Yamaha Jet Boats

[Skeet190zx]

I am looking to purchase a 2002 Yamaha LX2000 with the twin 135's, I have never owned a jet boat before, I have always had sern drive boats... are there any Yamaha jet boat owners out there that could give me Pros/Cons regaring the Jet boats.... I am curious about the wake they put out, is it more difficult to steer that regular prop boat? what kind of engine issues are out there with jet boats? ANY info would be appreciated... thanks!!!

 

[H20Rat]

Re: Yamaha Jet Boats

search around for some of my older posts on jet boats, I've got some long ones out there! Biggest piece of advice I can give you is don't take any advice from anyone that hasn't owned a modern jet boat. There are lots of 'i heard....' pieces of info out there, most don't apply to any jet boat that doesn't have a big block 454 on the back.

I'll leave it at this, there are very few jet boats in the used market, but lots of new sales. Owners that have a jet boat tend to love it and hang on to it. (seadoo is well over 1 million jetboats sold already)


**edit, tried to search and find some of my older posts, couldn't, so... here goes the summary version**

mpg's are going to be roughly comparable to a similar bowrider with the same type power plant. Jets have a long standing reputation of being gas hogs, but in the past i've posted side by side comparisons from boattest where similar length I/O's had worse mileage than jet boats. People tend to drive jet boats fairly hard, and anytime you drive a boat hard its going to suck down the gas.

As far as handling, a jet is a little bit of a challenge and there is a learning curve, but once you get it, a jet will easily out handle any prop boat. Especially with that twin engine, you will be able to do things that would require twin pods. Even with my single engine jet boat, i can spin in place, back up at any angle, or slide the boat straight sideways. My favorite maneuver is to pull into a double slip, and then rotate 180 degrees with about 3 inches to spare on each end. Once i'm facing out, I slide it straight over to the side and then tie it up. Been a while since I've driven a conventional boat, but I had my hands on a fairly large single prop I/O this weekend. I thought that thing handled horrible! Low speed handling was indistinct, everything was delayed, and it took lots of overreaction to get the thing to move. Its all a mater of what you are used to.

One big drawback is the wake... The hulls aren't design for a nice wake, and jet drives cause lots of turbulence and mush. I've boarded behind mine, as well as pulled tubers. It works, but isn't ideal. The other drawback is that jets don't like weeds. If you drive in areas that have lots of vegetation, you will be swimming occassionally to clean the intake grate. You would think the jet would work like a big salad shooter, but it doesn't.

 

[robert graham]

Re: Yamaha Jet Boats

My brother-in-law in Florida has the Yamaha Jet Boat with twin motors and it's a great toy, a real rocket, lots of fun!...But to me they give up a lot of functionality for my fishing, camping and general utility purposes. It just all depends on your wants, needs and finances!

 

[ziggy]

Re: Yamaha Jet Boats

well, i'm one of them that haven't ever had a jet boat. so don't listen to my take on it.....

so, fwiw. the 135 yamaha engine is a 2 smoke. imho, 2 stroke jet ski engines just don't last too long. the yamaha 135 engine has at least one known engine issue. i can't remember what it is, but i'm sure it has one, so do some research on that engine, you should be able to find the flaw easy with some research. also. i have had a 2 stroke kawasaki engine in a pwc. it let the magic smoke out of it around 200 or 300 hours. full engine replacement/rebuild was necessary. that kinda turned me off for pwc engines. they get run hard at near wot all the time. imho, this must wear them out prematurely. this bummed me out so much i was happy to see 4 stroke pwc engines hit the scene. imho, these enignes will last longer. but they are real high tech engines. so working on them from the shade tree mechanic point is kinda mute.

fwiw. saw me a yamaha jet boat out at the lake this weekend. was pulling a knee boarder. looked fun. but i could hear his engines. they weren't consistent. he'd get on the throttle then let off, back and forth. maybe he was doing it on purpose, maybe he wasn't...

so i'll leave my comment at this. imho, 2 stroke pwc engines need major enigne work somewhere around 200-400 hours max. this imho is a bummer. i want an engine to last with care much longer than that and i don't want to invest in a new engine every few years...

fwiw, as far as i know. my 165hp mercruiser L6 engine is the original in my boat. that's 36 years w/o replacement. i doubt a pwc engine will do that...

 

[MCFLYIN]

Re: Yamaha Jet Boats

I have a Seadoo Jet Boat with twin 787's. I had a prop boat before this and both have their place on the water.

Pros: Turns on a dime, fun to play with and jump around, dont have to worry about the propeller smacking a stump or rock (or even worse a person)

Cons: Sucking crap into the intake (the wear rings and impellers can get damaged just like a prop if you suck up some rocks or what not), not quite as much storage as my older bowrider (depends on which model you get), and the 2 stroke engine thing tends to turn people off

I have had snowmobiles almost all my life so I am familiar with the 2-strokes. There is defiently a little more maintenance required but repairs are usually cheaper with the strokes. If you can turn a wrench, I wouldnt hesitate on the Yamaha jet Boat for a minute. Like I said, they take a little more maintenance, but man are they a blast.