Qs on first jet boat purchase

[Macattack]

Hi, new member long time boater. Great forum, I've read tons on the Yammies and others a plethora of info here. I'm in the market for a jet boat to be used on a small private lake, 360 acres. My questions, is it better to look at 19ft boat d/t one engine ease of maint/fit in garage, size of the lake or is a 21 ft twin engine better for water sports, more room but have maint of two engines and paying for winter storage along with addtl cost? I plan to buy new over the winter 19ft or used if I go with a 21ft.

2nd Q- I ran into a demo 2016 scarab 19 impulse HO, 10 hrs, full warranty sale price low 30s. Are the newer models still plagued with the carbon seal, BRP issues, etc? I am considering this or a 2018 Yamaha AR 195, if I decide to go with a 19ft boat. I'm a family of 4, kids are 3 and 5.

Thanks in advance for any input, it will be much appreciated!

 

[Julian]

Be sure you ride in the 19' boats and get a sense for if it has enough room for you, your family and your friends. Inevitably, you will often have another couple with their kids with you....this gets a little tight on a 19' boat.....you can never have too much room!

I'd like to be able to recommend the Scarab boats....but I'm not sure their reliability is where it needs to be.

 

[GiddYupJoe]

Don't worry about the added cost of two engines if you go yamaha. It's minimal. Bigger question is... do you have friends and family that will be joining you often?

Think a few years out when your kids are bringing others with them and you want to tube/board etc while still being comfy in the boat. The 21 will serve you much better.

If you can store something bigger than a 19 then buy your second boat first!

Good luck with your journey and welcome aboard.

 

[bobbie]

You'll kick yourself if you get a 19ft boat. Find a 21 ft yamaha and you won't be sorry!

 

[djetok]

Hi, new member long time boater. Great forum, I've read tons on the Yammies and others a plethora of info here. I'm in the market for a jet boat to be used on a small private lake, 360 acres. My questions, is it better to look at 19ft boat d/t one engine ease of maint/fit in garage, size of the lake or is a 21 ft twin engine better for water sports, more room but have maint of two engines and paying for winter storage along with addtl cost? I plan to buy new over the winter 19ft or used if I go with a 21ft.

2nd Q- I ran into a demo 2016 scarab 19 impulse HO, 10 hrs, full warranty sale price low 30s. Are the newer models still plagued with the carbon seal, BRP issues, etc? I am considering this or a 2018 Yamaha AR 195, if I decide to go with a 19ft boat. I'm a family of 4, kids are 3 and 5.

Thanks in advance for any input, it will be much appreciated!

First off welcome secondly jealous. Private lake would be awesome. 360 acres doesn't sound big but that would be awesome if you ask me. I don't think you can go wrong with either boat. 21 is nice for size. The 19 has the hp yo weight ratiocompared to sx or ar 210. With a smaller lake your not going to wot, so I would think that is a non issue.

The scarab guys will have to chime in there.

 

[NewBoater]

You'll kick yourself if you get a 19ft boat. Find a 21 ft yamaha and you won't be sorry!

We got the 21 foot so I agree with this statement. Big thing for us though was the 21 handled the wave chop better in the ocean and we thought it felt much roomier than 21. If you won't be dealing with chop the size difference there may not matter. I would test drive them both if you can. A lot of people I have heard bought the 19 first then upgraded to 21 and 24 soon after. People say buy your second boat first and I agree (to a point). If the bigger one is in your budget and stuff like that. 21 was a great middle ground for us. Good luck with your decision!

 

[haknslash]

Geez I have a 19' boat and I haven't kicked myself because of it lol. I have taken out 4 adults plus two teenagers and I can store it in my own garage. By the tone of how everyone slams the 19' boats on here on a near daily basis you'd think Yamaha and the others would have discontinued their 19' lineup's by now...

The way these boats are designed most of the additional room you get from the larger boats is mainly in the bow. The cockpit doesn't grow a lot as the size goes up. If you don't plan on taking out a lot of people and groups all the time then why would you need a larger boat? Most of the people I know with 21' and 24' boats only have 2-4 people in them most of the time so where's all this need of space? We are a family of 3 and have tons of room and even if we had another kid it wouldn't feel crowded. Now if we were taking out couples all the time then yea it would feel crowded but those times are so far and few between that it's never an issue for us.

I think the 21' boat is probably the best bang for your buck boat. I would have had one if it would have fit in my garage. I'm not one who likes my toys out in the weather nor away from the safety of my home so I went with what fits in my garage as the biggest priority and then worked from there what kind of boat I wanted. I personally would hate paying for storage as that would piss me off more than the boat payment, especially during the winter. If I'm paying $$$$ storing a boat that's too big for my home it wouldn't be a Yamaha or jet boat.

 

[NewBoater]

Geez I have a 19' boat and I haven't kicked myself because of it lol. I have taken out 4 adults plus two teenagers and I can store it in my own garage. By the tone of how everyone slams the 19' boats on here on a near daily basis you'd think Yamaha and the others would have discontinued their 19' lineup's by now...

