Thoughts On My New Boat

[n1111z]

So I upgraded from 2013 242 LS to 2018 LS-E and took delivery this week. We wrung her out pretty good today and here are some impressions.

Ethrottles. This is the most impressive upgrade. They are silky smooth and allow for exquisite maneuvering around the docks. The synchronization of rpm's to one throttle is a fantastic function. Stiff throttle response was the worst thing about owning the '13.

12" Connext display. This is avionics-grade (I'm a pilot). The ability to access at a glance fuel flow, fuel remaining, gph, battery info, and on and on is just wonderful. No more having to squint and shield my eyes to see if I'm almost out of gas. The GPS map is micky-mouse but I don't think it purports to be a chartplotter, and it is somewhat functional. Unfortunately there is not enough room in the console to add a aftermarket chartplotter. Not sure what I'm going to do here.

Keel and articulating rudder (or is it articulating keel and rudder I forget). Worthless. It seems as though Yam engineers had to come up with something/anything to answer the aftermarket steering mods and failed miserably. It's just hanging down there frustrating my shallow water running and making me nervous when anchoring close to shore. At no wake speed it wanders all over the place. Plane speed, extremely ponderous. Reverse, no maneuverability whatsoever. Hoping to correct these deficiencies with addons soon.

Soundproofing. I was stoked going out in the no-wake zone, the engines were whisper quiet. Once we got to speed however I don't think there was much difference. Wish I had gotten some decibel meter comparisons just out of curiosity.

There are lots of other little upgrades that make this boat way superior to the old one, like all hinged seating and increased storage. Not sure how I like the bigger bimini (it's yuge), might affect my spincasting. Still I will be adding steering mod, lateral thrusters, trim tabs.

 

[Scottintexas]

It's an ARTICULATING KEEL for Yamaha for everybody else it's just a rudder,

Do you think the stiff throttles from the old boat could have been a cable deteriorating issue or were they always like that?

Thanks for the feed back, always great to hear how the new boats perform,

 

[n1111z]

It's an ARTICULATING KEEL for Yamaha for everybody else it's just a rudder,

Do you think the stiff throttles from the old boat could have been a cable deteriorating issue or were they always like that?

Thanks for the feed back, always great to hear how the new boats perform,

I did replace the cables and it was better. Just not "fingertip" like the new ones.

 

[Beachbummer]

I have a set of binacles dissasembled....The issue is not the cables, it's the short throw and limited travel provided by the binacles. They are clunky and the tolerances are very wide. There's no finesse. Better binacles go a LONG way.. not quite e-throttle far, but e-throttles being a 10, a Gaffrig set is a 7 and the OEMs are a 2. The OEMs go from 2 to -1 when the cable goes stiff.

You have from 1500 to 10,000 or 8,00 RPM in the lever travel from 45 to 70 degrees. That's not a lot of travel. Also, with the aftermarket binacle you can open half a gate, or 1/3, and have it slowly moving forward at any desired setting. If you want some upgrade, but ethrottles are 20K from where you are now... Aftermarket Binacle could be an economical upgrade.

 

[swatski]

So I upgraded from 2013 242 LS to 2018 LS-E and took delivery this week. We wrung her out pretty good today and here are some impressions.

Ethrottles. This is the most impressive upgrade. They are silky smooth and allow for exquisite maneuvering around the docks. The synchronization of rpm's to one throttle is a fantastic function. Stiff throttle response was the worst thing about owning the '13.

12" Connext display. This is avionics-grade (I'm a pilot). The ability to access at a glance fuel flow, fuel remaining, gph, battery info, and on and on is just wonderful. No more having to squint and shield my eyes to see if I'm almost out of gas. The GPS map is micky-mouse but I don't think it purports to be a chartplotter, and it is somewhat functional. Unfortunately there is not enough room in the console to add a aftermarket chartplotter. Not sure what I'm going to do here.

Keel and articulating rudder (or is it articulating keel and rudder I forget). Worthless. It seems as though Yam engineers had to come up with something/anything to answer the aftermarket steering mods and failed miserably. It's just hanging down there frustrating my shallow water running and making me nervous when anchoring close to shore. At no wake speed it wanders all over the place. Plane speed, extremely ponderous. Reverse, no maneuverability whatsoever. Hoping to correct these deficiencies with addons soon.

Soundproofing. I was stoked going out in the no-wake zone, the engines were whisper quiet. Once we got to speed however I don't think there was much difference. Wish I had gotten some decibel meter comparisons just out of curiosity.

There are lots of other little upgrades that make this boat way superior to the old one, like all hinged seating and increased storage. Not sure how I like the bigger bimini (it's yuge), might affect my spincasting. Still I will be adding steering mod, lateral thrusters, trim tabs.

Great post!
The throttles have been one of my chief complains, frankly I can not stand those.
This is exactly right:

The issue is not the cables, it's the short throw and limited travel provided by the binacles. They are clunky and the tolerances are very wide. There's no finesse.

In my case, I did two things - the Riva ECU remapping helps a lot but I can only run it when I have access to 91+ gas which is not always. The RideSteady takes care of cruising - I use the knob instead of the binnacles, and that is perfect. Of course it does not work around the docks though!

