Newbie looking for boat advice...

« **on:** March 23, 2012, 06:36:56 PM »

Hello all. New to the site as well as jet boats. I Have started my learning process of jet boats and have been reading a lot of the posts here, very good stuff. My idea is to find a project to start with so I can learn more about jet boats as I redo one from the ground up. I have a friend of a friend that has a 1979 Mako Shark 19'. It's set up for CBB and has a Dominator pump. He also says the pump is built for a 1000+ hp... The guy claims that it's an old circle race boat and it's made out of balsa wood. This sounds interesting. Does this sound right? Is this something I should pursue? I would appreciate any input from you guys. Thank you for your time!!

« **Reply #1 on:** March 23, 2012, 07:16:20 PM »

Welcome to the site. Your doing it the right way by finding this place before you buy. I purchased and found this place to fix all the stuff that I didn't know to look at in the first place. Alot of great people here. Can't wait to see your project.

« **Reply #2 on:** March 23, 2012, 08:03:09 PM »

Quote from: 340chally on March 23, 2012, 06:36:56 PM

Hello all. New to the site as well as jet boats. I Have started my learning process of jet boats and have been reading a lot of the posts here, very good stuff. My idea is to find a project to start with so I can learn more about jet boats as I redo one from the ground up. I have a friend of a friend that has a 1979 Mako Shark 19'. It's set up for CBB and has a Dominator pump. He also says the pump is built for a 1000+ hp... The guy claims that it's an old circle race boat and it's made out of balsa wood. This sounds interesting. Does this sound right? Is this something I should pursue? I would appreciate any input from you guys. Thank you for your time!!

As said above it is a good thing you found this site before you bought. There is a wealth of knowledge here, unfortunately you picked a bum weekend for this post as much of the knowledge here is in or on their way to Parker for the season kickoff.So replies might be a little slow. I personally have never heard of a Mako Shark, so I am of no use on the name. Dominators are good pumps, but I doubt it is built to hold 1000+ hp unless I spoke to the pump builder or tore the pump down to inspect it. Also the balsa you are refering to is a balsa core floor(at least) it is used as a core material to strengthen the hull and add rigidity. Also it is very pleasing to the eye. I would say at least get some good pictures of the boat and post them up for evaluation(ie the stringers, transom, hull/underside, deck, and gunwales/sides,if it does have balsa floors take a few shots of them) If the boat does infact have balsa look for water dammage and rot(black wood) check the stringers also for delam and rot.Good luck and welcome to the madness.

SJ

« **Reply #3 on:** March 23, 2012, 09:04:17 PM »

Mako's are pretty decent boats.

I would have to look it up but if memory serves they were built in Missouri.

The boat is not "made out of Balsa" but rather reinforced with it. Balsa is used as a honeycombing material because of it's light weight and is used in vertical grain applications typically in a ile pattern then the voids are flowed with resin and finished off with clear resins and matt/cloth. This was one of the strongest types of boat construction back in the day (think '70's and '80's..

The biggest thing with a balsa cored bottom is to look for dark spots and delamination. Balsa is not waterproof and really not intended to be wet.

The Dominator should be a nice piece, basically a really nice Berkeley clone.

If you can get some pictures of it and a hull ID# there are quite a few guys on here that could decipher it for you..

Rule number one with buying a boat, if it makes you happy and you feel comfortable with it, buy it...If it don't feel right, keep looking. You will not be finding a perfect boat. Trust me, I've tried.

Welcome to the site....

GT

« **Reply #4 on:** March 24, 2012, 08:20:02 PM »

Thanks for all the great input about what to look for when boat shopping. I will definatley look over all the items you described. I will see if I can set a time to check out the friends boat next week. Thanks again for the suggestions and info I really appreciate your help!! Keep up the great posts, it really helps the new guys out!!!

340chally

Newbie looking for boat advice...

ctm..squirtsalot

Re: Newbie looking for boat advice...

SuperJet

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GT Jets

Re: Newbie looking for boat advice...

340chally

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