I picking up a Alweld 1752 next week and looking for some suggestions on a 50/35 jet for it. I hate to go that small but I do spend time on the Kenai. Until today I had intended on buying a Tohatsu TLDI from Marita, but somehow my quoted price was no longer good and the price went up by $1100 when I wanted to buy. Soooo now I have not done much research on any of the other outboards in that class, any thoughts from you guys?

Need a fishing partner?

I hear good things about the Yamahas, but they're spendy.

Just bring the oars!!

Not much HP for a 17.5' boat 50 HP jet will net you 35 HP with a new impeller. There is a reason most run 50 HP props on the Kenai.

thats not enough motor for your boat size. i'd go up to a 90/65 jet. i have a 1750 with a 125/90 merc

A slight off topic question here but what is the advantage of a jet vs prop for your situation. Is it do to the water depth or draft that gives the jet motor an edge? Never even looked into or considered a Jet Motor running on the Great Lakes or the rivers that run into it. Just curious.

If you're limited to the 50hp head because of the kenai the 35hp jet will push your boat alright. There are a couple 50/35 jets in the village near me and they get around okay pushing similar sized boats. You just can't load the boat up much and you can't be in a hurry. If you're planning on doing much else with the boat make sure to get a gear case with it so you can run a prop. I've got a 16 foot alweld with a 50hp honda and can get on step with a moose in the boat. It's not easy, but it will do it. A couple years ago I was shopping for a new wooldridge with an outboard jet. Maritas had some holdovers advertised that I called them about. I've never spoken to a sales department LESS interested in selling me a boat. After which, I could only imagine what dealing with their service dept would be like.

I'd stick with either a Honda or Yamaha if going four stroke, and an e-tec if you're going two stroke. The two stroke will give you a better power to weight ratio and pretty good fuel economy. (I have a 200etec jet on a wooldridge Alaskan XL and it's great) I also have run a lot of Honda and Yamaha four strokes, 200hp to 9.9hp, and they both make great products. As with anything, you still need to take care of it and keep up with servicing them at the end of the season.

Sorry to be long winded, but I hope this helps.

I used to have a 17' sled custom built with a 5' floor, and I ran a 100/70 merc jet on it. It moved it right along. I would have never considered a 50/35 for it. I would rather have the power and not need it all instead of not have enough when you get into a bad or fast water situation.
I guess a 50/35 would be fine if you are just running it in lakes or very slow running rivers. Just my 2 cents.

I have a friend with a 1852 g3 with a 50/35 tohatsu which on paper the hull is 110#s heavier than the alweld ecojon 1752. We ran around in it last summer with 3-4 guys and it ran just fine. The alweld is listed at 390# hullweight , with the only adds being a tunnel and flotation pods. They also list max hp at 30 tiller, 40 remote. Dont get me wrong I would like more motor but again, I do go to the Kenai sometimes and I am only going to have one boat. I wish that the regs would allow for a 60/40 down there, not sure why they cant make that work. I guess I realize its going to be a jack of all trades -master of none setup, but I can't be buying two boats just yet.

This guy is running a 1852 with what looks like the boatshops custom heavy duty extras they put on it. He is running a 60/40 and with 3 people, a dog, and some gear/extra fuel and it looks to do more than I will be doing with mine.

The jet is used for running shallow water and is very popular here in Alaska. I use to own a 16ft alumunim with a 60HP Johnson and ran a bunch of rivers in the interior that could not be run with a prop. For lakes and deeper water they are a pia, running a prop is the only way to go in that situation.

u are in a pickle with that keni limit ! still- get all 50 hp u are aloud to the water. my old boat I would change from prop to jet all the time (20 footer w/60" bottom) u never know what u are going to do when the "trip from he!! calls" 610 miles from town a few times ...and on the way home wishing I had a jet pak from a c130

Well hell, after making some calls and seeing how much more a 4 stroke 50 w/jet was going to be I decided to go back to Marita and give it another shot. This time I think they knew I was a bit more serious and ready to spend. They "worked" on the price and got a customer out of it. I really like the 50/35 TLDI for the power/weight ratio so hopefully it works out the way I want.

Thanks for the clarification. Good read though.

