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Current Projects
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2011 Rouse 19' Build
      2011 Rouse 19': Our customer Drake Kelley has teamed up with Jason from Rouse Performance Boats, Rick from Mooneyham Blowers, ROKE Custom Trailers, and Jet Boat Plus to create a one of a kind gullwing jet boat. The boat was just popped out of the mold and features a very unique and updated set of graphics. Plans for the boat include a one-off rear driven blower motor, set back pump, custom interior, and a custom trailer. Follow along as the boat progresses.
    
12-15-2010: Once the boat was taken out of the mold is was bonded from the inside. Custom front and side bulkheads were made and glassed into the boat. The transom wall and bilge area received black gel coat to act as a contrast color and offset all of the polished hardware that will be going on the boat. Mahogany stingers were bonded into the boat for a little different look and polished heavily. The end result is extremely nice.
      
12-20-2010: The boat received its final polish and is now awaiting the intake to be set. Notice the custom graphics on the bottom of the boat designed to be shown off as the boat launches hard or is coming in slow to the beach.
   
1-14-2011: The boat was loaded up on the trailer and towed out to the shop to begin the rigging process.
     
1-15-2011: Before Drake brought the boat out, he delivered it to B1 Racing in Costa Mesa, CA to have the intake set. Once here, we began the custom fabrication of the one-off rail kit design as well as determining the necessary engine mounting angle for the rear driver blower.
     
1-17-2011: Most of the hardware is currently out being powder coated so we took the time to mock up and drill the gauge holes.
   
1-20-2011: Drake and Matt collaborated to come up with the design for the rail kit. Matt did an amazing job with the fabrication and final finish of the pieces. The hardware was sent out to Finney's to get powder coated and then installed with counter sunk stainless hardware and washers. The final look is very nice and flows well with the overall concept of the boat.
    
1-21-2011: The TA plates were fabricated by Matt around the custom ground down suck housing. They came out extremely clean and flat and really finish off the back of the boat well. The gauge holes were filled with Auto Meter Pro Comp platinum gauges with angled bezels. There is also a sneak peak at the polished motor plate and rear driven blower setup.
    
   
1-25-2011: The front motor mounts were finished, sanded down, and polished for a nice contrast on the black rail kit. Once those were done, the motor was dropped in. The motor in the boat is a Randy Letcher built 488 ci BBC that consists of a Scat 4.25" forged crank, Scat forged H beam rods, JE flat top forged blower pistons, Pro Comp aluminum heads with upgraded stainless valves, heavy duty springs, Scorpian roller rockers, Herbert stud girdles, and a Ruben Racing Cams solid roller cam shaft. The entire motor was balanced and blueprinted and will also feature a Mooneyham competition intake manifold, Mooneyham 8-71 rear driven blower kit, a custom set of All-State Carburetors built 750's, full ARP bolt kit, Paul Pfaff fabricated valve covers, an Edelbrock mechanical fuel pump, Magna Fuel 4 port regulator, and an MSD ready to run ignition system. We through an old blower case on top of the motor to mock up height so we can begin to construct our lines. Along with the motor going in a few other minor details were buttoned up including the mounting of the aircraft style gas caps and the steering column.
   
   
1-31-2011: We custom fabricated a battery box/hydraulic box designed to mount underneath the back seat and completely out of sight. Once it was finished it was sent up to Finney's along with the rest of our hardware to get powder coated. We send out a huge thanks to Finney and his crew for the amazing job he did on all of our products as well as the very quick turn around. We wouldn't have been able to get as much done as we have without him. Once we got the hardware back we started putting in the boat. The custom fabricated foot pedal went in along with the shifter and battery box. The pump is a Berkeley and features a tuned suck housing, shaft, and bowl, along with a detailed mag bronze A impeller. The pump and heavy duty drive line went in along with the fabricated TA plates for a very clean look.
    
    
2-26-2011: Rick and Monty at Mooneyham delivered with the final piece of hardware. The 8-71 blower came out beautiful and features billet front and rear plates and custom machining to accommodate the rear driven setup. The motor is going to be completely plumbed in black braided hose and nickel plated fittings. Half of the fuel system and water system were plumbed and now we are just waiting on the remainder of the fittings. A brand new Place Diverter was also picked up and will be installed shortly.
    
