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Spent the day looking at boats. I think my wife has decided we are going big and new. There was just not really the amount of used boats out there. Top 3 were a Scarab 255 Open that was cool, and the cheapest by a lot, but I read some not great things about their quality lately? The ones we are stuck between is a Yamaha 275 Se and a Regal LS6. Tons of space, beautiful, and seem super spotty/fun. So ignore when I said we were not going to spend a ton, but I am pumped. Going to check them both out back to back tomorrow!
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May 22, 2020 22:31
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MrYenko posted:
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May 23, 2020 00:10
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MrYenko posted:
Man, that's got to be loud.
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May 23, 2020 01:28
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MrYenko posted:
Nice to see Hydro Thunder getting an HD remake.
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May 23, 2020 02:34
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Ugh, my loving outboard brackets. It must be so nice to have a transom that is designed for a standard shaft length.
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May 23, 2020 03:22
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Boys who love boys
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Enjoyed the thread and your posts/questions in particular Snowmankilla, so had to respond  Snowmankilla posted:Spent the day looking at boats. I think my wife has decided we are going big and new. There was just not really the amount of used boats out there. Top 3 were a Scarab 255 Open that was cool, and the cheapest by a lot, but I read some not great things about their quality lately? I wouldn't get anywhere near a brand new $50k-100k boat without tons of previous boating experience and a lakefront house with a dock ready to go (boat ramps and the people you will meet there loving suck, and you're not going to use it nearly as much as you think unless its sitting there docked ready to go, trust me  ), but it seems like you're determined to jump in with both feet. That said, I'm a jetboat guy, fresh water only. There are some big differences between old jets and new jets, but speaking in generalities:Pros of jets: 1. You will hear people say how jets can run in almost ridiculous levels of shallow water. They aren't kidding you. I've run my current 21 foot jet through a under-highway culvert (!) with ~6 inches of water with no problems at all. A rather puckering experience due to nervousness the first time but completely uneventful otherwise. 2. Jets have a great hole shot from a dead stop. Awesome for pulling up skiers or wakeboarders. They will love you after they realize how hard they need to hold on for the initial jolt. 3. Completely safe for the kiddos. No sharp razor blade prop to worry about at all. Jet intake on the bottom will have a grate over it that prevents any shenanigans. If you've spent any time at all at a sandbar in the summer when there's boats beached everywhere and you get to watch someone every single day get a huge shin gusher you will realize how nice this is. 4. The engines are usually either modern tarted up jet-ski type motors or old big block v-8s...relatively simple or dead simple either way. The pumps are mechanically uncomplicated across the board, especially the older berkley style pumps. You can do plenty of tinkering yourself without relying on a marina mechanic. 5. No big clunky outboard in the way of your stern. Most likely have a seat or sun deck over the engine. 6. If you've got a reverse-bucket jet boat (most new boats are like this, means its a jet with reverse basically) you can almost parallel park a jet at low speed. It's incredible how agile they are at near-stop speeds. You will be the envy of all the prop guys at any restaurant dock or dock with a crowd you pull up to.  Cons of jets: 1. Not nearly as fast as they should be or you would think they would be. Just about every equally sized/hp boat with an outboard will be faster. A LOT faster. You'll get them on the hole shot but they will quickly pass you at speed. And if its an old v-drive boat good night to the jet completely. There's nothing more humbling than roaring across the water at 65 bellowing death from your loud open-headers big block...then getting passed like you're standing still by some toothless redneck wearing a wifebeater with a $2000 camo bass boat and a lovely old duct-taped outboard that makes 150 horses. 2. Gas mileage on jets tends to suck rear end. Not just at comparable speeds but across the board. 3. in-hull engine + jet can be a pain in the rear end to work on compared to an outboard which sticks out and can be removed. Some jet boats worse than others. 4. Running in shallow water does not mean your jet is immune to sucking up poo poo and getting fouled. As one heinous example: Lily pads will get sucked up and foul your pump as quickly as they will tangle a prop. Plus you now get to dive under your boat to clear the grate with your fingers. And if you're in lily pads guaranteed there's now leeches on your rear end after you dive under. 5. The jet pump will suck up a tow rope as easily as a prop will eat one. Possibly even easier. Also see above for how fun that is to clear. 6. Steering with a jet is a love it or hate it thing similar to operating a jet ski or playing the old Asteroids arcade game. Remember you have no steering without the power on so unless you've installed a rudder on your jet (some come with it, others don't) you have to put your foot in it to turn at all. This can be very bad for the inexperienced. All that said: I have heard good things about Yamaha and Regal and nothing bad about scarab. There are a LOT of yamaha jets around me, mostly wake boarding boats like the AR 240s and AR 210s. I hate wake boats in general but there's a poo poo ton of them around here and I've never heard any mechanical complaints. Regal is pretty rare but there's a good amount of Scarabs around like the 215ID etc which are common. One of the neighbors has a 165 ID that he thrashes on with no complaints so there's that. I should note here that I wouldn't want to mess with ANY of these little boats you or I have mentioned on lake fuckin Erie, but then that's your look out.  My apologies for the long post. Good luck in your purchase.
