Gilera
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Not sure if I am in the right place here but would love to hear whether anyone has done something similar.
I am considering implanting a jet ski powerplant and jet into an older fibreglass boat. It seems that lots of people are doing this to aluminium boats these days but I could only find a few youtube videos of people doing it to a glass boat, mostly in a very half-assed way. I am not able to weld aluminium and would like to learn more about glassing. I have plans down the track to do up a larger fishing boat in the 18-21ft range and it would be good to practice on something smaller and less expensive.
My idea is something like this:
Use a mid 90's sea doo 2 stroke motor (85hp) and jet unit (with trim) and either glass in a portion of the original jet ski hull or make engine mounts in the boat and just cutout a hole for the intake/pump unit. The advantage to the first idea is that there should be less alignments issues but the advantage to the second idea is that the hull repair would not be absorbing all of the torque of the motor and the mounts could be tied into the stringers.
The motor is relatively simple compared to the later, more high power jet ski motors although they are all pretty highly strung. I am happier working on 2 stroke motors and have some experience in this and I already have the donor jet ski.
I need to find a suitable donor boat. The weight of the boat will be important to ensure decent performance. There are quite a lot of older "ski" type fibreglass runabouts that are pretty cheap in Australia and these are usually set up for forward controls already. They often need to have floor/transom replaced but I would have to cut up the floor anyway and the transom strength should be less important for a jet. Ideally I would like to fit 2 adults and 3 kids (perhaps a rear bench seat over the top of the motor cover) which would mean about 13ft minimum. I am worried that if I go much bigger it will end up underpowered. I guess a boat rated to 40-50hp outboard should be about right.
I would like some honest opinions on this - positive or negative. I would be using the boat for fishing in the rivers and estuaries and general family fun boating/towing tubes etc.
Any advice on free resources on glassing techniques or products also appreciated.
I am considering implanting a jet ski powerplant and jet into an older fibreglass boat. It seems that lots of people are doing this to aluminium boats these days but I could only find a few youtube videos of people doing it to a glass boat, mostly in a very half-assed way. I am not able to weld aluminium and would like to learn more about glassing. I have plans down the track to do up a larger fishing boat in the 18-21ft range and it would be good to practice on something smaller and less expensive.
My idea is something like this:
Use a mid 90's sea doo 2 stroke motor (85hp) and jet unit (with trim) and either glass in a portion of the original jet ski hull or make engine mounts in the boat and just cutout a hole for the intake/pump unit. The advantage to the first idea is that there should be less alignments issues but the advantage to the second idea is that the hull repair would not be absorbing all of the torque of the motor and the mounts could be tied into the stringers.
The motor is relatively simple compared to the later, more high power jet ski motors although they are all pretty highly strung. I am happier working on 2 stroke motors and have some experience in this and I already have the donor jet ski.
I need to find a suitable donor boat. The weight of the boat will be important to ensure decent performance. There are quite a lot of older "ski" type fibreglass runabouts that are pretty cheap in Australia and these are usually set up for forward controls already. They often need to have floor/transom replaced but I would have to cut up the floor anyway and the transom strength should be less important for a jet. Ideally I would like to fit 2 adults and 3 kids (perhaps a rear bench seat over the top of the motor cover) which would mean about 13ft minimum. I am worried that if I go much bigger it will end up underpowered. I guess a boat rated to 40-50hp outboard should be about right.
I would like some honest opinions on this - positive or negative. I would be using the boat for fishing in the rivers and estuaries and general family fun boating/towing tubes etc.
Any advice on free resources on glassing techniques or products also appreciated.
