He Reigns Mon Ark project

[He Reigns]

I cut the boat hull and fit the jet ski hull today. My plan worked pretty good. My boat has formed front to back ribs, I think they are call strakes? Which gave me room in the front of the jet intake to make a small spoon. I worked it with a makeshift dolly and hammer. We wanted to completely bolt it together with sealant today but I did not have the correct length bolts. So we got all holes drilled and made the bottom support straps and lightly bolting it together with odds and end bolts. It went together great! The spoon runs into the jet intake nice and smooth, the only thing in the way now is the bottoms support straps. I will probably smooth this area out with fiberglass. I think I can have this running in the water this coming weekend.

 

[He Reigns]

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[Ranchero50]

Looks good. Is that aluminum strapping from a rubber roof on the bottom?

My only concern is with the pump so far up in the hull you may have trouble ingesting air at speed. Hopefully the ski's bottom design will work as a spoon (install looks good in the pics).

 

[He Reigns]

The flat stock is 1/8" x 1" I picked up at hardware store. The front part of the spoon looks like a spoon. That is what I hammered out. Then you hit the jet ski and it is more of a V with a flat area that loads the pump. The transition is really smooth other than the flat stock. I will test it like this and if the shape needs changed I will use the old street sign to do that. When I am content with the shape and function I will fiberglass overlay the whole area. I know the pictures suck. I will make sure to show that area in the next YouTube video.

 

[He Reigns]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnGfh1dq1Z0&feature=youtube_gdata_player

This video shows in detail what my spoon looks like. It is about 2" below the flat part of hull and about 1" below the strakes. I'll call this a mini spoon for now. I think in a perfect situation it needs to be wider and the jet ski V shape just in front of intake needs to be more round like a spoon.

 

[bnt5]

I agree with your proposal to run it first then see how bad she cavitates. I think the flat stock will induce turbulence into the intake, but without testing it who knows...you might be on to the perfect design. One thing I noticed on the ski hull, when you tighten down the inside edges to your stringers it might spread the engine mounts apart just enough to make it an absolute pain to install, so maybe just install engine temporarily when you fasten the fiberglass edges to the boat that way it can't spread out? Can't wait to hear how she runs!

 

[He Reigns]

Bnt5, I understand what you are saying. I will keep it in mind. Did not get to work on it last night, I managed to buy all the hardware today at lunch time so I hope to have it permanently installed in the next couple days. For reference I now have 21 hours of research and 17 hours of work time into this project. The work time is with 2 people. If I was doing it by myself I would be over 30 hours.

 

[He Reigns]

Some random pics, I pulled the impeller, its a stock Polaris with a couple small nicks, I'll file it to sharp when installing. I hit the area that it getting sealed together with wire brush on a grinder. I weighed the jet ski hull with the pump installed just to see, came out at 90 lbs.

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[He Reigns]

Got to work right after getting home. Used 1 inch aluminum angle iron to trim out the jet pump housing. Caulked it up good while doing it. Then we installed the motor. My buddy and I picked it up and set on the gunnel changed position to inside the boat and set it on mounts. We had to change some shims around to get the drive shaft perfectly centered for the impeller. Reinstalled the exhaust and started to place fuel and oil tanks in empty areas to see how it was all going to fit. The top of the expansion chamber is exactly even with the top of the gunnels. I managed to get a 48" x 48" piece of aluminum that will become the majority of the back deck. Tomorrow is framing and mounting controls.

 

[He Reigns]

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[PSG-1]

Looking good! =D>

Once you get the engine/pump installed, the rest of the project will be pretty easy, as it's just a matter of hooking up hoses, wires, and control cables. You may need to extend them. If so, be sure to use marine grade wiring, and use the heat-shrink splice connectors for your wiring, for best reliability. Teleflex CC633-series cables for the control cables, except for steering, that should be a CC6400 series, you really don't want to use the smaller 633-series for this.

The engine and pump installation is the biggest PITA, and it's why when people ask me how much for a boat like mine.....I tell them that I would charge no less than $2000 to install an engine and pump (welded tunnel for bolt-up pump configuration) When people hear the price, they usually hang up, or they decide not to do it. Oh, well. I'm not in business to give my **** work away. Spoolguns don't run for free, and argon bottles don't fill themselves back up for free, either.