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May 23, 2020 04:58
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How the hell are all of ya'll around people hurting themselves on props? I've been around outboard boats all my life and commonly used the outboard motor as a ladder to climb in and out of the boat without injuring myself. Just how?  Also, with some care, outboards can run almost as shallow as a jetboat. I've had my boat sliding along in <1 foot of water after loving up my timing with the tides before. Make sure the intake for the motor is submerged and let 'er eat.
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May 23, 2020 07:49
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Elmnt80 posted:How the hell are all of ya'll around people hurting themselves on props? I've been around outboard boats all my life and commonly used the outboard motor as a ladder to climb in and out of the boat without injuring myself. Just how? I'm with you. Our landing craft spent half it's life in 18" of water, and detangling an outboard prop is way way easier than a jet intake. Plus the maintenance on an inboard motor is kind of a pain in the rear end. Regular stuff is pretty accessible on better/newer boats, but anything complicated means either wedging yourself into the compartment or pulling the motor. Like I said, it's a trade-off.
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May 23, 2020 14:02
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Jet boat pro: they're awesome https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0h8G6QdlbdM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtE2ESpIAp8
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May 23, 2020 14:38
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What is the normal way to pull a skiier with an outboard? I'm assuming either a Y rope or a skypole. I know this is a stupid question but I was raised on I/O's.
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May 23, 2020 14:43
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Kurten posted:Enjoyed the thread and your posts/questions in particular Snowmankilla, so had to respond You guys are the best. Thanks for all the info. I know it is not the best to jump in so hard, but it’s kind of my wife’s personality. We wanted a place on Lake Erie, small shack, cheap as hell. Ended up with a 4 bedroom house with a bigger lawn then our actual house. Like I said, the biggest thing is there not being tons of boats around that are in that 3-10 years old, and under 100k. I don’t know if they get bought quickly, or just a dumb time for us to buy. That’s good to hear that you have not heard bad stuff about Scarabs. It’s hard to google poo poo because you find the one person who has problems. This whole thing has been really overwhelming.
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May 23, 2020 15:20
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Snowmankilla posted:You guys are the best. Thanks for all the info. I know it is not the best to jump in so hard, but it’s kind of my wife’s personality. We wanted a place on Lake Erie, small shack, cheap as hell. Ended up with a 4 bedroom house with a bigger lawn then our actual house. Did you ever mention what you were primarily interested in doing on a boat? Chilling and getting some sun? Skiing? Tubing? Making Donzi owners rethink their life choices? For example, when looking for my current boat my wife wanted a place to lie in the sun which ruled out a couple Chaparrals and we both wanted something better at watersports than a pontoon and I don't like the way an inboard drives. Also, all the reasonably priced Baja's sold too quickly.
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May 23, 2020 16:05
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Cat Hatter posted:Did you ever mention what you were primarily interested in doing on a boat? Chilling and getting some sun? Skiing? Tubing? Making Donzi owners rethink their life choices? Chilling and tubing. Maybe learning to ski or wake boarding. Space for for around 6-8 to be comfortable. What did you end up buying?
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May 23, 2020 17:04
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Snowmankilla posted:Chilling and tubing. Maybe learning to ski or wake boarding. Space for for around 6-8 to be comfortable. A beat up speedboat made by a company nobody has heard of and thats old enough to rent a car ...with potential. I posted about it upthread For you, I'd probably second the Yamaha recommendation. Jet boats are fun and you're looking at a size that should have enough room to lounge. They are a little weird to drive since, as mentioned, they don't turn at all when you pull back on the throttle and are coasting to a slower speed or if you stall, but you get used to it quickly. Also when reversing the steering is backwards to every other vehicle, which I never really got used to. That said, they're very forgiving to learn on and I've heard nothing but praise about Yamaha's reliability (as opposed to the usually higher performance maintenance queens made by their main competitor). Just don't go bombing through shallow water unless you/your mechanic enjoys pulling the pump housing to change the wear ring. Watching brown water shoot out the back of jet sprint racers makes my eye twitch.
