Jetboater-TB said:
I've spent a few weeks with my jet in the back bays at Chincoteague VA. Never saw another jet boat, and got lots of funny looks. Like any water, if you don't know the area real well you can get in trouble. I ran out of water a few times and shut it down for fear of something bad happening.
Sounds kinda like the Currituck Sound near the NC/VA border. Really shallow, especially where it goes into Back Bay NWR/False Cape SP.
It's always important to know how to 'read the water', but even more so with a jetboat, because, without a lower unit to act as a depth limiter, it's very easy to keep running until you run out of water. And trust me, coming to a sudden stop in a jetboat is not a smooth stop by any means. Unlike hitting bottom with an OBM, which has some give, if you ground the hull, it's a larger surface coming into contact with the bottom....get ready to slam into the console or even be ejected from the boat!
Polarized glasses and a sharp lookout at all times! Also, using google earth to do a little recon of the area sometimes helps, if you know how to read terrain from satellite images. Anytime I go to a new area, this is one of the first things I do.
Sand, mud, and even some occasional oyster shells won't give you too much trouble if you're just running across it for a few seconds. Sitting in shallow water while idling is another story, this will quickly foul a cooling system.
However, I think the WORST conditions you can encounter in the marsh with a jetboat.... is when there are full moon tides, and there are mats of dead floating spartina grass the size of small parking lots.
This stuff is impassible, even with a regular outboard, and when it comes to regular OBM's, running through grass will chew up a water pump impeller quicker, and to a much worse extent, than using it to dredge sand and mud. (I know this from personal experience) But at least with an OBM, you can shift gears in the opposite direction and throw the grass off the wheel. You don't have this luxury with a jetboat, as the prop only spins one direction at all times. Even with a stomp grate, enough grass can make it through the grating to foul your impeller, and bring you to a halt.