The Kiwi Jet Boat Story for Campervan Travellers: A New Zealand Invention for Braided Rivers

Quick summary: For campervan travellers riding a jet boat in New Zealand, there’s a bonus: you’re riding a Kiwi invention. The modern jet boat was developed in the 1950s by Bill Hamilton, a farmer and engineer on a high-country station in South Canterbury, who wanted a boat that could travel up the region’s shallow, braided rivers. His water jet design went on to power boats around the world, and commercial jet boating for visitors began on Queenstown’s Shotover River. Many of the rides on a campervan or motorhome route run on the same kind of rivers that inspired it.

At a glance
Inventor	Bill Hamilton, later Sir William Hamilton
Where	A high-country sheep station in South Canterbury
When	Developed in the 1950s
Why	To travel up shallow, braided rivers where propellers couldn’t work
How it works	Water is drawn in and forced out at high speed from the back of the boat
Commercial rides	Began on Queenstown’s Shotover River in the 1960s

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Who invented the jet boat?

Bill Hamilton, a farmer and self-taught engineer on a high-country station in the Mackenzie Country of South Canterbury. He was fascinated by machinery and wanted a boat that could travel up the fast, shallow rivers near his home. Earlier experiments with water jets existed overseas, but Hamilton refined the design into a practical, powerful unit, and his work led to the modern jet boat. He was later knighted for his contributions to engineering.

How does a jet boat work?

Instead of a propeller, a jet boat uses a pump inside the hull to draw water in through an intake under the boat and force it out at high speed through a nozzle at the back. Steering comes from turning the nozzle, which also allows the dramatic 360-degree spins. With no propeller or rudder hanging below the hull, the boat can skim across water only a few centimetres deep.

Why were Canterbury’s rivers the perfect testing ground?

Because they’re braided: wide gravel beds where the river splits into many shallow, shifting channels. Boats with propellers run aground or damage their propellers in such water, but a jet boat can race across the shallows and through the channels. The same rivers, such as the Waimakariri and Rakaia, still host jet boat rides today. See jet boating near Christchurch.

How did jet boating become a tourist experience?

In the 1960s, commercial jet boat rides for visitors began on the Shotover River near Queenstown, racing through its narrow canyons. The idea caught on, and jet boating became one of New Zealand’s signature adventure activities, now offered on rivers and lakes across the country. See jet boating in Queenstown.

Where can you see jet boating history on an RV trip?

• The Mackenzie Country, on the road between Christchurch and Aoraki/Mount Cook, where the jet boat was developed.
• The Waimakariri and Rakaia gorges, near Christchurch, typical of the braided rivers it was designed for.
• The Shotover River, near Queenstown, where commercial rides began.

For the drive through the Mackenzie, see our sister site’s Mackenzie and Aoraki route.

Are Hamilton jets still used today?

Yes. Water jets based on Hamilton’s design power boats worldwide, from rescue craft and ferries to military vessels and recreational boats, and they remain a New Zealand engineering success story.

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