Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What are some of the advantages to the Bottom Widths you offer?

Bottom width is a key factor in outboard jetting. As the bottom width increases, so does the hulls ability to handle payload. As payload increases, so too must the engine power. Added hull displacement works well for a shallow draft, but the increased wet surface area requires more power. The width of the hull needs to match both the operating weight of the craft and the size of the engine. Because a jet craft needs to also be shallow drafting, the engineers at Outboard Jet, a division of Specialty Mfg (the people who supply jet pump units to each of the marine engine manufacturers, recommends that the bottom width should be no less than 48 inches.

Most mass produced hulls have somewhat limited offerings when it comes to bottom width. Nearly all offer a 48 inch bottom, with a few providing widths from 50 to 55 inches.  While Snyder Hulls have been built in widths from 48 to 72 inches, the three most common sizes are 54, 60 and 66 inches. Each is matched with the correct length to create the desired performance.  The advantage is a hull that draft less water and is quick to jump on plane.

Q: Why do Snyder hulls offer superior construction?

Unlike many jonboat manufacturers who press v grooves into the aluminum to add strength, then use plywood and extensive bracing for support. Snyder all-weld hulls are fabricated with tempered 6061-T6 aluminum. While the molecular structure of tempered aluminum alloy is 40% stronger, it is also more impact resistant than standard 5052 Marine Grade Aluminum of equal thickness.

Utilizing material that is 150-200% thinker than other hull manufacturers does not result in a hull that is 150-200% heavier. By using superior materials, Snyder can minimize the need for additional horizontal bracing often associated with mass produced hulls. Full length vertical stringers are welded directly to the hull. This increases the impact strength of the hull and helps to eliminate distortions common to horizontal track braced hull designs. Floor material is also a weight savings, rather than using inch marine grade plywood, Snyder uses .090ga sheet aluminum. Far less weight than plywood, yet think enough to eliminate oil-canning associated with floors constructed with thinner gauge aluminum.

Q: How do I select the correct engine size for my jetting needs?

There are a few points to consider when selecting the correct engine size. Beyond your overall budget, items such as the size of the hull, where it will be used and how many passengers will be joining you need to be factored in.  If youre going with a small hull design and expect limited passengers, it is safe to say a mid-range 30 to 40 Jet will fit the bill. However there is a better way to determine the correct engine size for your jet craft.

The very first thing to consider is the maximum total weight your engine will need to propell. By calculating the maximum weight, you can be sure that the engine size selected will meet even the most extreme payload conditions. It is also worth noting that a larger engine will not have to be run at maximum RPM when pushing lighter loads, this adds less stress and will improve the overall engine life. The worksheet below can help determine the over all weight of a given craft. Just by adding a trolling motor and a second battery, its easy to see how the overall weight could increase by as much as 10%.

Once you have your Total Gross Weight, selecting and engine size is easy. Use the following as a guideline, for every 25 pounds of payload, it takes 1 Hp to effectively push it. Using the example above, simply divide 1500 by 25 to get the minimum engine size. The result is the power head rating not the jet rating when doing the calculation.  In this case, 60 Hp is the Hp  minimum power head size to consider.  If the hulls Hp rating in the example above allows for a larger engine, you might find that a 90/65 Jet might be the best bet. The engine will not have to be a full throttle to keep it on plane, running the engine at a lower RPM will increase the life of the engine and burn less fuel overall.

Q: What are the Pros and Cons associated with a Jet Tunnel?

Lets talk about the Cons first. There are two types of Tunnel Hulls, those for a prop drive and those for a jet drive. If the tunnel was not designed for a jet, the outcome is not favorable. The will cause increased drag, reduce planning surface and in many cases will not perform even as well as a standard non-tunnel hull. Prop tunnels are larger and deeper than jet tunnels. The pictures below show a prop tunnel on the left and a jet tunnel on the right.  Note the overall size difference of the two tunnels.

The purpose of the jet tunnel is to lift the jet intake by 2-3 inches to where the heel of the intake foot is equal to or slightly higher than the bottom of the boat. This not only provides additional protection to the intake, it also allows the craft to operate in as shallow water as possible. The tunnel should not be much longer than about 18 inches and just wide enough to allow for a full range of motion when turning the outboard to the left and to the right. By extending the tunnel just a few inches out from the transom, water is more efficiently directed into the pump.

