A friend of mine has owned this '73 Kona Jet with a berkeley pump, 468 olds (done right) for the past six years.  He's interested in selling it and I'm interested in buying it.  Would be my first jet boat and am looking for input from you experienced jetters on whether or not it's a good deal.  I'm a seasoned wrencher and grew up jet boating so know it's something I'm wanting to get into.  I live in the SF Bay right now but am moving to OC in June and want a new toy for the summer.  Please let me know what you all think, the more input the merrier.  Thanks!

'73 Kona jet, 468 olds with a 550 cam and 750 holley, keith black 10:1 flat top pistons, stainless big valve K heads, basset water cooled headers with CA legal baffles.  The motor was rebuilt in '03 and only has five trips on it since.  The berkeley pump was rebuilt at the same time, nothing too fancy (don't know the specs on it).  The fuel tank is in the bow on this boat, don't know if that's good or bad, never really seen that on other jets.  It sits on a single axle trailer.  He bought it in '03 for $6800 and will sell it to me for $4,000....

Someone tell me whether or not I should jump on this deal or not.  I appreciate your input.  ~Ken~

Ralph,

What's so bad about the Olds motors?  If this one is fresh and was built right, why would I need to plan on doing an engine swap anyway?  This boat does run pretty good, it's been GPS'd at 73mph...

Ralph and BJ,

I appreciate your input.  Still considering this deal and continuing to look at what else is out there.  Here's what the owner had to say about the rebuilt engine  (notice the machining on the heads for oil return)  :

its an olds 455/468 bored 060 in a rotler boring bar, finish plateau honed and line honed in a sunnen CV616 cylinder hone. block has been decked in a van norman hydraulic CBN milling machine to correct the RMS surface finish
keith black 10:1 hypereutectic flattop pistons on reconditioned and notched rods
stainless big valve K head s were machined for oil return and have roller rocker tips from comp cams
hold 9 quarts oil, oil resticting lifters, pushrods, valley pan/ tray ect.
550 lift cam which goes perfect with the edelbrock performer and holley 750 double pumper
great boat built well, again the previous owner did all this and i have not changed a thing.


He's been advertising this boat for a couple months now, down to $4K from the original $6500.  Think I could live with the existing price if I wouldn't want to immediately throw a conversion on the trailer to a tandem axle...  Jet boats sitting on a single axle trailer just bug the hell out of me... 


Thanks for the welcoming too...  This site rocks, i'm looking forward to a summer of fun and getting to know everyone.

PS...  I'd much rather find this boat... Eliminator "Bad Attitude"

All that and he went with Hypers

Same as , give me a big mac , large fries supersize and a diet coke

makes no sense.........

Diabetics do that   

No offense there B and B, but step away from the Oldsmobile....for the same dough you could avoid quite a few headaches....

GT

All that and he went with Hypers

Same as , give me a big mac , large fries supersize and a diet coke

makes no sense.........

Hypers???  What do you mean Sav?

No offense taken GT... I'm here to gain advice before I make the move and become a reg at the SoCal events.

Hypers???  What do you mean Sav?

No offense taken GT... I'm here to gain advice before I make the move and become a reg at the SoCal events.

What i mean is why would somebody spend all that good money on good machine work and skimp on the pistons..

Its a catch 22 to some people.. Some people sware by them and others do not.. I went down the same road when i was going to build my engine... I wanted to do it cheap

If you've got 4-5 grand to drop on a boat, the world is your oyster right now. Give me some particulars and I'll find you a boat, or ten.

PS... I'd still beat him to the water too!   

I'm catching on, here....

If I could find a boat like 2Sav's for  in the $2's with pump, nice interior and good finish... I would be the most stoked!

2K less motor i could always use another project boat

Can you put up the pics for that thing Stiffie?  I'm cool with sticking to this forum for now...

Looks a lot like this post from Gilroy (not the same as the clearlake one)... But these boats are not in the $2's...

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sby/boa/1031533697.html

2K less motor i could always use another project boat

Yeah, sounds good to me... What was the guy's bottom line on yours Sav?  Last post I saw for it was $2,300...  You could always use another project boat, huh?  Had three, then four, then three again but only want two...  You're not only a post whore, but a boat whore...  Pick one and stick to it, buddy.

Yeah, sounds good to me... What was the guy's bottom line on yours Sav?  Last post I saw for it was $2,300...  You could always use another project boat, huh?  Had three, then four, then three again but only want two...  You're not only a post whore, but a boat whore...  Pick one and stick to it, buddy.

You learn quick

Saw that one, not a big fan of the yellow or the interior...  Besides, I'm looking for a full stringer boat...

Patience is a virtue, I'm not going to jump on just any deal unless it's exactly what I'm looking for.  Plus, I'm not moving to FV until May and if I bought a boat before then, I'd need to find a place to store it.

Hold the phone there Slick, you don't mind an Olds, but don't like yellow? And how do you know that's NOT a full stringer boat?

Just curious and being sort of an ass...

GT