What is the length and width of your boat? And weight of anticipated load? Good rule of thumb is most jets are about 30% less efficient than a prop so a 50 HP jet is about equivalent to a 35 HP prop.

My little 16 ft X 50 " 89# Saturn Kaboat inflatable does quite well with a 4 stroke on the Kenai. About 15 MPH up stream around Sterling on the Kenai 500 # load, with a 9.8 HP 4 stroke.Not a great Kenai boat but a good compromise car top boat.

If you don,t overload boat and keep impeller up to snuff you should do ok.

if you're gonna run a jet boat, giving a call to the boatshop won't leave you up the creek without a paddle.

those guys know boats and jets and running skinny water.

907 452-4032, didn't even have to look up the number, know it by heart.

running a '97 Big Lake Bob Sprint boat (yeah I'm old school) 20/48
with a Etec 130 Jet on it.

I need to have one of the kids video one of our cabin runs, no big rocks like the video posted, but a whole lot more winding, shallow water and lots of junk in the river.

can't wait for this ice to go, although I do need to cover those damned sleds up for summer and top off the tanks with gas and fuel stablilizer, already got em lubed, well except for jackshafts, those still need to be done.

Thats who I bought my boat from. Its the 1752 alweld ecojon w/tunnel. Randy has been helpful and for what I am going to be doing he thought my setup would be fine. I spoke to him this morning about buying an outboard but with limited offerings in a 50/35 it would be a long wait and a few thousand more to go with something he could get. He did think that the tohatsu would be a good motor due to it being lighter than the 4 strokes and good power with it being a TLDI 2 stroke. I will be picking the boat up in the next week or so and get it setup so I can do motor break-in as soon as possible.

You should get some video this summer, I like those jet boat videos on winding shallow stuff. My two boys are 7 and 4 and are really looking forward to some fishing, boating, and camping this summer. I am getting pretty excited to spend some quality family time out doing what I love to do. It will be a fun summer.

the other Randy, the head mechanic called me last night, wants me to go for a ride in his custom built boat, and think he wants to sell it to me.

but I'm looking for an 18' flat bottom with a tiller handle Yamaha 45 jet. If if find one of those as a kid's boat and a back up, I may buy one of the alweld 20' x 60" V to flat bottom they got in this year.

will wait and see how their season goes, have known those guys a long time, if they sell the hull they sell it, if they're sittin on it at the end of summer I may have to pick it up from them, have some UMHW thrown on the bottom and then have them rig it out over the winter. I'd gain quite a bit of flotation by going with a wider beam and even though I like my skinny boat for exploring new territory, if I find the right 18 'er I'm looking for, that will be my new exploring boat and I'll use the alweld for cabin runs and rivers I know a bit better like the Salcha.


god I love me some running skinny water! great snowmachine season, but I'm ready to run on top of liquid

I'm looking forward to learning the ropes with the jet. I am having some beavertail flotation pods welded on also. I had a couple of people tell me they are great for helping get up on step faster, especially with a smaller hp outboard. Now we just need some open water!

I love those guys......and need to send them a few thousand again in another year or so. I had a 90 Ficht from them and Randy recognized my voice before it was all over. I still have the 90 Honda I "stole" from them as a replacement. With tens years in the salt and one partial dunking, it may be running on borrowed time at this point....perhaps one more season.

yeah klik, but we're going to have to change the spelling to BOATT


break out another ten thousand : )

I have a 20V70 with a 175 Johnson prop/jet I use on the Kuskokwim. I used to have a 20' flat bottomed jon boat with a 90 hp Evinrude with prop/jet. To switch back and forth you need jackplate and CMC will not give you the lift you need, which will be around 7 inches. Not even using the different bolt configs. CMC used to make one that had 12" of lift, but no more. Go here to find the one you need:
http://www.powrtran.com/cgi-bin/cart/showdetails.cgi?parts_id=9662

you guys ever seen any uhmw plastic intake fins to run on a jet intake. we invented these about 5-6 years ago. they will give you better performance with a jet by funneling more water in the intake plus give you a wear surface when hitting rocks and trees.bottom 2 pics are of a set that i ran for over 2 years on my boat.they took a beating and kept me from busting my lower.i was able to raise my motor one hole after installing them.
we sell the thru jamesriverjets in scottsville va. 434-286-4004

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gol dang looks to be another good idea!


