Adding an adjustable SHOE and RIDE PLATE to a JET BOAT

[@AutoTechNick]

The little bit of planning I did early on paid dividends for this part of the build. I could have had more work ahead of myself with exposed transom wood at the boat's keel. Fortunately, when I installed the transom, I saw the potential for this issue and adapted my plan to prevent it. And it is a good thing that I did! ~ Nick

[@eliminator1978]

Great videos! I think these are some of the only jet boat content on KZbin. Thanks for bringing us along, it’s hard enough work without trying to film.

[@AutoTechNick]

Glad you like them!

[@Robert-mn8gc]

The Berkeley Jet Pumps are Gr8 👍 The Dominator is a Stronger Pump. U can also have them Heat Treated 4 even more strength 💪

[@billymcfuggin7549]

Looks great, nice job on everything. I was happy you mentioned looking off center, the perfectionist in me was going off when I was looking at it. Old jet boat dude see things : )

[@AutoTechNick]

Good eye! I don’t want to admit how much time I’ve spent starting at it, and measuring…. It is deceiving!! ~ Nick

[@waynewrite1497]

Thank you for these videos !!! I'm working on my 16 foot Tahiti and these videos are so helpful. I'm installing a jetovator, and your instructions are what I was looking for!!

[@AutoTechNick]

Thanks Wayne. It’s good to hear that the videos are helping guys out. I felt that there was a significant gap of content for jet boats, so I am doing what I can to close that and help others! Best of luck with your project!! ~ Nick

[@johnkustra1684]

Just another idea for you. I also just did this with the set back method and i used the fiber fill putty and put several coats of parting wax for fiberglass molds 25:34 on the intake mixed up the putty and applied heavily where the intake sits, set the intake in the hull, scrape off the excess and next day popped out intake and a perfect mold exact match to the intake. Easy way for sealing and also being able to remove if necessary . Just some insight that is working for me. Cool vids watched them All 10 time's.

[@AutoTechNick]

John, thank you very much for the support in watching the videos!! It is greatly appreciated. Sounds like you have a pretty slick setup with how you molded your intake to the hull! Thanks for sharing! ~ Nick

[@henrycow203]

Interesting, informative and entertaining. Subscribed! 👍

[@AutoTechNick]

💪 Thank you for the support!! ~ Nick

[@dannynewman6277]

Love these videos. Very thorough and detailed. Keep them coming!

[@AutoTechNick]

🙏 Thank you. There will absolutely be more videos in the future!

[@dennishartford2077]

Great job and attention to detail!!

[@AutoTechNick]

Thank you.

[@it426]

Thanks for another great video, keep em comin Nick!! Working on my 79 Southwind right now, hoping to get it done in the next couple weeks!

[@AutoTechNick]

Thanks Anthony. Summer already started… you better get her out on the water soon! ~ Nick

[@it426]

@AutoTechNick I'm getting antsy for sure! When you were going through everything, did you happen to look into coosa board for the stringers, or was that not an option due to the length? Thanks!

[@AutoTechNick]

@@it426 I briefly looked into coosa, but ultimately decided to stay with wood for ease and simplicity. ~ Nick

[@it426]

@AutoTechNick cool Going the same route but with 1/4 sawn, keln dried red oak. Thanks

[@jamiesonsime9197]

Watching you cut in to that transom after all that work… 😅 Great video!

[@AutoTechNick]

Yeah. Even though it was necessary and I knew I had to do it, it hurt a little. ~ Nick

[@fieldsken1]

Theres a measurement from the shoe to the top of the intake thats a good starting point. Its going to need a spacer. They all need at least one

[@johnfeola5284]

Thanks!

