Project boat?

[08087]

The guy that lives next door to me has 3 older boating units, (let me explain). He has 2 old jet skis I think Yamaha that are pretty busted up. (2 young kids tend to do that without a parent watching over them.)
And the other is an older fiberglass pontoon boat.

The pontoons are flat bottom at the rear of the boat and he has this idea now that the kids are grown to remove the power from the jet skis and install them in the sponsons of the pontoon boat.

I guess it could work so long as they can breath and he keeps the water from getting in. He thinks these motors are about 60 HP 2 strokes each.

Any reason why he should not try? I could only say that the jets might not be strong enough to get the boat going to any real speed. And that if it were a good idea the boat companies would have done it a while ago.

[kerno]

First I said "don't go there", but what the heck. He's going to have to have access to work on the engines and he'd have to install stringers in the pontoons capable of taking the torque of the motors. So, unless he is good enough with glass to cut them open, install stingers, controls and steering and then design and fabricate a system of sealed hatches, it will remain a dream instead of an accomplishment. Sixty horses form older jetskis?

Bottom line: Can it be done? Sure. Yamaha and SeaDoo both make boats powered by their ski engines. Can he do it in his backyard and on his budget? Only he knows for sure...................

[yottyboy]

Why make a big pile of sh!t out of three piles of sh!t? Because we CAN! What a useless waste of time.

[OReely]

Hey, why break the man's stones! If he's a capable backyard tinkerer I say have at it. If it works, great. If not, oh well. He's out a few bucks and some time.

One thing I would suggest for safety. Partition the engine compartments from the rest of the pontoons and install blowers in each pontoon to remove gas fumes, after all, he's turning it into an gasoline powered inboard.

[Franco]

Maybe you could do surgery on the jet skis and cut away the section that supports the motors and jet pump and graft them onto the pontoon. Sounds like a neat project. Screw the naysayers, they laughed at Einstein!

[08087]

The guy is good with his hands and I have no doubt that he can make the needed changes I just wasn't sure if it would, um, fly!

He's got the time the biggest thing holding him back is he gets bored and may never finish it once he can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Good ideas about the blower and things, he's got all winter to dick around on it, I'll get back with a progress report if he gets underway.