Rudder? What am I missing?

[vetplus40]

As a potential (yet undecided jet boat purchaser) I am curious as to why somebody would want a rudder on a jet boat. I understand that having a rudder makes a jet boat handle more like a conventional boat, but isn't the jet boat handling characteristics part of what makes a jet boat rather unique? I am sure that there is more to the story than what I am understanding, but I thought I would ask.

 

[msavold]

Simply put, if the jets are not producing thrust, you have (practically) no steering. The rudder (and aftermarket fins) are designed to address this. That's also the reasoning behind Thrust Vector fins lifting at speed - they're mostly drag and reduce the advantages of jet handling. I believe - and someone please correct me if I'm wrong - Cobra fins disagree with the latter part of that and offer a fixed system.
Mine is a pre-rudder boat but I did add fins to it. First time my neighbor saw me spin it 180 degrees in our relatively narrow canal he yelled at me from his dock "how the hell did you do that?"!

 

[vetplus40]

I did a little reading on Cobra fins after seeing them mentioned on this forum. That said, having ridden Waverunners for some time, I am familiar with how a PWC type of jet craft handles. I guess it is conceivable that I would want something like that on a bigger craft like a boat.

 

[haknslash]

My boat has the rudder and you can still slide the backend around. It is a fun ride!

If you want a jet ski-like experience then you need to look into the older boats before Yamaha began maturing them to behave more like boats than oversized jet skis.

 

[Cobra Jet Steering LLC]

My Ultimate steering has numerous settings and the fins can be staggered so if someone wanted less steering in the full time mode they simply set the fins higher or they can stagger them on twin engine boats placing the outer fins higher and leaving the inner fins lower as those are not exposed to the water nearly as much at speed. You can also set the fins To stay in the water fully up to the point that the boat reaches planning speed where they would automatically retract and lift up during high speed operation and return to the water at slow speed or if the engines shut off.
All this is achieved with no parts between the fins dragging in the water UNDER the nozzles and by tapping into the energy of the water exiting the nozzle, for down at speed mode the water exits the nozzle and travels over the actuator to hold the fins down with a spring acting as a backup for when the engines shut off.
In the up at speed mode the actuator angle is changed and the actuator uses the same water flow from the nozzle to raise the fins up at speed and hold them up as long as the engines are running , again the spring pushes the fins back down if the engines shut off or the throttle is rapidly pulled back in an emergency you would still have steering.
Why do people use steering? You can go back in time and read some web site history.
I have been making patented steering for jet boats etc since I purchased one back in 2001 and I hated it.
Over the years I have heard from so many people who also hated their jet boat's lack of control.
I can honestly say that if you have experience driving a P W C you do not have the same experience when it comes to jet boats, example just you on a ski or you and 2 more big people on a ski just that small difference makes a big difference in handling .
Jet boats have a lot more mass and are very difficult to control where a ski can be leaned and pushed around a jet boat does what it wants.
It comes down to what people want from a boat and the fact that jet boats are becoming more of a utility boat and a family boat and the family wants to be able to operate it . Without having their total concentration focused on the helm and trying to get the boat to react to the helm instantly like regular boats.
After you operate a jet boat a short while you may understand, before I started making jet boat steering most jet boat manufacturers were going out of business because the market was so small, and the markup was small also as was the resale value.
Now jet boats are being purchased by many people who would have stayed away from them and all the regular boat forums did not even consider them a real boat they all talked bad about the lack of control on jet boats even today they probably still bad mouth them.
Do some research but from someone who has spent many years listening to the people say to me if your steering does not solve my problem with the new jet boat I purchased I am selling it and I don't care how much money I loose. That is something I heard on a daily basis year after year mostly from Yamaha jet boat owners. Once you sit behind the wheel of a naked real jet boat and move the wheel left right left right just to keep the boat going straight in a no wake zone or you decelerate too fast and the boat does a spin, or you get pushed around in a heavy traffic area from the wake of larger boats and you are helpless to do anything about it. You will immediately ask yourself How do I fix this. Or do what I did and ask yourself what the hell did I do buying this jet boat and how an I going to fix it or get rid of it