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1977 Almarine Meteor Jet Boat

Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2009 6:57 pm
by JetDriver
Hi, I came across some CMBA boats at the Pageant of Power at the weekend so thought it would be a good idea to register on your forum. The Glastron GT150 on display really got my attention, they were great boats.
I've been working on a classic jet boat for many years now, and it's now in the final stages of being ready to hit the water. It was made by a company called Almarine of Diss, Norfolk in the 70's. As far as I know the company made about 4 different boats. The smallest was a 9ft speedboat with an outboard called the Spitfire, the next one up was the Seafire which was essentially the same as the Spitfire but with a longer hull (about 10.5ft). My boat is called the Meteor, and has the same hull as the Seafire but with a waterjet and inboard Rotax 650cc 2 stroke. They also made a twin waterjet boat of substantial size (about 16ft) but i'm not sure of its name. There are quite a few Seafires and Spitfires in existence, many of which are in Holland, but not many of the jet boats.
Looking forward to using the boat and hopefully attending some classic boat events.

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Re: Hi CMBA

Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2009 8:21 pm
by Alacrity
Welcome to the forum! That meteor looks a lot of fun, you need to press on & get her ready for the Cardiff rally in 3 weeks time! A great spot to 'christen' her. :perfect:

Re: Hi CMBA

Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2009 9:07 pm
by Howstar
hi piston and broke, i was there at pagent of power,glad you like the boats i had the broom, still needs a bit work doing,
Do live in chehire as i do,send me a pm if you can work it out how to do it,
I take my otherboat to windsford flash, must be only place left in cheshire,if you live local , there is few speed boats that meet on sunday ,bring it down there is public jetty

Re: Hi CMBA

Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2009 10:51 pm
by BroomBroom
Greetings Dom and welcome aboard :thumbsup:

Pleased that you found us and like Alacrity says - that looks like a fun outfit you have there. I've always had a lurking passion for jet drives :hmmm:

Hope you enjoy the forum and would be great if you decided to 'join up' - the CMBA has a load of great events it and would be great to see you and your 'Meteor' at some of them...

Cheers,

Robin

Re: Hi CMBA

Posted: Tue Jul 21, 2009 7:02 pm
by JetDriver
Thanks for the welcome. Once i've got the boat running i'll join up and come to some events. Cardiff sounds great but i think i'll struggle to get everything sorted by then. The boat needs a new trailer, also need a towbar fitting to the car, and the waterjet needs a new wear ring machining. It's stored a long way from where i live so progress is slow. Will do my best to get it on the water asap though.
Howstar, i had a good look at your Broom at the Pageant of Power, really impressive restoration. Likewise Robin, I spent far too long gawping at your Broom Blog last night. What a great job! :perfect:

Re: Hi CMBA

Posted: Tue Jul 21, 2009 11:58 pm
by BroomBroom
Dom,

Glad you've enjoyed the blog :thumbsup: I do my best!
Don't take too much notice of that chap Alacrity - bit of 'James Bond' type, has a huge amount of gorgeous boats, apparently unlimited income and hordes of exotic young fillies throwing themselves in his path :lol: :lol: :lol:

We all look forward to seeing Meteor as and when... but join up soonish or you'll miss the next issue of the CMBA mag - pure boat p*rn ;)

Cheers,

Robin

Re: Hi CMBA

Posted: Wed Aug 12, 2009 10:54 pm
by neilz303
hey lads, im just buying one these little meteors.
i work on boats a good bit so im not a complete amature or anything, but wondering where can parts be found for the cush drives?! and is there anywhere to find spares the the rotax 650 engine?! dont need any spares yet but 'd be nice to know......

it'll be a while before she's going, the guy who had it was a bit "agricultural" with the maintainence, and i want to have it right before i use it.
also one other thing, is there any manual or anything for the tolerances for the drive, like blades to the wall etc....

cheers in advance

neil

Re: Hi CMBA

Posted: Thu Aug 13, 2009 11:51 am
by C2c
Hi Piston & Broke, Ur boat is a Real Beauty. Look forward to seeing it in action in Cardiff in the near future. :thumbsup: :wot: :wot:

Re: Hi CMBA

Posted: Fri Aug 14, 2009 7:16 pm
by JetDriver
Thanks C2c :D She's almost ready now. The last few weekends have been spent making a battery box and a new inlet scoop for the waterjet. Quite a messy job with all the fibreglass and sanding down invloved. Also had a new front wear ring machined up so the waterjet is ready to go on now.
I'm having some probs with the temp gauge, which packs up each time the engine fires up because of the interference from the ignition. Going to try running a remote temp take off from the water coolant outlet pipe to get the temp sensor as far from the HT stuff as possible.

Neilz303, great news to hear you're buying a meteor :perfect: . Some pics would be great once you've bought her. Not sure what you mean by cush drives, but if you mean the waterjet then you're pretty much out of luck. Very occasionally you might find parts on the web though, i think a fair few drives went to NZ. There is a company down South called Andover Norton who have parts for the Rotax 637. I think they have a complete engine there.
Dont have any data on the UA jets i'm afraid. Get the blade tip / wear ring clearance as low as you can though, otherwise you'll get slip. I have about 0.25mm clearance.

Funny you say the guy who had it before was a bit "agricultural" with the maintenence. I think he must have owned mine first too, had so many things to fix but all good fun.

Re: Hi CMBA

Posted: Tue Aug 18, 2009 12:45 pm
by huntsman 31
hi mate love your seafire meteor, i have the seafire bug i,m restorein the sameboat too but your a lot closer to the water than me. i will try postin some photos soon as. i do have a couple of problems tho so mite try picking your brains where did you get your exhaust from i have the same engine and how is the engine held near the fuel tank end i have the back brace you can see in your photo.hope you can help little michael