New Rinker Rocket owner

[Ben Okopnik]

Hi, all -

As of a week ago or so, I'm now a proud new owner of what I've come to call the "Tiny Monster" - 15 feet of hull in front of 175HP of jet. I'm pretty sure that the previous owner repowered, since 1995 Rockets came with 120HP max - and the 175XR2 SportJet didn't come out until 1997.

I've got a lot of experience on the water, but almost all of it is in sailboats - long-distance ocean sailing and cruising (7 years in the Caribbean.) For power boats, well, I had a Carolina skiff with a 25HP outboard when I was in St. Thomas, and I thought that was a whole lot of engine. The rest of the time, I've had anything from a little 2HP to a 15HP (loved that Yamaha!) pushing a 12-foot inflatable dinghy.

Living here in Florida, though - as a fisherman, not having a boat is about like not having feet. And - holy crap, the prices people here want for Carolina skiffs and Boston Whalers!... so, I ended up with this little cutie instead.

Took her out on the water once for a couple of hours so far; unfortunately, the local reservoir (only 5 minutes away!) is no-wake, idle-speed only. The rest of the time, I've been working on her: made the electrical panel more accessible, fixed the gauge lights, put in a battery switch and a bus bar in the engine compartment - the big "spiders" of negative and positive connections laying in the engine bilge did not make me happy - installed some flashlight holders, rigged a support for the engine lid, and am now installing a GPS/fish finder. Oh yeah, and de-rusting and greasing the various trailer bits, installing a hitch on the car... keeps me busy, anyway.

And yeah, what they say about jet boats is true: hard as heck to control at idle speeds, and the reverse is damn near unmanageable. I look forward to whatever learning I can get out of playing with it.




Cheers!

 

[Scottintexas]

glad to have you on board,
if you add fins it will help with the steering and they are sold local near you, @Cobra Jet Steering LLC google that if you're not aware,

I believe you share the same engine as some of the sugar sands boat so check out that tab if you need any details,

 

[Cobra Jet Steering LLC]

Yes I do make a steering system for that boat, I have one for ALL mercury V6 2 stroke engines and mercury diesel engines also. I also answered your email this morning so let me know if you did not get my reply.

 

[Ben Okopnik]

glad to have you on board,
if you add fins it will help with the steering and they are sold local near you, @Cobra Jet Steering LLC google that if you're not aware,

I believe you share the same engine as some of the sugar sands boat so check out that tab if you need any details,

Thanks, @Scottintexas - good to be here! (And man, that's a pretty boat you have.) I already searched the forum even before signing up, and found the Sugar Sands - hadn't heard of them before, but yeah, I've already learned a good bit from those stories. Seems like the engine I've got is a very reliable one, minus being cold-blooded and a bit of history with carb needles and switchbox problems. Knowing what to watch out for is of huge help!

 

[Ben Okopnik]

Yes I do make a steering system for that boat, I have one for ALL mercury V6 2 stroke engines and mercury diesel engines also. I also answered your email this morning so let me know if you did not get my reply.

Hey, @Cobra Jet Steering LLC - thanks for letting me know; Google decided your email is spam, so I had to go dig it out. (Might be worth your time to check if spammers have snuck in and are using your domain; that's often the reason Google marks business mail that way.) Great to know you've got one for my boat - I'll be getting in touch with you shortly!

 

[George1]

Welcome

 

[4x15mph]

Fun looking boat and welcome to the forum

 

[Ben Okopnik]

Thanks for the welcome, folks! Much appreciated.

I've spent pretty much every available moment this past week (there haven't been as many of them as I wanted, between work and the 6p.m. nightly mosquito invasion) Fixing Stuff Up. Rewiring the worst of the back-of-the-panel nuttiness, making the nav lights work, installing a 12V plug/USB power point/digital voltmeter, puzzling out - with much help from previous posts in this forum - where to mount the fishfinder transducer (and rigging a temp attachment for it that hooks into the ladder mount) and pulling the wire, installing a RAM mount for the fishfinder head unit, inspecting/greasing/adjusting/replacing... whew. As of this morning, though, I pronounced the boat at least marginally satisfactory - call it 9/10 of must-do projects completed - and we hooked her up and dragged her off to Silver Lake/Withlacoochee River for a test run.

Where the ramp turned out to be not steep enough for me to launch despite multiple attempts. So00... quick change of venue - we headed for Williams Park/Alafia River, and managed to toss her in between all the other boats; a very busy ramp!

And...

...MAN, WHAT A BLAST THESE THINGS ARE!!!

I've learned that greased lightning is way too slow, and that if Coyote had one of these, he'd have caught the RoadRunner in the first second or so. Both the speedo and the GPS showed me doing just over 43mph literally seconds after I got out of the "no-wake" zone, and I only brought her down when we got out into Hillsborough Bay; it was pretty choppy when I stuck my nose out there, so I turned us around and got back into the river. Along the way, I found out that the Rocket is surprisingly sea-kindly and dry as a bone once you pop her up on plane, whereas trying the usual displacement-boat maneuvering - quartering across the waves, etc. - will have you taking heavy spray and soaking wet in a few moments.

We tried to do a bit of fishing, but found out that the crappy 15lb. Walmart anchor wouldn't hold in the soft bottom, even with 10' of chain and 100' of scope (a bigger, better-quality anchor is already on the list.) I also found out that the SportJet will heat up to a bit over 200 right quick if you just fiddle about in place (i.e., a series of anchoring/unanchoring maneuvers) but will cool down to below 150 within a few seconds once you start the boat moving, even relatively slowly.

So: no fish today, despite seeing a couple of long shadows against the bottom and a whole bunch of active, jumping bait - but one heck of a fun, fantastic day on the water, and lots of learning experiences. Couldn't have asked for anything better!

 

[T.H.Sea]

I just finished go ik ng through one of these, about to hit the water in tampa myself... let me know if you still have the boat!

 

[Five Faces]

I had no idea Rinker was in the jet game, my first boat was a 2000 Rinker 242 Fiesta Vee, loved it!!!

I've got a lot of experience on the water, but almost all of it is in sailboats - long-distance ocean sailing and cruising (7 years in the Caribbean.) For power boats, well, I had a Carolina skiff with a 25HP outboard when I was in St. Thomas, and I thought that was a whole lot of engine. The rest of the time, I've had anything from a little 2HP to a 15HP (loved that Yamaha!) pushing a 12-foot inflatable dinghy.

Seven (7) years in the Caribbean...I'm so jealous!!! I had my first Moorings bareboat experience in the Caribbean this past fall. It was a 3 stateroom 43' Power Cat. It was an unbelievable experience. As you can see in my avatar White Bay in Jost is my favorite place in the world!!!

Welcome!!!


EDIT: Sorry...just realized this thread is from 2.5 years ago...oops!

 

[jiffyjef]

I just bought a 1995 Rinker Rocket a few weeks ago and have taken it out twice now. Each time i find something new to add to my fixit list. This last time i busted the engine cover latch. Where would i ever find parts for a boat like this? Not having any luck so far. Do i have to become my own custom fab shop now? lol
Hello everyone, by the way!