A properly designed tunnel will produce the following advantages:

      1-2 Less Draft Depth on Plane

      Better Intake Protection

      Reduced Cavitation

Q: Are flat bottom hulls the best for outboard jet applications?

Just look around any of the river launches and youll see outboard jets strapped to a bunch of flat bottom jonboats. These hulls are shallow drafting and by many standards, work well enough. However, there are some problems probably best noted by the folks at Specialty MFG. Flat bottom hulls tend to ingest more air into the intake when running a light chop or in wind. For this reason they have a tendency to cavitate more than they should. The Jet Pump manufacturer recommends that the hull have 6-10 degrees of deadrise at the transom. This allows the air bubbles to be pushed away from the center and out to the sides. This small degree of deadrise also helps with how the hull performs at planning speeds. In the diagram below, you can see the basic differences between the 6 degrees of deadrise we have in our Snyder hulls.

Q: My hull cavitates more than I would like, how can I avoid this?

By the true definition, any jet hull is susceptible to some level of cavitation. Most will cavitate in a high crosswind, severely rough water or during a tight turn. Cavitation is when the jet pump starts getting more air than water. This causes the RPM level to increase but the power to fall off drastically. Beyond the performance loss, damage to the engine can also result.  Usually a quick throttle back and them forward will allow the pump to catch enough water and then jump back on plane.

One area of concern is the keels that are often pressed into or attached to the bottom of the hull. They are placed more to provided additional strength rather than any other purpose. Beyond the issue of sitting lower than the hull itself and creating unnecessary drag, keels or channels often carry ingested air from the bow right to the transom and into the intake.  A quick fix is to remove any keels that lead into the intake, about 2 to 3 feet forward of the transom. The ultimate fix is a smooth bottom void of any keels or areas that will prevent a clean stream of water from reaching the intake. A smooth bottom allows the hull to glide with minimal drag, actually skimming on top of the water when on plane.

Q: My jet craft runs very well in shallow water but seems sluggish in the deep stretches of water, why?

There a simple answer, it is just a bit wordy. There are basically two types of hulls, Displacement Hulls and Planing Hulls. Displacement hulls are designed for big water applications. They cut through the water with an extreme degree of angle in the bow, pushing the water to port and starboard.  In rough seas, the idea is not to plane, but to push through the water. Planing hulls are designed to lift and ride on the surface of the water. To do this, they need ample power and enough semi-flat surface area to actually skim on the surface of the water.

In shallow water, a high level of pressure is produced on the bottom of the boat. The result is a lift in the hull as the water attempts to escape from underneath the bottom of the boat. Even at modest speeds in the low to mid 20s, the hull actually skims or hydroplanes on top of the water much like your car tires do on water covered roadways. As with a car tire there is a point where the level of surface pressure decreases, such as deep puddle or a slower speed, and you begin to plow rather than skim over the water.  With a jet hull, as you go from skinny to deep water, the overall drag increases and hull speed drops a few miles per hour.  It takes significantly more speed to skim on top of deep water. For this reason, a jet craft performs better in a depth of one foot than it does in stretches of twenty feet of water. This is where having a larger engine comes into greater value.

Q: Why do you add the plastic bottom to your Snyder hulls?

There are two basic reasons, to add durability and the ability to slide off the rocks better. Anyone who has operated a jet craft on a river, knows that hitting shallow rock ledges is inevitable. To further improve the hull's impact strength, an optional synthetic polymer can be attached to the entire bottom of the hull. Due to the high tensile strength of the polymer skin, it disperses the point of impact, and adds protection to the hull. Being self lubricating and shatter resistant, this polymer not only adds protection, it reduces friction by 75% when compared with an all aluminum bottom. But that is not all it offers. This synthetic polymer, known as UHMW polyethylene (Ultra High Molecular Weight), floats. While it does add dry weight, it is quite buoyant and adds floatation to the hull.

Q: How important is the console position when it comes to performance?

Whether you choose stick, center or side mounted console, the position makes quite a bit of difference. If the console is too far back, it reduces your sight of vision and only serves to add more weight to the back of the boat. Ive seen instances where the bow of the boat was pointed skyward and the water level near the transom was only 8 to 10 inches. The time to lift the hull and reach plane was poor to say the least.

