Hello SeaDooers,
My wife and I have been renting boats for about a year and now I want to get something of my own. I have a pretty strict wife-imposed budget though and have been wracking my brain over what to buy for a couple months now. I really love the idea of a jet boat... nice and fast, thrill the friends, pull up to the beach, light and easy to trailer. Perfect. Not real in to fishing or anything; just cruising and maybe pulling some things. I live in Jacksonville so most of the time I would be on the intracoastal or St Johns river. Maybe a quick hop in the Atlantic for some giggles. We've had up to 6 on our rental but usually in the 4-5 range.
So... most of the boats I've been looking at are in the year 2000-area. A couple challenger 1800s and ls2000s come in around 6-7k with some Utopia 185s for just a little bit more.
So, I have a lot of questions...
First, the intracoastal has a little chop, nothing to severe outside the inlet though. The St. Johns has what I would imagine would be normal chop for a really wide river. The ls2000 is longer but only has an 18 degree deadrise compared to the 20 degrees on the Challengers and Utopias. The Utopia also seems to sit real high on the water. I'm wondering if any of those three boats would handle moderate chop better than the other? Our rental was usually a 19' deck boat. Plenty of room for people but slow as piss and I would guess that flat bottom would be far worse in chop than any of the boats I'm considering?
Second, the Challengers have twin Rotaxes, the ls2000 twin Yamahas. I'm guessing those power plants would be roughly similar with respect to noise (real loud), fuel efficiency (real bad), and maintenance (real low) compared to the Mercs in the Utopias of that age. How does the noise of the single carbed 210 compare to the dual rotaxes? For me, I'm more concerned with regular maintenance than worst-case disaster, replace-it-all maintenance risks. From reading it would seem that the carbed version of the three boats would be similar in maintenance (obviously with twice the rebuilds and plugs on the twins)? I think there are enough Mechanics in the Jacksonville area I would have little problem finding someone willing to work on the Mercs or the twins.
Third, both the intracoastal and river and pretty muddy and some of the arteries can be a bit weedy. I've seen a handful of jet boats scooting around but I was wondering if anyone else boats in the area and can comment on the amount or frequency of impeller jam-ups. Yamaha owners like to talk about the clean-out plugs. I'm wondering if that should be a factor or if it's much less of a problem than people make it out to be. The locals say just get an I/O and deal with the maintenance, weight, lack of punch, etc.
As of now, I'm really liking the layout of the Utopia, with the wrap-around windshield and a lot of storage but the Merc and additional cost are turn-offs. The ls2000 would probably be my second choice as it has a good layout and the bow of the Challenger is a little cramped however one of the Challengers is pimped out with wake tower and crazy stereo. Hopefully this will be a starter boat so something that will minimize loss when we inevitably upgrade would be great too.
All feedback for a confused potential Dooer is appreciated.
Thanks,
Mike
My wife and I have been renting boats for about a year and now I want to get something of my own. I have a pretty strict wife-imposed budget though and have been wracking my brain over what to buy for a couple months now. I really love the idea of a jet boat... nice and fast, thrill the friends, pull up to the beach, light and easy to trailer. Perfect. Not real in to fishing or anything; just cruising and maybe pulling some things. I live in Jacksonville so most of the time I would be on the intracoastal or St Johns river. Maybe a quick hop in the Atlantic for some giggles. We've had up to 6 on our rental but usually in the 4-5 range.
So... most of the boats I've been looking at are in the year 2000-area. A couple challenger 1800s and ls2000s come in around 6-7k with some Utopia 185s for just a little bit more.
So, I have a lot of questions...
First, the intracoastal has a little chop, nothing to severe outside the inlet though. The St. Johns has what I would imagine would be normal chop for a really wide river. The ls2000 is longer but only has an 18 degree deadrise compared to the 20 degrees on the Challengers and Utopias. The Utopia also seems to sit real high on the water. I'm wondering if any of those three boats would handle moderate chop better than the other? Our rental was usually a 19' deck boat. Plenty of room for people but slow as piss and I would guess that flat bottom would be far worse in chop than any of the boats I'm considering?
Second, the Challengers have twin Rotaxes, the ls2000 twin Yamahas. I'm guessing those power plants would be roughly similar with respect to noise (real loud), fuel efficiency (real bad), and maintenance (real low) compared to the Mercs in the Utopias of that age. How does the noise of the single carbed 210 compare to the dual rotaxes? For me, I'm more concerned with regular maintenance than worst-case disaster, replace-it-all maintenance risks. From reading it would seem that the carbed version of the three boats would be similar in maintenance (obviously with twice the rebuilds and plugs on the twins)? I think there are enough Mechanics in the Jacksonville area I would have little problem finding someone willing to work on the Mercs or the twins.
Third, both the intracoastal and river and pretty muddy and some of the arteries can be a bit weedy. I've seen a handful of jet boats scooting around but I was wondering if anyone else boats in the area and can comment on the amount or frequency of impeller jam-ups. Yamaha owners like to talk about the clean-out plugs. I'm wondering if that should be a factor or if it's much less of a problem than people make it out to be. The locals say just get an I/O and deal with the maintenance, weight, lack of punch, etc.
As of now, I'm really liking the layout of the Utopia, with the wrap-around windshield and a lot of storage but the Merc and additional cost are turn-offs. The ls2000 would probably be my second choice as it has a good layout and the bow of the Challenger is a little cramped however one of the Challengers is pimped out with wake tower and crazy stereo. Hopefully this will be a starter boat so something that will minimize loss when we inevitably upgrade would be great too.
All feedback for a confused potential Dooer is appreciated.
Thanks,
Mike
