Looking for my first boat...

[Cucci67]

I'd like to start by saying I am a 17 year old senior in high school. I live in New Jersey, but would primarily use a boat in the lake by my home in the poconos. I may end up going to college up there, and I would be spending a lot of time up there, especially by the lake. We currently have our family boat on the lake up there (1997, 18' maxum), but I think it's about time I go for my own. I have taken a boater's safety course.

Since I was 12, I've been obsessed with these 13-16 foot jet boats, I've heard them called "bath-tub boats". I particularly like those made by searay and the seadoo sportster. However, I have heard good and bad things, such as the loss of power due the jet inefficiency and the difficulty of finding parts when things break down.

Does anyone have any advice whether or not I should look into these boats more? I've been shopping around on craigslist and ebay, what should I pay for one of these? I am looking for something between a '93 and '96 and hoping to acquire it for below $3000 in turn-key condition.

As far as what I'd like to do with it. Just cruising around, maybe pull a wakeboarder or tube, but nothing serious.

Aside from that, if these boats are not a good option for a first boat, what would one suggest?

I look forward to hearing your opinions and advice.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Looking for my first boat...

Cucci67, welcome to iboats, we have a lot of members your age, who have there own boats.

if i were in the market, Yamaha would be my choice.

negatives of jets. very inefficent fuel wise. they use 30-40% of the motors rated horsepower, in the transfer to the the jet drive, vs a prop driven boat. in other words, you have a motor that is suppose to produce 100hp, by the time the thrust get to the power outlet of a jet, you only have 60-70% output. so you are burning the same amount of fuel and a boat with much better thrust and speed.

for a first boat i would recommend, a 16ft bowrider, 100-140 hp. outboard, johnson/evinrude.

here is some good info to think over.

Buying a boat

1st you need to decide what you want to use it for, fishing, cruising, or water sports.

2nd how many people adults, children you want on board of the average outing.

3rd outboard, inboard-outboard, or inboard power plant.

4th Budget, what you want to pay, and what you are willing to pay, when you find
Exactly what you want.

You can hire a marine surveyor, to inspect the boat, or you can do it yourself.

You are mainly looking for soft spots in the deck, transom, cracks, all signs of a rotten, under frame. You walk all over the deck, that a mallot, or hammer with wooden handle, using handle, tap all over the transom, a shape rap is good solid base, a thud, is questionable base.

The motor should be clean, no spots where the paint is discolored, or pealing from heat, having run hot. (This part for outboard motors Compression should be atleast 100psi, and within 10% of each other,)
Spark on all cylinders, good pee stream, check lower unit for water in oil.

The overall condition of the boat will tell you a lot, as to how it has been maintained.
boat motor combo, A 30 year old may be in better condition, than a 3 year old.

 

[cbavier]

Re: Looking for my first boat...

Cucci67 welcome aboard iboats. TD has offered you some good advise. use it wisely.

 

[Cucci67]

Re: Looking for my first boat...

Thanks TD, that's probably more info than I could have gotten in a few hours of googling. It is very appreciated. I figured I would answer the questions you've asked me to ask myself in this post.

1. As far as my use of the boat, it would mostly be used for just playing around in the water. Reason I liked the jet boats is from what I have seen in videos and heard, they handle a lot like jet skis (I have decent experience on Jet Skis, but would like to step up to a boat). I may end up fishing off of it, but I wouldn't hold that anywhere near its primary use. As far as water sports, if I could pull a wake boarder or tube, I'd be happy.

2. I'd like to have at least 4 adults on board (including myself). I really wouldn't have any children on board, unless eventually I take my cousins or nephews for a spin.

3. "outboard, inboard-outboard, or inboard power plant" - This to me doesn't make too much of an effect on my decision. I don't know what you'd consider a jet, I think for a decently shallow lake (only about 18-20 feet, but shallow around the sides) I'd be better with an outboard or inboard-outboard.

4. Budget, this is my matter to deal with, but I'd be hoping to have a ready-to-run boat for under $3000.

Once again, thanks guys.

 

[RotaryRacer]

Re: Looking for my first boat...

For your use and budget I would say the boats you are looking at would be pretty good actually.

