Boat guy looking at a ski

[brianq]

Hey Guys I am pretty good with outboards and boats, my gf is looking to buy a ski. I am good with motors but i have never purchased a ski. I saw an old guy in my town meticulously cleaning a ski then placing it for sale at the curb. Its a 2003 Yamaha 1300R for $3,300 with 100 hours. He puts it in every night and his yard is super polished, sounds silly but signs of a guy who maintains things. I will obviously do compression tests and sea trial this ski before purchase. What I am wondering if there is anything with these I need to look for? Anything I should know about these models?

I dont have a manual for this does anyone know the factory compression number? Also is there a SELCO type after market repair manual for this ski should we buy it?

I did check KBB hes a little high on his number but you have to start somewhere.

Thanks in advance

 

[jbetzelb]

Overall I think those were good boats. I had a friend that had one and it ran good with minimal problems. This was the early stages of emissions and the Cat's failed. I think it cost my friend around 350 to do a CAT delete. You might ask if the CAT has been replaced or deleted on it. Some say dont buy a 2 cycle but I dont agree. I have a 2002 Polaris 2 cycle and it runs strong.

 

[JimS123]

That era Yami was one of the best 2-strokes ever made. But its still 15 years old, regardless of how well he kept it.

In 2003, Yami was heavily pushing their FX 4-stroke. Lots of the old FXs still running without much maintenance, but not as many 2-strokes were sold.

If it was selling for a song, it might be a good buy. But at or near book value its not as tempting.

After running a bunch of 2-strokes (and suffering the maintenance issues of that $#%^ oil injection), my first 4-stroke cured me of that affliction. My 2003 4-stroke is on its second owner now and still going strong.

 

[QBhoy]

Legend skis and going up in value over here in the U.K.
almost as quick as the big supercharged things these days and more fun to throw around.
Bad points are that they are HORRENDOUS on fuel. Seriously, they drink it. Especially the one you are looking at. The later ones came with fuel injection and did away with the problematic power valves (had a habit of dropping into the piston at 7000rpm).
Rebuild the top end and check the valves every 100 hours and it will last forever. Just the fuel and oil consumption is terrible.
I remember correctly the compression from new was 120 psi approx on each of the 3 cylinders.