Damn dude. You've been busy. Very clean work though. Looks great. 

Yeah, was a pretty sad day.  It ran pretty good just before it shut down, but I guess that's how it always goes.  Going to be at the CP regatta next week hopefully, are you going to make it?

No wasn't planning in going. Would be cool to see 3 hallett bubbles all in one place though. Yours, Nick's, and mine.

Every time I've been on the river and lake so far I haven't seen another one.

Pretty cool B. you made the same page as the batmobile. Sweet.

Man someone is definately Copying your style. Lol nice looking setup.

That thing looks tits. Congrats. And welcome.

Okay, so I've learned to avoid Olds power and try to stay away from axial flow pumps. But there have to be some manufacturers/brands who've made consistently good and/or durable boats, assuming that they've been maintained properly by their owners, of course. It seems like there are a hundred brands out there, but there to be some decent starting points, otherwise you're just falling in love with fancy gelcoat or a custom paint job, right?

Honestly there are a lot of respectable boat manufacturers out there to choose from. But the greatest boat in the world could be a pile if the previous owner hasn't taken care of it. Like crewchief said check the floor if it has one for rot or water retention. And check stringers for and rot or delamination of the fiberglass from the wood. Condition of all cables. The list goes on and on of things to check.

But some names to start with....in no order
Hallett
Sanger
Eliminator
Hondo
Southwind
Rogers

What type of boat are you looking for and what are you looking to do with it? Speed, family oriented, daycruiser style, or more of a lower freeboard type low pro boat?

I'm gonna let my fly down and admit just how uneducated I am about these things. I've heard the terms "place diverter," "droop snoot" and "wedge" when jets are talked about, but I really don't know what the H any of them do.

Feel free to ask me anything about motorcycles, though!

No shame in not knowing. How do you think I learned?? By doing what your doing. Asking questions and reading threads. Lots and lots of threads. And Getting out and working on and looking at the parts in question.

So basically the "place diverter" is trim for a jet boat. Used to adjust the attitude of the boat in the water. Point it down and the front of the boat will come down into the water making the boat ride more wet (more drag in the water) thus slowing it down. Point it up and you get that bitchin rooster tail and the the front of the boat will lift and ride less wet (less drag in the water) and you will go faster. Every boat has its own sweet spot with the position of the diverter that makes it the fastest where it's not too far down and not too far up. That you have to figure out on your own.

Droop snoots are basically devices that go in between your bowl and nozzle and lower the postion of your nozzle so that it is lower in the water to provide your boat with more lift. Could be wrong on this one so don't quote me. Like I said I have a wj and they don't make droops for those.

And wedges are simply that, wedges that go in between your bowl and nozzle. They can be installed so that the nozzle points up or so that the nozzle points down. Again either way will affect how wet or less wet your boat rides. Resulting in more or less speed. Or just to give that much bigger of a rooster tail from your place diverter.

Hope I answered some of your questions.

Nice looking boat. So does anyone care to enlighten me as to the differences that make a Jacuzzi WJ more desirable than a YJ, and what's wrong with a Panther jet?

The YJ and panther are axial flow jets. They are good for getting big boats out of the water because they move large volumes of water. They also do not respond well to added horsepower. Can't add a place Diverter or really any aftermarket parts to these.

The WJ and berk's are mixed flow jets. They move less water but create a lot of pressure. Hence why they are the performance jets. You can add place diverters and a variety of aftermarket parts to these berk's. Really only a place Diverter to the wj though. They do make adapters to bolt berk aftermarket parts to the bowl of the jacuzzi wj. Droops, wedges, diverters, etc...

Little too much going on on this thing for my liking.

A buddy of mine who used to have a Kona Makai with a 454 in it tells me that a Berkley is far and away the best jet to use, and to stay away from Panther and Jacuzzi systems. Is this BS or is there something to his claim because of parts or ease of modification, etc.?

The most common pumps you will find are Berkeley, jacuzzi, and panther. Yes Berkeley pumps are very good pumps and parts availability is great for them as well you can put droop snoots, straight snoots, diverters, wedges, and other misc performance parts. But I wouldn't say that they are "far and away the best". Now jacuzzi is a very good pump as well as long as it is the jacuzzi wj and not the yj. Performance parts are pretty limited except for place diverters. Those can be had easily. I'm running a jacuzzi wj and I think crewchief22 is as well. Some are going to say that jacuzzi wj's are not even comparable to a berk. But clearly they have been misinformed. And now on to the panther.....that is not a very liked pump in the jetboat world. Not really any mods or performance parts available for it. Unless you go all out and overhaul it with one of the energizer kits. A few guys on here run panthers with respectable speeds. But I'm sure if you ask them they wouldn't buy another boat with a panther.

Awesome. Congrats to both of you.

I run valvoline vr1 20/50 in my 454 BBC. You can find it at your local auto zone. It has the zddp (zinc) in it. But as far as which weight you should run depends on your clearances in your motor.

Listen to crewchief he won't steer you wrong. As far the olds go I would try my best to stay away from them. Just like crewchief said they have proven problems. Yes there are ways to fix these problems and get around them, but it's $$$$$. I bought my boat with a 455 olds in it. I learned the hard way and smoked the olds. Then replaced it with a BBC. Do yourself a favor and stick with the BBC or BBF powered boats. Oh and another thing try to get a boat with aluminum or steel gas tanks. You don't want to have to figure out the hard way like I did as well that fiberglass gas tanks are bad news.


Keep asking questions like your doing. Post up Craigslist links of what your looking at. We can help you spend your money wisely.