The way these boats are designed most of the additional room you get from the larger boats is mainly in the bow. The cockpit doesn't grow a lot as the size goes up. If you don't plan on taking out a lot of people and groups all the time then why would you need a larger boat? Most of the people I know with 21' and 24' boats only have 2-4 people in them most of the time so where's all this need of space? We are a family of 3 and have tons of room and even if we had another kid it wouldn't feel crowded. Now if we were taking out couples all the time then yea it would feel crowded but those times are so far and few between that it's never an issue for us.

I think the 21' boat is probably the best bang for your buck boat. I would have had one if it would have fit in my garage. I'm not one who likes my toys out in the weather nor away from the safety of my home so I went with what fits in my garage as the biggest priority and then worked from there what kind of boat I wanted.

Great post. A lot of people do seem to bash the 19 size for sure. If that's the size you like and it hits all of your requirements don't hesitate to get that one as there are a lot of happy people with it. We got lucky because the 21 fit in our garage. I think the 21 is a happy medium for sure and we love ours, that's not to say the 19 does not work great for tons of people! 24 is very popular we just didn't like the price of the 24' ones. 21' and 24' definitely handle big chop better for sure than 19' as we drove all 3 sizes. All the best in your decision.

 

[Adrian @ JB Solutions]

21 for the twin engine. I had a fluke problem where the engine would not start... I was still able to get home on one motor.

 

[Macattack]

Thanks for all the replies! Definitely food for thought on the 19/21 lengths, you guys have voiced very legitimate pros/cons, thanks to all for sharing your experiences. I had the opportunity to drive an 08' SX210 on Morse lake, IN this afternoon. I was very impressed with the comfort and maneuverability with the twin engines and overall characteristics of the jet drive. I'm planning on test driving a AR195 (2017)on Saturday to get a feel for both sizes. Top speed won't be a deciding factor most likely storage, price, room, and overall value being on the top of my list.

A little background, I grew up on a houseboat on a reservoir in the summers and spent my teenage/college years on public lake in northern Indiana with family. Now that I'm older I'm hoping to give my two kids the same opportunity on small private lake outside Indy, it's small but a all sports lake in which you have to drive counter clockwise but plenty of room for water sports. My original thought was to go with the smaller boat d/t the size of the lake and having a cabin there however the idea of kids friends/addtl family it might make sense to "buy your 2nd boat first" and go with the larger boat. Idk, I'll be interested to see how the 19ft AR stacks up to the SX210 tomorrow. Thanks for all the input, certainly helps me decide which one is better for the family.

 

[Beachbummer]

I had an 18ft seadoo for 13 years, and the size served us well. For a small lake and expected to be normally used by 4-6 occupants, you will do great.

 

[Lpennington]

Macattack ... looking forward to your thoughts on the differences between the two.

I'm planning on test driving a AR195 (2017)on Saturday to get a feel for both sizes. Top speed won't be a deciding factor most likely storage, price, room, and overall value being on the top of my list.

 

[buckbuck]

@Macattack where are you located? We have members in Indiana that would be happy to meet with you and your family.

 

[FloJet]

Like everyone stated go big and you won't regret it. I was getting a 21 ft when I went to purchase. Ended up getting 24 and never been happier. Shoot I even want bigger now. 28' would be perfect lol.

 

[Brad Dunn]

I bought a new 19 ft and it was a great boat, roomy for its size, decent storage. BUT it fell short for me, We needed more room, power, fuel range. We traded in for a super low hr 242 and love it. More power, more room, more range plus we can wake surf behind it and we do that a lot. Know this is our situation not yours. You may not need all these extras. I would have never spent the extra money on the bigger boat tell I realized that the 19ft just was not enough for us. The 242 might be over kill at times since there are lots of times it is only 2 or 3 of us in it. When we have 10 people though it shines, lots of room and storage and it barely slows this boat down. Before I found the 242 I was looking at a few year old 212 that was close value to the 6 month old 19ft.

 

[2kwik4u]

I guess I'm the odd man out here. I went looking for a 24 and came home with a 19. A good rational look at needs and wants drove us to a smaller boat. It's cheap to buy, cheap to maintain, and cheap to operate. It fits in the garage and saves even more cash on storage (it's in the garage currently). To just put out the blank "buy a 19 or you'll regret it" is just flat plain misleading. Honestly that rhetoric is a bit exhausting to read all over the place.

As another data point, our friends with a 25' Centurion wake boat recently limited the people on our weekend trip to 6 citing space on the boat. Coulda done that same trip on ours and not thought twice about it.

To answer the OP questions directly.
1. The twin engine Yamahas aren't much more maintenance than the singles best I can tell. An extra oil change is about the extent of it. These things seem to run forever, so maintenance is low either way.
2. I looked at the Scarabs, and they are nice. I felt the Yamahas had a better value to them. Little less cost overall, and all the features I needed without the added cost inducing flash of the Scarabs. I wasn't overly impressed with online reviews of the Rotax powerplant......There is also not a good dealer near me, which was honest the nail in the coffin for that brand for me.