Our New Baby, 2024 252SE 🎉

BrandonG said:

Nice boat and good to see there are some other Iowegians on the site. I see you're from Clarinda, I live between Council Bluffs and Mo Valley right down the street from Desoto Bend so I primarily boat and do all the watersports on the MO river.

I can attest to the weeds at Okoboji not being good, I had to replace my impeller after my first trip there. Lake Manawa is also pretty hostile to jet boats for that reason

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I was wondering how Manawa was, especially since it’s not very deep from what I’ve heard. Lake Icaria near Corning, IA and Mozingo Lake near Maryville, MO are our home lakes and they are just fine our jet boats! You don’t have too many options up north there!

Yea I would strongly discourage anyone from going to Manawa, since every lake in Omaha is no wake they all go over to Manawa so its always packed. The Missouri river north of Omaha is some of the best boating around, there is a marina you can dock at in omaha and explore downtown and north from there are a few riverfront bars/concert/food venues. Also boundless sandbars and great float trip opportunities

Wife got yesterday off which was a perfect day with barely any wind and 92 degrees. Water temp of 80.

The CJS was a very noticeable difference with all slow speed handling and cruising around. Noticed immediately backing off the trailer how much straighter I backed off and how much more responsive it was when I turned the wheel. At cruising speed while making a turn I didn’t have to turn the wheel all the way and the fins definitely had more bite while making the turns. Happy I decided to install them! Thanks @Cobra Jet Steering LLC! Not that we haven’t heard this all before but our AR230 already had CJS so I had never experienced without any fins until we got the 252SE.

The girls did some tubing and we spent most of the day swimming in the cove!

Thank you for your feedback, 24 years of experience means a lot when it comes to a product as important as steering enhancement on a jet boat. I always say drive the boat as is and then see what improvements it needs.
Slow speed is obvious but try backing off the throttle while in a fast turn and see how it stays in the turn OR NOT!
See how it maintains speed in a turn - OR NOT !
And what about the bow wander you don't like that either , And the time it takes to get up on plane could be improved plus the bow hop in rough water is also annoying>
Lets not forget the admiral won't drive the boat without calling you BAD names for buying the boat in the first place, That needs to be addressed quickly!!! ,Does it handle like a sports car on a dry road ? it can!!
I also just had a customer tell me his fuel consumption went from 1.7 mils a gallon to 2.4 on a trip he makes , obviously a lot of factors can effect mileage but it is something to keep track of , faster hole shot reduces fuel consumption as does the straight tracking on plane and maintaining your hull speed in turns . Also do you want more fun and way less stress during water sport activities?? sure you do! do your research and speak directly to the inventor who blazed this trail 24 years ago NO GAMES NO GIMMICKS get BUY DIRECT DISCOIUNT PRICES EVERY DAY ! Get the most from your time out on the water with family and friends.

Forgot to mention we are kidless tomorrow due to them staying at grandparents for the weekend. We plan to go to Smithville Lake north of KC, so @KC-AR240 any pointers? Planned on using Boat Ramp W off County Rd W. Going south from there to check out the restaurant on the water for lunch and then need to look up the facebook page because I know they have a hazard map.

Smithville lake today, which is around an hour and 45 minutes away from us. Have friends that go there so since we didn’t have kids it was a good time to trial. Ramp W was 23 dollars for the day for ramp usage and parking, which I thought was pricey. Between the Buoys restaurant on the water had great food and drinks! Was a great day on the water again, little wind and water temp of 82 degrees. Almost at our 10 hour mark for both engines so I’ll be ordering oil change kits soon.

Zone control for music is a nice connext feature that I don’t think is talked about enough. I like having 100% for the speakers off the swim deck & sub, then 50% in the cockpit & bow while anchored.

Wife got burnt to a crisp somehow even though we both used a healthy dose of sunscreen. She’ll recover before Monday when we go to Mozingo though!

Is the audio on your boat all through the Connex console? The junk clarion that came on my boat died and I got one with zone control and it is worth every penny to be able to isolate the sound, mainly nice for having the cabin speakers up and not making everyone deaf with the tower speakers lol.

Mozingo is a nice lake, only been there once years ago but it was a peaceful quiet lake for the most part.

BrandonG said:

Is the audio on your boat all through the Connex console? The junk clarion that came on my boat died and I got one with zone control and it is worth every penny to be able to isolate the sound, mainly nice for having the cabin speakers up and not making everyone deaf with the tower speakers lol.

Mozingo is a nice lake, only been there once years ago but it was a peaceful quiet lake for the most part.

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Yea everything is through the connext screen! Mozingo is our “home lake” and we love it. Plenty big, deep, cleaner than most, and large cove area. They’ve updated some things like a visitor center that has some essentials, beer, and ice. Also added another RV campground because they are always so full!

