PAST PROJECT / DAD & SON — TWIN JET BOATS
Two boats.
Four years.
One special build.
Every second weekend in the shed with my dad, Graeme. A pair of homemade turbo jet boats—and a lot more than boats at the end of it.
HOW IT STARTED
“That looks
like fun.”
I was watching Thomas Hewitt’s mini jet boat videos on YouTube and could see myself doing it. I showed Dad, and he thought it looked like good fun too.
The idea stayed with us. When I decided I was ordering a hull kit, Dad was still saying he needed to talk to Mum. We worked at the same company, so I went back to my desk and rang her on his behalf. She said yes. When I told Dad, “Don’t worry, Mum said yes,” the look on his face was priceless.
We chose to build a boat each so we could take family and camping gear along. We collected two 3.6m Portofino flat-pack hull kits from Mike at Liquid Violation Boats in Cambridge. Building them ourselves was always part of the appeal.
THE BEST PART WAS THE TIME TOGETHER
“It took four years to build them, every second weekend. I looked forward to hanging out with him.”
Some serious father-and-son bonding went into these boats. The hardest part? Getting out of bed on the weekends—Dad would arrive bright and early, ready to carry on.
BUILT, NOT JUST BOLTED TOGETHER
A bit of engine-bay bling.
Dad is a toolmaker by trade and a perfectionist: if we could make a part ourselves, we usually did. We designed custom parts in 3D CAD, then got stuck into the fabrication and machining.
HULLS3.6m LVB Portofino
Aluminium flat-pack kits with recessed UHMWPE bottoms.
ENGINESSuzuki M18A turbo
A turbocharged Suzuki engine for each boat.
JET UNITSScott 612 two-stage
The engine and jet combination we chose for the builds.
The custom work included equal-length exhaust headers, intake manifolds, engine mounts, sand traps and a copper-pipe heat exchanger. Braided lines, water-to-air intercooling, Microsquirt engine management and a tablet dash added plenty more detail to work through.
We learned a lot about aluminium welding along the way. After fighting a spool gun, we completed most of the hull welding with TIG. A pulse MIG arrived late in the build—and felt like a game changer.
Select a photo below to enlarge it and browse the details.
JANUARY 2022 / THE FIRST LAUNCH
They started.
Then came the tuning.
We put both boats in a lake and cranked them over. They fired up—but the base tune was so rich they would not run properly.
We had to get the tuner to fly down and sort them out. Once they were running properly, we were grinning from ear to ear. They were like little rocket ships, and so much fun to drive.
I was also freaking out a bit. Building the boat was one thing; learning to drive it and read a river was a whole new learning curve.
DAD & SON, ON THE WATER
A pair of names.
Plenty of pushing.
I surprised Dad with custom club identification stickers: his boat said “Dad”, and mine said “Son”. It felt right for a pair of boats we had built together.
Dad picked up another name for a while: “The Dredge.” A few wrong lines through the shallows meant stopping to push him across the stones and get him going again.
There is plenty of pushing involved while you learn. It gives you a good reason to get better at choosing a line—as quickly as possible.
THE NGARURORO RIVER
The places.
The people.
The memories.
Some of my favourite trips are simply cruising up our local Ngaruroro River with friends and family, stopping for lunch in places not many people get to see.
Those memories include trips with our mate Lofty, who has since passed away. Time on the river with him, Dad and the people close to us is part of what makes the boats special.
Dad and I still take “Dad” and “Son” out together. The four years in the shed were the start of it, rather than the end.
WHAT THE BUILD TAUGHT ME
“Take your time on important details. Don’t cut corners. Redo work that isn’t quite right. You can do anything if you get stuck into it.”
WATCH THE BUILD & THE RIVER TRIPS