Personal Watercraft?

Donnie Barnes · **Posted:** Wed Apr 28, 2004 8:43 pm

Anyone got any opinions to share on personal watercraft? I'm thinking about buying a new three seater like the Honda Aquatrax R-12X or the Kawasaki STX-15F. Unsure whether I should be wary of the turbo or not...I can't find any decent reviews of the Honda, though the Polaris gets knocked because it is a turbo and lacks low end torque (but it's a 750cc whereas the Honda is a 1200cc).

The Sea-Doo is the most powerful, but also the heaviest. I've heard some not-so-great things about the Yamaha compared to the others, too. So, I'm looking for any input I can find from folks who have experience with late model big PWCs.

--Donnie

Chris Brown · **Posted:** Wed Apr 28, 2004 8:50 pm

my dad has the honda turbo and it is pretty nice...very fast and has a good amount of 'pick up'...can't speak about it's durability since he's only had it for 1/2 a season.

Donnie Barnes · **Posted:** Wed Apr 28, 2004 9:32 pm

Does he live on a lake? If so, how often has he used it and has he had any trouble out of it?

Has he used it in salt water any? I did mean to mention that...I do want to use it down at Hatteras for a week each year. The house we rent is beside a marina on the sound side...

--Donnie

Chris Brown · **Posted:** Wed Apr 28, 2004 9:38 pm

Donnie Barnes wrote:

Does he live on a lake? If so, how often has he used it and has he had any trouble out of it?

Has he used it in salt water any? I did mean to mention that...I do want to use it down at Hatteras for a week each year. The house we rent is beside a marina on the sound side...

--Donnie

yea, he lives up at kerr lake...he had a problem with it when he first got it, but i think it was "user error" - basically, he overfilled it with oil...like i said, he's only had it for 1/2 a season so he probably hasn't put more than 50 hrs on it yet.

Donnie Barnes · **Posted:** Wed Apr 28, 2004 10:40 pm

It's looking like the Sea Doo offerings are leading. They are supercharged instead of turbocharged, which is a little better, I think. They have a two seater that is 215HP! They also have a three seater that's 185HP and loaded with GPS, depth finder, and some other goodies that look pretty cool.

All this just reminds me that I'm a horsepower whore.

There's something wrong with your personal watercraft having a *lot* more HP than your race car.

--Donnie

Chris Brown · **Posted:** Thu Apr 29, 2004 8:51 am

just be careful man...there are lot of idiots out there on jetskis...don't be one of them :wink:

Diane Hall · **Posted:** Thu Apr 29, 2004 9:48 am

About 8 years ago, my uncle had a "2" seater and a "3" seater Sea-Doo. If you were talking about full-sized adults, forget it (n-1). The 3 seater could pull a skiier, which was cool, and *would* hold 3 people, if you didn't want to do any "tricks".

Don't know if the size thing is still an issue, but you might take a friend or 2 with you to "try" them on for size before you buy something.

They were BIG fun.

Jason has a single person standup JetSki, but I haven't tried it yet, and know very little about it so I'm no help there.

Marvin McBride · **Posted:** Thu Apr 29, 2004 12:34 pm

Let's see - 215 hp motorcycle engine + 1 early Miata could be a lot of fun!

Oh, wait -- that's Matt's Radical.

MikeWhitney · **Joined:** Wed Aug 20, 2003 9:15 pm **Posts:** 4724

Diane Hall wrote:

Jason has a single person standup JetSki, but I haven't tried it yet, and know very little about it so I'm no help there.

Maybe the ice on the lakes will start to melt soon and you will get to try it out!

Mike (Wisconsin native, and prior Michigan and Massachusetts resident)

Diane Hall · **Posted:** Thu Apr 29, 2004 4:21 pm

How'd you know that was what I was waiting for???

Oh right, you're from up north too!

Donnie Barnes · **Posted:** Mon May 03, 2004 8:42 pm

Okay, after reviewing all the pertinent info I seem to have changed my mind somewhat. Instead of a PWC I think I'm going to buy a small jetboat instead. Strangely, that's after having to convince my wife who was actually wanting us to get *two* PWCs. So why not do that?

Well, she's five months pregnant and we have a 2.5 year old now. So she wouldn't be able to personally ride a PWC until next year. Well, she wouldn't be comfortable having any fun on it, anyway. It's also much easier to take a two year old with you in a boat rather than riding on a PWC.

Boats make better swim platforms, too. They also pull skiers and wake boarders a little better. So, while PWCs may be ultimately a bit more fun, we're thinking that a small jetboat will be "enough" fun for a few more years and we'll reinvestigate when the kids are a little larger.

Current leader in the game is a Sea Doo Speedster 160. It's a 5 person craft with 240HP, stereo, etc. The Speedster 200 seems sexier by having *2* 155HP engines, but if you compute the empty power to weight ratio the 160 still comes out on top (the 200 weighs 1000 pounds more!). The 200 does hold a couple more people, though. The Challenger X is also a strong contender as I'm starting to think wakeboarding is gonna rock. :-)

To see all the models check out
http://www.seadoo.com

--Donnie[/url]

Tom Hoppe · **Joined:** Wed Aug 20, 2003 10:16 am **Posts:** 387

Take the smaller of the two. You were leaning towards a pwc in the first place.....

Do they include the hot chicks?

-Tom
adopt me

jimpastorius · **Posted:** Tue May 04, 2004 9:58 am

Donnie Barnes wrote:

Okay, after reviewing all the pertinent info I seem to have changed my mind somewhat. Instead of a PWC I think I'm going to buy a small jetboat instead. Strangely, that's after having to convince my wife who was actually wanting us to get *two* PWCs. So why not do that?

Well, she's five months pregnant and we have a 2.5 year old now. So she wouldn't be able to personally ride a PWC until next year. Well, she wouldn't be comfortable having any fun on it, anyway. It's also much easier to take a two year old with you in a boat rather than riding on a PWC.

Boats make better swim platforms, too. They also pull skiers and wake boarders a little better. So, while PWCs may be ultimately a bit more fun, we're thinking that a small jetboat will be "enough" fun for a few more years and we'll reinvestigate when the kids are a little larger.

Current leader in the game is a Sea Doo Speedster 160. It's a 5 person craft with 240HP, stereo, etc. The Speedster 200 seems sexier by having *2* 155HP engines, but if you compute the empty power to weight ratio the 160 still comes out on top (the 200 weighs 1000 pounds more!). The 200 does hold a couple more people, though. The Challenger X is also a strong contender as I'm starting to think wakeboarding is gonna rock. :-)

To see all the models check out
http://www.seadoo.com

Today is your lucky day! I happen to have a real boat for sale. It is plenty big enough for the growing Barnes clan. It would make a wonderful boat to wake board behind. Plus, it has a real motor...a Mercruiser 7.4L EFI.

--Donnie[/url]

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