Jet Boat Marathon

[nut17]

I spent the day out following the second to last day of the World Jet Boat Marathon today and was able to witness the stunning performance provided by ex Vietnam War vintage Iroquois helicopter gas turbine power plants. These turbines are being purchased for $15K - $25K from military surplus in the USA and are relatively easy to modify to suit powering a racing Jet Boat. At full noise they run at 18000rpm and consume 12lt JET-A1 (kerosene) per minute, but produce between 1500 and 1800 horsepower depending on the model. Boats in full race trim and full of fuel have been timed at over 200Kph One of the turbine powered boats had a minor miss judgement today, left the river and went 400m before coming to a rest. Luckily there were no injuries and the boat will be back in the water for the final two race legs tomorrow. Photo shows turbine nestling in the hull. Did not manage to photograph one in action, but have a pic of a Chevy V8 powerd one in action.

Cheers Chris

[Dot]

That is one day out I wouldn't say no to

[Toolman]

trust the Kiwis to put a turbine into a Jet Boat

[T1 Terry]

I used to love watching the jet boats when they rce on Lake Illawarra along with the drag boat racing it was really something to see. Unfortunately they don't seem to hold any racing at all now, must have been a noise or safety issue. I remember watching a V12 Jag powered ski race boat doing preparations for the Classic Bridge to Bridge race in Sydney, it did sound sweet at full noise spinning at over 7,000rpm.

[Dot]

We had a Hamilton jet in NZ and they are the best ever fun machine, I have a pic but it has a naughty person in it as well so sorry no pic.

[dream4red]

Sorry, I have no pics either, but a very long time ago, my father built the very first jet boat on Lake Macquarie! Half of the boat was taken up by the old chevvy V8 donk and the actual jet unit he had to import from Canada (at least that is where I seem to remember it coming from) . With no ebay or computers for that matter, importing things like the jet unit, just as a private, non business transaction was unheard of in those days.
It was extremely noisy and the neighbours probably hated the old man when he roared up the lake to go fishing at 4AM, but it was just so fast.

[nut17]

The two photos below are of the jet boat that I built in 1999. It is 14' long, has a 12mm thick centre section in the bottom to ward off the rocks and is powered by a 1994 VR Commodore 3.8V6 running the computer out of the car. The jet unit is an American "Dominator" race type unit and I have been officially timed at 103Kph at 4600rpm. Scary stuff these days, particularly when meandering up a willow infested, shallow braided river.

I did attempt to raise the "fun factor" several years ago by taking a small side trip to Castlemaine after attending the Melbourne F1 GP and paying Rod Hadfield at The Castlemaine Rod Shop a visit and bringing home in my hand luggage a complete bolt on supercharger kit. This gave me another 1000 Rpm and 30Kph and was definitely outside my (and the boat's) comfort zone. The modification was short lived as I had under fuelling, creating detonation and quite serious engine failure. (But the grin factor while it was working will last for ever in my memory)

Cheers Chris