alumacraft 1756 river runner

[ec30_06]

Has anyone has any experience with these boats, or any of the welded alumacraft jons. I was offered a good deal on a 1756 mv aw rr with a 90/65 jet, 2" tunnel and am thinking about buying it for the MN river. I was out with my v-hull monday and hit a log hard enough to break my motor off the back of the boat. I was able to retrieve it from the bottom of the river, but am deffinetly thinking it is time for a jet.

[hanson]

Guess my feeling is to go with your gut Ed.

If the price is right, I'd do it. I pretty much bought my boat on a whim and it turned out to be a really good decision.

Alumacraft is a good boat. What motor brand is it?

What stretch of the river did you hit this log out of? Belle Plaine? Henderson?

We saw a lot of deadheads "just" under the surface of the water or "barely" peaking above the surface last time we were out. Pretty spooky! Time for a public service reminder to be careful folks. Its getting dangerous out there if you don't take your time and be careful.

[rushing]

Pretty expensive lesson learned but its a darn good excuse to get a new boat.

[DTro]

ouch*!

sorry to hear about that Ed. Same thing happened to me one time. Didn't rip the motor off, but it felt like it did, and I ended up with a bent prop shaft.

Sounds like a nice boat, if you don't get it, send me the info

[river rat316]

Get it, you wont regret it, the only thing better would be a RiverPro. I have a Lowe 170W with no tunnell and a 115/80 and love it. A tunnell would help some on the river but intake boots aren't to expensive But I run lakes also and have been on Mille Lacs with 2-3 footers and a tunnell would have sucked then. There are also lots of small performance upgrades you can get to help the performance of outboard jets (there not the fastest to plane usually) I have a whale tail from Trout and Sons out of Missouri and it took care of any handling/ takeoff issues I had. Once you get a jet you will never want to go back to a prop!

[ec30_06]

I hit the log up from henderson. It was during the day and not even a ripple from that log. I had the boat back out tonight with kyle. It still works fine but we went SLOW. I think the 1756 rr would be better without the tunnel from what I hear. It is a square tunnel and they can cavitate in turns.

[Rlinn]

I have a 16/48 Alumacraft MV Jon with a 50hp Merc prop on it. I just switched to a different prop to get 30 mph out of it. Make sure that MV is rated for that big of motor. Seen some cracked transoms from over size motors. My MV handles well even in turns. I still worry about back wash when I slow down quick. If I was going to replace it, I would go for a Grizzly 18/72 with a center stand up console / Jet [without tunnel] I hear tunnels are tricky to turn with and any wave action reduces their speed. The key to a jet / Jon boat is a Jack Plate to get the water pick up at the correct position and also the hull has to be smooth in front of the water pick up [no ribs].Intake water flow is everything to a jet. If the boat is a good deal, I would go for it but forget gas mileage, Jets are gas hogs.

[river rat316]

The rib thing is not always true, my boat has a center rib and I get good water pick up, a MV does better with a jet and ribs then a flat bottom with ribs, there is also small fins you can buy that go on the foot that will take care of any cavitation problems you would have. There like under $100 for the set. Theres always trade offs with going to a jet, but if you primarily run rivers you will never want a prop after going to a jet, you can and will still hit with a jet (believe me) but if its deadheads and logs that your worried about they do way less damage if any! Rocks on the other hand.... whole nother story Ohhh and as far as fuel mileage..... don't expect to get more than 2-3 mpg with an out board 2 stroke jet..... mines more like gpm when Im wide open

[Gordie]

I have the 17ft huskey jon mod v from Lowe it had a yamaha 50 jet with no tunnel and I loved it I do a lot of lake and duck hunting so I purcased the prop lower unit for it and had the best of both worlds and it was only a hour to swap out lower units. I did find that the jet would go thru impellers(water pump) when I ran the minnesota river, (one a year) I think because of the silty water and in the lakes weeds can cause problems.

I loved the fact that I could run 4inches of water wide open but you chanced sucking up small rocks that could damage the jets impeller. I still wish I had that motor some one wanted more than me. it was cut off the back of my boat with a cordless sawzall about seven years ago and at the time I had the prop on it so I sold the jet drive on hsolist.

I now run a merc classic fifty and its great but its not a yamaha

The mph is defintally a big differnce you lose a bout a 1/3 of the motors hp with the jet on it and fuel is a big factor also. when I ran the river with the prop I used about a 1/4 of the fuel than with the jet.

[MSRiverdog]

I have a Classic 50 thats been rebuilt and not used since, I'm trying to decide if I should sell it or put a jetfoot on it. Whats your thoughts?

[audemp]

Try Sea ark boats! The closest dealer is about 50 miles from the twin cities.

[Gordie]

MSriverdog not saying you cant do it but you probally should use a short shaft motor for the jet foot because the motor has to be moved up to bring the foot in the proper place under the boat,and it may put the motor way above the transome hieght with out modification. its just my opinon.

If you sell your classic fifty how much would you have to have for it? Im intrested Email me at [email protected]

mine has a crank seal out and just thinking it might be cheaper to replace than rebuild or who did yours and how much was it to rebuild. thanks