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Law Enforcement Custom Built Jetboats"The Ultimate Aluminum Jet Boat Experience"Law Enforcement Favorite - Rogue JetBruce Wassom Connects Rogue Jet to Patrol Boats Rogue Jet and Owner Bruce Wassom has a long history of designing and building Custom Welded Aluminum Jetboats for Law Enforcement and Parks Service applications. The new Rogue Jet Diesel Powered Welded Aluminum Jetboat promises to take the Law Enforcement application to a new level with its power and fuel mileage improvements while extending travel range between fueling. 1.jpg)
Wanted! For over 25 years Bruce Wassom has been involved in introducing and building law enforcement boats though out the United States. That experience is attracting a lot of agencies today to Rogue Jet Boat Works. Law Enforcement officers are some of the toughest men and women that you'll ever meet. The demand that we place on them in a time of crisis sometimes requires these officers to beyond the call of duty to get their job done. We expect them to be tough and if we're going to count on them, then they've got to be able to count on their equipment to be just as rugged and that includes the boats they use. Back in 1982, the State of California was only getting four or five years of usage out of the fiberglass patrol boats because of the hard usage and high maintenance. It was that year that Bruce Wassom, then part-owner of River Marine in Medford, Ore., sold a 20-foot aluminum boat with a 460 Ford engine with a Hamilton Three Stage jet drive to the Sonoma County Sheriff's Department. After over 25 years of use, this boat will finally be retired this year after three engines and thousands of hours of use. Sonoma County received plenty of publicity from this boat and it started a trend towards heavy gauge aluminum patrol boats for California. Involved With The Law1.jpg)
Since that first patrol boat that he sold. Wassom has been heavily involved in introducing and building law enforcement boats throughout the United States. In 1987 he founded Jetcraft Boats. These boats were an instant hit with not only consumer, but agencies as well. "Over the next 15 years we built over 200 law enforcement, fish and game, fire department and search and rescue boats", remembers Wassom. Upstate New York, Oklahoma, Montana, Arizona, New Mexico, Alaska, California, Nevada, Oregon, Idaho and Washington are just some of the locations we shipped these boats to." His niche has always been custom boats as well as law enforcement vessels. Wassom takes pride in taking on those time-consuming custom projects that larger manufactures tend to stay away from. With his present company, Rogue Jet Boatworks, which Wassom started over five years ago in White City, Ore., the law enforcement segment of his business has continued to grow yearly. "Approximately 15 percent of our total boat sales in 2008 will be law enforcement," says the Rogue Jet owner. "We are presently building seven ranger patrol boats for the California State Parks Department." The boats that Rogue Jet is building for California will be used on lakes and reservoirs from Sacramento to Los Angeles and all seven boats are the 22 foot Whitewater model with Chevrolet 496 engines and Hamilton 212 jet drives. Satisfied Owners1.jpg)
The Butte County Sheriff's Office with the assistance of the California Department of Boating and Waterways recently added to its Marine Enforcement Unit a Rogue Jet Aluminum hulled patrol vessel and they couldn't be happier. "The end result surpassed all of our desires and expectations with regard to quality of materials, construction and innovation, attention to detail and especially performance," says Deputy Sheriff of Butte County Charles lair in Oroville, Calif. "Bruce has been great to work with. He has such a good reputation in this industry for having an innovative personality who is always looking to make whatever he's working on better. We chose him after going out on several other boats because we consider him to be the best of the best of all the boat builders." With the boats being aluminum, Rogue Jet can do many custom modifications to meet the different agency needs, which is one huge advantage over fiberglass. A few of those custom modifications for those patrol boats include tow posts, overhead light bars, radar systems, dive platforms, custom compartments for firearm storage, police radio installations, fire pump systems and diver access doors. However, one thing that remains consistent that can be found on all boats that are manufactured by Rogue Jet Boatworks is the unique hull. "Our hull design and heavy-duty construction for the general public is exactly the same as what we do for the law enforcement boats," says Wassom. "We are getting many law enforcement agencies to specify our boats because they require maximum strength in the hull and superior handling and performance." When Wassom makes his presentation to an agency or at a boat show, he takes with him a bare hull with all welded structure for inspection as well as a finished boat for on-water testing. This gives the potential client a chance to not only feel the difference on the water, but also see for himself the durable construction and design work. 1.jpg)
"Bruce goes the extra mile for his customers and when we were looking he not only brought a boat that we could test, but he also brought an empty hull so we could see how it was constructed," remembers Deputy Lair. Because Wassom takes a bare hull for inspection, potential buyers are able to see the solid welded construction in all structural areas of the hull and this is something Wassom has been doing for years with all the boats he builds. "Our longitudinal box girders are .160 -inch thickness and are solid welded on both sides the length of the boat," explains Wassom. "We do a quarter-inch thick overlay in the back center six feet of the bottom. This is the primary impact area when the boat hits a submerged object in a river or lake. We surround the jet intake area with a half-inch by two-inch solid bar welded to the bottom for additional strength. Our boats transoms are all .190-inch thickness." "Our lifting/turning strake material welded to the bottom of the boat has a "T" bar formed on the inside for additional strength," Wassom continues. "When the lifting/turning strake extrusion completely hollow it tends to flatten out or collapse when it comes in contact with a submerged object. With our additional support post in the extrusion the damage is not as severe." One Smooth Ride1.jpg)
Since the law enforcement boats' usage is in many varying water conditions, the high tech bottom design configuration gives those in the boat the best ride and handling for an all-purpose patrol boat. Arguably it is Rogue Jet's tapered radius that has truly made these boats so popular for both law enforcement agencies as well as consumers. "Our tapered radius bottom on our boats is one of the best handling and performing bottoms in the all-welded aluminum boat industry," says Wassom. "With the radius keel area, the boat tends to be smoother riding in rough water, gets a little better top-end speed, corners extremely smooth, and tracks in water with no rocking or falling off an edge as with a flat pad bottom configuration." The boat bottoms are bent 14 times to get the tapered radius shape. This is obviously more costly and time consuming to fabricate for the Rogue Jet craftsman, but many people including Wassom feel its worth the extra effort when it comes to performance and handling. It was that test ride that that sold Lair as well as his sergeant and others that he worked with. "It handled better and was superior to anything else that we had driven," says Deputy Lair. "I did everything I could to make sure we ended up with a Rogue Jet boat and I can honestly say that we couldn't have found a better boat builder than Rogue Jet. Multiple law agencies have contacted me and the word is spreading." With the word quickly spreading, you may just start seeing more and more Rogue Jet law enforcement boats in California and beyond in the near future and that's just fine with Wassom. He knows his boats are different from others and that's what keeps him going. "Being one of the few manufacturers in the aluminum boat industry that build inboard jet boats exclusively, we feel we must take the extra effort to build the best product available for the law enforcement, guides and outfitters and the general public." With that attitude and dedication, the sky is the limit for Wassom and his Rogue Jet Boatworks company. For more information on Rogue Jet Boatworks call 541-944-2155 or visit www.roguejet.com Bruce Wassom Rogue Jet Boat Works |
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