Cancelled my 252 SE order. Thanks all for great forum

[1969mach1]

Just a quick thanks to all the contributors on this forum. It truly is a model for every other brand owners to follow. Lots of great info that ultimately lead me to the conclusion that the Yamaha was not the right boat for my family's need. My wife was looking for a family boat and my kids wanted a sport boat that they could surf behind; I realized that the Yamaha's really did neither of those particularly well and the one area where they do shine (being a jet boat) was of no particular interest to me.

I really wanted a boat with great build quality, one that I could leave wet slipped and not have to worry about it taking on water, and one that I did not need to sort out after I picked it up. I think I just got caught up in price shopping and the Yamaha was the best price per foot and I could kinda of make it work.

To that end I cancelled my order and the dealer graciously, and without question, agreed to promptly refund our deposit. i was lucky enough to find a 2021 new boat that a dealer in northern Idaho go in after the season was over and I bought it yesterday. Is it the best boat in the world, no, but it feels like a lot less compromise for our family. https://crownline.com/crownline-265-ss-surf/. https://crownline.com/crownline-265-ss-surf/ The one we bought has the 8.2L 430 hp engine and is loaded with almost every option available including the electric head with pump out (which checked a box for my wife). It has surf tabs and fat sacs for the kiddos and a banging stereo for me. Once I let go of the budget, it made finding the right boat easier, but it was a fat stack to lay down on a boat that's going into storage right away.

I'll keep lurking here b/c I've gained knowledge not specifically related to owning a jet boat. My wife and I have both watched the video on how to recognizing drowning. Very good knowledge to have, plus info on equipment for tubing, surfing, and general boating info that is good for anyone with a prop too.

Great forum. Cheers.

 

[Beachbummer]

Great you found what you were looking for. Can you share how much it ended up being?

 

[tabbibus]

Very pretty boat. Congrats. Looking at the pics, they are towing from a side cleat. Is this a thing? I thought that risked ripping the cleat out.

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

Great you found what you were looking for. Can you share how much it ended up being?

Imma guess $170K range.

 

[Julian]

Very pretty boat. Congrats. Looking at the pics, they are towing from a side cleat. Is this a thing? I thought that risked ripping the cleat out.

Cleats are plenty strong enough to pull up a wake surfer. Using them is also helpful as it keep the surfer more to the side. The downside is you have less lift. Frankly, it is strange to post photos of surfers using the rope....normally they want to show photos of ropeless surfing....

Awesome new ride @1969mach1 - Crownline is in our make/models list - we have plenty of members who've switched to other propulsion types but stay for the community knowledge on things besides the JET part of this forum.

 

[Adrian @ JB Solutions]

Very nice boat. Curious why OP even looked at the Yamaha when that was an option. That’s a Mercedes compared to a Toyota.

 

[Julian]

Looks like MRSP is around 125K

Crownline 265 SS boats for sale - boats.com

View a wide selection of Crownline 265 SS boats for sale in your area, explore detailed information & find your next boat on boats.com. #everythingboats

www.boats.com

 

[1969mach1]

Great you found what you were looking for. Can you share how much it ended up being?

Sure, we paid $119,800 for it plus $2400 freight and delivery. The MSRP was $174, 340.

 

[HangOutdoors]

That is a very nice boat. You will enjoy it.

 

[zipper]

Awesome new ride @1969mach1 - Crownline is in our make/models list - we have plenty of members who've switched to other propulsion types but stay for the community knowledge on things besides the JET part of this forum.

Ya, they even let sailing riff raff hang around after the jetboat is gone. Lol.

 

[drewkaree]

Very nice boat. Curious why OP even looked at the Yamaha when that was an option. That’s a Mercedes compared to a Toyota.

Looks like he stated why. Decided to increase his budget to fit his wishes and better suit his needs.

I think I just got caught up in price shopping and the Yamaha was the best price per foot and I could kinda of make it work.

......

Once I let go of the budget, it made finding the right boat easier, but it was a fat stack to lay down on a boat that's going into storage right away.

