How shallow can a jet boat really run on a river? Willamette, Clackamas, and a 2017 Yamaha AR190

"a foot on plane" is true and it is also probably how i ate a wear ring (the 242 thread in the pump board). my rule now: if i can see the bottom and the bottom is rocks, i do not care what the finder says, i go around. the transducer reads what is under the transom, not what you are about to run over.

here is the physics part. on plane the boat is up and the intake pulls water from a thin layer right along the hull, so thin water is mostly fine. when you drop off plane the stern squats, the intake pulls from a much bigger area, and that includes whatever is lying on the bottom. so the rule is about speed changes more than depth. do not let it fall off plane over shallow ground. if you need to stop, stop in the deep pool.

and never reverse in the shallows. reverse on a jet throws water forward and down under the hull, which stirs up the bottom right in front of the intake.

different river, same headache. the Colorado up through Topock Gorge has sandbars that move every year and the markers do not always keep up. i stay in the channel, go slow through the narrow part when it is busy, and keep it on plane where it gets thin by the marsh. first summer with my own boat though, i am mostly going on what the rental guy told me for six years.

this is the stuff that makes me miss a prop. my X-Star could kiss a sandbar and you just bought a prop on the way home, 300 bucks. you guys are filing blades in the garage every other month.

that said, the AR195 i bought in May goes way up the Catawba where a prop boat would be in trouble. so, trade offs.