TOPIC: 18' closed bow jet awaiting motor

Decissions decissions decissions!

A friend in our circle died 5 or 6 years ago and no one can seem to let his boat out of our sites. It' s been in 3 hands and now it's coming my way. I guess as long as the boat is amoung us, so is the nit-wit him self... Long live Brad.

The twist is that his brother sold the motor out of it to pay for part of the funeral. So ideas are going wild for a re-power...

EV? Diesel? Rotary Mazda? Inline 6 Mercruser?

With the price of fuel down, I'm still inclined to try something less "hungry". Like the 130hp turbo Isuzu that has proven itself in the Chevy dilivery trucks coupled to a 700R4 automatic. They turn the high 3,600 rpms to reach impeller needs of the old Berkely and still reach 20mpg.

I saw a nice water ski boat with twin electric motors that impressed with 3 15-20 min pulls plus enough juice to cruise back to dock.

I'm going to run all specs and figure out which is the best option.

Don't worry, I still have the 454 powered 20' open bow for spring break

I used to work on jets for NOAA (shallow draft survey boats). The issue is impeller speed. there is a sweet spot where it is most efficient. And your motor has to be able to get it to spin that fast which takes torque. So look at the torque curve of any power plant under consideration and look at the impeller/nozzle torque requirements and get a match. It does not need to be gas, diesel or anything else. Just a match