3-12-2011: It was a weekend full of thrashing to get the boat ready to head back to California to get the interior built. Todd from Razor's Edge came in and did an amazing job laying the carpet. The powder coated tanks were installed and Biesemeyer Chris finished the extremely clean wiring job. The final assembly on the pump was performed, the motor was plumbed, a custom alternator bracket was fabricated, and the final touches were put on the steering wheel and custom trim switch.
      
      
3-13-2011: The boat is now fully rigged and Drake has taken it back to California to have the interior built by Premier Marine Interiors.
      
      
      
     
3-27-2011: The boat was officially unveiled at the Thunder in the Channel NJBA Drag Races in Lake Elsinore, CA. It was featured in the Rouse Performance Boats/ROKE Custom Trailers booth where it received an amazing amount of attention and compliments. The interior was finished a couple of days before the show by Carlos at Premier Marine Interiors and looks amazing in the boat. Drake and Jason did the final assembly of seat brackets, rub rail, and dash trim to finish off the boat and for a final touch had the Rouse 19' logo hand striped down the side. The next step in the process is getting the boat on the water and fine tuning the hardware setup. Check back soon for updates.
     
     
4-1-2011: The boat drew so much attention at the Elsinore drag races that it has been chosen to run in the Performance Boats Spring Trials and will be getting a full spread in the magazine. To ensure that everything properly tuned for the performance trials, Drake took the motor out of the boat and dynoed it at Vrbancic Brothers Racing in Ontario, CA. With some tuning the motor really came to life and ended up making 794 lbs of torque and 883 hp at 6,500 RPM. We are extremely excited about these numbers and can't wait to get the motor back in the boat to see what it will do!
     
4-13-11: We finished the boat and finally got a chance to put it on the water and play with some different hardware. Drake worked with Performance Boats Magazine to get the boat into their Spring Performance Trials. Click HERE to see and read more about it.
1997 Hallett Vector: The Backwards Project
   
   
1997 Hallett Vector: With the Lavey Craft project completed and now up for sale, Drake has been looking for another build to work on and found it in the form of this Hallett. The boat came equipped with a GT Performance twin turbo motor that is going to be pulled out in favor of a completely custom built piece. Drake has been working closely with Mooneyham Blowers to develop and refine a blower that will sit backwards on the motor. Follow along on this build as a custom one-off blower motor is put together and installed.      10-25-2010: The turbo motor was pulled from the Hallett to make room for the new blower motor. With only minor adjustments to the mounting point on the rail kit the new motor should slide in without any problems. The turbo motor is now for sale. Please contact the shop for more details.
    
11-23-2010: The new reverse setup was mocked up on an engine stand first and then the motor was dropped into the boat so the custom plates could be measured and taken off to have the feet for the rail kit drilled out and countersunk.
    
    
11-27-2010: The entire setup was mocked up in the boat for the show. The entire purpose for the build of this blower kit is to allow jet boat users the ability to run a full size blower motor in their boat while still be able to run full interior. As you can see from the pictures the backseat in the boat did not have to be modified or moved at all with the installation of an entire 8-71 blower. The kit keeps the belt out of the cockpit of the boat which allows for more room along with an increased level of safety. The kit features a custom back plate which doubles as a motor plate and support for the idler bracket for the blower. Custom feet were designed so that the kit could mount to anyone's rail kit and the installation of the entire package was extremely easy and straightforward. Drake pulled the boat down to the Thanksgiving Regatta to display it and received an overwhelming positive response. Check back soon as we build a 555ci Dart motor for the Hallett and put the reverse blower on it!!!
   
     
     
6-9-2011: Work on the Hallett has finally started again. Drake took the boat back to California to do some work on it over winter. The boat is currently at Islander Marine, where Rick and his crew are adding some custom touches to the engine compartment. While the boat was off the trailer, the trailer went down to Drake's shop (ROKE Custom Trailers) to undergo a complete restoration. The rotted beams were cut out and replaced, all new wiring was installed, a set of custom LED lights were added, new stainless fenders were bent up, all new wood and carpet were added, a ton of bodywork was performed, and then the trailer was finally painted fire engine red. The results turned out pretty nice.
     
