After a winter of tinkering I thought I’d post some pictures of my boat in its current state.
The interior is sprayed in Rhino Lining.
My overall goal with the design was to get the console the heck out of the way for when I am fishing.
It is hard to get the true scale with pictures so I put my 2 fishing chairs in place to show where two people
would be sitting when fishing. They can be folded up and out of the way in a second.
The boats beam is 96″ and that is the key to its success.
Headlights, in and out.
I had to do some modification to the console rod holders to fit cat rods with big butts. There is room for 2 rods on each side.
12 volt outlets on each side in the rear of the boat for pluggin in airators or blacklights or whatever.
Cutting board that fits into a rod holder base and hangs over the side of the boat.
Here is a wide shot where you can see the outlets and the cutting board.
Looks like a sweet rig that can get the job done very comfortable.
If I could make one recommendation. Loose that Packer sticker on the Motor, you don’t want to be displaying bad luck signs.
J/k 
(Sorry I couldnt resist. My wife and Inlaws are from Eau Clair and I never hear the end of the Packers).
Nice rig though.
thanks for sharing pics.
Larry
That looks like a sweet boat. 
How does that ride with the console so far forward?
I’ve driven standard versions of the same boat and I notice no difference.
The Coast Gaurd sticker on the hull says 12 persons max so moving that
100 pound console for a few feet makes no difference.
I do think the is a psychological difference though because from that driving
position you can see so much more of what is in front of you.
Driving other boats now seems a little strange.
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The Coast Gaurd sticker on the hull says 12 persons max so moving that
100 pound console for a few feet makes no difference.I do think the is a psychological difference though because from that driving
position you can see so much more of what is in front of you.
I see your point on both items. I bet that is nice for getting off the water at 2 AM with the added visibility.
RB…I’ve scoured the photo’s and the only thing I see missing is…
CAT JUICE!
I can see a lot of thought and experiance went into your cat ride…Nice Job! 
Love the forward console…and I’m betting you’re getting some outstanding mileage with that suzi. 
How fast?
I am no performance guy but with 2 guys, anchors and fishing gear etc…
the GPS says 45-47 mph without really playing too much with the power jack plate.
Brian, of corse you can’t see any cat slime, rule #1 was No Carpet.
BTW, I am not 100% sure, but I think you were within 100 yards of an up close look at this rig the other night.
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…without really playing too much with the power jack plate.
How shallow can you run when this is jacked and trimmed all the way up?
Jacked all the way UP and trimmed all the way DOWN the skeg hits things when the depth finder reads 1.6 feet at idle speed.
There is slough I go into that is right around that 1.6-2.0 foot range, if I go in on plane I never touch.
Some times I just get up a little momentum and trim the motor out of the water and bump over branches and things in the water. If you look at that picture of the back of the boat you can see the scum line is only about 6-8″ at the boats deepest point.
There is only one thing I’d change on that wood chipper…..
jetcat and other jet guys, I am putting together a order for a new 18′ crestliner CJX or CXJ (something like that, the welded V-hull flat bottom bay boat style) I have the boat all figured out; center counsel, no carpet, two remote adjustable 10 mill lights, rod holders all over, way cool auto anchor system (still classified 
) cleats, fold down cutting board etc etc. What I am concerned about is the jet unit. I have only found one company that appears to make a decent unit and I was wondering what type of power head to drive it with. Are some outboard makes better suited for jets then others? What options do I have for jet units, and what makes have you guys had good luck with? let me know- [email protected]
All the conversion units outboard jets make are model/brand specific each one is engineered and sized to the specific powerhead it is fitted to. Two strokes are better out of the hole and most industry people who sell both will tell you they (two strokes) make the better powerhead for outboard jet applications.
The boat you are using makes a huge difference in performance. And in my opinion the crestliner you mentioned without a jet specific tunnel hull would be a poor choice. An outboard jet needs a flat apron of water directly off the stern of the boat to get an effective intake stream for the jet. The boat you mentioned has a 10 deg. deadrise at the transom so the water would be coming off the stern in a slight V, it probably would work just not very well. My boat an 1872 SeaArk has 9 deg. deadrise but has a flat, shallow (jet specific) tunnel hull in the center to provide my jet with a flat turbulence free stream of water.
Lowe offers a good tunnel option on all but the smallest roughnecks, alumacraft just came out with a jet tunnel 1760 but it’s more bass oriented. Another new player is the new G3 jet tunnel 1760 with the console already pushed to the front and a cat friendly layout. And of course SeaArk makes some nice jet specific tunnel hulls as well.
Spend more time on finding the correct boat than motor, in my opinion. There are quite few unhappy outboard jetters out there that didn’t do their homework.
And of course there is always the nice riverpro inboard jets too, the interior layout doesn’t suit me, but they have quite a few happy customers on this site.
