I went out on my friend's boat tonight (18 foot bowrider with a jet pump) and we decided to explore Honker Bay, which we'd never ventured out to. After going through Spoonbill Creek, we got out into the east end of Honker Bay in a little bit of chop and sucked up some weeds from near Chipps Island into the jet pump. It seems to have gotten all wrapped up in the impeller and everything. We limped it out of the weeds at low speed, then the skipper stripped to his swimming trunks and dove in to try to clear the obstruction. He certainly got a good amount, but we were only able to do around 2500 rpm, any higher engine speed produced no additional water speed. We continued limping it back to the Pittsburg launch ramp, and we'll cut / yank it all out of there in the driveway.
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Sucking up weeds
- Thread starter westdelta
- Start date
quote:
Originally posted by Flutterby
That is the biggest drawback to jet pump propulsion in the delta. But I didn't know it was down in Honkers too. I would expect that area to be too salty to sustain the weeds. But as you found out, that is not the case!
We did notice the salty taste of the spray, but I loaded up Google Earth later and visually found the spot we must have hit. He likes his jet pump though, he can do donuts in between sheds at a marina. Oh and believe me, I think we've now found ALL the weedy patches out in our area. The hard way.
Looking some more at Google Earth, I can see weed patches here and there as far west as the Naval Weapons Station. Much of it seems to be in coves, where I would guess maybe the fresh water can't get flushed out as effectively.
It's really time for me to go buy a replacement gps (for the one that got stolen) and set up alarms in there for known weed areas.
UpperDecker
Member
- Joined
- Sep 19, 2005
- RO Number
- 19078
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- 443
There are definitely lots of weeds in Honker Bay. Always have been. When I was with a patrol boat unit in Mare island in the '80's our boats had two huge jet pumps driven by twin Detroit Diesels. They put out alot of water but they could also suck the weeds and create a tangled mess.