I may have to try them, will run it by the crew at the boat shop, who knows maybe they will want to carry them.

Any thoughts on putting a stomp grate on your OB jet? I know Karolds welding in Fairbanks makes them. Don't know anybody who uses one but I cant believe it would hurt. I think he has them priced around $200.

Hot damn that looks fun! How often does a guy shear off the intake in those shallow rivers? Just curious. Looks like the trig is to steer clear of the white caps (rocks)?

Jordan

Considering this will be my first jet, I'm hoping not very often! My jon has a 3" tunnel so the jet foot can be almost level with the bottom of the boat. Tunnels can save the day if your not paying attention or hit a surprise you couldn't see.

had a stomp grate for my old Evinrude 115 that was on the boat previously, my bestest pard made it for me and during fall when the leaves are in the water it was wonderful.


but we haven't got around to modifying it to fit on the 130 Etec.

sure saves some time during the fall

yep you've got a handle on it, normally when the water is disturbed at the surface there's a reason for said disturbance, rock or tree or something disturbing the flow of the river.

where it gets tricky is in narrow canyons when you have gobs of pressure waves that are frothing and somewhat camo the junk in the river.

the other things that make river running interesting are meandering shallow channels over big plains of gravels, but ime the worst are new sweepers

reading the river is pretty easy and straightforward, with the odd exceptions thrown in to keep it interesting

the trick is learning your boat, how it handles, how it the weight of the load needs to be distributed etc.

I'm driving a true flat bottom so i don't grip corners, I power slide through them like driving on a dirt track or on ice.

love running light, but most of the time I'm hauling family and loads of groceries, building materials, household stuff etc.


ran up past Perrydise on the Salcha on Oct. 2 a couple of years ago, we weren't even seeing air boats up that high, she did indeed get skinny.

last fall a pard ran his sport jon up on a mudbank in the middle of the Tanana, he was 600 yards from any trees, and at least 20-30 yards from any water, in mud.

he called me at 8:30 at night for a rescue, but due to darkness had to wait till the next afternoon before I could get there to help him get it back in the water. He had the boat stripped down and found some push poles and had made a deadman in the sand to pull against. We made pretty quick work of it by the time another pard and I pulled up to get him floating again.


there's always an adventure awaiting when jet boating, some more fun than others, but it all beats working...well most of the time

That's pretty good water compared to what I have the last 5 miles to my cabin. Twice as wide, and looks deeper too. There's places where I have a 30 inch deep channel in a funnel, 4 feet wide, on a 15 foot wide river, and just below, it's 40 feet wide and 18 inches deep all across. Calls for some precision navigation, especially with the tiller- prop units with lift I've been running the last 40 years, and one doesn't want to get off step!

I'm getting too old for that chit- I'm having a console control, 40 Yamaha Jet fitted to my 18' Lowe flat-bottom... Just hope it's done by June 5.

Don't know a thing about jets- and little about console control. Guess I'm gonna learn. Probably should have gone with the Go-Devil, at half the cost...

lol las, I want to go old school again, 18 ft. flattie with a tiller handle, but it will have a jet.

that settles it, you've described your river running and it sounds fun! (well until you hit something)

really gonna have to video the cabin run in mid summer when the water gets skinny.


horror stories are abundant about the upper Chat. Even the head mechanic at Boat Shop has asked me to accompany him on that river. It's made their service dept. a ton of money, that's for certain, over the years.

one guy downriver even bought an airboat, but the dang river is so windy and narrow that he kept puttin on the bank

so he had Boat Shop get him a 16 fter with pontoons on each side of the jet unit so he could run when it gets skinny.

seems to be a pretty decent craft for the task

but old school hasn't let me down yet, though their have been some adventures

only twice has it been so shallow I opted not to run it, once going down with a pard, caught another neighbor trying to get back out and one other time we opted to run up the Salcha instead because water was too low.


at the launch a guy asked me for a cigarette as he said "I been running this river since 9 years old and have never seen it this shallow!" We went up without a hiccup.


running the Tikchik was where I learned to drive a jet boat and it was a steep learning curve, I'd had about 10 minutes experience in a boat before I was charged with taking two clients up it.

