I am looking at new sleds and was wondering the pros and cons between the sportjet inboards vs. an outboard? Is the sport jet horsepower rating at the pump? Or is it reduced by a certain percentage like an outboard is? Thank you!

bugtosser,
I prefer an outboard over an inboard for the fact that if you suck up some rocks and jam up your impeller you can always tilt up the motor and take the boot off and pull all the crap out. kinda hard to do that with an inboard while you're in the water anyway. I'm not sure about the horsepower drop on a sportjet I've heard it does drop a little. good fishing
otis

The sportjet power rating is at the pump, 175 sportjet is 175hp at the pump. A good point made if you suck something into the pump the outboard is definately easier to get to. I have had my sportjet for 2 years and have not had any problems with it plugging. I had a stompgrate added which does a good job of clearing the collected debris from the intake. Hope this helps.

Doubletake

even better take a look at the multi port fuel injected 350 this puts out 320 horse it will put the sport jet to shame,takes up a bit of room but man does it get up and move.

What is a "stompgrate" and where do you get them? I have a 19' North River with a 175 SportJet and absolutely love it. I've only sucked plants into the intake once and was able to clear it OK, but if there is a tool or design that would insure that you can clear the intake, it would be worth having. Thanks.

The stompgrate on my Thunderjet is another grate that fits over the stock intake grate. Two rods (spring loaded) extend up through the swim deck to a "stomp"lever. When you step on the lever the two rods are pushed down and the grate is pushed down and away from the stock grate. I stomp on it a couple of times with the motor off, and the debris comes floating up. I don't know about kelp and seaweed but it works good for leaves and other junk floating in the rivers. I don't know if anyone sells them around here, it was an extra $500.00 when I bought my boat 2 years ago. Thunderjet in Lewiston (thunderjet.com or thunderjetboats.com one or the other is correct) is where I got mine when I bought my boat. I believe they have a dealer here in Seattle now. Good luck.

Doubletake