Had one guy that didn't like my price, tell me that he'd found someone to do the whole thing for about 600 bucks. I've yet to see any youtube videos, or any internet postings about THAT particular boat!!! And we probably won't. Any welder who would take on that type of project for that price, is obviously working at crackhead rates, not AWS-certified welder rates. LOL

 

[bnt5]

Put it in the water already!!! The suspense is killing me! :lol: So far it's looking really good, I am now considering an aluminum build based on how yours' turns out. Just biding my time to snatch up the correct jon boat hull...so far it looks like $1500 is about what a decent hull and trailer are going for on CL. Maybe I'll get lucky and find one cheaper. Maybe I shouldn't be looking for a jon boat hull in the middle of fishing season......hahahaha

 

[PSG-1]

LOL!! Yeah, you will definitely find a better deal on a boat during the middle of winter. This time of year, the price doubles on boats people are trying to sell, at least, that's how it is around here.

 

[He Reigns]

Put it in the water already!!!

It will go to the water this weekend. I would splash it now but I kinda need controls. Some how vicegrips clamped on to ends of cables does not seem safe. As to your boat, don't be in a hurry, the right boat will come along eventually. In my area, flat bottoms prices stay high almost year around. In summer fisherman grab them up and in winter duck hunters grab them up. We have lots of rivers that you have to run flat bottoms with jet pumps. V hulls are cheap in winter.

 

[He Reigns]

Well she is done enough to put in the water. Gas tank has good mount but need better bungee cord mounts, oil tank seems ok where it is mounted. The electronics box is about right. The battery is not in permanent location because I need longer cables, but its mounted to test run. The forward bulkhead is close to done. Steering is mounted. I still need to mount reverse lever, the choke cable, start switch. Everything is hooked to motor so I can use it. The things not mounted are laying on floor. Many hoses and wires need shortened. I'll try and do another video in the morning before going to church, after church she gets wet......hopefully only on the outside.

For reference so far we have 29 hours of two guys working on it and 22 hours of research.

 

[He Reigns]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhM_aAaMHso&feature=youtube_gdata_player

A little walk around that shows my progress. Hitting the water this afternoon!

 

[He Reigns]

Well, not a perfect first outing. Learned a few things though. First off I have a decent leak somewhere, took on 5 gallons in 20 minutes. So that needs addressed. Secondly, it runs great for 20 seconds at a time full throttle then dies, I believe its a fuel deliver issue. I will replace the fuel filter and simplify the 5 hoses coming out of fuel tank. Thirdly, my gauge does not work. Pretty common for my jet ski, needs a fuse replaced. Over all it was a ok first outing, not long but learned a few things. We had it loaded to max with extra tools, batteries and what nots and we guessed 35 mph and I think it has more in it when running WITH fuel. I also has some cavitations issues. Those 2 flat stock bars on the spoon are coming off. Next test is Tuesday evening.

 

[PSG-1]

Outstanding! Don't be discouraged by a few bugs, as I think every one who has built a jet john had to go back and fine-tune something.....none of us got it exactly right on the first attempt, at least, I know I didn't. But the main thing is taking the initiative to put something like this together, and actually see it run, and the satisfaction that comes from that.

I have no doubt that you'll get it fine tuned, and running like a champ, as it sounds like you're off to a good start, other than a few minor issues that are typical of these types of projects.

 

[Ranchero50]

Ditto =D>

You still have a lot of opportunity for dumb stuff to happen. #-o

Didn't sink the boat and made it past 20mph is a huge achievement for the first time out.

 

[He Reigns]

Thanx guys, it was not a total disaster. Like I said, I learned a few things which is valuable when trying to get a project completed. I was pleasantly surprised on how good the motor ran when it had fuel. I believe with less then an hours work she will be running pretty good. I am not concerned with the fuel issue or the leaking issue as those are easy to fix, I am more concerned with the cavitation issue as it will take more time to sort out, but will be fixed eventually.

Funny....after my brief test we grabbed my friends boat to go fishing, it developed a fuel issue as well. We think the fuel/oil pump need a rebuild. So after all of this boating we managed to get a little fishing in. Caught only one keeper bass and two smaller bass. Like I said, overall not a bad day!!!