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UA Jet Drive

Posted: Tue Sep 08, 2009 5:52 am
by Ron
Letter from UA Engineering concerning jet drive parts, and spare parts listing (courtesy of Lou) -

http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B7Q ... NDRl&hl=en

Re: UA Jet Drive

Posted: Sat Sep 07, 2013 8:00 pm
by Peter
In the early press reviews of the Telstar, the journalists seemed to have been very impressed with the inboard Rotork engines and the UE Jet drives. I note however that all the Telstar's I've seen or heard about all have external outboards. I wondered whether anyone knew about the jet drive set up, how successful it actually was in practice and why it didn't seem to be as popular as one might have imagined it was going to be.

Re: UA Jet Drive

Posted: Mon Aug 11, 2014 8:24 pm
by Hull52
Hi Peter,

I think the JetDrive was a great idea. Mine was one of the only ones I've ever seen with the set up on it. I would guess only the first few hulls were fitted with the UA drive and the Rotax engine. There was another Mark 1 in Vancouver (I think) that wanted my Rotax/UA set up, even though the engine was seized and the drive was the victim of serious electrolysis. I think he eventually gave up and hung an outboard like everyone else has.

The biggest problem was that the boat (Hull #52 I think 26 was first?), built in 1974 I think was far ahead of the power technology. The Rotax engine was very heavy and unrefined. The UA jet drive contained at least 3 dissimilar metals that I could identify so it made a much better battery or conductor of electricity than a jet drive. I got a sense from the condition of my drive, that electrolysis was a constant problem, as were barnacles.

I've decided to try to replace the original drive with a Waverunner III engine and pump set up. There is a nearly all plastic pump available that I would like to use to replace the Waverunner pump. Add a higher pitch Stainless impeller and the system should work fine. I think that is a project for next winter, not this one. I hope to have the boat sailing by April, 2015. Christening is scheduled for March. With all the people who have seen the boat in my driveway forever, the event should be well attended.

Lou Giansante
a/k/a Hull52