Pump Comparisons

[Fire on the Water]

Just looking for some thoughts on the different pump builders. Who is know for what, what is the best for rec., race, reliability, etc. Probably opening up a can of worms here, but you see so many different set ups on all types of hulls. I understand its mainly a personal decision depending on purpose/function and preference, but I am in the beginning stages of building Fire on the Water II, starting w/a 23ft. 3000lbs. dry weight fiberglass hull used for family/friends lake trips. Any input is appreciated! :crossx:

[james]

Fire where are you located and I can tell you where to go from there.

[poncho-pwr]

Okay, I'll take this one and start the arguments. I have been researching all of the different pumps myself and I have also talked to all of the gurus that are recommended here on the boards as well as others. The only thing that I have found that most all of them agree on is that the Dominator suction piece is the strongest and the Dominator/ATJ bowl flows the best of all the stock unmodified bowls. Most of them agree that if you are going to modify the bowl and have it flowed for an all out race deal that it doesn't really matter which one you use. Now for the Aggressor dealers, they are usually very biased towards the Aggressor stuff even though they usually sell the other brands too. Quite a few of the Aggressor dealers recommend running an Aggressor bowl and impeller in a Dominator/Berkeley/ATJ pump. Another thing I will tell you is that several of the Aggressor dealers I have talked to over the last six months say they like Aggressor products but are very unhappy with parts availability and dealer/customer service, although that problem may have been rectified by now I don't know. What I have decided to do in whatever new boat I wind up buying/building is to run all new Dominator stuff and maybe try an Aggressor impeller down the road someday for comparison. The blown alcohol boat that just set the E.T. and mph records is running all Dominator components and the pump was prepped buy Dominator.
As far as builders go I wouldn't hesitate to use any of the highly recommended guys here on the boards like Duane at Hi-TechPerformance, Jack at MPD or Tom Papp. There are certainly others who know what they are doing as well. Don Bowers as I understand it was one of the best but he recently passed away r.i.p Don. The one thing I find humorous is that none of these guys are young...Experience is where it's at with pump building and set up in my opinion.

[skeeter]

A question that can't seem to be answered is that in cases of "under 500 horsepower". Does blueprinting or any of the parts except for maybe a stuffer in a really heavy boat really make much difference?
I was told how that cruising rpm's have dropped drastically in cases of less than 2500 rpm for skiing speed but when I asked what impeller they were using, they told me a A2 Aggressor. Well a stock or mild motor can't pull that impeller so has anything really changed for low horsepower applications in the last 10 or 15 years I was away from jet boats?
The long term future depends on efficient drives and motors or this type propulsion is going to be history for a family low horsepower type boat which is the majority of the boating public.
Not a daytona with a blow big block motor which is just a fraction of a percent of the boating industry.

[Fire on the Water]

Thanks pancho! Thats the kind of stuff I'm looking for! :crossx: