Patent ID: 8646430

Claim:
A small planing boat comprising: a multi-cylinder engine; and a jet pump configured to be driven by the engine and to propel a hull by drawing in and jetting out water; wherein the engine is configured to change the number of deactivated cylinders in a phased manner corresponding to a speed of the engine when the engine speed becomes a prescribed speed or more, the engine further comprising: a memory device arranged to store a plurality of cylinder deactivation sequence schedules defining sequences of cylinders that are deactivated and increasing the number of deactivated cylinders in a phased manner, and an operation control device configured and programmed to deactivate the cylinders of the engine in a phased manner in accordance with the cylinder deactivation sequence schedule stored in the memory device, and wherein the operation control device is configured and programmed to shift the cylinder deactivation sequence schedule to be read out from the memory device to another cylinder deactivation sequence schedule corresponding to an operational state of the engine; and wherein the operation control device is configured and programmed to store a newest cylinder deactivation sequence schedule while the engine is operated, and to shift a stored previous cylinder deactivation sequence schedule to another cylinder deactivation sequence schedule when the engine is restarted.