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My brother Philip and I decided around August / September '98 that we would get a jet boat. After looking around for quite a whileand talking to a few people we decided to build our own. We placed our order with Ted Sagar at Rivercraft Marine and took delivery in early '99. With just a bare hull it took quite some time to put it all together. Just as well I took three weeks leave to get a good start.There is a lot of prep work involved before you can put on the final coat of paint. Then there is all the fitting out which I guess looking back is thefun bit as I didn't like all the sanding at the pre-paint stage. In August 2000 we converted it to LPG.

In October 2000 the 350 dropped a valve and sent the motor into destruction mode. The only thing left was my inlet, exhaust and starter motor. I changed to a 383 because I had to get the old crank crack tested and cleaned up... a new one seamed the best option as it increased the compression. Now about10.9:1

Philip, Waiau river
North Canterbury
August '99.

Specifications

Hull: 4.5m Rivercraft marine, alloy construction with teflon keel plate.
Unit: 212 Hamilton Jet with a 2.8KW Turbo impeller. (yes 2.8)
Engine: 383ci, Chev Scat Crank, roller rockers, 67cc heads
Hypereutectic FT Claimer pistions, 600 Holly
Seating: 5
Fuel capacity:Petrol: 80 L under floor 70 L rear. LPG 75 L
Fuel usage: 25L per hour cruising.