For those with or have drove 2015 24 ft boats

[morgro269]

The boat spins perfectly at slow speeds. The new keel makes the boat cut back into the water nice and smooth when it's choppy or going over someone else's wake. It really is a great ride.

 

[Evil Sports]

I back out a little, keep one engine in reverse and put the other in forward and it spins around and I drive out straight while everyone else is still trying to back out.

My favorite move

 

[robert843]

@MrMoose how did it handle the waves on the Bimini? @Bruce said he noticed that the 2014 on the trip with them the prior had a tendency to kind of what he called roll a little coming off the waves did you notice anything like that or was it fairly stable? I'm might be describing what he was wrong but he described as the boat leaning a little to the left or right after coming over a wave.

 

[BryanW]

Mine too, ... but it got me questioning an assumption that all jet boats operated like mine, now I'm wondering if only the Sea Doo's have "Continuous" direction steering. Can some Yamaha twin operators confirm this?

To back out I:

1. fire up both engines steering centered.
2. bump the single throttle in reverse
3. turn the wheel (lets say right) to the right away from the dock, while drifting back the nose starts turning right
4. shift back to neutral and kick the wheel all the way right to perform the pirouette maneuver (spin within its own length)
5. shift the throttle to forward with the wheel still turned right to complete the 180 before straightening to get under way.​

Do the Yammies use the same steering wheel input regardless of direction? I always must steer the bow where I want it to go regardless of forward/reverse/neutral throttle setting right is always clockwise and left counter-clockwise

Do they spin different using differential thrust (port forward, starboard reverse) vs. just sitting in neutral and kicking the wheel all the way one direction?

Your insight is appreciated!

 

[MNdrifter]

Yamahas steer like a traditional IO boat.
Wheel over to the right. Bow goes right in forward. Bow goes left in reverse.

 

[ptwb]

Seadoos reverse steering is the opposite of Yamaha and normal boats. You can do the same manuever in a seadoo boat as well, only difference is that when you switched to neutral from reverse, IF you had your wheel to one side you would then need to move the steering wheel to the opposite side.

Personally haven driven both seadoo and yamaha, I MUCH prefer SeaDoo's fixed reverse gate setup over Yamaha's swivelling gate. Yamaha reverse is almost worthless. Especially trying to really really steer in reverse. Yes, I can do some stuff, but it's very limited. You can't do a figure 8 in reverse (not that I want too), but it shows how limited Yamaha reverse is, at least on my 07 230. Seadoo's reverse is very very effective because the fixed reverse gate redirects the thrust out to the side. As a plus, the same design also allows seadoo's to truly spin in place on a dime. Our yamaha's also spin in place, but there is some slight fwd creeping. Also Seadoo's can spin MUCH faster in place.

I reverse off with the steering wheel straight. Once I feel I'm clear of the trailer, I move to neutral, crank the wheel over, spin, straighten out, put in fwd. Now if it's a very long dock and it's too narrow to spin inbetween, or there are other boats tied up and I just don't have room to spin, I get nervous if I have to reverse a long distance. There were times I couldn't do the reverse,spin,fwd trick with the seadoo and I did have to reverse the whole way out. In the seadoo it was easy. I hate doing it in our Yamaha.

 

[BryanW]

Interesting, must be the reverse gate design. Any Scarab owners watching this thread to confirm which way your steering operates?

 

[OperationROL]

Seadoos reverse steering is the opposite of Yamaha and normal boats. You can do the same manuever in a seadoo boat as well, only difference is that when you switched to neutral from reverse, IF you had your wheel to one side you would then need to move the steering wheel to the opposite side.

Personally haven driven both seadoo and yamaha, I MUCH prefer SeaDoo's fixed reverse gate setup over Yamaha's swivelling gate. Yamaha reverse is almost worthless. Especially trying to really really steer in reverse. Yes, I can do some stuff, but it's very limited. You can't do a figure 8 in reverse (not that I want too), but it shows how limited Yamaha reverse is, at least on my 07 230. Seadoo's reverse is very very effective because the fixed reverse gate redirects the thrust out to the side. As a plus, the same design also allows seadoo's to truly spin in place on a dime. Our yamaha's also spin in place, but there is some slight fwd creeping. Also Seadoo's can spin MUCH faster in place.

