Need help picking the right boat

[Doorush]

Hey - I am a relative newbie to boating in general. I am in my second summer with an old 16' fiberglass boat and 80 hp outboard Johnson motor. I boat mostly in a river in PA that is relatively shallow most of the summer, so I am interested in changing to a jet boat that will draw less water than my boat to avoid banging bottom. I have read some online articles, but I am not sure I understand the differences yet.

Some questions I have:
1 - Can someone give me a brief summary of the differences between Sportster, Speedster and Challenger?
2 - I really want a boat where I don't have to mix oil & fuel. How can I tell from an ad if the boat is 2-stroke or 4-stoke?
3 - Are there advantages to the 4-stroke besides the oil mix issue?
4 - I think I saw some ads that said it was 2-stroke but that the oil is mixed automatically. Do you simply add oil when you re-fuel?

If I am looking to take 4 people out for an afternoon of cruising, parking to swim and occassionally tubing, is one boat style better than another? I am not looking to tear up & down the river at 50+ mph. Just something to enjoy the time in the sun. I have seen boats close to me - '99 Sportster for $5500 and '02 X-20 Challenger for $8500. Thoughts?

Sorry for the lengthy post and number of questions. Any assistance is greatly appreciated as I consider this leap.

 

[El Toro 33809]

Welcome to the forum. Good luck searching for your new boat. Being towards the end of the season it should be a buyers market. Jet boats are nice because they don't require as deep of water, but you still have to be carful about debris.

To answer your questions:

1) Not sure. Some of the differences must depend on the year.
2) The 4-strokes started to be phased in around 2003 and fully in commission around 2005. Before then would be strictly 2-strokes and after 4-strokes.
3) 4-strokes may have a longer life, but when they do need repairing they are more complex and expensive.
4) Unless modified, the 2-strokes would be automatically fed the oil. Some people remove the injection system and go to premix, but the injection systems are very reliable. Typically you would add oil to the oil tank once for about every four gas fills. They do also have low oil alarms. You need to be sure to run the proper oil in the oil injection tank. For about 4 or 5 years, starting in 2000, Seadoo used Mercury motors in some of their boats. There has been quite a bit of discussion about gear failure in their oil injection system. The X-20 you mentioned you are considering has a Merc engine. There is a Mercury Powered Boat section if the forum. Do some reading there, but don't be completely scared away. I'm sure there are boats that haven't had problems, but those folks don't typically come here.

You may want to post any follow up to this in the different Boat sections of the forum. I think you'd get lots of suggestions there.