I would look at SeaDoo...A single engine 85hp (Sportster) model would be pretty good to start off. I would guess you could easily get a mid-90s version in the price range you are looking at.

If you can find a Boston Whaler Rage with the Yamaha jet drive that would be a good boat also. These are harder to come by and would be more expensive than a SeaDoo.

I wouldn't get a boat that has the Mercury Jet or the OMC Jet. These seem to be problematic.

A SeaDoo or Yamaha two stroke are pretty well bullet proof and relatively cheap to replace or fix if needed.

 

[Cucci67]

Re: Looking for my first boat...

http://images.craigslist.org/3n43md3l311713814a91k9b5be547e80e1971.jpg
http://images.craigslist.org/3k73p83l51f51gb14091k6b011b575e8413fe.jpg
http://images.craigslist.org/3ma3p23lc1111f51g091ke76fd013463a1607.jpg

Here is one that I am very interested in. It is the SeaRay 16'. This one has the Mercury 120, is this a potential problem? What would you pay for this? I have seen a fair share of the SeaDoo speedsters/sportsters too.

 

[RotaryRacer]

Re: Looking for my first boat...

http://images.craigslist.org/3n43md3l311713814a91k9b5be547e80e1971.jpg
http://images.craigslist.org/3k73p83l51f51gb14091k6b011b575e8413fe.jpg
http://images.craigslist.org/3ma3p23lc1111f51g091ke76fd013463a1607.jpg

Here is one that I am very interested in. It is the SeaRay 16'. This one has the Mercury 120, is this a potential problem? What would you pay for this? I have seen a fair share of the SeaDoo speedsters/sportsters too.

The Mercury Jet drive is ok. They are an adaptation of an outboard power head to a jet drive mounted in a hull. For whatever reason it seems to me like those are not as reliable as a comparable SeaDoo or Yamaha drive. I would admit that I base this on only limited experience. I know though that a drive/engine doesnt get much simpler than a two stroke SeaDoo or Yamaha.

SeaRay is a fine manufacturer. One of the potential problems with these type of boats is that they were not well cared for by the previous owner(s). They were cheap and drew many young carefree buyers looking for a "fun" boat. Those people may not have been prepared to or able to properly maintain the boats. I'm pretty sure that many of these boats lived a very hard life in which they were driven really hard and fast and put away wet.

Good luck.

 

[Cucci67]

Re: Looking for my first boat...

Rotor: Thanks for the advice. I think I am pretty set on the Jet. What I will try to do is use what TD had told me earlier in finding a boat, and I will make the seadoo and yamaha a top priority since I have only heard good things thus far.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Looking for my first boat...

Cucci67, in my first post, i said YAMAHA, for a reason, i have had both SeaDoo and Yammy. will never have another seadoo, the rotex engine is crap. yes it is high out put. but at 100-150 hours, they are major trouble.

those little sports boats look cool with the molded seats, but once they start to go, hard to replace, or expensive to recover. they have no storage, where will you put a pair of skis, wake board, or tube?

they are a basic one purpose boat, bling looking, go fast, on smooth water, get in rough chop, the are horrible.

read some of the problems here, these are the engines you will be dealing with.
http://forums.iboats.com/forumdisplay.php?f=30

 

[ziggy]

Re: Looking for my first boat...

but at 100-150 hours, they are major trouble.

i think that could be said for any 2 stroke pwc engine. for that reason alone i'd not look at a jet boat. unless it's got a 4 stoke in it...
i did jetskiing for 9 years prior to a boat.. only one 2 stroke though. a kawisaki, lasted on the outside at 300hrs. though that's an estimate as it didn't have a hour meter.. 2 stoke pwc engines seem to be short lived before needing major work imho... i do understand your want for the playfullness of a pwc with the capabilities of a boat though... i thought about what your doing too. i ended up with a mercruiser, in a boat, as i just couldn't get past the short lived 2 stroke pwc engines.....

 

[RotaryRacer]

Re: Looking for my first boat...

TD and I have differing opinions on SeaDoo....sort of.

I would only recommend the 80-85 hp SeaDoo two strokes. The 717, 720 motors are actually pretty good from my experience with a couple different SeaDoos. The real problems with SeaDoo are when you start getting into the 110hp - 130hp motors. Even the 110hp 787 isn't too bad. The 130hp 947 motors are problematic and I would never recommend a new boater to own one of those.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Looking for my first boat...