[@AutoTechNick]

Thank you John. Very much appreciated!! ~ Nick

[@greenbots1]

The old holes in the intake look like they’re for a “add a shoe and ride plate” kit from ARS marine or Hi-tech performance. It’s the easier way to get most of the performance of the shoe and ride plate without having to machine the intake. The shoe is molded to the shape of the intake and you just get it level with the bottom of the boat, drill and tap the holes, and your done. I opted for that on mine as I didn’t want to take on the project of removing the intake. Not adjustable so it’s a little less performance oriented but it still helped a TON in rough water with keeping the pump loaded. Curious why you went with the Berkeley over the dominator though! Although I don’t know that I could spend the money on rebuilding a pump if I had a new one sitting on the bench so I see at least that reason! Lol

[@AutoTechNick]

Okay, good question on why I chose to use the Berk pump. It really came down to the impeller that was in it. Our Dominator pump has an aluminum impeller. Also, the Dominator pump was in the boat since we got it in the 90s. The Berkely was a spare that came with the boat. The Berkley has a stainless steel impeller. Now for the longest time, the boat had a very mild 396 in it, so the impeller material was nothing to worry about. Now it will be running a well-built 496 with 625hp. So we are at a point where the stainless impeller would be a smart move, ESP, when we already have a pump setup with it. They are both A cuts, so one might consider putting the stainless impeller in the Dominator pump. But the previous owners built that Berkely pump to that impeller while they were racing the boat then. They cut down the face of the bowl and the registers on the shaft to tighten all the clearances. I just couldn't bring myself to undo all that work, then redo to get another impeller in that pump. At this time, I rather have the stronger stainless impeller than the stronger Dominator suction housing. I am hanging on to the Dominator pump. If my HP level starts to creep up past the 625 that I have now, I will likely buy a new impeller to build that pump up and swap them out. ~ Nick

[@AutoTechNick]

You are probably spot on with the add a shoe kits and funkiness I found on my intake. ~ Nick

[@allenweider1733]

I would have thought When you were installing intake. You would have made the bottom flush. Are you definitely added enough material to the inside. But that just me.

[@abarragan951]

Man ....i wish you could show the video of you setting the intake grate. Im rebuilding my 454 on my 90 advantage jet boat. I realized that the expoxy on the intake is old and cracked so it allows water in the bilge as soon as it gets in the river. Ii figured i should fix it now but im worried about not geting the level and degrees right. Im thinking about leaving the adjustment screws in place so i know its the set the way i removed. Unfortunately i cant find no other videos showing how to set it. Great channel love your stuff

[@AutoTechNick]

I plan on making a detailed video outlining how to set the intake into the hull. I still have some work to do with my boat before I am ready to set the intake. So it will be a bit before I have the video out. Although it sounds like you might be doing your repairs sooner. ~ Nick

[@abarragan951]

Turns out my intake grate wasn't leaking. It was the packing rings. Ill fix those and put the motor back in and get on the water. After the season I'll pull the engine out and pull out the pump and grate and re set it and powder coat the pump. Your video will ve out by then hopefully. Your boat videos are awesome. Keep it coming nick

[@richardbeanii6662]

Good afternoon. So I just started watching these jet boat vids. Being a jet boat owner, I need to ask, doing all this work, why didnt you set the pump back 6"? That would make impeller changes and ski rope removal - clean out hole outside the boat - so much easier. It also will increase performance - alot.

[@AutoTechNick]

That is a very good question. I HEAVILY debated setting the pump back. I even bought the raw material needed to make a new transom cover. Setting the pump back is off the table for this round of repairs, but it is something that I may do later on down the road. I chose not to do it at this time for several reasons. The main one was I did not want to deal with the loss of strength in losing the back section of the keel. This boat is mainly used on lakes, not rivers, so it sees a lot of rough, choppy water. I did not want to worry about the epoxy on the intake failing. I also made many changes to the boat during this round of work... Mainly the shoe and ride plate added a droop and swapped to the Place Diverter from the Jet-O-Vater (that was actually a move in anticipation of doing a setback). I also cleaned up the bottom of the hull by getting rid of the water pickups. Honestly, that is a lot of changes, and I want to run the boat as is to see how they affected it. At the end of the day, this boat is more of a family lake cruiser, than a river racer. With the wife and young kids on the boat, we are not blasting around at high speeds. I am usually pulling a tube or skier. Keeping it fun and reliable was more important to me at this time. That is not to say that in a few years, I might set the pump back. I would really like to get the cleanout out of the boat and also be able to add a Jet Away. ~ Nick

[@danielyoung31]

Hope you checked the bottom to make sure you don't have a preformed hook built-in to the bottom of the boat, they put them in from the factory, cuz the ride plate will work incorrectly!