when we stopped for a break one of them asked me "Randy how long you been running a boat?" when I pulled up my sleeve to look at my watch he shouted "damn I knew it" lololol, oh what a fun trip that ended up being!

narrow, windy, and shallow, let's go jet boatin!


would love to run to your cabin with you someday las, sounds like it'd be a blast!

as an aside you ought to see the boat my cabin neighbor takes down there that staked the place in the early 70's

that big azz boat would work just fine in Valdez, but he has a real ocean boat for that.

he has to lay it on it's side in some of the skinny water. the guy can flat azz drive a freakin boat!

me, I'm just learning

The first time I rode in a jet boat was in the late fall with Bob Meals of Tri River Charters in Talkeetna. I will never forget coming onto a real shallow spot in the river and I knew we were going to be hitting gravel hard. Bob laid that boat over and said he had to "make some water" to get over the spot without hitting. Of course to him it was routine, but I was white knuckled. I left the boat damn impressed and appreciative of guys that "know" their boat and how to drive them.

in va. we run rivers like the shenandoah ,james and the new. lots of rocks ,ledges and sand bars. i've seen a few lowers knocked off or broken. i put 3/8 uhmw on the whole hull on my boat to protect from rocks and make it slide across stuff easier.

Maybe a slightly smaller boat if you want to stay under 50 hp. Power is handy for upstream running and hauling the weight for a long trip and game meat. I have a 19 foot boat that is not overpowered at all with a 115 hp prop. It is rated for 175 hp. The best test would be to run a set-up like you are proposing.

My current motor is a 4-stroke Yamaha and I am in love with the thing. Starts, idles all day without carboning up and uses hardly any fuel compared to a 2 stroke. I would take a used Jap 4 stroke or an E-tec Evinrude over a new anything else except maybe Mercury.

i,ve fished and floated the Shenandoah...lots!!! of ledges and fish the james...lots of rocks....then there was the rapaanic? lots of fish - and snakes and posin ivory. anna lake?...tore that place up!....best was cat fishing the Potomac at night ...middle of DC lots!!! of beers and nobody on the water fri/sat nights...the ladys would howlar down from key bridge

Well I flew up to Fairbanks this morning then towed my new boat back. Man it was like the tropics up there compared to in the park and through the Cantwell/Chulitna area near the igloo. I figure those folks are just gonna throw in the towel as far as summer goes this year. Still damn near 3-4ft of snow down through there. Saw a few bou crossing the Nenana, everything else was hiding I think. Here is the new hull, I think it will be a good little boat.



Not spring..



Should have had a snowmachine instead..

Nice lookin' boat and trailer. I like it.

What does it have for bunk boards?

One thing I did on my boat trailer was install some plastic pads on the bunk boards to make it slide on and off easier. I used some left over strips that my buddy had bought for use as runners on a snowmachine sled. It was very worthwhile improvement and way better than the carpeting it originally had.

I love aluminum boats. Do you see many in Alaska with sponsons(pontoons) and tunnel hulls? I see quite a few down here for shallow water use.

When I lived there (I moved to CO five years ago) I never saw a boat with sponsons/pontoons. They just hadn't got to AK yet. Most prop boats used a flat bottom hull for better shallow water performance.

For running real skinny water jets were the ticket and tunnel hulls were popular.

One of the great dilemmas in SC Alaska was having a boat that's legal for the Kenai River salt or having a jet that could run the rivers up north. It's very difficult to have boat could do both with the exception of something like ptarmigan has. It isn't perfect for either use but it will git 'er done.

Another consideration was having something big enough for use in the salt. You almost have to have two or three boats to do it all but with some compromises you can have one that will do at least two of the choices.

I am going to have beavertail flotation pods welded on in the next week or so. The boat does have a tunnel as well. Should be a good little shallow water boat.

The bunks are just carpet covered 2x4s as best I can tell. I am going to get the boat set up first, then tweak the trailer if I need to.

I put the pads over the carpeting and you have to use very long and very well secured screws so they don't back out. Where it really helped was on "primitive" launch ramps with weird angles where you couldn't just drive the boat onto the trailer. It was a lot easier to winch it on with the pads.

Your boat is small enough to where it may not be necessary and I'm just throwing out what worked for me.

