Jet Boats?

Anyone have a jet boat? I'm looking into replacing my Four Winns with a Yamaha 23 ft jet boat. Does anyone know anything about these type of boats other than they have 2 jet ski engines, and dont have a prop.

 

Yeah that is what I have heard from a few people, and the fact that you have to add oil to a tank that mixes it with the gas. The oil has to be from the manufacture. I think it would cost alot more to operate. I just really like the design and the layout of the interior. I'm just not sure if it is worth it.

 

I haven't read much on them so I dont know if they are 2 stroke or 4 stroke but from what I have read you have to put add oil frequently and it mixes the oil itself much like a jet ski. I was just wondering if anyone knows how often you have to add the oil and how much it cost.

 

Ditto!

 

Oh, well maybe I would reconsider this then. For some reason I remeber reading somwhere that oil needs to be added every so often to the oil tank just like the jet skies so that it mixes it like a 2 stroke. Is you friend happy with his boat or would he rather have a reg. in/out board motor?

 

I have heard that as well... I'm just not sure yet because I really like the layout of the Yamaha boats over all the other in/out board boats. The only thing that is holding me back is the manuverability and not knowing much about maintance on a jet boat with 2 motors. My current boat hasn't ever given me any trouble. Starts every time, I winterize it once a year, put gas in it, and clean it after every use and thats it. Thats what I'm looking for in a new boat just bigger.

 

i have a 1978 glastron jet boat and a 99 sea doo. and the glastron is very hard to manuever at low speeds but it is very fast off the line and can turn great. but it just takes time to get used to driving at low speeds

 

Thanks for you help!

 

Thanks for refering me to that site.. I have been reading up on it and I still think I want one. About a 21-22 ft. I think that I'll get used to the manuverability and from what i have read the mantance isn't much different that on an i/o boat. That and I really like the back swim deck. In order to get the most out of my boat Ill have to wait for the spring to sell so I still have time to figure out what I want.

 

I used to have one, at least before the lake house burned to the ground.

The boat had a 400 SBC and was damn quick, but I have to say it was probably the last boat I'll own. Way more maintainance that it was worth it to me.

 

What kind of maintance was required? Different that those of a i/o motor?

 

i bought a 1999 sea doo speedster brand new back in the day. it had twin jetski motors(220 hp). it was super fast off the line.i was able to dog my boss's 41' formula with triple 502s from a dead stop.once he plained,he ate me alive. my boat did(according to dash and seadoo at the time)55-65mph top speed.i didnt have a gps back than to see what it really did.docking takes some getting used to since you have no steering with no throttle.my boat you were not able to put 1 motor foward and 1 motor backwards to spin around.they might have changed that by now.it was a 2 stroke,oil injected.i dont recall it being to bad on gas but i never owned another boat before that to compare it to.biggest and easiest mistake to make is throwing a tow rope in the water near the pumps.it will get sucked in before you could even realize what happened.THAT SUCKS BIG PEE PEE.
pretty much its a jetski on steriods. you could do full speed and cut the wheel and it will not flip in calm waters.back than they were in the high teens low 20s.i like them.they make them way nicer now.
new ones have a single merc cruiser motors now. they changed in 2000 or 2001. unless your buying a used one.

 

I was never much into boating, and the boat was more of a toy I bought on the spur of a moment decision, so I couldn't tell you exactly what you should be doing, or will be doing with your new boat, but... What I did notice is that the maintenance was fairly similar for the most part as an outboard prop driven boat. You still have to flush your engine after use, although differently than you would a prop driven engine. You have oils to change, and of course you fair share of broken parts to repair. Obviously you still have to wash the thing also. I never did the maintenance on it my self, I always had a shop do it because I could have cared less about dicking around with the boat, but it could sometimes get fairly expensive. The motor needed the valves adjusted (which is fairly easy, I could probably teach a monkey how to do it), and an occasional tune up if the weather changed drastically. I'm sure the maintenance would have been less frequent if it wasn't for having a high performance 400 SBC in it, but it wasn't over kill for a boat.

The whole comment about how it would probably be the last boat I own was because I really don't care for ANY of the maintenance that comes along with have a boat. It just really isn't for me.

EDIT: One thing I forgot to add, stay away from shallow water, as you would with a jet ski. Debris and plant life will cause all kinds of havoc with it gets into the pump.

 

Well I will probably go talk to the dealership in the next few months about the one I want and really figure out it it is worth the money. I dont want to always be having to mess with maintance. Like I said before my current boat goes into the shop once a year for winterization and that is it. It always starts... Ill just have to figure out what maintance has to be done and how often before I really decide what type of boat I'm going to trade up for... I just wish mine was 20-22 ft and I would keep it.