jet boats for fishing?

[airlock]

On the drive to work this morning i saw a sea-doo challenger for sale on the road side, now seeing as i'm on the hunt for a new boat i look into just about everything even though i'm pretty sure i want a cat.

I've never seen one of these jet boats out of the river, even at the close reefs there is no sign of the things but i can't really work out why, i would have thought with their shallow draft and fast acceleration they would be perfect for crossing the shit bars around here, a few rod holders would surly make these a fun way of getting out for the day without worrying so much about crossing in closer to the low. Is there a reason no one uses jet boats out on the open water?

[BM]

I think it's mainly that these type of craft don't appeal to fisherman as they are more like an overgrown jet ski so they appeal more to that market. No reason you couldn't use one for fishing. They go like rockets!

With jet craft you do still need to be cautious about depth. The tolerance of the impeller to duct is a few thou of an inch so anything getting sucked in that could scratch or damage the impeller or duct can kill the drive unit.

[The Woo]

Don't do it.
Putrid things they are.

[Bremic]

Jets are less efficient than outboards. They do have there place, but unless you really need one, you will be far better served with a regular outboard.

[juggernaut]

Had a commercial cray fishing operation once with my brother and we used a aluminium jet boat (Cat 3208 with Hamilton jet unit). Very shallow draft for fishing around the reefs at the Abroholos Islands and also off the coast of Geraldton WA. At speed it used about the same water as the dingy with the outboard.

Was a great boat and very easy to manouvre and could turn on its own length. It was able to take a bump on the reef without any problems when the tide was a little lower than we thought. They do need a few more revs though at low speeds as the jet is more efficient at certain rpm but that would also have something to do with the turbo diesel, size of the boat and the number of pots we would be carrying at the time.

Sold it for more than we paid for it.

I like them - but an outboard may better serve your purposes unless you are specifically crossing over shallow reef or bars for reef fishing.

[TheGurn]

A mate of mine had a really schmick full cab jet boat.
But he said in the bay on a lumpy day it was not so good. Trying to steer it with the stern pointed skyward was a pain in the butt.

Cheers
Reg

Sent from my HTC Wildfire using Tapatalk 2

[airlock]

Interesting points, i imagine they would suffer from whatever the jet equivalent of cavities is even in a moderate swell witch would probably make them a bit useless for any regular offshore work. they look like they would be a whole heap of fun though.

[GBC]

The challengers are short and fat but run plenty of deadrise. Good for the pin/chop/wash, not so good for offshore. Nothing wrong with the way they pickup and run. The newer stuff in the USA by Yamaha etc is bigger and much more mainstream in looks and usage so there will be some crossover when it finally gets here. As for efficiency, the 23ft 430h.p. twin jet seadoo runs a k.m to the litre at cruise speed (50 kph) which is about on the money and carries 14 pax. Not forgetting the option to nick off past pretty much anything of similar size if you want to pay the bill. Twin supercharged rotax's are going to be as fun to keep going as a Chrysler outboard in the long run though.
If I lived back up Hervey Bay again I'd look at something small and quick for shooting up the island for a quick sport fishing session. A ski/challenger would fit the bill nicely.

[Giffo65]

A mate had an old Surf life saving jet boat called a Surf Chariot,you could see the outline of the XXXX stickers that had fallen off.had a Hamilton jet and a 351 V8.Was fun to drive over Tally bar,but did not work well for trolling as steering at slow speed was horrendous,always correcting.Tended to bob around like a cork at rest as well.