I wonder how much the new 2019 nozzles would help? Have you considered that as an upgrade?
I’m also curious about the Connext screen, if it is different or just larger, the original is great for visibility but has had some reports with delamination complains/issues. If they have resolved that it would be very nice.

—

 

[tabbibus]

So I upgraded from 2013 242 LS to 2018 LS-E and took delivery this week. We wrung her out pretty good today and here are some impressions.

Ethrottles. This is the most impressive upgrade. They are silky smooth and allow for exquisite maneuvering around the docks. The synchronization of rpm's to one throttle is a fantastic function. Stiff throttle response was the worst thing about owning the '13.

12" Connext display. This is avionics-grade (I'm a pilot). The ability to access at a glance fuel flow, fuel remaining, gph, battery info, and on and on is just wonderful. No more having to squint and shield my eyes to see if I'm almost out of gas. The GPS map is micky-mouse but I don't think it purports to be a chartplotter, and it is somewhat functional. Unfortunately there is not enough room in the console to add a aftermarket chartplotter. Not sure what I'm going to do here.

Keel and articulating rudder (or is it articulating keel and rudder I forget). Worthless. It seems as though Yam engineers had to come up with something/anything to answer the aftermarket steering mods and failed miserably. It's just hanging down there frustrating my shallow water running and making me nervous when anchoring close to shore. At no wake speed it wanders all over the place. Plane speed, extremely ponderous. Reverse, no maneuverability whatsoever. Hoping to correct these deficiencies with addons soon.

Soundproofing. I was stoked going out in the no-wake zone, the engines were whisper quiet. Once we got to speed however I don't think there was much difference. Wish I had gotten some decibel meter comparisons just out of curiosity.

There are lots of other little upgrades that make this boat way superior to the old one, like all hinged seating and increased storage. Not sure how I like the bigger bimini (it's yuge), might affect my spincasting. Still I will be adding steering mod, lateral thrusters, trim tabs.

What did you end up doing about the chartplotter? I'm starting to look into this myself.

Thanks

 

[n1111z]

I got a Garmin 54cv, combo, it just fits into the console to the right of the 12" display. Very happy with it.

 

[tabbibus]

I got a Garmin 54cv, combo, it just fits into the console to the right of the 12" display. Very happy with it.

nice! Did you flush mount it? Any pictures of the project?

 

[n1111z]

Yeah flush mount. We are going down to Cape Coral week from Saturday, I'll try to post pics.

 

[Matt Phillips]

I agree...the electronic throttles are great as is engine sync. no more fiddling about trying to get them synced by pitch. If you haven't discovered it yet, try putting your throttles into forward idle, then move them about 1/3 of the throttle thickness forward. You will hear the water pitch. This is a nice "know how to use" around the docks. Best I've been able to tell is that moving from N to F basically leaves the buckets slightly covering the exits and moving even one throttle about 1/3 width up, moves the bucket all the way up out of the way.

 

[tabbibus]

wait what? I can't picture this

 

[mainchannel]

I just purchased (2 weeks ago) a used 2018 242 L SE (15 hours) Probably paid too much, have had many boats this is the first jet.
I also have 2014 VX Cruiser (30 hours)

CONS:

• Steering/Control is not good below wake speed.
• Engines LOUD at cruising.
• Going to spend $1000.00 + to be able to hear Stereo at cruising speed.
• Drinks Fuel
• Turn batteries on and Stereo starts blaring
• Cutting RCA's off Fusion Head Unit

PROS:

• Inexpesive $60,000.00.
• Nice finishes
• Fast on Plane

Yamaha needs engineer/designers that actually go out on the lake and test their products. I know they let their employees do this (I live in Knoxville)
but there are so many exterior molding issues (hang out), Engine noise, stupid cubby next to passenger chair with huge net, stern light on tower that sticks up 3 feet, cutting off unused RCA's on Fusion head unit, etc...

 

[swatski]

Yamaha needs engineer/designers that actually go out on the lake and test their products.

Bingo!!!

—

 

[props2you]

mainchannel said:
Yamaha needs engineer/designers that actually go out on the lake and test their products.

*USE

Testing is one thing but using it for a season is another!

Amazing the deficiencies you find over a season.

 

[swatski]

mainchannel said:
Yamaha needs engineer/designers that actually go out on the lake and test their products.

*USE

Testing is one thing but using it for a season is another!

Amazing the deficiencies you find over a season.

They used to do this, there is a vid floating around of their AR230 testing in high seas, pre-2009? That was impressive.

--

 

[Betik]

They used to do this, there is a vid floating around of their AR230 testing in high seas, pre-2009? That was impressive.

--

That has been outsourced to jetboaters.net if you are interest that testing usually happens end of June and early July

 

[swatski]

That has been outsourced to jetboaters.net if you are interest that testing usually happens end of June and early July

That's right.
Except I'm not sure they could handle the truth... which leads to this:



Hopefully they got some medicated butt hurt cream and they are better now.


--

 

[props2you]

@swatski I'm sure you're the first one yamaha calls to test out new towers too!

 

[Betik]

@swatski I'm sure you're the first one yamaha calls to test out new towers too!

Don’t open old wounds my friends.

 

[props2you]

Don’t open old wounds my friends.

Can't fix scars (or yamaha towers) with band-aid's! Lol!