[@AutoTechNick]

I have. My hull has a slight hook on the sides, but I am good on the keel. Therefore it will not change or affect the intake and ride plate install. I would like to flip the boat and work the hook out of it at some point down the road. But that will have to be a project for another day. I need to finish the boat soon because the car projects are piling up on me! ~ Nick

[@danielyoung31]

Sounds good, I have rebuilt 10 jets then I got hooked on v drive boats, enjoyed working on all of them!

[@scottfoxwell9112]

Great video and nice work but I never heard any reference to the angle of the intake in the boat in reference to the keel. That may have been one of your issues at the back of the pump but otherwise good job.

[@AutoTechNick]

Well, I did touch on it. I mentioned that I set the bottom of the keel to level. The intake housing has a 4-degree difference from the pump mounting flange to the hull mounting flange. So, if I level the keel of the boat, and level the intake (referencing the intake to hull flange) then the pump mounting flange will be at the desired 4 degrees. Once I am finished gelcoating the bilge and get to mounting the intake for the last time, I will make a video in more detail covering the install. ~ Nick

[@fieldsken1]

It is out if alignment. They just stuck thim in. If you measure it right its not centered. I cant remember the last time i saw one that was centered

[@fieldsken1]

The intake should be set at 4* in relation to the hull. Make sure the hull is flat

[@AutoTechNick]

Correct.

[@johnkustra1684]

I'm also in this process You set the intake at zero degress. Did you also have the hull set up on jack stands at zero degress?

[@AutoTechNick]

Yes, the hull was also set to zero degrees when I did this work.

[@Ariesgow78]

Nice to see you working on the boat again what was the huge mistake though

[@AutoTechNick]

Murray, the work on the boat doesn’t stop! It’s my #1 project. On average it takes about 3-4 weeks for me to get the work on the boat done, and get the video put together then uploaded. I wish I could be turning these videos out weekly, but I just don’t have the time to support that at the moment. ~ Nick

[@Ariesgow78]

I always wanted to do a boat build I have leaned alot thanks

[@noeldrach7956]

Looks great. What motor ?

[@AutoTechNick]

I am running a pump gas 496 BBC, 10.5:1, mild solid roller, AFR 305 heads, making 630hp.

[@noeldrach7956]

@@AutoTechNick what sort of speed do you think you'll see?

[@AutoTechNick]

That is really hard to say or guess. I added a droop, shoe and ride plate. I previously had a dominator pump with an aluminum “A” impeller, now running a Berkeley with a stainless “A”, inducer and stuffer. I also eliminated the old water pickups off the bottom of the hull. Oh, yeah…. and went from a Jet-O-Vator to a place diverter. Soo lots has changed. I don’t have a good reference from before hand, this 496 was briefly in the boat years ago, but I was running a 396 before the teardown. At this point I’ll just be happy to be back on the water. 😂 ~ Nick

[@fieldsken1]

Should of put the dominator back in

[@AutoTechNick]

If the Dominator had a stainless impeller, I would have. Eventually, down the road, I will rebuild the Dominator and swap the Berk out. But for now, it'll be just fine.

[@jaredstafford5565]

NICE...

[@fieldsken1]

It probably had a set back intake and someone took it out thats why its so thin That boat is to big for a droop. You need a straight snoot

[@dewholdingsllc1050]

Seems like you are OCD when it comes to the hardware restoration and getting it exactly correct but neglecting the boat’s structural integrity. Hmmm maybe you are not exactly correct about water not mattering on the inside of all boats, but you had to rebuild the entire inside of this boat from the result of effects from water penetration into the wood fibers and destroying it all. I don’t follow the reason why you restored everything with wood? Not composite materials. I assume it was in a prior post? My experience with boat restoration projects is not to use any wood unless you want to be redoing it some day. If you are going to restore any boats and use wood you must treat it with penetrating epoxy resin. In addition to the entire wood structure you must also remove any hardware that you install and treat all penetrations in the wood with penetrating epoxy resin.