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May 23, 2020 18:18
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Cat Hatter posted:What is the normal way to pull a skiier with an outboard? I'm assuming either a Y rope or a skypole. I know this is a stupid question but I was raised on I/O's. You can pull just fine from a single tow eye on either side of the outboard. Ski ropes are long enough that it doesn't make a huge difference, and skiers have enough control to put themselves where they want in the wake. Otherwise, yeah, some people use y ropes and sky poles. I've seen a few of these around too. https://turboswing.com/turboswing-tow-bars.html I have one of these for towing tubes though, especially with younger riders who can't control the tube. https://www.westmarine.com/buy/airhead--demon-tow-harness-12-cable--14047757
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May 24, 2020 02:36
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Snowmankilla posted:You guys are the best. Thanks for all the info. I know it is not the best to jump in so hard, but it’s kind of my wife’s personality. We wanted a place on Lake Erie, small shack, cheap as hell. Ended up with a 4 bedroom house with a bigger lawn then our actual house. If I could offer one suggestion: put a dock in ASAP. If you've got to go up the road 10 minutes to launch your boat and wait in line, wait for idiots who don't know how to back up, people that load their boats on the ramp, etc etc...you will not use your boat nearly as much as you think you will when you buy the boat. You'll be sitting around many evenings going "Hey a sunset cruise sounds good..." pull out the binoculars, see the line over at the boatramp and think "eh gently caress that..." Put a dock in. Have EVERYTHING ready to go before you buy a boat. Then afterwards you're 100 feet or whatever from being in the boat and going when the urge hits you. I wish I had done that before I bought a boat. I think the market is probably quiet right now because of the corona poo poo. I am in a tourist lake hell area and this has been the quietest memorial day weekend I've ever seen. Not seeing used boats on the side of the road like normal and the marinas are dead. Dunno about your area. Do you guys have a state/regional boat trader you can pick up? Edit: another thing to consider is boat storage in the winter. If you have a place on property that's great because boat storage is expensive as poo poo usually, or is around here at least. You've also got to pull your docks if the lake freezes over like they do here. I assume Erie freezes over? Kurten fucked around with this message at 04:56 on May 24, 2020 |
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May 24, 2020 04:26
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 Morning coffee in new boat. It aint bad dudes.
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May 24, 2020 08:40
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Neslepaks posted:
Please tell me you went "vroom vroom" while pushing the throttle, and "whirrrr whirrrr" while hitting the thruster joysticks.
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May 24, 2020 13:15
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sharkytm posted:Please tell me you went "vroom vroom" while pushing the throttle, and "whirrrr whirrrr" while hitting the thruster joysticks. Also “ping-ping” while playing with the chartplotter.
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May 24, 2020 13:59
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sharkytm posted:Please tell me you went "vroom vroom" while pushing the throttle, and "whirrrr whirrrr" while hitting the thruster joysticks. It kinda does that by itself when I turn it on. Someone asked for interior pics, here are some. Cockpit looking forward:  Cockpit looking aft:  Aft cabin:   Front cabin, just a massive bed really:  Lobby area:  Heads:  With shower: 
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May 24, 2020 20:18
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Here's a helm action shot:
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May 24, 2020 20:22
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So far driving it I've learned that I love the autopilot, never had one before, super convenient on long stretches. Not loving the zipwake trimtabs in auto mode. Way too feequent adjustments, is all over the place. Probably something I can adjust, just scratching the surface of all these systems. Also 5.5 rotations from end to end means a hell of a lot of sawing at the wheel in harbours.
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May 24, 2020 20:38
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Autopilot is amazing if you do any significant distances, especially once it's tuned to the boat. I like the Garmin interface.
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May 24, 2020 20:46
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That shower door is awesome, my wife wants me to put a shower in the SC before we take it cruising...
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May 24, 2020 22:36
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Maiden voyage for the year complete. Our summer berth is on the coast but the winter storage is about 35 nautical miles inland as the bird flies, because of reasons. Unfortunately our boat does not yet fly though, so we get to take a 100 nautical mile trip, about half of which is on freshwater, involving passing under several low bridges as well as going down about half a meter in a lock to get from lake to sea. The lock happens to be in Stockholm. Pictured is Västerbron, and the Stockholm City Hall can be seen in the background.   Going through the lock while the subway was passing overhead.  Eventually got some sailing in once we got out into the archipelago. Weather had turned kinda rear end at that point though. Water temperature around 9°C (48°F), air temperature about two degrees C higher, minus wind chill. Not terribly enjoyable, but we made good time and got where we were going so all good, and at least the heater works (it's some ancient kerosene-fueled thing that I never expected to actually work, but it does). Everything works, basically. Some minor fixes to work on as always but all the important stuff is fully functional. TheFluff fucked around with this message at 01:14 on May 25, 2020 |
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May 25, 2020 01:10
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Neslepaks posted:It kinda does that by itself when I turn it on. Cool shots, thanks for the pics!
