Will Yamaha make the boats faster over the coming years? Thoughts?

[NewBoater]

Just curious what everyone's thoughts were on the subject. I hear around 50 mph is the top speed for the 242 Limited S boat and just curious if you guys think they will make them faster over the years. If so, what would be the way they would achieve this? Just larger twin engines?

What speed do you see the max ever being? Not much faster than they are today? 50-55? 60? 65?

 

[captras]

Insurance rates go up when listed top speed is greater than 50, so I have been told. They may make faster models available but I think they will keep the base models under 50....just my opinion!

 

[Neutron]

50 is fast enough for a 24 foot boat in my opinion. Let an inexperienced operator hit a wake wrong at 50 and you have people getting hurt or worse.

In reality how often do you run wot and how long

 

[Tobes]

Lots of reasons. Drag, hull design, weight, efficiency, cost.

Above 50 is where it starts to get really difficult to make speed. Think of 50mph in a boat as 12 second 1/4 mile car. Want a street car to go faster than 12 sec 1/4 mile? Start losing weight, losing fuel economy, and spending money on the engine. Its just not efficient. And with everyone wanting stereos, multiple battery setups, and all the bells and whistles, its pointless for a manufacturer to make them go faster. 50mph is a pretty good speed on the water and boats are limited on how much fuel they carry. You will need more fuel as well if you start beefing up the engine, which means more weight, which means more engine to get you there.

Think about this. Dry weight of the 242 Limited S is 3700 lbs. Add all your gear, fuel, cooler, and just a couple passengers and you are probably pushing 4500 lbs. Load the boat up and well over 5000lbs. Your tow rig probably weighs about the same when you are fully loaded (if not less).

 

[captras]

I have gone WOT only 3 times. ...just to see what it would do. I spent less than a minute there. I am never in that big a hurry and burning 23+ GPH is insane. My normal cruise. ..about 25MPH.

 

[Neutron]

I have gone WOT only 3 times. ...just to see what it would do. I spent less than a minute there. I am never in that big a hurry and burning 23+ GPH is insane. My normal cruise. ..about 25MPH.

Same here

 

[octavio3311]

Speed is overrated. Sure we've all hammered down at some point to see what it can do, but we don't stay there - at least I don't. We normally cruise at 25-28mph. Besides - the wife starts bitchin at anything north of 35mph.
My 212 is capable of 55 under the right circumstances, but I'm really never in a rush.
And I find our boats right on par with others. A 24' Cobalt with a big 6.0L V8 is only doing 48-50mph. So that's about right.

Besides - it's uncomfortable. My buddy has 1 of those sparkly go-fast fishing boats with a HUGE outboard. It'll do 80mph all day. You will chip a tooth trying to sip a beer at those speeds.

 

[Julian]

I've discussed it with Yamaha Product Managers and the opinions voiced above are right in line with the way they are thinking. They are making well rounded boats for families. To build a faster boat would require serious pump and intake redesigns and more HP....which would mean a different hull for the boat...which would mean another mold making line....which just gets way too expensive.

 

[swatski]

They might put twin SVHOs in a boat hull, with the 160mm pumps. But it would be crazy fuel thirsty. For comparison, the 24ft supercharged VRX Chaps can go 56mph but burn 36+ GPH at those speeds.
New 24ft Yamaha hulls are not designed for speeds over 50mph but pretty phenomenal over all. I don't think many owners would want it any other way, frankly.

--

 

[Speedling]

Yamaha isn't in the go fast boat market. They are in the family boat market. It's why they are successful at what they are doing.
Rumors is that they tested a go fast boat and it just sucked a ton of gas for what it was.
It would require a whole new hull design, a new outlook on the boat overall, and a different market than what they are good at. Why fix what ain't broke?
Now, if they would sell the engines and pumps seperate, you could build/buy a hull and do what you want. As it is, if you want a fast Yamaha powered jet boat, you would need to do some very custom stuff. I would love to, but time and money don't allow. Unless someone wants to dump a cool $50k on my desk. I think that's the minimum it would take to make a 60+ mph boat. At the $75k mark, it would maybe hit 70 mph. Maybe.

 

[Deuces WIld]

Before my 242 I owned an outboard 21' Checkmate that I modified to run mid '70's. I learned the hard way that speed on the water is directly proportional to cubic $$$. The twin Yamaha's could be modified to run faster simply by using a trimable jet nozzle that will raise the nose and put more air under the hull. However, the minute you do that, the boat is no longer idiot proof like it is today. Blast the boat up to 55 or 60 with the nose raised and then throw it into a max turn and you're likely the boat will slide and then tumble. As others have stated, I rarely go past 40 mph in my 242. Truth be told, in all but glass conditions, running 75mph in a small boat was pretty terrifying. I love my 242 just the way it is.

 

[Overspray]

@Deuces WIld isn't lying. I currently have a 21' Checkmate with a 502. She runs fast, but once trimmed up on the pad, there's very little hull in the water. 70+mph is highly addicting, yet completely terrifying all at the same time.

 

[Deuces WIld]

@Overspray knows what I'm saying! You get a light weight boat like the '21 Checkmate up over 70+ in just a little bit of chop and she starts to chime walk from side to side on that tiny little running pad. Then the oscillations build and the swings start to increase and pretty soon any sane captain is off the hammer. Don't get me wrong, I had a blast (pun intended) pulling along side a family cruiser topped out at 43mph and then max accelerating to leave them in my spray. I'm glad I outgrew those days and with my family now I wouldn't trade my 242 for anything.

 

[Speedling]

Had my Exciter 270 running 65 mph. I loved it but any waves and I had to slow WAAAAAY down.
More speed requires a bigger boat to be comfortable.

 

[DCB-270]

No, they make the boat they want to make. If they wanted a 70 mph boat they could make one.

 

[robert843]

Man after reading all this I'm feeling like a speed demon with my average cruise speed being 35-38 mph lol. They could make the boat faster and I know many won't agree with me but I think you will see a 24ft boat with twin svho engines capable of close to 60 mph at some point but you wont see it till they do a redesign of the 24 ft model that has a larger fuel tank 50 gallons just isn't enough for that boat it will need to be at least 75 gallons and I sure hope to see that fuel tank added to the 24ft boats in the 2019 or 2020 model which would be around the time you will see a redesign based on model history. That said me personally I want the higher fuel capacity but not necessarily interested in the svho option my boat is plenty fast for me. It still baffles me they have stuck with that 50 gallon tank it still seems small even for the current models.

 

[DCB-270]

Put two 350 outboards on a 24 . might go 60-70.

 

[OperationROL]

Our boats can take on most boats out there. A couple of mph more doesn't really matter to me. 10+ more will matter to me. However, each of us bought our boats knowing that the top end is 52ish. If any of us want more, we should have bought something else. At the end of the day, I just need a boat that is a great "All around", family boat and one that is faster than @Julian 's!

 

[Gym]

I would rather see Yamaha spend additional horse power to push a larger boat. I would be happy with a 28 foot cruiser if it was capable of 45 - 50 mph.

 

[biglar155]

I'm in the "she's plenty fast for me" club. I normally don't go much past cruise RPM in the name of maximizing fuel economy.

Typically, the only time my boat sees WOT is during the first run of the year. I use top-end speed as a gauge of the health of the engine and pump. Beyond that, we're usually not in that big of a hurry.