Your thoughts on an Outboard jet drive refit

Anyone on here run a jet foot?..I find myself on the river more and more and would like to be able to run in shallow water and over sand bars and shoals..maybe even some bay fishing..my boat is an 18' custom aluminium skiff,with a 115 two-stroke Yamaha... it runs shallow as is, and is a very tough boat...any recommendations, thoughts or advice will be appreciated.

Hydraulic jack plate would be much less expensive.

how's that work? Just raise the motor till it nearly cavitates?...I do have pods on the back, perhaps they might aid in some way?

Kind of. Your motor will be raised straight up with a Hyd. jack plate vs. on an angle with tilt/trim. The prop and water intakes remain below the water surface in the correct operating position while the motor is raised to a significantly higher position on the transom.

gotcha

We’ve run jets a long time
You will need to weigh the good and bad and decide for yourself.

Plus:
Jet can run really shallow. 2” is no big deal. Less is doable.
You can get up and run in way less than a prop.

If super shallow is your goal only an airboat can go skinnier.

Now for the minus:
Jets hate rough water.
They don’t turn well. I’ll scare you proper running back lake passes because it’s slide left and slide right.
They work best with a light boat carrying a light load.
You’re going to lose about 1/3 of your horsepower.
And use 1/3 more fuel.

I choose to accept the negative to access water few can venture into.

If you want to pursue it send me a pm and I’ll spill my guts on how to set it up.

Thanks Pat!.... But after some research, and other advice, this may not be very feasible.

What would make you think that?

I guess I was envisioning a set up where I could, easily go back and forth between prop and jet...but it seems there are other modifications to hinder that...I will still want to get on lakes like Toledo bend where a prop excells in vegetation.

Not as hard as you think.
Go to outboard jets website they have a jackplate that makes setup a snap. Swapping jet pump to prop lower unit is maybe five minutes.

We’ve fixed the grass issue I can run through four inches of matted up snot covered seaweed.

That’s of course is if you really would use it enough to justify the hassle.

That is interesting!...are you familiar with running through salvania?.... Because that is a huge problem in most off our back waters.

I don't know what that stuff looks like, sorry.
We run through matted up seagrass which is pretty knarly, and if you leave the jet stock, it can't handle it and down you'll go.

So what we've done, remove all the grates, and drill a hole about 1/3" below the impeller, and stick a welding rod through it. That turns your jet into a weedeater, you'll get a little hesitation, then it'll cut it up and you're good to go. It does allow the occasional oyster shell to get into it, which will shut you down. I carry a piece of grounding rod to just bash the shell into pieces and out it comes.

It really is a matter of how shallow do you really want to go? A non tunnel hull with a jack plate can usually run in 10", takes 18" to get up in. Well setup tunnel hull can run in 4" and get up in a foot, the jet takes it to 2" or less to run, and I can get up in 4" or so. An airboat can just go over whatever....

Which doesn't sound like a big deal until you start running back lakes and might want to run a hundred yards over 3" of sand to get into that hole you see a school of reds. Everything on a boat is some matter of compromise, so it's up to you what you're willing to give up to get.

Yeah it sounds like you've got the angle on the jet drive...all this is very good info.

Not professional pictures but sort of the idea of just how skinny you can run....

Haha. Makes my [censored] pucker just looking at it!

When you can run really thin, navigating gets pretty easy. If there’s a ripple on the water it’s deep enough to go. Just go around the oil slick shoal water.

do you have a pic of this setup?? you piqued my curiosity!

I'll have to tilt up the motor for a closeup.
Just taking out the grate and pulling the useless reverse gate out makes the biggest difference.

I would put a jet foot on that boat and use it for river running and Nachione...then I would get a pro-v style boat with a hydraulic lift installed, for the lakes you normally fish...