Yamaha AR210 or chaparral 203 vortex

[Pmk3]

Which one is better to buy? I have 2 boys 13 and 11 we have Yamaha fx pwc currently. We tube,ski and wake board on it. Kids like tubing the best. I'm looking to get a boat to do water sports and chill with friends but don't want to break the bank. My brother in law has a 85k tige boat. I am looking for a 40k boat that's why I'm considering a jet boat. Any suggestions. Thanks in advance for responding.

 

[RightStuff]

You probably won't go wrong with either... but what are you looking for in a boat? How much are you looking to spend?

Maybe give some more info like that will help us share some of our opinions.

 

[Pmk3]

You probably won't go wrong with either... but what are you looking for in a boat? How much are you looking to spend?

Maybe give some more info like that will help us share some of our opinions.

Which one is better to buy? I have 2 boys 13 and 11 we have Yamaha fx pwc currently. We tube,ski and wake board on it. Kids like tubing the best. I'm looking to get a boat to do water sports and chill with friends but don't want to break the bank. My brother in law has a 85k tige boat. I am looking for a 40k boat that's why I'm considering a jet boat. Any suggestions. Thanks in advance for responding.

 

[RightStuff]

Here's some discussion from a previous post about that specific boat and some opinions:
https://jetboaters.net/threads/full-review-chaparral-203-vortex-jet-boat.1700/

In general here's some of the main differences I can see from looking at Chap's website and knowing what I know from owning a AR210. We tube/surf with kids/adults with out any problems, we regularly fit 2 families (about 8-9) comfortably on our 210. I don't wakeboard, but I don't see any reason why there would be an issue in doing so. Plenty of power to pull anyone out of the water.

Overall both look pretty comparable in size, weight, HP, but there are some differences that stick out to me...

• Beam is wider on the Yamaha (8'6" vs 8').
• Fuel tank capacity is bigger on the Yamaha by 15 gallons.
• Single axle trailer for the Chap, double for the Yamaha.
• Overall length is a bit more on the Yamaha (1' longer).
• Yamaha has 2 engines, I see this a good thing to have that redundancy, but some might see it as "one more thing to maintain".
• Yamaha has a seating capacity of 9 vs 8 in the Chap.
• Yamaha weighs a bit more. Again this could be a good or bad thing depending on how you look at it. Having the extra weight helps cut thru the chop on lakes most days. I sometimes feel that my 210 is a bit on the light side. But having a lighter boat makes it easier for towing too.
• Chap has a few more options from the factory (hull color, touch screen display, other upgrade), but those options will obviously cost you more out of the gate. Yamaha is what it is, but there is a number of aftermarket things that you can always upgrade.
• Yamaha has clean out ports above the water to fix clogged jets. This would be a deal breaker for me as there are a number of times I have had to use mine to clear out weeds from the intake grates, I don't get many weeds wrapped around the impeller shaft that cause problems. I haven't heard how well the Rotax design here helps with rope ingestion.
• Overall I would say Chap makes a really nice, quality boat. If I had a choice I would take their hull over the Yamaha hull, just better made in my opinion from the I/O Chaps I have been in/around. Would have to look again to see if that holds the same for the jet drive boats, but I assume it's the same as their I/O hulls.

That's all I can think of right now, maybe someone else can chime in with anything I missed. Good luck making the decision, in the end you will still be having fun on the water!

 

[subysti]

I looked at chap, scarab and Yamaha before I purchased and went with Yamaha. When I added all the features that the Yamaha comes standard with there was a big price difference. I also wanted the clean out ports and a boat that is all one manufacturer. I've seen a few stories on here where people have to contact either the boat maker or BRP if it's an engine issue. I big thing I noticed is that the impeller housings on the BRP engines are plastic and need to be replaced periodically where as the yamahas are metal.

 

[BryanW]

Just a note the BRPs use a urethane wear ring not plastic for the impeller housings. Stainless steel impellers mated with a steelhousing = a bent impeller when it ingests something and wedges between the 2. On my old Sea Doo GTX the ring got very little wear, but I did get some small twigs between the impeller and the house which made it cavitate. For me the clean outs aren't a big deal, the intake grates not only do a good job of keeping stuff out, but evenly "load" the impeller under full throttle. I'm sure I regret that clean out statement when I'm diving to clear the grates, but it hasn't happen yet and I've been over some pretty long and thick weed beds this year in MI. I love the BRP closed loop cooling and live bout as far from saltwater as anyone. Its just one less thing to worry about/maintain. The whole issue of manufacturers/dealers not being well versed on the Rotax is a consideration. That might make me buy a Yamaha, but I chose the used route and hunted down something I could get serviced by the Sea Doo network, and couldn't be happier. There is something to be said for hull ride quality and fit and finish, just depends if you have a dealer than can service the rotax when needed, Good Luck!

 

[4x15mph]

Hands down Yamaha as far as serviceability and the number of other owners that will be able to help you.

 

[NKTARHEEL]

I recently went through a similar process (Ar240 versus Vortex 223) in my boat search. Test drove both, really liked both boats a lot. As noted above, there are differences, but my decision came down to cost. The vortex boats are in their second year of production, so there aren't any used ones for sale. However finding a low hour (less than 50) 2011 Yamaha is doable, which brought the price down low enough that I could pay in full for the boat. Basically saved a lot on an almost new boat that was bigger.