hey guys, so bought for first jet boat, 21' tahiti, day cruiser i think...460 bbf, berk pump.  aside from having a gauge telling me motor was running at 240 degrees-   it didnt seem to have much power (even before running hot-if gauge was accurate).  maybe i expected too much.  but the most concerning part for me was the dash moving.  so when hitting a bit of chop, wake or wave.... the boat would shimmy and i can feel and see the dash shift around or flexing.  first i thought steering wheel mount or rack was loose from the dash....til i saw the entire dash rock side to side.  ive driven many boats, but none were jet boats and have never felt or seen this before.  is this normal for this type of boat??
thanks in advance.

Not at all normal, time to start looking for broken bulkheads, rotten wood supports and potentially a bad floor.

I have a little tiny ball peen hammer I use to find bad plywood under fiberglass, strike it (not real hard) with the hammer and it should sound like the wood is over concrete, not on a wet cardboard box...

Just take the boat back to the guy and pound it as far up the guys ass as you can get it.
Problem solved.

-beerjet-

It's always butts with you... 

-beerjet-;

very funny.  thought did cross my mind....

thanks to all for the reply.  regarding bulkheads....in my mind im picturing larger walls or brace like pieces (like transom) only further up in the boat and would go from floor to deck.  so when i look, im not seeing any.  i have some small panels along the sides similiar to what would be kick panels in a car.  the radio is mounted to it on one side with speakers on both sides. it is a bit loose, i can grab it and shake it around a little.  also, the piece of wood that makes up the little storage tray along side of hull next to front seats....ahead of fuel tanks, is loose as well. would any of these be considered bulkheads on this boat....or would they be much smaller and beneath the floor??

welcome to owning a tahiti.  i just got done with mine and handed it off to its new owner. 

tahitis arent known to be the BEST made hull in the world... and def not the strongest.  my deck was very similar.  i could literally see it moving, and dont even think about walking on it... but after doing full length stringers and adding a bulkhead mine felt WAAAAAAAAY more solid and it rode 10x better and you could walk on it without any creaks or cracks.


everyones probably sick and tired of my pix...  but here goes...

foam is cheap, its easy to cut and makes great templates!!!



once u have your template, it gets cut into 3/4 ply.  see how easy all those random angles were! make sure you have like a 1/8" gap on the sides.  you dont want to wedge it in there as boats flex.  if u have a rigid bulkhead in there and the boat flexes it will crack the gel, etc.



use good stuff to put it in.  west systems is about as easy as it gets.  if u can paint, u can glass.



it gets "tabbed in" where u take like a 6" wide piece of fiberglass and fold it in half and it gets stuck to the piece and the hull all the way around.  inside and out!



carpet goes in to make it pretty.



go boating!  enjoy a nice strong deck with no flex.