Thread: 1974 jet drive
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Unread 11-26-2006, 09:52 PM
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Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Raleigh, NC
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Default Re: 1974 jet drive

I've worked on a lot of the older jet drives( Berkely, Dominator, Jacuzzi) in an odd array of boats. I had worked on a neat package in a 19 Grady that had a hi perf smallblock with a berkely drive, it worked pretty good, seen some of the Chrysler boats with their own jet pump( never worked on one). The biggest problem with the jets was they needed a lot of torque to make them work( small blocks were barely enough) most of them worked better with big blocks( the jets ski's have pumps that allow a lot of slippage at lower speeds), and got their reputation or being gas hogs because of that, they are actully the most efficiant way to push a boat( they just drive weird, they even coast). Pumps are making a comeback because of the more efficiant small *diesels available, the diesels torque curve match the loading of a pump. they use them in the Northwest on comersial boats, i had a friend in NC that built comercial boats with Kodiak and Hamilton pumps
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