   
7-14-2011: The Dart motor is finally going together. Randy has been working meticulously to come up with a combo that is going to work well for the boat. What we ended up with is a 555ci Dart motor, which will feature a Dart Big M block, Callies Dragonslayer 4.25" crank shaft, Eagle 6.385" L19 rods, a custom set of JE 8.2:1 forged pistons, a custom ground Comp Cams solid roller camshaft with both swaps, Dart 355 Pro 1 heads, a full Crower valve train including stainless roller rockers and stud girdles, full Jesel belt drive, a Mooneyham competition blower manifold, a Mooneyham 10-71 teflon stripped rear driven blower package, a set of custom built Quick Fuel 950cfm carbs, full MSD ignition, Dooley 14qt. oil pan, Clay Smith fuel pump, Aeromotive regulator, and DANA Marine Exhaust. Assembly has started and will end with a dyno session at JD Machine in Havasu.
   
   
11-24-11: Randy did the final assembly on the Dart motor and the crew fired it on the run stand over the Thanksgiving weekend. Check out our VIDEOS page to see the motor come alive.
     
     
      
11-30-11: Rick and the crew at Islander Marine did an amazing job restoring and customizing the floors in the boat. When the motor came out of the boat it was discovered that the floors were rotting and needed to be repaired. What started as a small repair turned into a complete customization. After trying the hidden batteries in a couple of the Rouse boats, Drake and Rick decided that it would be cool to try and hide the batteries underneath the back seat. Rick designed a battery tray and molded it into the seat base. Once the seat base was sanded out the entire thing was gel coated gray and holes were drilled to run all of the battery cables and braided lines to the gauges on the dash. The large hand hold cutouts were filled in and then a round mold was made to cover the new, much smaller, hand access holes. The entire floor was then sanded out and gel coated red with gray pin lines. The section under the motor was flow coated and a red stripe added. Additional work included filling all of the old hatch mounts and building custom upholstered panels to hide the fuel tanks. The rear seat was also modified and re-upholstered due to the fact that the top half of the seat used to be attached to the hatch. Rick and his team spent a ton on doing this job the right way and the results speak for themselves.
     
    
1-14-2012: The motor was taken to JD Machine to break it in on the dyno and made its most successful pass at 6,000 RPM resulting in 920HP and 950 lbs of torque all on pump gas. The motor is 7.5: 1 compression and made 7.5 lbs. of boost on the pass. Drake came out to help get the motor in the boat and the drilling and setting of the motor plates finalized. Biesemeyer Chris is now currently working on doing a full re-wire of the boat, while Matt is performing a full pump rebuild and finishing up the plumbing. Drake's goal is the to have the boat ready for the Billy B Hot Boat Regatta in Needles at the end of February. Stay tuned...
1976 Spectra 18': Project Grandpa's Ride
     1976 Spectra 18': We have officially begun work on a very cool nostalgia project in the shop. This Spectra has been in the family since new and was originally owned by our customer's grandfather. Upon his passing the boat was passed down and enjoyed for a few more seasons until catastrophic engine failure threatened to put the boat up for sale. With a renewed interest and a plan for an entire restore, this Spectra promises to be one super clean river cruiser. The boat showed up at the shop with a destroyed (see oil pan) stock 460ci Ford, a bone stock Berkeley E pump, and a exterior that needed a shining. The initial plan was to put another stock 460 in it, paint the pump and call it good. Ideas started being discussed and plans drawn out and now we have a 544ci stoker Ford and split bowl drooped pump with a diverter slated as part of the build. Follow along as we dive into another cool project.    2-1-2010: The ground work for the project actually began back in February. The owner, Tim, wanted every single hole in the boat that did not have to be there filled in and re-glassed. All of the bimini top holes, windshield holes, miscellaneous interior holes, old switch holes, and the rub rail around the dash were all marked. The boat has a very cool fiberglass hatch, that had sun pads and grab handles on top of it, which were all slated to be removed. Custom battery boxes were built with an elaborate plan for the bilge area in mind and then the boat was sent out to Saleen Fiberglass in Havasu to have the glass work done.      2-7-2010: Here are a few pictures of the fiberglass work taking place. Each surface was filled, smoothed, and gel coated for a mirror like finish. When the boat has its final buff it should look like brand new.    2-15-2010: The boat came back from the fiberglass shop looking amazing. The entire top half of the boat was re-gelled. This included every single stress crack being repaired, every single hole being filled, and the entire deck and interior glass being refinished. The hatch also had all of the holes filled and is now completely smooth fiberglass top and bottom. The plan for hatch is to put it on a ram to keep the mounting hardware to a minimum. Overall the boat looks brand new and has much cleaner lines without all of the holes throughout the deck.     4-1-2010: With a plan for an all white bilge in place, work began on making the back half of the boat look immaculate. The custom battery boxes that were built earlier were glassed into the bilge along the stringers. The floors were sanded smooth and then received several coats of glass and resin before receiving another thorough sanding. Once smooth primer was sprayed and was followed by gloss white paint. During the process the stringers were taped off and once unmasked, received several coats of resin until they became shiny. The look is simple yet extremely clean. The same process was performed on the underside of the hatch, so when it is opened all you will see is white. Some pieces throughout the boat were sprayed orange to accent the boat while all of this work was going on and should provide a nice contrast to the white. Check back soon as we begin the build of the big Ford.       8-3-2010: The 544ci Ford build began today! The motor went to JD Machine in Lake Havasu and got a ton of work done including a .30 bore, fresh hone, and deck. The 4.5" stroker crank, H beam long rods, and custom ground Diamond pistons were all sent over to JD as well to ensure that the entire motor will be perfectly balanced. Once back at the shop, the block was sanded down, shot with primer, and then hit multiple coats of Hemi orange and clear until it was given the show quality thumbs of approval. The main bearings were set in place and the crank was dropped in to check for clearance. We are all extremely excited to see this motor come together. We are going to be ordering the final pieces over the next couple of weeks and then the final assembly will begin!
1980 Rogers 20.5 Classic: Project "Old School"     1980 Rogers 20.5 Classic: Project "Old School" has begun as Matt Letcher (co-owner of Jet Boat Plus) begins the build of his personal dream boat. The boat currently features a 12 color Mike Love paint job, but that is all about to change as the boat go under a full rebuild. The platform to begin the project is solid, as the boat already has been treated to a full cap job and has a balanced and blueprinted pump hanging off of the back. It sits on a hammered Ellis custom trailer with fat stainless fenders and old school Crager 13" wheels. The plans for the boat include a custom paint job, interior, pump, and a twin turbo Big Block Chevy. Follow along as the transformation to hot rod lake boat takes place.       6-21-2010: The boat is going to receive a custom in house paint job, so to kick the project off the entire surface was sanded down. The goal of the project is for the boat to look as clean and simple as possible. To achieve this, every single hole on the boat was filled. This included all of the bimini top holes, windshield holes, swim step holes, switch and key holes, as well as all of the trim molding around the interior. Every stress crack or scratch in the boat was filled and sanded. Ultimately, the only holes in the boat will be for the gauges in the dash. Everything else will be filled, smoothed, and hidden.    7-5-2010: Once all of the filling and sanding was done, Randy masked off the boat and shot the first layer of primer over the old graphics.
    
