Jet Drive on a C-Dory?

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BlueEcho2

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C Dory Model
22 Cruiser
Vessel Name
Blue Echo 2
Does anyone have any experience using an outboard jetdrive on a C-Dory 22?

I use to own a CD22 a few year back - BlueEcho. It was fitted with twin 40HP Hondas. Great set-up. My wife got pregnant and we needed an new SUV more than the boat, so I sold BlueEcho to some nice people up in Maryland. Well my kids are a bit older and I am back in the market for a CD. However I have moved from the Texas Gulf Coast to Virginia. I plan to use the boat mostly in the Potomac River, especially the upper end were depths often drop to less than 2 feet. So this time around I am considering an outboard jet drive. Honda makes one based on the 90HP power head. Does anyone have any feedback on how well this set-up will work?

Thanks
 
There's another thread here that discusses this from another angle. Click here.

Warren
 
most jet boats are made for a jet engine and are designed to turn with a jet. This is done with strakes or hard chines on the bottom of the hull. the c-dory does not have much in the way of strakes and only a small hard chine. I dont know if its enough to make it safe. the jet its self does a lot of the turning but the starkes keep it from sliding out of control. hope this helps.
 
Weight of the c-dory is another factor, there are some great boats out there designed around the jet. Alumacraft, Weldcraft, Predator Jon, North River, Wooldridge, Duckworth and at least a hundred others make great jet boats.
Mike
 
I suspect that you will not be happy with the proformance of the CD 22 with a jet lower unit. I run my boats in 18" of water, with motors up, to get over a sand bar. When running regularly in shallow water, I will usually use a kicker, since the boat is at displacement speed, you can keep the prop up above the bottom of the hull.

I would not run a C Dory at planing speed in 2 feet of water--too much risk of hull damage, as well as jet drive damage, plus the sand and gravel pick up from the jet unit. But these are personal feelings.
 
Here is a bracket that would allow the prop drive to do almost as well as a jet pump in shallow water. And still have all the great advantages of a prop outboard. The benefit here is that when you raise and lower the engine the prop and thrust angle remain parallel to the boats bottom. Thus giving much better control.

http://www.portaproducts.com/index.html
 
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