The diagram to the left shows how simply moving the console and the operator more forward will balance the hull when the craft is on drift. This reduces the time to lift and reach plane. At Snyder Boats, the console, fuel tank, batteries, livewell and passenger locations are located to produce a well balanced layout. It is not an afterthought, but built into the design before the hull is even fabricated.

Most if not all mass produced jonboat hulls are designed for prop applications. They are often moved quickly so that the marine distributor can make their money and move new inventory in its place. Requesting even a simple modification, such as moving the console further forward to make it a better fit for jetting, can be an interesting event. If youre able to get them to do it, it will likely cost you a fair sum and the quality of the work is often less than desired. Clearly those marine facilities that accommodate such requests should be commended for their knowledge and experience with outboard jetting. If you have such a shop, be thankful.

Q: Wouldnt the modified-V hulls ride softer than sled hulls?

At very slow speeds perhaps, but once the hull is on plane, the V on most of these hulls is out of the water. If youve ever watched a jon or sled hull on plane, youve noticed that the first or more of the hull has little or no contact with the surface of the water. When going through rough water, it hits the back two-thirds of the hull. Since that area on both is a semi-flat surface, it tends to pound rather than slice through the water as a more traditional semi-V hull does. So the claim is more perception than reality. The response is usually a smirk, but just take a look the next time you see a modified-V on plane. Rather than lumping all MV jons in the same pool, there are a few models out there that do have a longer V in the bow and those will offer some advantage to the ride in rough water. What you end up sacrificing is far less semi-flat planning area, more drag and reduced bow area. The diagrams show the space loss, note each offer 4' decks bow and stern, but the width and bow style add significantly more space. While most mass produced hulls offer a 45 to 52 inch bottom in their 16 foot lengths, a 16 foot Snyder hull offers a 60 bottom and a 72 beam. If you were to look at a top down view, you would notice the difference in the room overall. The front deck area is not as cramped and the hull appears to be larger than it actually is.  The diagrams show the area and space gained.

Q: OK, how much is a Snyder Jet Boat going to cost me?

Compared to a similarly equipped jon boat, its pretty close. While there are some areas, such as the 3/16 bottom and the 1/8 sides that you just cant match up with many other boats. Not to mention being able to build a boat in lengths from 15 to 18 feet, select a bottom width from 54 to 66 inches, have full flexibility with the hull layout, get your choice of stick, center or a side console, select a 20 or 25 inch transom to match your engine and your choice of both the boat and carpet color.  However, it is important to make the best Apples to Apples comparison we can come up with. To do this, lets look at what comes standard with the Snyder Jet Boat.

• Front & Rear Decks (your choice in size)

• Lockable Storage Boxes

• Aluminum Floor

• 2 Folding Seats

• 4 Pedestals

•  Bilge Pump

•  Fire Extinguisher

• Marine Horn

•  Bow & Stern lights

• Switch Panel + Fuel, Battery and Tachometer gauges

• Vinyl or Marine Carpeting (your choice of color)

• Permanent Fuel Tank (sizes of 8 25 gallons)

• Livewell with 2 Pumps (Fresh water Fill and Circulation)

If you took a standard all weld 1860 mass produced Jon-boat hull, had the Marine Shop add all of the above items, what would the cost be? You would no doubt be in the very same price range and have a boat that with a bottom that is 50% as strong as the Snyder hull. It will be 50% less likely to withstand the punishment, and because weve seen it for ourselves, a boat that will not last anywhere as long as one of our hulls.

There are two types of people who purchase our hulls. Those who see the value up front and those whove purchased a mass produced hull and came back because the other hulls just do not perform or hold up as they expected. 

While we have a number of examples of customers who have worn-out a number of jon hulls before purchasing a Snyder hull and are now going on 6-8 years without a hull repair. About the best example is what weve done for the PA Fish Commission officers who run the Susquehanna River from Goldsboro to Sunbury. Their hulls tend to get well above average use and due to countless hull repairs, they were replacing their jon boats every 4 years. In 1993, the Fish Commission purchased one of our hulls. By 2000, they had logged over 900 hours of run time on the engine and the brought the boat back to us for some minor maintenance. In going over the craft, we replaced the pedestal seats and weld repaired a inch tear and ding near the transom.  Other than that and some cleaning, the craft was as good as new.