Seaark with gator tail vs jet drive

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STMU
Posts: 148
Joined: October 4th, 2017, 5:56 am

Re: Seaark with gator tail vs jet drive

Post by STMU »

Steve Stinson wrote:STMU - I don't have a good answer for the lack of steering control on the jet foot boats. Both of my hulls were hard to control during loading / unloading. They also slide sideways through turns in creeks and rivers, so you are a bit broad-side to the direction of travel when turning on plane. I would suppose that swift current or rapids would only make things more difficult.

- Steve Stinson
So the issues I've had in calm water are like you've mentioned. Boat wants to slide sideways, especially when loading/unloading or when doing any sort of idling (which I do a lot of looking for redfish), making it very difficult to steer. In water with current, the current helps to offset the sideways movement, as you are always going against some opposite force to keep you on track. Going upriver is incredible easy, the more current the better. Downriver is also fairly easy, but if you run into large flatwater pools you can run into the same issue at idle. When loading I used to run past the ramp and load turning upcurrent. That boat worked great for its intended use, and given the lack of jets I see down here, I just assumed they were either a) to difficult to operate at idle in coastal waters or b) vegetation was to thick to run properly.

They are great engines in the right scenario, and maybe I'll need to give it a look again if I ever decide to repower. Perhaps my 250hp was part of the problem, and a smaller 40hp would perform better. Not sure, but interesting none the less.
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