Any more questions just ask.
Jason.
The dead rise issue came up already with the Crestliner and it is being modified to accept the jet. The last four feet of the center keel is being removed and a plate is going to be installed that is three feet long to smooth out the water for the jet and help reduce the spray and drag from high points of the V. The reason I’m going with the Crestliner is directley realated to the dealer or more like I’m directly related to the dealer. 
I have looked at the G3 options and I am very impressed with those also. I have thought about the River Pro many times but every time I lean towards one I decide I would rather have something I can put a prop on if I end up going on a extended trip to a lake. I do like the nice job on the boat above, that is a perfect set-up.
Sounds like you are on the right track. That being said my next bit of advice would be to max out the horsepower rating. The standard way to adjust the horsepower of the motor with a jet is to reduce the prop horsepower by @ 30%
my 150 is a 105 a 115 would be an 80 and so on. With a jet you can not put a lower pitch impeller on, like you can a prop…so make sure you have all the power you’ll ever need.
Also make sure you have the jet foot at the correct height behind the boat. Most jet set-ups will have a 25-27 inch transom. So you would want to buy a 20 inch shaft length motor, with the conversion you will achieve 25-27 “. I didn’t check but the boat you are considering probably has a 20″ transom, so you will need to have a transom riser fabbed up. On smaller boats you can circumvent this by finding a 15” shaft length motor, but larger motors usually don’t offer this.
If the jet foot sits too low it will spray like a mother, and you will lose speed. If it sits too high it will pull air and lose suction. I have mine set about a 1/4 ” above the trailing edge of the tunnel…as the water breaks upwards a bit after it leaves the tunnel, this postion works great on my boat, but experimentation is usually necessary.
Jason.
Are you getting rid of the Stratos or what? This is a big change from the 12′ john boat you were thinking of a few months ago 
Ralph, I was going to keep the missle boat until I took a ride in 18 foot boat with a jet in one foot chop and it was fine. Not fast and you are not going to do any fancing handling tricks but you can get fom point a to point b. I got to thinking now I can go crash into stuff on the river, still go chase musky ( I have become a fair weather musky guy in the last few years anyways) and I can finally hit some of those odd little muskie lakes that the 20′ Stratos wouldn’t fit on the ramp or even the road in for that matter. Plus I don’t really need two boats sitting around when I can do all with one.
JetCat, I already took the horse power deal into consideration. I even called the Jet company and talked to a techy about the wieght and boat type and he figured a 90hp would be fine fully loaded with live well water, fuel, gear and dudes. As for the jackplate I found a screw adjustable 14″ jackplate with zero set back. That way I can lift the outboard for the jet and fine tune it. Then pull the pins and screw it down if I decide to put the prop on.
that jackplate will work great especially is it has zero setback…the further from the boat the crummier the apron of water gets.
Here I thought my name described my boat to a T, but I have to admit, youz guys have Catillacs. I see a spot light, cutting board, and more rod holders going to the top of the list of my weekend chores.
I do bow down to your cattin genius. I may just have to add 22 inch rims to my trailer to gain some river cred back. I mean, I’d take’em off before heading out and use’em in place of my Richter anchor, but what a site it’d be to show up for the cat tourney at Evert’s with my trailer pimped.
Catillac, you need spinners dude!
It isn’t in the garage yet. I’m hoping to have the order filled by fall so I have all winter to customize, modify, weld,and just tink with.
It is going to be hard to go from 65mph down to 30mph, most likely a good idea as I myself get older and slower.
RB, What brand boat is that and where can I find one?
I found my nearest dealer and had a Bayrunner semi-custom built.
RB, now that you have some water under your float.
What would you change in your set up and what do you really like about the set up….besides the awesome cut bait holder?
I really wouldn’t change anything at this point. I spent well over 5 years and fished out of dozens of boats while making notes on very specific features that I liked.
Such as resisting everybody’s urging to get the big 40 gallon livewell. I really have never needed one that big. I knew I would be losing a storage box because of my console placement. So I went with dual 14 gallon live wells and I keep one sealed up for a storage box. I would really be kicking myself if I was stuck with a huge livewell full of hundreds of pounds of water with 12 bullheads in it and no place to keep my tackle.
The best thing about it is that it is 8 feet wide and has no fixed seats or seat bases to trip on. You can really organize and set it up anyway you like. Wash it out with a hose etc… And the driving position and visibility is great. I can’t imagine driving a sit down console or a tiller anymore.
And it floats in very little water.
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to get the big 40 gallon livewell
That does seem to be over kill for bait…and since you are a catch and release type of guy, not really needed to transport fish. Good call!
I gotta bump this one just because that is one sweet river ride. Its huge! I’ve been day dreaming of an 1872 for a little while now…the wide platform is really appealing to me!
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