 

[tkeru408]

Sure, we paid $119,800 for it plus $2400 freight and delivery. The MSRP was $174, 340.

30% off MSRP, that's about the same number I was seeing with some other surf boats (Mastercraft, in particular). Great deal--congrats on the new purchase!

 

[Seattle_Phaeton]

Love my Yamaha but the sound of that 8.2L.... yeah I am a V8 fan and love the sound of good running V8 under power. Enjoy the boat and make some great memories.

 

[1969mach1]

Thanks all. Your responses is why I love this forum so much.

 

[1969mach1]

Looks like MRSP is around 125K

Crownline 265 SS boats for sale - boats.com

View a wide selection of Crownline 265 SS boats for sale in your area, explore detailed information & find your next boat on boats.com. #everythingboats

www.boats.com

Julian, Mine is the 265 SS Surf with the 8.2l. The MSRP was $174k. The 8.2l engine was a $20k upgrade and the surf package is problaby close to that as well. Crazy how expensive things are right now. The dealer told me that he had received a call last week from Crownline telling him prices increase 8% for 2022 and half of his allocation is cut. Said they were having huge supply chain issues with materials.

If that's true, I also didn't have high confidence that the Yamaha I did order would even be built. Now I have to wait until June to have some fun like the rest of you all have been doing on the water.

 

[tdonoughue]

Congratulations on the new craft! Beautiful boat.

There are all sorts of boating needs and priorities. Glad you found a fit for you and the family.

 

[2kwik4u]

@1969mach1 Glad you found what you're looking for. Don't be a stranger, we're all good at spending each others money on mods that aren't related the jet portion of the boat

@tabbibus I agree. Seems like a really oddball way to use a surfboard out to the side like that. Looks like me using a wakeskate to surf or something. Just......well...weird....

In other thoughts. Has anyone here driven one of these "front facing sterndrives"? Do they have any weird handling issues to speak of? I get the engineering, and physics of how they work. I'm just really curious how moving the center of thrust foreword affects things like bowrise, and turn radius and such.

 

[1969mach1]

@1969mach1 Glad you found what you're looking for. Don't be a stranger, we're all good at spending each others money on mods that aren't related the jet portion of the boat

@tabbibus I agree. Seems like a really oddball way to use a surfboard out to the side like that. Looks like me using a wakeskate to surf or something. Just......well...weird....

In other thoughts. Has anyone here driven one of these "front facing sterndrives"? Do they have any weird handling issues to speak of? I get the engineering, and physics of how they work. I'm just really curious how moving the center of thrust foreword affects things like bowrise, and turn radius and such.

Yeah, it's going to be a learning curve for me on surfing. Fortunately most of our neighbors at the lake have vdrive surf boats so they have agreed to help us learn to surf. I watched a ton of vids on the forward drive from sites like boattest.com. All said basically the same thing, that steering and handling is superior. Crown as that FAST hull which is supposed to be awesome. One of the things they tout on the 265ss Surf is that you can fill up all three fat sacs and still get up on step to find a smoother part of the lake. Also read that when you decelerate, the boat glides off step instead of just becoming water ram. I am excited about seeing if that's true or not.

Wife loves the forward drive for safety for the kids which was a draw for the Yamaha as well.

 

[PaulyB]

I hope whoever was driving that boat for the photos did not know how to set it up for surfing... That wave is uglyyyyyyyy

 

[1969mach1]

I hope whoever was driving that boat for the photos did not know how to set it up for surfing... That wave is uglyyyyyyyy

yeah, looks like CL just gave the boat to their agency and said "shoot a video". Here is a pic from a 255 with a 350 hp engine. Same set up but mine as bigger engine and 250 pounds more fat sac weight. So my guess is they didn't know how to set the boat up. Obviously, they knew how to surf. As I said, I am new to surfing but the pic below from the 255 looks pretty clean. you can also see that they are crossing from one side to the other so they might have had both tabs down. I talked to an owner of the 265 and he said he surfs rope less no problem. But you're right, that video would only detour someone from buying it. marketing department gone rogue.