OK i agree but the boats if single engine need the higher HP system, or twins of the smaller systems. My 1993 500 Yamaha was the best is ever had. just sold it 6 months ago, had never had anything done to it except change the plugs. the Kids had the newer Yammys never had a problem with the, but the seadoos. i hate them, they broke them and brought them to me.

 

[ziggy]

Re: Looking for my first boat...

but the boats if single engine need the higher HP system

i agree too and think this is the crux of it. a single small pwc engine will be strung out to the max in a small boat... it'll always be working at max capacity. or at least most of the time.
while i've not owned a seadoo. i've read and agree with td. their always in the shop for something. yamaha is better, but even then. it'll be running hard most of the time. that just can't be good for an engine. no matter who makes it.. my second pwc was a yamaha 4 stroke. i liked it fine and it made 230 hrs w/o failure or any issue at all, but i'd wonder how it'd do in a boat running at close to 10K most of the time? just seems stressful on a engine to me.. + i'd bet that fixing a 4 stroke pwc engine is pretty pricey too. they look very complicated to me... many moving parts..

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Looking for my first boat...

Factory authorized shops here do not even service them that are prior to 2001. yammy or seadoo.

 

[BigJ08]

Re: Looking for my first boat...

You said you have some experience with jet-skis, so you might know this already. Jet drives as a whole are known to have less than desirable low speed handling capabilities. This might be an issue if you are used to operating a traditional prop drive. I am 19 and own a 15' center console ouboard, nothing special, but great for learning. For $3000 you can find a very nice bowrider that I think you will get a lot more enjoyment with less worry/maintainence issues. Just something to think about.

 

[Cucci67]

Re: Looking for my first boat...

Alright guys. A lot of reading...a lot of second guessing as far as the jets go.

I am talking to a guy with a 1995 Donzi Jet. He was asking $1200, we may be able to do $1000. Supposedly runs perfect, all 3 cylinders at 130psi. Is this something I should go check out, hopefully bringing either a buddy of mine or my uncle who knows his way around boats a bit.

I am looking at some outboard bowriders, but they don't appeal to my taste like the jet boats.

http://images.craigslist.org/3m33of3l711a1221g391l518e54c292641d69.jpg

 

[RotaryRacer]

Re: Looking for my first boat...

For $1000 you might as well give it a shot. If it runs good and you learn about what you do and don't like in a boat it could work out well.

I'm pretty sure that in 95 OMC still owned Donzi. If so I'm sure the jet drive is an OMC unit. That may pose problems in good service parts. OMC only made a jet drive for a couple of years and now that they are no longer around I don't know what the part availablity for those units would be.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Looking for my first boat...

Supposedly runs perfect, they all so when a seller is trying to sell. unless you are very mechanically inclined to maintain it yourself. keep looking. this type boat usually has 2 types of owners. the rare ones are meticulous at maintenance, and the other ones who never do any maintenance, till they break.

 

[xxturbowesxx]

Re: Looking for my first boat...

TAKE YOUR TIME rushing to purchase can end up being a big mistake. Once you have found a boat you feel you just cant live without keep looking and sleep on it for a week. This process should take around a month. Remember that boats aren't exactly flying off the market and you have time. Dont let a seller rush you into anything. Its a buyers market.

 

[ShaneCarroll]

Re: Looking for my first boat...

TAKE YOUR TIME rushing to purchase can end up being a big mistake.

I could not agree anymore. I have a pretty good sense of knowledge when it comes to boats, some mechanical background, just wouldn't get into anything too internal.

Well, this year I get my tax money back, and after four of the boats I was looking at got sold out from under me, I jumped on the next one. It is a great boat, for $3,800. But I have to replace the radio, and it has this very annoying "vapor locking" issue.

A week after I bought this boat, I saw an identical model, WITH a working radio, as well as ship-to-shore radio, for $3500obo.

Bottom line is, take your time, enjoy your parents' boat for a little while, and whatever you do, make sure that you take a lengthy (2-3 hours) sea trial, and try cutting engine off, restarting, etc. This way you would know most of the issues by that time, and if you offer the seller cash in hand, they should understand.