One thing I modified on my trailer was the bunks. The way is was originally set up the bunks didn't extend all the way to transom and trailering it beat a "cup" in the bottom. I couldn't see in the pics how your's is set up.


Good luck with the boat and good fishin' to ya.

here a pic of 2 jamesriverjets. mine and a buddies

mine closest 1752 125/90 merc

other a 1660 90/65 merc


few more of mine

Where's the console?

What's a console and why do you need one?

I have an 1860 G-3 with a 50/35 jet. It's not a rocket by any means but easily gets on step with 3 big boys and camping gear. The beauty of the set up is when kings are done up north, I put the prop on and fish big Kenai kings for another month. This set up is not perfect for either, but works for both.

Well.....I don't see a tiller. Do I need a better monitor?

LOL!

guys haven't you ever seen a stick steer jet. stick is on the left,hot foot throttle on the right. very fast steering in the rocks and i think its the best way to go. these boats are great for fighting a fish. duel 10ft rod lockers so you can walk all the way around the boat up on the deck. livewell is 3ft long under the drivers seat. i added a qick drop folding front pedestal on my front deck. works gret just drop the front seat and go.

here you can see the stick drive


here's one on the the fly.

fold down quikdrop front seat pedestal,up and down

That's a new one to me. Interesting!

That looks like a pretty speedy setup. I just cant have all that stuff in a little boat. I have to be able to move around and not be tripping over things. Thats why I decided to not even go with a center console, even though it would be way more comfortable to operate.

i think legally you can only run up to a 125/90 on a stick steering control . its very nice when you have to turn fast to avoid hitting something. to me the hotfoot throttle is the only thing to have on a jet.

Well J.H.C.! I brought my boat to the shop last week because of a wierd little stutter it has at idle and low RPMs. They couldnt seem to find anything wrong with it (which I am in disbelief over). Shop guy says the bill is $110 and they would goodwill it for me because the motor is so new.

Dudeman brings my boat from around back and I notice the gas tank is missing. I ask where it is. He gives me a blank look and goes to find somebody. Mechanic (who is a pretty good schit) comes out and just shakes his head and spouts off about [bleep] thieves. Next guy must be the shop manager, he tells me that "you have to buy the gas tank separate from the outboard". I says, look dude, I bought it months ago and just had it in for service. He didnt believe I had a tank in the boat when I brought it in! Well he reluctantly went and got a new tank for me and said "We will eat the cost of the tank, but your on your own for the full tank of (premium) gas that was in it."

I about told them all to *uck off but I was in a hurry. I grabbed my schit and got out of there before I got ugly. If it wasnt for Marita being the only Tohatsu dealer in town, I would never step foot in that [bleep] place again.

I feel the same way about Marita. Fuggin hate that place.
passed on buying a boat last week because of the mercury motor and paid more for one with Yamahas just so I wouldnt have to worry about going there.

You can buy an outboard (or wheeler, snowmachine, etc) because of the sales dealer's trump, or you can buy from the guys who have a great service department. If I don't trust the service department very well, I won't talk to the sales staff.

I guess I didnt look into things from a service standpoint when buying the outboard. On the other hand the service I got at the Boatshop in Fbks where I bought my Alweld was great. Those guys were on it and delivered. I wish they had a store down here.

My perspective is distance modified so I have been forced to know the service end of things. You find out how well you did when buying, the first time you call their service department. I have known both Alaska Power Sports and Boat Shop service/parts guys on not only a first name basis, but a voice recognition basis. I gave up on APS when some years back, but the Boat Shop guys have always done me well, even over the phone. Service departments that treat you like a friend and neighbor even when you're 500 miles and $1000 freight distant are service departments who make a lot of sales. Heck, if I lived on the road - even in Anchorage- I'd still buy from those guys (Boat Shop).

really sorry to hear of the bad luck, that sucks rocks like a jet in the wrong channel.


I'm really grateful to have the Boat Shop to do biz with, I couldn't ask to be treated any better than I am there.

Course we have some history, had to give the owner and his bride a ride to their honeymoon suite the night of their wedding over 20 years ago with my little girl in tow due to his bro the head mechanic enjoying the nuptial celebration a little too much.

they are good folks

their dad and mom are salt of the earth type folks as well.

oh and btw, no video as I've not been to our cabin once this year, in fact, just ran my boat for the first time on the Chena a week or so ago with the sprout. Chemo sucks, specially going to Anchorage once a week for her to receive it.

