Does anybody have experience with a inflatable jet boats?

[Elite]

Wondering if anyone has real world experience with the solar and strihz jet boats? Looks like they take them some crazy places from the videos on YouTube. Looking for a boat that can run skinny and shallow water and get some places for Hunting and exploring


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[beachbunny]

check the the alaska supersite forum,there is good info there,

 

[Mt Al]

Admission: I personally do not. However, I have a 15' KaBoat and a few people have put 20hp jets on them. Mine has an old 20hp Merc, not good for shallow anything.

They're like a skinny Zodiac-style and they go in stupid shallow water with a jet. If you google search "KaBoat XL with Jet" or something like that, you'll see a few examples. Beachbunny's mention of the alaska supersite will come up. From what I understand, it takes some time to tune the trim and height - and you have to make your own jack plate.

 

[thinhorn_AK]

I’ve ridden in a kaboat with a small jet motor. It was pretty sweet actually.

 

[Dust Rider]

Check out the web site Mean Chicken. It’s for jet boating and there is a whole section on inflatable boats running small jets. A 12’ Zodiac with a 18 hp short shaft 2 stroke will go pretty skinny and are fun if the weight is kept down.
Edit: my 18hp is a prop not a jet head. You loose about 30% of total HP when converting from prop to jet head.
My river boat is a 20’ Wooldridge Alaskan II with a 225 HP Mercury outboard jet 2 stroke.

 

[fatbacks]

Wondering if anyone has real world experience with the solar and strihz jet boats? Looks like they take them some crazy places from the videos on YouTube. Looking for a boat that can run skinny and shallow water and get some places for Hunting and exploring


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I have a solar 420 with an old Johnson 2 stroke outboard jet. Kinda like a super cub - You can go a lot of places that are hard to get into, but you ain’t going anywhere fast. I’m sure I could drop a bigger outboard on there but then I couldn’t set it up by myself.

If I was going to do a long range trip with it I would want one boat for every guy and their gear and animals (this is referring to the small 420). I set mine up with a rowing frame so I could float hunt as well.

Lastly, I wonder if solar boats will keep showing up in America. I think they’re made in Russia and not sure if any sanctions will affect them

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[Dust Rider]

I have a solar 420 with an old Johnson 2 stroke outboard jet. Kinda like a super cub - You can go a lot of places that are hard to get into, but you ain’t going anywhere fast. I’m sure I could drop a bigger outboard on there but then I couldn’t set it up by myself.

If I was going to do a long range trip with it I would want one boat for every guy and their gear and animals (this is referring to the small 420). I set mine up with a rowing frame so I could float hunt as well.

Lastly, I wonder if solar boats will keep showing up in America. I think they’re made in Russia and not sure if any sanctions will affect them

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That is a sweet set up with the rowing frame!

 

[mtbkr]

Hopefully I'm not too offside by reviving an older thread... (Not enough privileges to send PMs yet.)

Fatbacks - how do you find floating with your 420 and rowing frame with 2 guys and gear? Is it fairly cramped even before getting an animal on board or not too bad?
I love this idea but I haven't used inflatables extensively at all. I know they have less room than an aluminum boat but not sure how big of a deal that really is.
I'm currently looking at a used 430 Superjet but am wondering if I'd be further ahead to accept a little more weight and go up to the 470.

(P.S. you're the first guy I've been able to find who has put a rowing frame on a Solar.)

 

[Southern Heritage]

We used a solar with a 30horse jet on my bear hunt. It was incredible on what that boat can do.

 

[mtbkr]

We used a solar with a 30horse jet on my bear hunt. It was incredible on what that boat can do.

That's awesome.
Was that a 30hp at the pump motor or a 30/20hp jet?
Any issues once you had a bunch of weight in it? (Say a couple guys plus gear and maybe a bear?)

 

[FranklinBluth]

I've got a 430 SuperJet. I figure I can get on step with about 900 lbs total in the boat (counting the motor) with my 25 horse Yamaha. The motor weighs 130 lbs, so that leaves ~770 lbs of humans/cargo. My guess is you're going to run out of horsepower before you run out of physical space in the boat. You may be able to get on step with a little more weight using a 40 horse, but I wanted a motor I could lift on and off by myself.

In hunting situations, I haul myself and another hunter plus camp and I'm pretty close to maxed out. I'd plan on extra runs with any amount of meat or additional hunters. When fishing, I can haul myself and two others with fishing gear just fine.

As for rafting - the oarlocks that the raft comes with are barely functional. If you are planning any amount of rowing, I'd look into a frame like FatBacks has.

 

[Southern Heritage]

That's awesome.
Was that a 30hp at the pump motor or a 30/20hp jet?
Any issues once you had a bunch of weight in it? (Say a couple guys plus gear and maybe a bear?)

That’s two grown men and a bear. I wasn’t in it for this bear. We used it to haul my bear out as well. We had 3 grown mean and pretty big bear.
As for the motor it was a mercury 30hp pull start

 

[mtbkr]

I've got a 430 SuperJet. I figure I can get on step with about 900 lbs total in the boat (counting the motor) with my 25 horse Yamaha. The motor weighs 130 lbs, so that leaves ~770 lbs of humans/cargo. My guess is you're going to run out of horsepower before you run out of physical space in the boat. You may be able to get on step with a little more weight using a 40 horse, but I wanted a motor I could lift on and off by myself.

