Possible new owner with questions

[Gulfcoast88]

My wife has decided it’s time we get a boat. I’ve grown up fishing all over the gulf coast from my dads offshore center console boats to working on sport fishing charter boats. We live about an hour away from the gulf but have a like nearby. We originally wanted something just to cruise to the barrier island and hangout but now we have decided on getting something we can ski behind also. I had my mind set on a go fast style boat. How do these yamahas hold up in salt water? Would they be something that would hand choppy water? I have a lot of questions just curious if one of these would suit my wife’s needs?

 

[Elliott]

There are many, like myself, that boat only or mostly in salt water; my boat is almost 4 years old with no repairs and looks almost new.
I do flush each time with Salt Off.

As to how they handle chop, I have no complaints, and I have been out many times in less than favorable conditions. However, they handle poor conditions and chop like any other shallow V boat of similar size and weight. The only way to know for yourself, it to take a test ride on a less than perfect day.

 

[Gulfcoast88]

I was hoping to be able to test ride one in the next couple weeks but it’s hard to find anything available right now. May have to wait for it to cool off.

 

[Dixemon]

I'll second what elliot said, also I'll mention that when your riding alone you can handle alot more chop, than if you have passengers up front. Definitely gets bouncy on the bow. Reliability so far for me has been excellent on major components, I ve has a livewell pump go out on me and a few cosmetic issues.

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

According to what I’ve been reading on this site, the boat market is a bit tight right now, although that seems to be easing a bit now.

Like @Dixemon and @Elliott I have a FSH model / center console, mine is a 210 sport. Most of my boating has been on smaller mountain lakes, with a few trips to some larger lakes such as Lake Oahe. I have been in chop and some bigger waves and boat handles the bigger water very well.. you just need to slow down a bit in the bigger water.

There are a few members here who use their FSH boats as water sports boats. Since you want a go fast boat as well as one that can do other things, it sounds to me like you would be in the market for a 255 FSH Sport E with it’s super charged 1.8 liter engines. Members here who have them are reporting very good off shore attributes with plenty of power.. a poster by a member today was talking about hitting 53 mph in the bay. The limitation for you might be that the FSH boats have a transom mounted tow rope attachment point, whereas the bow rider boats have a tower with a hight tow point.

I have about 120 hours on my 2020 boats engines and have had zero issues with it. I have several hundred hours on the boat, mainly fishing but a fair amount of pleasure cruising and coving.

 

[Gulfcoast88]

I appreciate all the info. I’m definitely considering getting the jet boat now. Hopefully this fall things will die down and move options will be come available

 

[Julian]

I appreciate all the info. I’m definitely considering getting the jet boat now. Hopefully this fall things will die down and move options will be come available

Keep an eye out on the new listing I just created today where members are willing to give people test drives.....

https://jetboaters.net/threads/considering-a-jet-boat-perhaps-need-a-test-drive-ride-look-here.34434/

As time goes on the list will get longer....not sure where on the gulf you are either.

 

[OrangeTJ]

Getting a chance to drive the boat in the actual conditions in which you will boat will likely answer all of your questions. No doubt these are reliable boats, though. If you haven't driven a jet-drive boat in the past, though, I cannot stress strongly enough the importance of a water test to get a sense of how the boats handle - they are not going to be the same as the CC and sportfish boats you've been on in the past.

 

[jocolo21]

How it handle

My wife has decided it’s time we get a boat. I’ve grown up fishing all over the gulf coast from my dads offshore center console boats to working on sport fishing charter boats. We live about an hour away from the gulf but have a like nearby. We originally wanted something just to cruise to the barrier island and hangout but now we have decided on getting something we can ski behind also. I had my mind set on a go fast style boat. How do these yamahas hold up in salt water? Would they be something that would hand choppy water? I have a lot of questions just curious if one of these would suit my wife’s needs?

will depend on the size and year, the new hulls on the 250 series are completely different to previous years.I’ve one 2007 ar230, 2019 ar242lse, and the 2021 252se. And have take the 2019 and 2021 to the Bahamas,

 

[fatboyroy]

I have 19' fsh sport. I was caught in a 3-5 ft wave offshore (condition changed from 2 ft forecast). It handled it well but I did have to slow down considerably to not swamp the bow like 5-8mph slow and I have to quarter the wave.