Completed the 10 hour oil and filter service today before the heat wave comes starting tomorrow and into the weekend. Sucked a little over 2.5 quarts out of each engine via the dipstick tube. Greased all points on the trailer. Silicone lubed different parts on the boat. Vacuumed and cleaned as well! If it’s not too windy Friday we will go, but not betting on it since they’re still forecasting 20-30mph winds. Monday looks great though!

Hot2Go said:

Smithville lake today, which is around an hour and 45 minutes away from us. Have friends that go there so since we didn’t have kids it was a good time to trial. Ramp W was 23 dollars for the day for ramp usage and parking, which I thought was pricey. Between the Buoys restaurant on the water had great food and drinks! Was a great day on the water again, little wind and water temp of 82 degrees. Almost at our 10 hour mark for both engines so I’ll be ordering oil change kits soon.

Zone control for music is a nice connext feature that I don’t think is talked about enough. I like having 100% for the speakers off the swim deck & sub, then 50% in the cockpit & bow while anchored.

Wife got burnt to a crisp somehow even though we both used a healthy dose of sunscreen. She’ll recover before Monday when we go to Mozingo though!

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Semi-Pro Tip: The bugs on the tower I assume are from Trailering. Been there done that! I have wrapped the tower with saran wrap or moving wrap for longer trailering trips. Bring a razor/scissors for quick removal prior to launching. Saves a ton of time with bug removal. Hope that helps.

Hot2Go said:

Completed the 10 hour oil and filter service today before the heat wave comes starting tomorrow and into the weekend. Sucked a little over 2.5 quarts out of each engine via the dipstick tube. Greased all points on the trailer. Silicone lubed different parts on the boat. Vacuumed and cleaned as well! If it’s not too windy Friday we will go, but not betting on it since they’re still forecasting 20-30mph winds. Monday looks great though!

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Is there a way to drain all of the oil from those engines like the MR1?

Babin Farms said:

Is there a way to drain all of the oil from those engines like the MR1?

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I’m not really sure, I haven’t looked into it! I believe oil capacity is 2.75qts so I got most of it out, plus still looked like new oil so I’m content!

Hot2Go said:

Forgot to mention we are kidless tomorrow due to them staying at grandparents for the weekend. We plan to go to Smithville Lake north of KC, so @KC-AR240 any pointers? Planned on using Boat Ramp W off County Rd W. Going south from there to check out the restaurant on the water for lunch and then need to look up the facebook page because I know they have a hazard map.

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sorry...i got this a little late . We'll be going out Saturday for sure. June 28th

First a couple pictures of yesterday on the lake, water temp was 88 degrees! No wind at all, not sure we even needed to set an anchor. We bought another pressurized mat, cheapo from Amazon, because the wife wanted something separate since the kids run wild on the mission one and jump in the sunchill. So far so good, pressurizes to 4-4.5PSI and probably can hold 5-6 adults although it’s only 8’x6’.



I noticed the grab handle on the starboard side bow was loose, so today I got to access that, which was a pain in the ass, but doable. Thank god I’m 5’9” and fit in under the front starboard seat and into the helm area. The bolts to tighten for those grab rails are a 13MM and I could easily get a ratchet or ratchet wrench on it after blindly feeling up the gap of fiberglass. Pro tip, lay a towel down before you lay in the compartment…..


I then walked around the boat with a screwdriver and tightened any loose bolt I could find, which to my surprise was not many. Only ones that really needed it were the anchor locker hinge and storage door hinge behind the captain’s chair. Filled the raw water wash down tank and made sure it worked. Checked oil in both engines again which were good levels on both. I had complained about the Bluetooth range on the boat before, but when I was cleaning I was on the swim deck and my phone was on me and still playing music, so I guess to be continued on that saga.

I ended the morning cleaning, spraying 303UV, and washing/waxing the boat. Due to work schedules we won’t get out until July 3rd when we head to Red Rock for the 4th weekend! So the boat will sadly sit in storage until then.

4th of July weekend was great! Saturday had some rain early so we still got out later in the day. Thursday and Friday boating were perfect. Wet slipped at the marina the entire time, which was nice, except the clean up I had to do today, Red Rock has a river run into it so it never is very clean.

The O-rings kept my clean out plugs dry and I’m not sure the bilge ran once the entire trip. Barely any water out of the drain plug when we pulled out and that was likely due to the downpour we had Saturday night. Also noticed something, as I was leaving the slip to trailer I got the port engine started and immediately put it in forward detent, since I was alone and needed to get out of the slip. I then tried to start the starboard motor and it wouldn’t, reset the starboard throttle to make sure it was in neutral and still wouldn’t turn over. Put the port throttle back in neutral and then starboard started up, so must be a safety thing. Other than that no issues and lots of fun was had. Now for some pics.
















Fireworks close by the VRBO we stayed at.

