How are past conversions holding up in a salt enviorment ? Just wondering.

What about attaching the lower half of a jet-ski in the tunnel???

Bulldog aka Ronnie

PS If this is actually a good idea and someone does this, they owe me a ride in the boat.

Howard Arneson uses 2 jet ski motors in his for slow speed maneuvers, one in each sponson. He probably has more salt water time on his turbines than anyone-I suspect he would be the one to ask. I know they need to be "compressor washed" regularly but I think that's more of a carbon/soot thing than a salt problem. Just think how cool it would be to fresh water flush that back at the marina:D Might start small weather fronts though:p

Ted - I saw the ITS boat docking at RedEye's this summer. You could hear the hot ends slow down and stop as he applied the brake to shift them. It all went fairly smoothly, but I'm sure that he has some experience behind the wheel... The unlimiteds used to use this same system for starting the engines at the dock and holding the prop still so the boat didn't take off right away.

Noise at idle? Anyone been behind 900SC's with dry pipes lately?

Okay, the thruster idea with a twist:

Mount the thrusters in the aft "outside" corners of the sponsons at a 45 degree angle. Put the tunnels in as high as possible but low enough to avoid sucking air while maneuvering.

This way, both in "forward" will move forward, both in "reverse" will move reverse. Opposing directions will rotate the boat.

Obviously a 45 angle will reduce the effective thrust component but the advantage in maneuvering should more than offset that reduction.

You could use the 24 volt thrusters and use custom "two step" joysticks that would offer low (12v) and high (24v) depending on how far you push the sticks.

Electric thrusters would offer the cleanest installation, but they take some substantial batteries (usually around 1000 ah).

Hydraulic thrusters will require a 15 horse power source. That will probably outweigh the batteries (but maybe not).

Anyone seriously considering a Gas Turbine boat really needs to see Doug Lewis at Professional Marine in Brick NJ. I saw the setup he is doing for John Wolley’s 50’ Cougar Cat. This is sweet, no holes in the bottom of the boat to feed water to “Jet Ski” motors. No outboard engines trying to tear itself off the back of the boat, No Gasoline tanks and Gasoline/oil mix. The maneuvering engines will burn the same fuel as the Gas Turbines, and the # 6 drives will be shifted around docks just like any #6 boat. The best part is you will be allowed to dock anywhere, the Gas Turbines won’t be running, and the fire/burn risk is non-existent.

Philip

I can see there are many ways to skin the cat here, I really love everyones help on this one. I want the boat to be friendly around the docks. If you notice most everyone agrees that the tubine part is no problem but the idling problem is the tricky part.

Ok now who's boat should these turbines fit into?

They seem to work better in big boats, both for the space and for the ability to resist blow-over. Since the power is there a big boat can still reach very high speeds and extra stringers, bulkheads, etc. can be added to take the strain of the powerplants.

Nor-Tech 0r Skater? I don't know if Randy MTI is building big enough:D