I was thinking of putting small 4" cleats on my boat to tie off to the dock, hang fenders and what not. I notice though that alot of jet boats dont have cleats. Is it sacreligious to do this? I dont have a bad ass paint job so im not worried about that aspect of it. For the guys that dont have cleats, what do you guys do or how do you tie off?

I was also gonna install a bow light so i can cruise at night at the river, bad idea?

Back from Joe's,
   Joe's good peeps, i guess thats why he comes highly recomended. I walked in there and the first thing he said was, "Hey, how did it go?". I told him it went great and about my little oil problem, he stopped what he was doing(looked he was rebuilding a carb)and walked out to the boat with me. He took a look at it for about a mintue then noticed that the rubber sealent for the intake manifold right next to the oil sending unit had come/broken off a bit. He said its an easy fix.

Clean all the areas with brake cleaner fluid to get the oil off, make sure its dried real good. Apply sealent and off you go! He was also kind enough to check the oil to make sure i had no more water in the oil with my previous header problem...nope, nice clean looking oil!

In and out in 5 minutes, im a happy newbie!

Chaz,
  Its white with blue metal flake stripes on it. It has Bassett twisty headers sticking out. I was only there from about 10:30 till about noon. It was just me and my buddy, we pulled it out with a silver expidition with a firefighter sicker on the back. Did you see us?

Ok, maybe a little to excited!

Hotrod,
  Its a 460, i dont think it came out of the valve cover breathers. It pooled a little bit at the back of the intake manifold in one of the low spots. The valve covers barely had any oil on them at all if any, it was more just the back end of the motor, a little on the block and it kinda follows up to the back of the carb and scoop. I checked the oil and the level was fine and when i was running it today the oil pressure was good. It deff. looks like a light spray pattern.

hmmm??

So i was able to take my jet boat out for the first time today at El Capitan. It was just like all of you said, super easy to launch/recover, easy to handle and man, what get up! Talk about instant throttle response! WHAT A BLAST! It was pretty easy to figure out the different settings for the place diverter at diff. speeds. The only thing thats gonna take some getting used to is low speed manuvering at and around the dock areas and such. The more i do it the better i'll get at it. There really wasnt much reverse, even when i gave it a little gas. I guess im just used to a little more control with outdrives/outboards, big deal...jet boating is where its at! Thanks to everybody here who responded to my posts, marcsrollin and hotrod56cars, i really appreciate all your responses and advice.

The only thing i noticed when i came back and was cleaning it was that at the rear of the engine i noticed a bit of oil spray. It kinda looks like it started where the engine hooks up to the pump and went up to the back of the air scoop. It wasnt a heavy spray but it was enough to give everything back there a very light coat of oil. Im guessing this isnt normal. I cant really tell where it would be comming from. Would it be comming from where the engine hooks up to the pump? When i had over at JP Marine Joe checked everything and didnt see anything wrong but im sure he wasnt running at the constant RPM's i was today.

Any ideas/suggestions?

I was thinking about reving over to JP Marine tommorow with the boat and have Joe take a look and get his opinion.

I just ran the boat again, this time with the valve OPEN! The temp got up to about 190 after about 7 or 8 mintues but stayed there. From what i have been reading here its NOT a good idea to run the engine for any extended period of time out of the lake, for the engine sake as well as the pump because the garden hose just doesnt provide enough water. Is my take on this correct?

Emanon,
  It is a jet and i will never do that again, i feel like a shmuck!

Hotrod,
  Im pretty sure i heard correctly when Joe told me to leave it open 3/4 all the time due to the fact that the switch/valve is located by the engine and not accesible from the drivers seat. Joe had said that if the switch was located by the drivers seat as it is in some boats then to open it at the described RPM. He said it wasnt a big deal with my situation and that your not gonna destroy the headers because of the strength of Bassett headers. There just starting to blue so there still breaking in. I might be wrong but im pretty sure thats what he said when i picked it up. Anybody have any other input on this situation?

I just got my boat back from the shop the other day and i was running it at work here to see how it ran. I had the water hose hooked up so it had the cooling going on. My question is, when i started it it cranked right up and the temp gauge came up to about 100 after a mintue. It took another 2 minutes for it to go to 140. However, right after that it climbed rapidly up to the limit on the gauge of 240 in about a minute. Its a 460 with basset twisty headers. JP Marine tuned it up and readjusted the carb, when i picked it up Joe at JP Marine said she was running good.

Is this the normal operating temp? or is it climbing that fast because the jet is not taking in serious amounts of water like it would on a lake?

What temps do you guys run at?

One more question, when i had it running at idle at work i noticed when i looked into the nozzle of the jet that the impeller was not spinning. It was my impression that it would still turn even with the engine at idle. Or is it that it needs to be sucking in water for it to be spinning.

Sorry for all the rookie questions, im just trying to get the best understanding of how things work but i know the best learning platform is taking it out to the lake and actually doing it.

Thanks Brad, for taking care of the pics. Apparently, not only do i need help with my jet boat i need help posting pics as well!!! Thanks for the kudos too, i bought her for $4,300 and spent another $500 on getting the engine fixed up at JP Marine.

Quickjet,
  There are pics of it on here. If you go under classifieds for complete boats, its under the topic, "Bitchin Sanger for sale". While the guy i bought it from listed it as a 78' Sanger upon actually taking a look at the registration it says its a 1977 Centurion. He felt kinda foolish when he brought out the pink slip. He said the guy he bought it from told him the registration is wrong and that is a Sanger flat bottom. There was a discussion about this in another topic, i cant remember, maybe its the same one with the pics. Either way im happy so far with my purchase. I will try to post some more recent pics that i have taken of it.

Im now a firefighter in San Diego. Before that i was in the Coast Guard for 4 years.

No, its a 460 Ford and yes, it is my water pressure regulator thats all messed up. JP Marine is gonna install a new one that i wont even have to turn on at a certain rpm, it will do it automatically. I cant remember the official name for it at this moment.

Thnks hotrod, i appreciate the timely response!

Hello to all,

  This is my first post on here but i have been checking out the site for the past couple of months in anticipation of buying a jet boat for this summer as a present to myself for getting passed my rookie year as a firefighter. Well, i have! I bought a 78' Sanger flat bottom with a 460 BBF and a berkley jc drive. While this is the third boat i have owned this is my first jet boat, i guess i got jealous of all you guys at the river shootin' those huge tails and watching your cheeks flap in the wind from going so fast.

  My first and main question is: I would like to get a cover for it, one that will fit snugly and hopefully be able to tow with it. Its an 18'6", with bassett "twisty" headers sticking out the back like a pair of howitzers ready to rumble. I dont have gobs of money to spend on a custom cover so i was just wondering if anybody else uses anything different, like a standard boat cover for v-hulls that you would buy at your local boat store. Also, if anybody has an extra cover or knows of someone who does that would be willing to part with it please let me know. Im located in San Diego but of course would be willing to pay any shipping costs.

One more question: Does anybody know of any good jet boat mechanic shops in the San Diego area? Im in the East County. I have found a few but would love to hear some personal references or experiences.

  Sorry this is so long but im VERY sure you will be hearing from me more on tech and other questions as i seek the advice of you guys who have been doing this for awhile. Thanks again everybody!