We bought a new cooler for the boat because I wanted something larger for our trips here soon with multiple people. That way we can share a cooler rather than adding more in the boat. It’s a 50qt from Walmart. Around 40 bucks. Couldn’t find a nice rtic/yeti-like cooler that really gave us a good amount of room, plus wasn’t worth spending quadruple the money IMO. We always pull it out of the boat to add ice and more stuff at the start of the day anyhow, so keeping ice for days didn’t matter to me.

Anyhow, I took some measurements of the cooler area before buying and had about 15in for height and width, and then around 25in for length. Walmart listed this cooler as only 13in in height, which was a lie. I measured when I got it and it was a hair under 15in for height, knew it would be close. Today I put it in the boat and it fit! Maybe a 1/16th of an inch to spare for height haha! Pics below, and yes the girls already added some new stickers!

Sadly won’t get the boat out until our long weekend (Thurs-Mon) next week at LOTO!

Hot2Go said:

We bought a new cooler for the boat because I wanted something larger for our trips here soon with multiple people. That way we can share a cooler rather than adding more in the boat. It’s a 50qt from Walmart. Around 40 bucks. Couldn’t find a nice rtic/yeti-like cooler that really gave us a good amount of room, plus wasn’t worth spending quadruple the money IMO. We always pull it out of the boat to add ice and more stuff at the start of the day anyhow, so keeping ice for days didn’t matter to me.

Anyhow, I took some measurements of the cooler area before buying and had about 15in for height and width, and then around 25in for length. Walmart listed this cooler as only 13in in height, which was a lie. I measured when I got it and it was a hair under 15in for height, knew it would be close. Today I put it in the boat and it fit! Maybe a 1/16th of an inch to spare for height haha! Pics below, and yes the girls already added some new stickers!

Sadly won’t get the boat out until our long weekend (Thurs-Mon) next week at LOTO!

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If you throw a little ice in the cooler the night before and make sure to pre cool all of the goodies that go in the cooler your ice will last a lot longer. I usually have frozen bottles of water for my ice so I don’t have any water in the cooler.

Had a great time at LOTO for our long weekend (Thurs-Mon). The 252 performed phenomenally in some pretty choppy conditions Fri-Sun. It’s the first time I’ve attempted to go more than a mile on the main channel over the weekend. The AR230 did okay years ago, but we never attempted again because of how rough the ride was and how slow we had to go.

On the way down we stopped at Steak and Shake like normal for lunch. I wrapped the tower and Bimini frame with plastic wrap, but man did that suck getting off, I’d rather clean the bugs off every time lol.


Captained alot of miles on the lake, we stayed around MM31. Traveled to Big Dicks (not pictured) at the 47 when we arrived for dinner on Thursday. Friday we went to Paradise at the 24 for lunch and then hung out at the dock the rest of that day. Saturday we stayed within a mile or two of the house going to the Cave (1/2 mile from us) and then to a cove to swim near Fish and Co restaurant. Sunday we traveled to the 45 for breakfast at Boondockz, then to Capt Rons at the 35, the kids love the beach style restaurant/bar.


















Woke up Monday to possible storms I didn’t know was forecasted, so we hurried and packed up, thankfully got the boat ready Sunday night. Trailered without rain, but ran into heavy rain 10 miles up the road and most of the way home, so clean up took awhile.






It was a great first time on LOTO with the new boat. Far exceeded expectations on a very busy lake Friday-Sunday. We cruised anywhere between 30-37mph throughout the trip. First time on LOTO not having to pull the cleanout plugs for any junk in the pumps too. Initially I parked bow in into the slip. Come Friday morning, due to not being in a no wake cove, I backed in so the bow could slice the wakes. We VRBO’d this home kinda last minute so not a lot of options available in no wake coves. Boat performed without issues, we have 22 hours on it already, felt like I just did the 10 hour service, but time flies when you’re having fun. I opened it up heading back to trailer to beat the rain; so no Bimini, 40-50% fuel, just me and gear, choppy conditions, and 10mph head wind: I hit 48mph.

Other takeaways:
The removable front bow seats are awesome, so you have another spot to step in or step off the boat.
The shower at the rear was awesome after we left the beach bar.
Our new cooler worked great for the 4 adults and 4 kids the entire trip. It slid in and out of the cooler area just fine.
We used the site shade (9x5) we bought recently to keep the sun off the bow and helm while we were slipped at the restaurants, sorry no pics but next time I promise!
About an inch or so of water on top of port plug, but I believe this was due to when I was leaving the slip in a hurry to trailer. I throttled down quicker than normal because I forgot to pull the fenders over, so a good amount of water splashed up over the back. I had no water out of the drain plug when we trailered!


Weird problem:
After cleaning, drying, & washing the boat yesterday I noticed the sliding rear seats were pretty hard to slide. Looked like some gunk got in the sliding rail from all the amount of rain maybe. I sprayed the tracks with some silicone lubricant and they slide just fine now.


2 more weeks and we will be down in the ozarks again for almost a week!