Skicraft Sprint

The location was one of Melbourne's traditional summer getaways: the then rapidly-draining Lake Eildon.

The boat, I seem to remember, was a Ford V-eight-powered Hamilton jet - a big, heavy, slab-sided Kiwi runabout that would have looked happier carrying out surf lifesaving duties or attacking a nasty coastal bar.

Still, its owner was happy as he stormed over the lake's ankle-deep margins, performed full-noise reverse 'whoas' and, for his piece of resistance, pulled up three (or was it four?) deepstart barefooters.

The lads were mightily impressed... And then dutifully went back to their be-skegged midmount Ramsays, Flightcrafts and the like...

Somewhere along the way jets and Australian boaties never really hit it off. Sure, in selected applications, the thrusters won favour but in general boating use and more specialised arenas like waterskiing they were simply passed over - almost a novelty.

Of course, of late, personal watercraft (PWCs) have thrust jets back into our faces. And with leading brands like Sea.Doo and Yamaha extending their respective PWC line-ups into vessels of true boat size, there has been a re-awakening of sorts.

It's well-known that Mercury Marine too has been testing prototype two and three-place PWCs for some time. While the project was shelved a year or so back, one related outcome was the release of the maker's Sport Jet jet units.

Combining outboard powerheads of three, four and six cylinders with a compact XR2 intake/impeller/nozzle unit, the units first appeared in Mercury's Rush jet-boats - built to take on the likes of Sea.Doo's Speedster. Even more recently, two of the three power units, the 1848cc four-cylinder 120hp and 2507cc V-six 175hp have become readily available as power sources in their own right.

One of the first independent makers to take advantage of the Sport Jets by way of a purpose-built hull is Bayswater (Vic) based company, Skicraft.

Established around 20 years ago by Ron Craddock, as the name suggests Skicraft is no stranger to building high-performance specialist waterskiing craft. The company's latest - the Sport Jet 175 V-six powered Skicraft Sprint - is right down that alley.

Ironically, it was also on a rapidly-draining Lake Eildon that Trailer Boat was able to sample the Sprint. And though we were unable to secure the services of three barefooters, and opted to pass on the passenger swamping full-throttle 'whoas', we can at least tell you that the Sprint storms across ankle-deep water with the best of them!

Seriously, the first inclination of most boaties will be to dismiss the 5.30m (17'4") Sprint as just another jet-powered 'funboat.' Nothing could be further from the truth, for while the 88kmh-plus (55mph-plus) Sprint offers thrills a plenty, it has been designed from the hull up as a serious family ski- and day boat - right down to the more than ample water-toy, safety gear and incidental storage.

In general layout terms, the Sprint is a conventional rear-mount. The Sport Jet powerhead is enclosed by composite shroud over which sits an upholstered and acoustically-lined engine cover that runs the full width of the stern. This in turn comprises the backrest for a three-person rear lounge.

So compact and narrow is the powerplant, however, (check out the width of Mercury's 60° 175hp outboard and you'll see what I mean), that there is sufficient storage for a large esky on one side and a full compliment of safety gear - lifejackets included - on the other.

At the 'pointy end' of the flat-floored cockpit, is a heavily bolstered helm seat; and on the port side, a rear-facing one-and-a-half to two-person bucket. Need to store skis, kneeboards and the like? Just pop out the observers' station backrest and there's access to a large compartment that runs all the way to the bow (the helmsman/driver's footwell is partitioned off so his/her tootsies are safe).

In front of the helmsman, in deeply-set dash are Mercury's excellent Sport Jet instruments and a marine AM/FM cassette stereo (CD's optional) and, of course, the regulation thick rimmed small diameter sports wheel.

This layout is relatively conventional, sure, but the end result is well-executed and well thought-out.

In fact, with its low rakish lines, vestigial but effective screen, clean uncluttered cockpit and swim/boarding platform-equipped stern, the Sprint almost looks like the caricature of a skiboat - like the boat a designer would draw before he or she had to add the bits and pieces that make a real (not paper) boat work.

Above all, it's a 'neat' boat.

Neat too, is the way it performs. In outright performance terms, thanks to its light weight (around 500kg with fuel, etc), the V-six Sprint easily out-gunned the mid-mounted 350ci V-eight Hamilton jet-equipped 'Sprint 350' prototype that was also on hand for our test session.

With some fine tuning still to come and the powerplant a few revs shy of its 5600rpm peak power mark, the Sprint registered an indicated 55mph (88.5kmh) upwind.

Impressive too was the way it got there. There's none of the nose-high antics you'd expect of a rear-mount. Mash the foot-throttle to the floor, and the Sprint fair jumps out of the water - settling almost immediately into a level, light, planing attitude.

As you'd expect with 175hp pumping almost 16,000lt per minute (that's almost one and a half 44-gallon drums per second!) through the Sport Jet's 184mm diameter impeller, the Sprint had no trouble popping 90kg-plus of yours truly out of the water.

I'm no skier, but once up I was rewarded with a slalom-friendly low wake. For the record, the wash is low enough for Skicraft to deem the standard Sprint unsuitable for serious wakeboarding (hence the rear-mounted ski-hook). Wakeboarders haven't been forgotten however - the maker's promised a purpose-built boat later in 1998.

Towing or running clean, near-full throttle turns are a flick of the Sprint's wheel away and there's very little of the sideslip you experience in the jet-powered 'funboats'. The Sprint carves the turns like a prop-equipped counterpart and shows little of the steering 'load-up' of some other jet-equipped craft.

A large slice of this all-round performance cake must go to the Sprint's Craddock-designed, patented Vectron II hull. Essentially a strakeless layout (there are planing strakes on the rear section for stability), the Sprint's hull features complex curves and heavy (almost reverse) chines to produce a relatively soft-riding and responsive hull that at the same time is both dry and user-friendly.

Skicraft's Richard Metcalfe reckons you need to upend the boat and set up a ute full of straight edges to really illustrate how the design works. Not surprisingly, he declined to do so on Eildon's rocky banks...

The Sprint is a top performer but it's not perfect. While its overall finish was excellent, the prototype could have done with a little more attention to noise reduction (that's coming - see text above). Also, when you're liberal with throttle, the 100lt underfloor tank could be a little on the small side.

More noteworthy, the Sprint's hand-operated gear lever means there's no neutral as such - the boat is either stopped or idling in forward or reverse. This takes a little getting used to.

It's worth remembering also that like all jets, the Sprint's a 'no-throttle, no turn' proposition. Perhaps Mercury should consider some sort of idle-up mechanism that provides thrust when the helm is wound to lock in either direction (a la Sea.Doo) for the Sport Jets.

It's not only in its choice of powerplant that the Sprint marks a departure for skiboat stalwarts Skicraft. The maker has big plans for the craft and its likely to be joined by other models before too long. As such, Skicraft will be marketing the Sprint separately from its existing specialist waterski-orientated eight-model inboard, outboard and sterndrive range.

Cleverly aimed at the family market, user-friendly and priced at $28,500, the fuss-free yet very spirited Sprint deserves every success.