I reverse off with the steering wheel straight. Once I feel I'm clear of the trailer, I move to neutral, crank the wheel over, spin, straighten out, put in fwd. Now if it's a very long dock and it's too narrow to spin inbetween, or there are other boats tied up and I just don't have room to spin, I get nervous if I have to reverse a long distance. There were times I couldn't do the reverse,spin,fwd trick with the seadoo and I did have to reverse the whole way out. In the seadoo it was easy. I hate doing it in our Yamaha.

I agree that reverse is not a highlight of the Yamahas. I have often heard ex-SeaDoo owners say the same thing. I would tell you though, I feel a lot better about the reverse in the 2015 24 footers. I believe the articulating keep assists with reverse. I can now reverse straight back "on a line". I can reverse straight back while maintaining a 1 foot space from the pier. While not fast, I feel that I have direct steering input now and what I do at the helm directly affects the movement (wandering) of the boat while reversing.

 

[rkgdmd]

Interested on opinions on the newer keel design. Did it take away from the "sportiness" of the handling? Will it still spin out hard over? Nothing but better or are there any drawbacks? Thanks for any feedback.

The articulating keel and the new hull are really a mixed bag. High speed tracking is certainly better (though not as much as I thought it would be) and crossing wakes inspires much more confidence than on my 2013. Slow speed maneuvering also requires much less sawing back and forth on the wheel than the old hull design...but still requires you to be pretty attentive to where you are going. The new rack and pinion doesn't help here either in that you need more wheel movement to get the desired result. High speed turns track like you are on rails at high speed. No cavitation and very little loss of speed. The downside...turns are MUCH wider than on my 2013. You really have to be mindful of this if you are used to the older design.

As for slow speed spins....It will spin...but nothing like the previous generation. I could spin my old boat in my canal and dock it with room to spare. Not the 2015. I have to use some form of reverse so I don't hit the seawall before it completes the turn. Reverse seems more difficult also. I just ordered the new Cobra Jet Steering for my LS...something I did not feel I needed on the 2013. Like everything in life I guess...it's a compromise. You gain on something and lose on others. I prefer the steering/handling of my old boat, but in no way regret buying the new one. So many improvements to make it worthwhile.

 

[MrMoose]

@MrMoose how did it handle the waves on the Bimini? @Bruce said he noticed that the 2014 on the trip with them the prior had a tendency to kind of what he called roll a little coming off the waves did you notice anything like that or was it fairly stable? I'm might be describing what he was wrong but he described as the boat leaning a little to the left or right after coming over a wave.

Rolling off the edge of a wave, the 2015 handles just like a prop, i/o or o/b. Totally predictable.

 

[subysti]

I just came from an I/O and the reverse is opposite on the Yamaha. When in reverse you are steering the aft end of the boat not the bow. When docking I have to steer the stern of the boat by steering into the dock and the back end will come in. With my I/O in reverse I would steer away from the dock and it would pull the bow away.

 

[smthng]

I'll throw my two cents in as well... My 2008 212x compared to my buddy's 2015 SX240:
On high speed turns his carves, mine slides. If I have to do a really quick turn (like picking up a downed skier), I turn the wheel hard and full throttle it. His just turns. But, with throttle, I can turn sharper than he can.
At low speed, mine will spin in place if I hard throttle it, his won't. When docking, they feel almost the same except we aren't constantly correcting his boat. Also, his will rotate in place if throttles are in different directions, but it doesn't do it as quickly or easily as mine and we're never quite sure if it will do it in place or wander off a bit... I suspect some of that is due to the size difference though.
Neither is "better", I just have to take a few minutes to adjust if I'm driving his. Personally, I think mine's more fun to drive, but that's probably got a lot to do with the size difference more than the keel.