04 Sole GS

[sls0866]

Sugar Sands Owners
I have the opportunity to buy a 04 Sole GS. Looking for info from owners both pro and con. Boat has a Mercruiser V6 240 HP which should be a good HP to weight ratio for a 2300 lb jet boat. Any comments would be appreciated.

 

[Ronnie]

Not a sugar sand owner but I had a seadoo x20 with the same power plant and pump. At 2k lbs dry I could hit 50 mph and stay there all day, actually for about 2.5 hours (as long as it took to burn 40 gallons of fuel at wot). If the carbs need to be rebuilt I would take it to a shop, it has three carbs and the pop off pressure needs to be set on each individually during the tuning process. I had it done once over ten years ago at a cost of $250 per carb for parts and labor. If it has the hydro surge intake grate on which the tines fold in towards the impeller start looking for a fixed tine grate. If a time breaks off it either makes it out the back or gets stuck in the pump which can cause a lot of damage to the impeller and non sacrificial wear ring/impeller housing. On that note, Be sure to check the grate before making an offer if it's missing tines try and determine if it is stuck in the pump or if the owner knows what happened to it. Finally, when my carbs were acting funny in both of the Mercury sport jet powered boats I had (euroline cyclone with a 175 hp Mercury was my other boat) both would start fine on the trailer but sometimes not at all in the water with a load in the impeller, so I highly recommend that you take it for a water trial instead of just doing a compression check and/or a start check on the trailer.

 

[sls0866]

Thanks Ronnie, I appreciate the info. Are any of the Mercruisers 240 HP fuel injected or are they all carbureted ?

 

[Ronnie]

Actually I have to retract what I said about carbs on the 240 hp sport jet it was an efi but the 175 hp was carbureted. Still I was having issues with starting my 240, the night before I was supposed to take it into the shop it got stolen along with the trailer it was siting on and the truck it was all attached to. In any case, do a water trial, both of my boats started ok on the trailer but not in the water.

FYI The most powerful sport jet available was the 250 it was efi but also was compatible with mercury smart gauge system so you could get telemetry like Gph. Some boats had the 210 hp sport jet. I've read about 90 ho and 120 hp versions of th sport jet as well.

 

[Bilmon]

Welcome aboard sis0866 . I've had a 240 since 03, only problem was a fried coil, it,s a pretty bullet proof motor that has been around for ages in outboard apps. An 04 240 would be Smartcraft compatible and yes they are fuel and oil injected 2 strokes. Parts for the motor and pump are easy to get, boat specific parts [cushions, hatch parts and the like] are another story as the last Sole's where built in 08 when Sugar Sand went under. That said I love my 03 Mirage and will run it till it drops. They all had hand laid hulls and mine has held up beautiflly

Bill

 

[Steven R. Carnes]

I've owned 4 Sugar Sand jet boats, started with 98 Mirage with 175hp carburated-good boat. Next was a 2006 Tango GT SS with the fuel injected 240 hp, only had problems started hot in water, fix was to put in neutral and start at half throttle-Mercury Marine is aware of the problem and has no fix, probably software upgrade but they no longer build the 240hp, only 200 hp direct injected. The next two Sugar Sands were 2005 Oasis, 23 ft boats with the 250hp direct injected engine, miser on fuel and excellent boat.