Re: Any Yamaha jet boat owners out there?
Watered down....that is an absolutely GREAT link. Extra long and just loaded with outstanding info. Naturally it has way too many people shooting their mouths off and speculating about a boat they've never driven or owned, but after you weed them out there's a couple very well spoken owners who gave some great information about what I wanted to learn.<br /><br />Thank you VERY much for finding that for me. I may actually sign on over there and try to fire that one up again to learn a bit more.<br /><br />I really liked what this guy spit out...a former I/O owner who answered a ton of questions that were in my head. They even discussed the wake for watersports and everything...there's even photos over there of the wake and the boats in action. That churning wake and jet spray is my biggest concern now...I wonder how that works on a slalom since I generally prefer a shorter rope. I thought I'd share some of what was written here for other's benefit in case they were curious:<br /><br />"I own a Yamaha AR230 HO and would like to respond to a few things that were stated above.<br /><br />Yamaha makes two types of Jet Boats. Ones with the older 2-stroke engines, and ones with newer hightech 4-stroke engines. The 4-strokes are marinized versions of their R-1 Motorcycle engines which have a very good reputation. They are quiet, powerful, and fairly fuel efficient. (especally the HO models). A lot of the opinions expressed here seem to be based on the older boats.<br />There is no problem and no warranty issues with operating the boat in shallow water. I am not sure where this came from as I just checked. Even though the boat is 23 ft, it only has a 18inch draft and I have operated it in 2ft of water many times with no problems at all. We have taken this boat into many rivers and coves that would be almost impossible with a standard I/0 bowrider. In fact, Yamaha demonstrates these boats at WOT in 2-3 ft water to demonstrate the advantages of jet drives.<br />There is no trim to worry about. About once or twice a month, I've seen people take off their skeg and damage the prop because they forgot to raise their trim at the boatramp. ouch. LOL<br />Because the MR-1 engines are not based off a truck engine, they are simple, easy to maintain,and after the 10 hour oil change, maintenance basically involves changing the oil and adding some grease every 100 hours. There are no belts, no cooling pumps, and complicated plumbing that you see on Mercury and Volvo drives. And because they are smaller, it allows for the great swim platform that you see on these boats. They are very easy to winterize.<br />The MR-1 engines do rev up to 10K rpm, but I don't not find these are noiser than running an I/0 at WOT either. I've heard some pretty noisy I/Os. Many people that have ridden in the boat are plesantly surprised at the turbine like sound these twin engines make.<br />Yamaha has a huge amount of experience building boats. In Japan they build everything from small recreational boats to huge 100 footers used in commercal ventures. I would say they have more experience in boat building that almost any recreational boat builder in the USA. If you do a search there is a thread here where I posted photos of some of their Japanese boats.<br />As far as longevity is concerned, I am not aware that the MR-1 engine and its R-1 sibling have had any problems. There are tens of thousands of jetskis, waverunners and motorcycles using this platform and no where are there any reports of these engines wearing out if they are properly maintained.<br />The boat is capiable of some very fun things such as doing a high speed spin (tell everyone to hangon). It can do a sub move - a messy manuever but possible because you can throw the boat into reverse at WOT since there is no transmission. I don't do this one but a lot do and say it is exciting.<br />Because there are two independant jets, the boat can be turned 180 degrees on its on axis. This is also a big head turner at the boat docks as an I/O can't do this.<br />It is also a great crusing boat. This is one of the things we do a lot in this boat. It has a very large high quality bimini top, plenty of seating, and space to layout, eat, etc. The table can be mounted inside or out on the swim platform. I even use a magma grill attached to the ladder to cook out.<br />Though engine failure is rare on these boats, having 2 engines means you wont be stranded. You can always make it back home on just one engine running<br /><br />To be fair, a jet boat does take a bit more practice to handle at slow speeds, but there are addon rudders that will help with this if needed. Having 2 engines with independant trottle and directional control adds another element to help with steering if you take the time to learn it. I have noticed there is bias against jet boats by some on these boards, but I can tell you this boat never fails to get compliments when I am out with it and people always want to know about it when the learn it has jets instead of a prop. Many many times people will come up to ask about it and it always turns heads on the lake too mainly because most people are not quite sure what it is. (I guess being used to the more typical brands) As we all know no boat fits everyone's needs but this one works very well for us.<br /><br />BillyB, On smooth water I have measured the boat at 53-54 via gps. The speedo is hanging around 59 or so at this speed. Comfortable cruising speed is about 32-35 mph (7500 rpm). There is no trim at all and I am not sure what it would add to this boat. If you are sitting still and punch the throttles, the boat will go to plane in about 2.5 seconds (its pretty impressive) and at that point will quickly go to full speed. I've never measured gas mileage, but we usually don't use more than 15 - 18 gallons or so of regular gas on a weekend. That's not enough for me to worry about. The boat holds 57 gallons. <br /><br />Seabuddy, I have seen nor heard nothing that would indicate that you can't operate this boat in shallow water. From my experience the boat is more than fine in shallow water but you should exercise the same prudence that you would with and I/O. If you knock off an I/O outdrive because you went too shallow, I assume that isn't covered either. <br /><br />I would say that in comparison to an I/O, you can certain go in much more shallow water and not suffer any ill effects for doing so. I tend to slow down to trolling speed in water that is 5 ft or less mainly because I don't want to hit a sand bar. Over time the impellers may wear if you keep sucking in a lot of sand, but beyond that I don't see the problem. This is not likely to happen if you don't go fast in shallow water. And they are not that difficult to replace if it does happen."