manual for your pump, and would probalby be able to give you the exact spec.

I would think that a scoop grate would provide more of a positive effect when you were cruising, than it would from a dead stop.

Part of the reason I decided to add the ride plate on my boat was to add a little bit of distance between the pump intake, and the open air at the back of the boat. The intake opening starts about 4" forward from the transom on mine. It seemed a little too close for comfort.

My webpage is down temporarily. It was just a big page full of full size pictures with no formatting. It kind of grew out of control. It took like 5 minutes to load, haha. It's currently being re-vamped, and I hope to get it back up by the weekend. I've got lots of pics of the pump I used and stuff..

Please post pics of the bottom of your boat / pump intake if you have 'em! I'd like to try to help if possible.



Later,
Matt

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Jet Ski Powered Squirt Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IljNkJjNnw

This is a little off subject, by have ya'll seen the new issue of Wooden Boat? There is a jet powered lobster boat. I was under the impression that water jets were for small craft only, but this guys boat is about 25' and does 30 knts. I haven't read the article yet, just flipped through, but I do have more respect for water jets.

The big passenger ferry boat that the wife and I took from Seattle to Victoria B.C., "The Victoria Clipper", had twin diesel jet drives. That thing flat moved. we got from seattle to B.C. in like 2:45.

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Jet Ski Powered Squirt Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IljNkJjNnw

25' is nothing for a jet boat, check out a Hinckley picnic boat, 35', around 500K or their 38' at 800K . Or a few other companies up in Maine make some up to 40'.
These are beautifully finished works of art. Kevlar hulls, Deisel powered jets. A guy here in town has a 38, it runs around 40 MPH. Large play boats priced for the very rich.
Bob

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I just don't understand, I cut that plank twice and its still too short
http://www.narduccimarine.freehosting.net

I had the opportunity to ride in a 30 foot jet boat that held
40 people while on tour in Alaska. The glacier fed rivers are shalow
and extremely rocky. It seems most all pleasure boats up there
are jet boats. They use upwards of 400 hp. I would post pics of the tour
boats but have not learned how to do it yet.

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If you don't build it now, You will regret it later!

Crackerbox Build:
http://s232.photobucket.com/albums/ee255/jtpatronimfg/

While i was fishing in Alaska I watched a guy launch his aluminum (or for our brothers across the pond: aluminium) boat with jet, it was good sized boat but perfect for fishing the shallow rivers with pretty strong currents too.

Steve

The part I left out was that the builder used a Jet Ski engine, which is what most Glen-L conversions use.

The article starts out with a description of the builders pleasure of taking a chainsaw to a jet ski.