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Jet Boat Poker Run??

Thermobrett

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Curious if there is any small boat / jet boat poker runs? All I can really find locally to the Tampa area is big "go-fast" poker runs. Would be fun to do.
 

84rzv500r

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havent seen any... we often get a bunch of boats together and go somewhere for the day... Marvin Key, Sawyer Key, Contents Keys, Bahia Honda...
its a bit of a challenge with boat cruising speeds so different so we usually split into the under 30mph and over 30mph groups... and then subdivide in to loose draft classes which may dictate route...

down here tides matter way more for the non jet crowd...

Lots of Harley Poker runs...

as a general rule if i can see the birds knees when they're standing in the water its too skinny for me... also if the grass is laying flat on top of the water its gonna be a long day LOL otherwise throttle up and hold on...
 

2kwik4u

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I've had two variations of the "poker run" experiences.

The first is where the wife and I drove our 4cyl Rinker around to 5 Marinas in a single day on Dale Hollow Lake. It was OK, but it was a LOT of time spent on plane on the water. If you don't have a "fast" boat it will literally take 10+hrs of the day to visit enough marinas to get a full hand. It was neat, but I won't do that on the water again.

The second is the part scene that accompanies these events. Went to Harmon Creek for two years as a "guys trip" during poker run weekend on Lake Cumberland. It's like Mardi-Gras on the water. Lots of booze, lots of boobs, lots of shenanigans in general. A good time to be had for certain, IF, everyone understands why you're there, and the events that will be taking place. I would do this again, it was a good time.

Neither of those are jet boat specific though.
 

Thermobrett

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I think we qualify. I’m sure we burn just as much fuel as them at WOT lol
 

212s

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I think we qualify. I’m sure we burn just as much fuel as them at WOT lol
It's funny that people say this but it's not really true...a Yamaha 1.8L 180hp consumes about 12gph at WOT, twins 24gph, a single SVHO 250hp about 24gph.

Compare that to an F250 Yamaha OB motor which consumes about 24gph, and an F300 about 27gph. A big Volvo Penta V8 350hp about 28gph. A Merc 250 OB about 24gph, and a single Merc 500hp I/O about 45gph.

And the BRP Rotax 1.6L ACE 300hp consumes 23gph at WOT, 46gph with twins.

These numbers carry over to cruising speeds too - where I've seen 3.0mpg at 27mph consuming 9gph. Most boats of similar sizes, weights, and HP ratings are in and around the same range give or take. The only real difference is our engines rev higher sooner to develop usable thrust from the jetpump so they SEEM to be using lots of fuel, but they're really not since they're relatively small engines at 1.8L. The TR-1 engines are slightly better on fuel. The BRP slightly more. But all are close enough to not really worry about it...just get out and have fun.
:)

As for poker runs - Poker Runs America and Power Boating Canada used to have 3 classes of boats in our area, rendezvous (recreational class), performance, and high performance with minimum speeds of 25mph, 55, and over 60. The recreational class only had to run to three of the stops over a much shorter distance to get all 5 cards and included everything from cuddies and bowriders, to pontoons, to jetskis. There wasn't much turnout for the slower models (as we all came out to watch the big guys rip across the water) so they cut it from the runs at many of the big events, but just about any powerboat could have been in the lower class runs. Some smaller venues still have recreational poker runs for all boats. Maybe as we move into post-covid they'll bring back more of the recreational runs.
 

redthumper9

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I attend a lot of the big boys poker runs as i have several friends with the boats suitable to do this. I always though it would be cool to have one with Jet Boats. It would be a pretty big undertaking though. Most of these donate their funds to charities, work with hotels for the attendees, restaurants for lunch stops, and docks with card stops, etc. Here is a video I made when I attended the 2018 Miami to Key West Poker Run.

 
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