New to jetboat

[smoke]

Hello

I have finally made the jump. I bought a 2024 AR250.
First, as my previous post, I towed it to the local lake 2 miles away with my wife Honda Pilot while my Ram 2500 was at the shop, and I can see this is only good for a couple miles. I will never go for more than 4 to 5 miles at 40MPH with the pilot.

Second I see the docking with wind is kind of difficult, I think I will install some thrust vector.

Third I was thinking about Ceramic coating

I am doing the search as to what way to go

thanks

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

Congrats on the new boat!

The wind is always difficult in our boats as there is no ”Keel” / outdrive down in the water to keep the boat from being pushed sideways in wind gusts. The only way our boats have directional control authority is with thrust, read your manual and learn about the TDE position and the No Wake Mode to make the use out of the equipment that is supplied with your boat. Raising the engine rpm via the no wake mode button while keeping the throttles in the TDE position, first detent, will dramatically improve the steering response of your boat. Next, your boat came with twin engines, learn how to split the throttles and use differential thrust, be sure and keep the steering wheel centered when doing that, and you will be amazed at the directional control you have around the dock. If you use the throttles together then use the steering wheel. If you can get the hang of using differential thrust and using the throttles together it will make docking a lot easier for you. The next biggest thing is to practice, practice, practice, I don’t care if you have TV’s or not, you still need to practice to get good at handling your boat in slow speed ops. So get out there and practice with your boat and use the features the boat came with. Your boat is never going to handle like a car, or a boat that has an outboard or I/O drive.

If you have the opportunity to practice in the wind do so. Also remember to always fight your enemy, so if at all possible, maneuver into the wind or current when docking, don’t depend on either to take you into the dock because if it goes sideways you will have a very hard time maneuvering out of that situation.

 

[HawaiiBreeze]

Congratulations on the new ride and welcome to "how to navigate a basketball on the water". The accessory aids will help but without them you can still do it and master it. The keys will be: Drop the bimini if applicable (it acts as a sail), Patience -"Slow is Pro", Situation Awareness of wind and tide and Repetition.

As mentioned above its better to fight into the wind than go with it. For example out here during docking the wind & current can push you farther and faster than you can compensate for with the motor/steering and if you pass the intended tie/cleat point it feels like you're going to nose into the ramp and panic sets in. If you're prepared for this then a simple reverse into the wind puts the steering end into the wind (boats steer from the stern) and you can reverse back to your cleat/tie off point.

Good Luck and practice your docking as often as you can.