I have a Yamaha SX210. Love it. Super easy to maintain & own. It's pretty much a matter of changing the engine oil and sparkplugs once a year and lubing the steering and gate cables & pivot points. There's no transmission, no bellows, no gimbal, no trim pumps, no power steering pump, no accessory drive belts.
I've never had a cleanout plug blow, though I have been able to use them to clear a sucked up ski rope and a hunk of bark that I sucked up in the marina in the spring. Our lake is fairly clean, so not a frequent occurence for us. A jet without the cleanout ports would have required pulling the boat out of the water to clear. For watersports, I will say that the center table of the wake is fairly rough and at certain speeds the lip of the wake is a bit washy. That said, most riders spend very little time in that part of the wake anyway. With a pair of 800 pound straightline sumo sacs filled under the port and starboard benches, the boat actually produces a pretty decent wakeboarding wake at 22 - 25 mph with plenty of ramp and height to support wake to wake jumps. With the bags shifted a bit, it can be used to wake surf at 10 - 11 mph. Boat accelerates very well for its power (mine is a lower powered version - 220hp vs the 360 of the HO models) - easily pulling 200+ pound boarders and skiers up with a boat full of passengers. It's faster out of the hole than it has any right to be, actually. Top seed is nothing too big - about 45 mph +/- 2 depending on conditions and load. HO models run low to mid 50s but also accelerate out of the hole like a scalded cat. Very responsive handling at cruising and WOT speed and, with dual engines and throttles it extremely manueverable at idle speeds. Swimdeck is awesome and makes a great place to just sit and lounge when anchored at the cove and makes a great entry platform when tied up stern to the beach.
Negatives are that the boat is pretty loud inside when underway. Actually, that's my primary dislike. Also, low speed requires a vigilant hand at the helm to keep on course. Easy to do after getting a couple of hours behind the wheel but it can make it hard to hand the helm over to a guest driver. I have Cobra Jet steering fins installed on mine, which give it pretty solid straightline tracking once above no wake speed, though not at all to the level of an inboard wake boat.
It's not perfect, but we've been very happy with our Yamaha and I'd definitely do it again. I'll be interested to check out the offerings from Chaparral and Scarab as well - particularly Chaparral. The big drawback I see with both of those is the lack of cleanout access, which could be a non-starter for me on a jet. For that matter, if a lot of my boating was in lakes with a lot of surface debris or vegetation, I wouldn't want a jet.
:behindsofa:
