Sea-Doo/Yamaha Jet Boat?

[hcelliott]

Hi everyone,

We have been looking at Williams 385/445/505D as suitable boats for lots of little children, blasting about and waterskiing on the West Coast.

We have come across Sea-Doo and Yamaha's jet boats and they look very interesting as larger alternatives which still retain the jet advantages which we rather like.

Have you got any opinions on these boats?

Thanks for all your replies.

 

[landlockedpirate]

Much the same comments that you got on the jetrib front. They are fast , fun and very very wet. Great for a 20min blast on a sunny day, but the appeal drops sharpley after you have had the 40th bucket of icy water thrown in your face on a 'typical' british summer day.

They are great to look at and your freinds will love it, but they are a pain to live with. I have owned Seadoo jetskis on and off since they first appeared in 1992. They need lots of TLC, lots of servicing, brake down a lot, the boats are just the same. Even something as simple as starting them after they have been on the mooring can be an issue. The batteries need to be fully topped up, or when its started it will drop into get you home mode. If you try and jump start it, it might even shut down completely. The jetdrives will hate being in the water all the time, they are just not designed to be left afloat.

In short, all these boats are just toys, listen to the combined wisdom of the forum, get a proper RIB for half the price and a quarter of the problems.

There are lots of ribs that have a similar leisure seating to the jet boats you are looking at, Zodiac do the Yachtline delux and the Medline. Brig are very nice and even Avon do the Adventure series, stick a nice 4 stroke or Etec on it and you wont go wrong.

 

[hcelliott]

Much the same comments that you got on the jetrib front. They are fast , fun and very very wet. Great for a 20min blast on a sunny day, but the appeal drops sharpley after you have had the 40th bucket of icy water thrown in your face on a 'typical' british summer day.

They are great to look at and your freinds will love it, but they are a pain to live with. I have owned Seadoo jetskis on and off since they first appeared in 1992. They need lots of TLC, lots of servicing, brake down a lot, the boats are just the same. Even something as simple as starting them after they have been on the mooring can be an issue. The batteries need to be fully topped up, or when its started it will drop into get you home mode. If you try and jump start it, it might even shut down completely. The jetdrives will hate being in the water all the time, they are just not designed to be left afloat.

In short, all these boats are just toys, listen to the combined wisdom of the forum, get a proper RIB for half the price and a quarter of the problems.

There are lots of ribs that have a similar leisure seating to the jet boats you are looking at, Zodiac do the Yachtline delux and the Medline. Brig are very nice and even Avon do the Adventure series, stick a nice 4 stroke or Etec on it and you wont go wrong.

Thanks for your help. We'll keep that in mind.

 

[jfm]

LLp is right. I really don't wish to rain on your parade but am torn between being candid and doing just that, or watering down the truth on these boats. I'll go for the former. These jet boats are mickey mouse playthings that no serious boater wouldn't be seen dead in and the only reason they're not inside christmas crackers is that they're too big. Take a look

You were worried before about sailors disapproving of your boat. If you buy one of these people will snigger at you.

And they have all the dangers of a jet (I mean, you still have to be incredibly careful when kids are swimming nearby) with no particular advantages. you certainly cannot beach these things because they're too heavy and if you suck gravel or sand or a plastic bag into the jet your day is over. I've lost count of the number of times I've seen people think that neutral is really neutral, and they let the boat drift over the towline as they pick up water skiers while running the engine in neutral. That's it for a week or so. They have to row back to shore and have the thing craned out to untangle the ski-rope/impeller interface.

I'm trying to think of a car analogy of buying one of these versus a quality RIB and Yam/Merc/Etec engine. All I can think of is an actual noddy car with a big engine versus a BMW (with a better engine)

 

[hcelliott]

OK - those ones are completely ridiculous, but I was really thinking more in terms of one of these:

Do they still carry that reputation?

 

[sundancer9000]

jet boats

pure ****e

 

[Nick_H]

OK - those ones are completely ridiculous, but I was really thinking more in terms of one of these:

Do they still carry that reputation?

You only say you plan to use it on the west coast, but you don't say the west coast of where, or what the water conditions will be like. A 19' boat that you have to sit down in will kill your back in anything more than the slightest chop. In most coastal locations there are very few days where its flat calm enough to use a small jet boat properly. Proper RIBS are designed with the occupants either in a semi-standing position so they can absorb the bumps with their knees, or sat on the tubes for cushioning.

The biggest issue with the jet boat though is you want to leave it on a mooring for a month, which will quickly kill the jet drive system. Prop fouling is a problem for all boats left in the water, but when the edge of the prop is mm's from the surrounding tunnel, and very difficult to access for cleaning it, you're likely to spend too much time trying to clean or fix it.

However, if the area you plan to use it is very protected, and therefore flat clam most of the time, and you can find a way of launching and recovering each day rather than leaving it on a mooring, and you only want to use it for blasting around and waterskiing and don't want to cruise anywhere, then the jet boat will probably do what you need. Blasting round in circles gets boring very quickly though, so you're really talking about using it for waterskiing, ringos etc., which is fine, but then i'd rather have a specialist ski boat, which by the way are shaft driven so would have the prop well underneath the boat.

 

[Nautorius]

Hi everyone,

We have been looking at Williams 385/445/505D as suitable boats for lots of little children, blasting about and waterskiing on the West Coast.

We have come across Sea-Doo and Yamaha's jet boats and they look very interesting as larger alternatives which still retain the jet advantages which we rather like.

Have you got any opinions on these boats?

Thanks for all your replies.

What you need is a decent Centre Console Boat. Self draining cockpit for watersports, stand up ability in a chop, ease of move all around, good seating and if you get a 6m one you get a Toilet in the Console!

Think like this http://www.jeanneau.com/boats/Cap-Camarat-5.5-CC.html

Paul

 

[Renegade_Master]

pure ****e

5 letters ending in e ...erm let me see now **** no, **** no I give up.

If its derogatory I cant agree to all jet boats being so, mine is a peach and much fun, there again it is a 9m commercial jet boat max 10 passengers.

 

[jfm]

OK - those ones are completely ridiculous, but I was really thinking more in terms of one of these:

Do they still carry that reputation?

Less so, i admit, partly becuase not in Toy R Us colours. But still a bit daft

That is just such a limited lake boat. NickH is dead right - normally the sea will be choppy so you cannot sit down else your spine will shatter, yet that boat only lets you sit down with your legs flat out in front of you so you cannot use your legs/knees as your suspensions system. Very uncomfortable. You would be much better off with a centre console RIB where you semi stnad, as others have said

I bet Yamaha sell 20 of those per year in the UK, or something like that, whereas they sell maybe 1000 per year to the US flat lake boat community.