7-6-2010: Once the primer dried the first round of sanding began. After another layer of primer the boat will be ready for its white base coat.
The New Comp Jet Race Boat: The Wild Injun CJ 288      6-20-2010: After successfully breaking into the comp jet class with the campaigning of CJ 51, Jet Boat Plus and Finney Boats have teamed up for the 2010 season to run The Wild Injun. After dominating the class for several years, the boat was retired and after a few conversations between the guys and Roger, it was decided that the boat needed to come out of retirement and run with some power from Jet Boat Plus and Randy driving the boat. The Wild Injun is an extremely advanced CJ boat with hundreds of hours being poured into research and development to discover the perfect set-up for the boat. Follow along as Jet Boat Plus re-rigs the boat with their hardware and campaigns the boat this season. The first race for the boat will be in the beginning of August at Marine Stadium in Long Beach, CA.      7-1-2010: The motor from CJ 51 was prepped and dropped into The Wild Injun. The motor is a 488ci BBC with a Scat 4.25", Scat H bean rods, JE 12.5:1 pistons, a custom grind solid roller camshaft, aluminum heads, tunnel ram with dual Dominators, Dan Olson oil cooler, and Rewarder dry headers. The boat also features a set back Berkeley pump with an inducer, stainless impeller, dual steering, and a race nozzle. Other custom pieces on the boat include an up and down pedal assembly, center tank, and tons of one off custom hardware.      7-15-2010: The final rigging on the Injun was finished, including the entire fuel and water system as well as an impeller change. A complete MSD ignition system was added as well and the boat was test fired with no issues. The next step is just getting it wet and finding out how it will run.     7-16-2010: The Wild Injun hit the water and ran great. Randy got a little seat time and couldn't be happier with how the boat ran and handled. Next stop is Marine Stadium in Long Beach, CA. Come out, watch the races, and check out the boat!
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