In hunting situations, I haul myself and another hunter plus camp and I'm pretty close to maxed out. I'd plan on extra runs with any amount of meat or additional hunters. When fishing, I can haul myself and two others with fishing gear just fine.

As for rafting - the oarlocks that the raft comes with are barely functional. If you are planning any amount of rowing, I'd look into a frame like FatBacks has.

Thanks for this!
Is your Yamaha 25hp at the pump or at the powerhead?

 

[FranklinBluth]

Thanks for this!
Is your Yamaha 25hp at the pump or at the powerhead?

25 at the powerhead. Did two separate 50+ mile days last week on the Susitna River with a full load and averaged 6-7 miles per gallon of fuel. Ran up to 27 mph down stream, but had to seek out slower water going back up or I was stuck at 14-15 mph in the main channel. Could stay above 17 mph going upstream as long as I found slower/shallower water.

 

[CJ AK]

I've got a 430 SuperJet. I figure I can get on step with about 900 lbs total in the boat (counting the motor) with my 25 horse Yamaha. The motor weighs 130 lbs, so that leaves ~770 lbs of humans/cargo. My guess is you're going to run out of horsepower before you run out of physical space in the boat. You may be able to get on step with a little more weight using a 40 horse, but I wanted a motor I could lift on and off by myself.

In hunting situations, I haul myself and another hunter plus camp and I'm pretty close to maxed out. I'd plan on extra runs with any amount of meat or additional hunters. When fishing, I can haul myself and two others with fishing gear just fine.

As for rafting - the oarlocks that the raft comes with are barely functional. If you are planning any amount of rowing, I'd look into a frame like FatBacks has.

From the research I have done the Yamaha is a power head rating, so a 25hp would be 17hp at the jet. Tohatsu and mercury compensate for the jet loss. For example, a 40hp is really 40hp. Both use a 60hp power head.

 

[Yukon Cornelius]

Admission: I personally do not. However, I have a 15' KaBoat and a few people have put 20hp jets on them. Mine has an old 20hp Merc, not good for shallow anything.

They're like a skinny Zodiac-style and they go in stupid shallow water with a jet. If you google search "KaBoat XL with Jet" or something like that, you'll see a few examples. Beachbunny's mention of the alaska supersite will come up. From what I understand, it takes some time to tune the trim and height - and you have to make your own jack plate.

I own two Kaboats and haven’t played with the jet on one, but instead have xhosen to run longtails or short shaft props.

I haven’t found the right longtail size yet, but thinking it’ll be a 9hp on the Kaboat.


Using my Kaboat with a 9.9 hp I can tilt and putt up some shallow creeks.

I’ve ran it with 2.5-20hp and will explore with a 15hp next season.

I’m considering a solar because of what I’ve witnessed them do, but the cost…may not really be worth it, considering where my Kaboat has taken me.

 

[Yukon Cornelius]

Hopefully I'm not too offside by reviving an older thread... (Not enough privileges to send PMs yet.)

Fatbacks - how do you find floating with your 420 and rowing frame with 2 guys and gear? Is it fairly cramped even before getting an animal on board or not too bad?
I love this idea but I haven't used inflatables extensively at all. I know they have less room than an aluminum boat but not sure how big of a deal that really is.
I'm currently looking at a used 430 Superjet but am wondering if I'd be further ahead to accept a little more weight and go up to the 470.

(P.S. you're the first guy I've been able to find who has put a rowing frame on a Solar.)

I’m looking at solar and regular zodiac set ups right now. I want to go faster than my Kaboat and have a little more room than either of my Kaboats offer.

I’d take the heavy lifting power with limited floor space over a Jon boat with more room.

If you are in MatSu I know a guy that makes frames pretty darn affordable.

Ultimately, I’ll probably get an Achilles and a 40hp (though the 30hp tohatsu weighs 120lbs).

 

[Yukon Cornelius]

Admission: I personally do not. However, I have a 15' KaBoat and a few people have put 20hp jets on them. Mine has an old 20hp Merc, not good for shallow anything.

They're like a skinny Zodiac-style and they go in stupid shallow water with a jet. If you google search "KaBoat XL with Jet" or something like that, you'll see a few examples. Beachbunny's mention of the alaska supersite will come up. From what I understand, it takes some time to tune the trim and height - and you have to make your own jack plate.

Where are you running yours?
I went from a 15 to an 18’ this moose season. Pros and cons.

Might just post a thread detailing this past hunting season.

 

[Marbles]

A friend has one of the smaller Solars, we ran up some really skinny water, running over log jambs and through some very shallow stuff.

I don't have much experience with it, but it will certainly get you up some tight streams.

 

[Mt Al]

Where are you running yours?
I went from a 15 to an 18’ this moose season. Pros and cons.

Might just post a thread detailing this past hunting season.

Just on lakes in Montana. It's definitely not like a Lund or other fish/ski boat but the price is right! If I had a jet, would be running up the Yellowstone and Missouri.

Would love to hear about going to 15 to 18'.