Re: polaris worth buying
That's extremely over priced. $500 for that sounds about right. I personally don't recommend Polaris since they went out of business and also weren't very popular to begin with (means less parts out there). I personally don't have much experience with them, but from what I've seen/ heard they have mediocre to average reliability. But that's also highly dependent on how the pwc was taken care of. For the most part, through personal experience and also from what I've seen, Yamaha and Kawasaki are pretty good brands. Sea Doo can be hit or miss. It's really dependent on which model.
I'll list some general things to look at when shopping for a used ski. Keep in mind certain models have specific things to look for (yam blasters are known for cracking transoms due to surf riding, stand ups are known for tray issues and handle pole mounts cracking, sea doo's 951 engines can be ticking time bombs due to water ingestion, etc etc).
Shine a flashlight into the rear of the pump to check for a damaged impeller. The edges should be smooth and crisp with no nicks in them. The liner should also look relatively smooth with no protrusions. Check the pump vanes to make sure none are missing or chipped (they don't move and look like a fan).
Look underneath the hull for deep gouges or any stress cracks underneath the rubrail. Small nicks and cratches are normal for used skis. They're also easily fixed.
Check the manual trim (if it's a sea doo and has VTS, check it when you have the ski running on a flush kit), the steering, and the reverse lever (if installed) for full and free movement.
Check any latches for stress cracks in the hull around them. Also check for stress cracks around the bonding line on the inside of the hull where the two halves of the hull are put together.
Looking at the engine, give a good tug on it near the front upwards. Do it again on the back upwards. This checks to make sure none of the motor mounts are busted. Check to see if there is any bubbling, peeling, or discolorations of the paint on the engine. These could be signs of it overheating or corrosion beneath the paint. White powdery stuff on the engine could be salt deposits (same as on the pump, rideplate, or intake grates). That might not be a big deal, but it's highly dependent on how the owner too care of it.
If you have a compression gauge it's very important to do a compression check. You want all the cylinders to be within approximately 10psi of each other. While you're at this step, look at the plugs to see how they look. They should be a rich caramel color. If you're not familiar with checking plugs, look for a chart online.
Just give a general look around in the engine compartment. Look to see if fuel lines and electrical lines are zip tied, make sure water lines have clamps on them, see if the fuel or water lines looks brittle of cracked, etc. Use common sense. It might not always be the case, but if an engine compartment looks like a bomb hit it, most likely it wasn't well taken care of.
Run the ski on a flush kit. Before you do this, put your hand on the exhaust or engine. See if it's warm. If it's warm, this could mean the owner started it up before you got there which could mean it's hard to start. This isn't that uncommon especially if it only has a choke and not a primer. Just something to keep in mind when dealing with the owner and how honest he is.
While running on the flush, it's kind of important to know ahead of time about what ski you're looking at how it should run. Some skis will run smoothly on a flush. Others like the Yamaha GPRs will sound like a dieing pig (sounds like it bogs down). You also can't rev the GPRs on land past a certain rpm while other skis you can do this. Knowing ahead of time and watching how that owner handles the ski will also give you a general idea of how they took care of it.
Shut it down using both the stop switch and also once by pulling the lanyard out. Make sure the owner turns the water off on the flush kit BEFORE they turn the engine off. Water should ONLY be flowing through a ski when the engine is running. Not before the engine start. Not after the engine shut off. It's generally ok to run the engine on land without water flowing through it for about 15 seconds without doing any damage.
I'm sure others can add to this list. And like I said, when you know a specific model you're interested in it's easier to give more specific things to look for. Best of luck.