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May 25, 2020 01:13
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Neslepaks posted:
Everyone has those mugs, do they? I have them too, they came with the boat.
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May 25, 2020 01:16
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Cat Hatter posted:Nope, both the title and steering wheel say G-W Invader. That Wikipedia link also mentions a 20 foot Bravo ESC but mentions a cabin, which I guess is what the C was for because mine just says ES on the side. I've learned that they're not the easiest boats to research. My 99 SK has twin 720s with single carbs so 1 motor 1 carb x 2, thankfully, since they’re so small. They’re the most reliable motors I’ve ever had previously - i had a 1995 XP growing up we put in insane hours. Well over 2000 over the years - and it needed very little. It’s on par with a 1990 johnson 200 we’ve had since new that still is in running shape! Stored as a backup motor in the Bahamas.. Over 5000 hours with just pumps and headgaskets. Those v4 Johnson evinrudes were just incredible. I can absolutely see what you mean about The Sportster LE. The single 951 motor engine bay is SO much better to work in than the Speedsters. What was your performance like? I’m expecting 48ish mph stock, but I’d love to throw a new impeller angled for hole shot, so I could use it for my gfs slalom skiing
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May 25, 2020 01:47
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I've got a (bought used) tohatsu 9.8 four stroke tiller control outboard on the back of my sailboat that I've put arounnnnd 30nm on. I'd noticed before that it seemed to stop increasing in power around half throttle but I figured little motor/big boat, it worked well enough. Today I was motoring back towards the marina and all of a sudden it increased in power harder than it has run before, then cut back, over and over. It didn't respond to throttle much at all after that (except at the extreme low end). I limped back to the slip and tied up but lost the light so I wasn't able to check it out. I've got no idea really where to start beyond spark plugs and filters. Any other ideas?
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May 25, 2020 02:02
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Not a boat motorist but I'd be looking at the fuel filter first up before digging into anything else.
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May 25, 2020 02:17
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Agreed, or there’s some poo poo clogging the jets. Or the fuel is infested with water.
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May 25, 2020 02:36
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ili posted:Not a boat motorist but I'd be looking at the fuel filter first up before digging into anything else. This had briefly crossed my mind and since Big Taint agrees I'll check that tomorrow. The gas is all new, but the filter definitely is not.
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May 25, 2020 03:02
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I'd also check the fuel lines feeding from the tank to filter.
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May 25, 2020 06:14
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TheFluff posted:Everyone has those mugs, do they? I have them too, they came with the boat. Yes. They've been making them unchanged for over 30 years. I have some from when I was a kid, and some new. I also have the dinner plates, smaller plates and soup bowls, and wine glasses in the same series. Trying to source the water glasses now because the plastic crap we have are too easily toppled by kids. I like them a lot, they're made from tinted hardened glass rather than ceramic, and are pretty much unbreakable and never discolour or scratch.
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May 25, 2020 09:12
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Elmnt80 posted:I'd also check the fuel lines feeding from the tank to filter. It's one of those 6 gallon portable tanks so there's just the one line but it seemed fine.
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May 25, 2020 14:29
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Karma Comedian posted:It's one of those 6 gallon portable tanks so there's just the one line but it seemed fine. I've had lines that "seemed fine", but had a thick scale inside the fuel line. I'd pull the motor-end quick disconnect off and pump fuel into another clean container to make sure. If you haven't already, I'd also completely dump the portable tank and clean it out, there's often a bunch of salty water in them from the breather and rain/spray. But yeah, filter and carb bowl/jets are pretty likely culprits.
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May 25, 2020 15:27
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Re: small engine chat, Are you using REC90 or otherwise non-corn-gas? The alcohol in US (I also don’t know if you’re in the states or not) autogas is absolute hell on small engine fuel systems.
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May 25, 2020 15:56
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Ya depending on the age of the outboard/fuel tank/fittings, you can have hoses that aren’t compatible with ethanol fuel. The plastic lining inside the rubber separates and when the engine tries to pull fuel the hose lining collapses. Also try pumping the primer bulb while it’s running and see if it’s happier, fuel pump could be struggling for some reason.
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May 25, 2020 16:16
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I didn't previously, but now I'm going to be alot better about running non E fuel in my junk. And going to run some fuel additive through it to break down any varnish thats already built up.
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May 25, 2020 16:23
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Yeah I'm absolutely using non-ethanol marine gas every time. Thanks for the suggestions guys, I'll update when I get there
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May 25, 2020 16:23
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