Starting to get serious about Yamahas SX210 or SX230

[Whiskey]

My wife and I have been talking about getting a boat for a few years and she's finally talked me into selling my motorcycles and getting a boat. We live about 1/4 mile from a private boat launch we have access to at Lake Tapps, WA. My kids are 8 and 9 with a 19 year old still in the picture some weekends and we are wanting a good family activity and a boat seems like a good fit.

I love Yamaha motorcycles and after researching the past couple months I'm pretty sure a Yamaha is the boat for us. I'm trying to keep the cost down and get used. It seems like the 2004-2006 boats are popping up the past couple of weeks but they are still asking around $22,000 for these in Washington and Oregon. It seems like a high price compared to NADA, but the boats do look immaculate to far when looking at pictures.

I'm 99% certain an SX230 will fit next to our house, but I need to figure out if it will fir into our garage. We have a two car garage with an 8"1" arched single door. The high point is 8'1" and the each corner goes down to 7'2" at the lowest point. I'll measure the garage to get it's actualy interir dimensions.

Am I crazy to consider a $23,000 very clean SX230 with a fold away tower, upgraded stereo, thrust vectors, fully replaced upholstery in 2018 and with great maintenance records and 250ish hours?

I saw a post about getting a SX230 in a garage here. I'll be looking at that thread for any advice.

Does anyone have anything to suggest for a noobie boat owner? I have been going through the "common issues" stickie but alof of the links are broken I've followed.

Thanks for any advice.

 

[Beachbummer]

What year? That's top dollar price, so it should be absolutely pristine, and 07 or later at that price.

 

[Whiskey]

Sorry thought I posted the year above.

It is actually immaculate, but it’s a 2004.

 

[BlkGS]

Lots of folks here will say that 23k is a lot gor one... but in my experience buying last year, thats not true.

It was my experience 23k got you an overall good boat, but mot a pristine one. The seats would have life left in them, but would not be new and would likely last like 2 years or so. You wouldnt get many extras, and hours would range from 150 to 350 based on year (newer boat would mean higher hours). I bought a cheaper but newer and lower hour noat knowing i would fix some things.

That said, i dont think you are crazy. NADA is not real world imo, its used to make dealers money on trade ins. Upholstery alone is 3 grand or more in many cases. The best advice is to buy the biggedt, nicest noat you can afford. We typicallynhave 6 to 8mpeop.e on our s 230, and it gets a little tight. I cannot imagine a 19 or 21 foot boat working for us.

 

[Beachbummer]

How much is 5k to you? You could save that if you keep looking and find a nice boat. I saw a few 2005 sx230s in great condition for 15-17k 2 years ago when I was looking. This one is near and clean, so those are big pluses. It's only worth as much as you are willing to pay.

 

[Wisefam22]

Not to derail but tapps is awesome lake... I remember going there when growing up. The water color is interesting for sure.

Enjoy

 

[Whiskey]

Thanks for the helpful replies guys. The price of the boat is actually in line with all of the other boats in the NW of similar condition and year. I would actually say it's underpriced compared to the condition of a few I've seen. Kind of surprising. It's making me consider a new boat to be honest. I don't think I could justify that to myself as our first boat though.

Questions:
I understand that the 2007-2009 boats are desireable. Why is this? Is the hull darmatically different? I'm having a hard time finding details around this.

Should I be looking for an HO model? I'm a motorcycle enthusiast and I would be happier with the boat it it was more powerful relatively than a similar model for the same price/year. I would like the boat to have as much acceleration as possible with out sacrificing it's reliability.

 

[Wisefam22]

All 07-09 are "HO" if I understand correctly. That same year model was built well the motors are same ones they ran in jetskis for years and stories of people having 1500-2000hrs on them. That is main reason people love them as well.

In 07 they added a "storage" area that was suppose to double as a Porto potty area.

There was some change in the way they built the hull and those are also a little thicker. Because the economy tanked around same time they didnt sell as many. Dealerships held them or people had them and disnt use due to cost of gas ect.

These are things I have learned here from the vast knowledge of numerous people.

 

[Jgorm]

I bought an 04 ar230 non ho for 14k.400hrs fresh only. Ended up having an engine issue that cost me a bnch of hours and a couple grand on the 2nd day out. Check compression before making an offer on any mr1 vehicle. Since 2016 I've owned 4 mr1s. 3 if them had issues. 2 low compression, one stuck #3 plug. Wife was pissed and wanted to sell everything at scrap prices. Now i have a working boat and a hopefully working fx140. I haven't driven it since i got the plug out, but it used to run on 2 or 3 cylinders for the first few minutes, then it would kick in and go 50mph. That had 96hr fresh water only. People say they run 1000s if hours, but these are all pretty old now. If you get an mr1 boat, and don't wench yourself, I'd keep 5 to 10k in the bank for repairs.

 

[Scuba_ref]

I live in the PNW and I bought a 2005 AR230HO 5 years ago, it was in excellent condition and only had 68 hours on it. I paid $23k for it out of Portland, OR. Knock on wood, I've had no issues other than some bad fuel one summer.

I'm in the middle of a keep or sell debate with myself as we will be moving to Hawaii this fall. I just purchased an aluminum trailer for it so at this point leaning towards taking it with us.

 

[Whiskey]

Interested in selling @Scuba_ref ?

 

[Scuba_ref]

I go back and forth on that decision. It is all paid for, has all my mods:
Full SeaDek
RGB interior LED lights
Dual water separator/fuel filters
High water bilge alarm
Perfect Pass
Fishing rod holder installed for BBQ mount
Extra 12V and USB charging ports
8000 lumen blue underwater drain plug light
Kenwood marine speakers
Tower modified to fold down
Dual battery system
Thrust Vector fins with TV Wake on order

But I can't stop thinking about how much I would like a newer AR240. It is a really tough decision, but I'm pretty sure that I will be keeping my 230 for now.

 

[4link]

When we were looking for our boat we couldnt find much in the northwest. Everyone wanted top dollar for a well used jet. We ended up looking south. We found our 2007 with 36 hrs for 19k. We made a family trip out of it to the happiest place on earth when we bought. So my advice is look to around orange county. They give those things away there.

2007Yamaha AR210!Total Performance!

Yamaha AR 210 Jet Boat Runs Perfect Always professionally Serviced New Cover Kept Clean and well maintained

losangeles.craigslist.org

 

[Whiskey]

No worries @Scuba_ref let me know if you change your mind.

@4link That's a great idea. I'll expand my search out a ways. I reached out to the owner of the boat you linked. I appreciate it.