Flats Skiff for Norcal Rivers?

[Darrin.Deel]

Has anyone heard of taking flats boats and bringing them to California and putting jet pumps on them? I am hopefully going to florida for a few years and was thinking about coming home with one of em...

http://miami.craigslist.org/mdc/boa/1076128602.html

http://keys.craigslist.org/boa/1059027579.html

[bearcrawl]

I would say they would be a little fragile for the rivers but just right for fishing Stripers in the Delta.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

I think they would be fine for fly fishing in the Delta or lakes too.

The first one looks good to me.

Not many on the west coast though.

[Darian]

From everything I've read and seen posted on this BB, jet powered boat engines are a very inefficient propulsion system for flat water. Flats boat hull designs aren't good for river running.... Seems like this would'nt be such a good idea....

[luckyt]

Darin, something to think about before you put a pump on a flats boat or any boat for that matter. As a general rule, if the bow has more than a 10 degree v the jet pump will be fighting for steerage. Additionally if the hull at the transom is not somewhat flat the pump will be sucking lots of air and be even more inefficient than normal. For powering the boat, remember that you loose about 30 % of your horsepower with the jet.

Bottom line in my opinion is that a flats boat is not a good choice for a jet pump. I have been running jet outboards for over 40 years and on the right boat and understanding the pros and cons they are still a great set up.