A few questions to help us help you…
What are you going to use the boat for?
How many people are going to go out on it? Be honest with yourself here.
I’d usually ask where are going to use it but you already answered that.
If you are going to be on the Great Lakes which can get snotty then you may want to consider a boat that is more suitable for the conditions. Conventional boats that have more flare to the bow will be a drier ride, and ones with a sharper entry and deeper dead rise angle will handle the chop and waves better. But, a boat with a flatter dead rise is going to be more stable at rest, a 10* dead rise is way more stable than one with a 20* dead rise, but the 10* dead rise will not handle the bigger water as well, you’d just have to slow down.
Would your family be better served by a boat with a cabin? The 25’ boats have a nice head compartment for your necessaries, and they usually have a cold / fresh water shower that holds 10 gallons I believe.
The maintenance on our boats is easier for sure but there is still some maintenance that needs to be done. If you buy that used boat you are looking at there are some things that need to be checked and or done, not a lot but they still need to be done. Some are time / engine hour based, others are time-annual based. All pretty easy to get taken care of at the dealer or you can do yourself if you have some basic mechanical aptitude.
I love my 210 FSH, and it is my first boat. However, if I was going to be boating on one of the Great Lakes I’d probably go for a boat with a cabin, a sharper entry and a decent bow flare for a drier ride. But, I mainly use my boat for fishing and cruising.
Bang for the buck you cannot beat the Yamaha’s. They are strong, reliable, fun and pretty fuel efficient. That efficiency drops off somewhat with the SVHO engines as they are in a higher state of tune with their super charged engines, and they require 91 octane fuel, whereas the normally aspirated engines require 86 octane fuel, and not all marinas have 91 octane fuel, so just something to consider. If I had a boat with a SVHO engine I’d also put a blow off valve on the engines to protect the super charger clutch.
Heres a link to a thread that was posted by a guy who was considering a Yamaha 255 FSH… I think he succumbed to peer pressure and fake information about jet boats. I think the last post in that thread was not representative of Yamaha boats, that guy joined on June 6 2022 and was last seen June 17 2022.. there have been a few folks like that so toss them out at the low end of the bell curve.
Hi everyone, I’ve been browsing the forum for months now trying to read as much as possible about jet boats. I ordered a 255 FSH sport e in July and it finally landed at my local dealer. I literally have check in hand, I just need to give the dealer a heads up to prep the boat for pickup. Before I hand over a check and sign on the dotted line I wanted to throw a few questions out there to any current owners of these boats.
I’ve watched every video that is out there on the 255, read as many threads as possible. My cousin who has been an avid boater/fisherman for 30+ years here in Michigan...
