Jet Tender Recommendations?

Hi,

My 2c worth- Don't buy one.

Jet Boats have their uses and Tenders for a yacht are not really one of them.

I worked on a boat once that had both a jet tender and a RIB novorina. We always ended up using the RIB for the guess as it just seemed so much more functional. It sat more poeple and they were more comfortable in the RIB. The jet tender was nice but just some how never seemed to be needed. Then the maintance did seem to be needed more as well. I remeber the housing around the impellar swelled up with corrision and jammed the impellar..

I have been using Jet tenders the last 5 years, the only issue I could mentioned here is that the old two stroke models were smelly and were leaving oil spills in the surface. On our new yacht we have chosen a Williams 4 stroke 104 HP(wember engine) 3.85m. It is a fact that alike jet skis the engine should be washed down with fresh water at least a week ( The crew of our yacht is doing it after each use).

Apart of the above, in my opinion they are much safer to operate especially in crowded beaches and offer a lot of fun

Castoldi seem to be a popular make at least in the larger ranges - can't say I was overly impressed with the engineering but they do drive well. Ribtech in the uk also make jet tenders using a small Vosper jet unit. They were pretty good as long as you didn't go all electric - having the toggle switch for the bucket control break off in neutral while you're in Nassau shipping channel is not amusing.

There are more models appearing every year. I like the safety side of no prop but you do need to flush them daily. I owed a Ribtec Camel 6.5M for 6 years and loved the boat, it wasn't a jet but it rode like an old Cadillac, nice and gentle.
Check out www.ribeye.co.uk and http://www.espritnautics.com/ for Nouveranias

the main disadvantage of the castoldi is their weight, I was looking to install the smaller model of their range but its dry weight was 900 kg

Our old tender an AVON DL (Yamaha 85 HP) was pulling a wake boarder but on board was only the driver

Here its pulling a water skier:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=0QY8sV6VOJI

Yes, I have a Williams 385 Jet Rib and pulling a wake boarder has been done often.

They're junk. I have experience with a few of them. The worst was a 14' Nautica RIB jet. It smoked like crazy, was so loud at hull speed you needed ear muffs, and problematic. The 4 stroke outboards have come so far that the jets don't even come close.

The jets use a lot more fuel. Need a lot more maintanence. They are a lot louder inside of the boat because the motor is generally mounted under the console. They don't have the performance of an outboard. You really cannot go in any shallower water then a 4 stroke one. If they have a waverunner motor they vibrate and smoke. Steerage at slow speeds with them is horrible. The best thing about the jet's is if you have to jump overboard fully dressed to clear a plastic bag out of the intake with guests on board. IMO they have no advantages.

I am taking delivery of SL 86.... are you running the williams for your tender?? any complaints? Is it a pain to store? I had a Nautica Jet 5years ago and steering at slow speed in a marina was horrible...how is the Williams?

Steering at slow speed is an art. You require power to steer so you learn the technique. While the forum is generally not a fan of jet tenders, we have several Williams Jet Tenders, both gas and diesel, and love them. We also have one Avon Seasport Jet built for Riva and no issues with it, although we use it far less than the Williams.

Try turning idle speed up to have better control a low speed

I am no fan of jet tenders, and would go outboard anytime I could. But, the old Nautica's with the yamaha 2 stroke waverunner motor were total problem childs and handled like a red headed step child. From everything I've been hearing, that if you have to go jet, Williams are the best ones.

All the early models using Yamaha's had their share of issues. Now some are using Rotax and I'm not yet aware of how well that is working. Williams and Avon Seasport have used Weber, now Textron, on the gas and Yanmar on the diesel. Ribjet is a new player in the field, successor partly to Nautica, and they use Rotax on their gas model and on some small lightweight diesels they use Suzuki. I find their diesels to be very interesting since the general problem with diesels is weight. Aquascan uses Yanmar on their diesels and uses Yamaha on their gas. Carbon Craft uses Textron for gas and Yanmar for diesel.

AB also have a new model in their lineup. I´d stick to the outboard tenders.

They're a heck of a lot easier to work on the engine, that's for sure.