Yamaha vs. Chaparral - trying to decide...

[txav8r]

Chaparral builds some great boats and have for years. Yamaha outsells the top 3 boat builders combined by a large margin. Those kinds of numbers speak volumes. But the only boats that Yamaha builds in the US market are jet boats. To me, 3 times the number just is a no brainer. Someone a few posts back mentioned that Yamaha has motorcycle dealers selling boats...that was true 15-20 years ago and some may have graduated to full boat line dealers. Lets face it, there are good dealers and poor dealers in any product your looking at, cars, boats, shoes. In your market, maybe another boat line owns the market. But hands down, Yamaha owns the sport boat market in the US. Not saying the Chap isn't a good boat, it has a company building it that has a good history and reputation for building some pretty great boats for a price. But the level of boat we are talking about isn't in that price range, and the history that Chap has building jet boats or jet propulsion is only a few years old. Yamaha owns the jet boat market for good reason and has stuck with it. If I wanted a deep V hull I/O, or a nice cruiser, I would seriously look at a Chap, if I were looking for a jet boat, I would look at a Yamaha.

 

[Julian]

Chap's have a "true neutral" as well.

Are you saying that Chaps have a clutch or some method to prevent the impeller from spinning? That would be the only "True neutral"

 

[Julian]

Chaparral Boat Test DB numbers (twin 250Hp engines)
RPM NM KM KPH LPH KPL dBA
1700 197 365 7.90 3.79 2.06 78
2000 216 399 8.50 3.79 2.25 76
3000 99 183 11.90 11.55 1.03 84
4000 78 143 14.00 17.22 0.81 76
5000 119 219 37.80 30.47 1.24 82
6000 100 185 55.20 52.81 1.05 89
7000 78 143 70.70 86.87 0.81 91
8000 63 117 90.30 136.46 0.66 94

Yamaha 212X Boat test DB numbers (twin 160hp engines)
RPM NM KM KPH LPH KPL dBA
1600 47 85 5.00 9.84 0.50 72
2500 79 145 7.70 9.08 0.85 74
3000 83 154 9.00 10.22 0.90 75
4000 89 166 10.50 10.98 0.97 80
5000 76 140 11.90 14.38 0.82 83
6000 76 142 19.50 23.47 0.83 85
7000 138 254 44.30 29.53 1.49 88
8000 129 238 58.30 41.64 1.39 92
9000 118 219 69.70 54.51 1.28 98
10000 109 203 82.60 69.65 1.18 98
11500 98 180 85.10 80.63 1.06 100

Here is the 2017 Numbers for the 212X from Boattest.com:

 

[Scottdip]

Are you saying that Chaps have a clutch or some method to prevent the impeller from spinning? That would be the only "True neutral"

I'm assuming you knew what i meant and you're just breaking balls.

My statement about "true neutral" could have been taken the wrong way. Let me clarify: The boat will stay in one position when you move the throttle to the neutral position.

 

[swatski]

Hahaha, you just reminded me why all the Yamaha boats have a tuning fork in the logo

Yep. It is a different fork though... lol. The motor division have the longer "arrows" across the circumference.


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[Scottdip]

Here is the 2017 Numbers for the 212X from Boattest.com:
View attachment 57360

Thanks for clarifying.

I was trying to post a comparison of the Chap and Yamaha db levels because on the first page somebody posted a 20db difference on the sound level, which was obviously not correct. When someone is making a decision between two boats it's always nice to have the facts.

 

[Scottdip]

Here is the 2016 numbers for the Scarab (same twin 250hp engines as Chaparral)

http://www.boattest.com/review/scarab/3504_255-impulse-wake-edition

Test Results
RPM MPH Knots GPH MPG NMPG Stat. Mile NM dBa
1800 5.0 4.3 1.4 3.5 3.1 178 155 71
2000 6.0 5.2 1.6 3.7 3.2 187 163 72
3000 7.5 6.5 3.1 2.4 2.1 121 105 73
4000 10.3 8.9 5.0 2.1 1.8 103 90 73
5000 21.0 18.2 8.4 2.5 2.2 126 109 76
6000 33.5 29.1 14.6 2.3 2.0 116 101 78
7000 44.2 38.4 25.5 1.7 1.5 87 76 86
8000 53.2 46.3 36.5 1.5 1.3 73 64 95

 

[Bennie]

Thanks for clarifying.

I was trying to post a comparison of the Chap and Yamaha db levels because on the first page somebody posted a 20db difference on the sound level, which was obviously not correct. When someone is making a decision between two boats it's always nice to have the facts.

You're right @Scottdip - I was thinking of my application (2015 242LS). There is a 20+ db difference between the 2015 Chap 223VRX and my boat...hence my decision.

However @Dave burke is looking at purchasing a 212X... different beast.

For reference:
http://www.boattest.com/review/chaparral/3222_223-vrx
http://www.boattest.com/review/yamaha/3211_242-limited-s#1

 

[Scottdip]

You're right, Bennie! Christ those 2015 Chaps are loud even when compared to a 2016 Scarab with similar engines.