Got my new birthday present a few weeks early (what a wonderful wife I have). Bought it from a dealership in Montana,so now I have to pay a grand here in Idaho before I can even register it (Montana doesn't have a sales tax..and I could rant a whole page about this alone)...Anyhow I have never driven a jet before so I figured I would take it up to Rire for a few test runs before hitting the Snake. Any tips on learning how to drive this thing would be greatly appreciated!![inline "jet boat.JPG"]
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Congrats! Biggest thing to get used to if you've had prop boats is you have zero ability to turn without giving it some throttle, also The acceleration is going to be different. Best comparison is it will handle. Like a big jet ski.
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Very nice!
Windriver
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Stay in the throttle when it gets skinny even if it makes you nervous.
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I main suggestion just be careful, run area's you know you can, than hopefully you can find somebody too teach you a thing or two about reading water in low water and high water, always drive in the boils, ripples are bad.... and weeds are really bad, be careful, it is easy too get yourself in trouble, I know, I have on several occasions till I got used too a jet and how too read a river.......
Matt
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From my experience you have to be very carefull with sucking up rocks and debri into the bottom of the jet foot. The jet pump will suck up small pebble gravels, wood chunks and other debri and affect your power output if not stop your cold. Remedy is to to disasemble the jet foot and clean out. Have fun.
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Best advice I have is when you start to get nervous and feel you should slow down give her all shes got. It takes a while to get use to and your definatly going to hit some stuff!
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A couple came to mind, always go up something before you go down it. It's a lot easier to shut her down and be safe if it get to shallow going up river........not easy in the reverse situation.don't drive and site see. That's for your passengers. Total focus should be on the river and reading the water. Set ground rules for passengers about doing things that can distract you while driving, if they don't follow them cross them off the future invite list. Stuff can hit the fan at a high rate of speed on the water so its okay to be anal about peoples safety. And like has been said don't be afraid to hammer down. Your boat will plane better under full power.
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Thanks all you guys for the tips and advice..Hope to take it out Wednesday for the first outing...Blacktail is 12 miles up the road but I may opt for the other end of Ririe..I don't need to be worried about water skiers, jet skis, tubers while I figure this thing out....Thanks again!!
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