Schit, and I'm bitching about a outboard and a service dept. You just put things back into perspective for me, I hope everything is going as well as possible.

tis all relative my friend, she is doing well and thank you for asking

but when one is running skinny water, an outboard and the service department behind it certainly should be a high priority.

we've all felt the frustration of poor service when it happens to us. Hope everything works out with your setup and you enjoy many years of pleasure using your boat.

Randy, glad to hear things are level with with the wife situation. We all can wish and pray for better, but we know we get what we get RE health.

Re motor repair.... Let me just remind you gentlemen... a car motor can be worked on by just about any shop. Airboats run skinnier than jet boats, and are propelled generally by car motors... just saying food for thought next time around.

While the thought of an airboat kinda gets me a little hot and bothered, I'm sure the brown shirts and USFW would get a bit dialed as I tore up through the middle Kenai with it!

The worst of both worlds between a boat and an airplane...

Are there regs disallowing airboats?

Never had a reason to look.

It's the flying metallic projectiles that concern me more than the regs. Some folks seem to take exception to an airplane that never takes off.

The regs state 50 hp max, no PWC or airboats in the Kenai River SMA with exeptions on HP for Skilak and Kenai Lakes. I think you can run airboats and PWC on certain sections of Kenai Lake only.

I can certainly see where an airboat would be real handy for hunting, I just cant get past all the racket they make. My buddy has a 35 hp go-devil surface drive that can go in far more nasty places than a jet and would be good compromise between the two.

Almost bought a complete outfit - 24 foot flatbottom with 35 go-devil from Stu in Fbks. Both used in good shape, already set up. Nice outfit. Brought our butts back from the Cosna to Manley last year, towing my boat after the motor went south. Posted about it.

Two things mitigated against it - well, only one thing, really. My wife...

She did not like the noise the go-devil made, and the boat wasn't Kenai legal- neither of which I cared about. Go-devils don't have reverse either, which was a mild concern of mine, but not decisive.

Tiller steering vs console steering was. But dang - that boat was sweet...didn't rivet-leak either...

Should have gone for a 50/35, maybe, but I'm well pleased with the new set up. Pulling the plug every so often while underway still works - as long as you keep track...

My bud bought the whole go-devil setup from Don in Eagle River. His boat is the 18'er and hell for stout. That boat can take a pretty good pounding and stay dry.

The setup really shines in water with a bunch of weeds, sticks, and all sorts of other garbage in it that jets don't like. Reverse gear would be nice, but you get used to its limitations pretty quick.

I really like the fact it is air cooled. Real nice to let your motor warm up while in the parking lot, and real nice on those 10 deg mornings when you would be worrying about your outboard being froze up.

I still stuck with the jet because he and I have no problem swapping boats when the need arises.

Noise wise, its come down A LOT in the past years. Some is engine noise and 3 mufflers do a really good job, and a pair of turn downs pointed to each other and the water help cancel that.

The prop noise is getting way better, newest props have winglets on them. And wide blades at slower speeds with the right reductions keep the noise under 90 and under 85 Db last I read up on it.

My boat isn't that quiet yet... but I'm working on it.

Lucky the noise is only there for the trip. And it doens't make enough noise at idle while we bowfish at night for hours to bother anything, regularly see deer and pigs on the river at night. And within almost bow range distances.

RE HP you won't get far with little HP on an airboat though.

RE mud motors, a few friends have them. They are ok, and as noted go through some stuff prop outboards dont, but I have not been impressed with the depth of water they require generally speaking, my tunnel with regular prop goes as shallow and i"ve gone over short sandbars with the above, no mud motor.

But they are only a wanna be airboat. The airboats just flat will get up on dry ground, and back in the water etc....

But as noted airboats even down here are banned on certain waters.

I don't know if you guys remember the thread last year where the guy who lived in Fairbanks posted about his mud-motored Scott Freighter Canoe. THAT is what I'd own if I live in the interior. He said it sipped fuel compared to a airboat.

airboats suck fuel pretty bad unless fuel injected. That is a given, but for what they do, if legal in your area, I have 2 and will never be without one ever again.