charlyboy
Member
A while ago, in April, I subscribed to the forum to ask for some help to decide on which Seadoo I should purchase.
Help-me-decide-!-GTX-260-Ltd-Yes-but-2011-2012-or-must-be-2013
I finally decided to buy a new one. GTX 260 Ltd Is, the Black and grey one. I have been playing since early July with this new toy and I am quite happy with it with the exception of some little issues.
First of all, this machine is very, very comfortable, I tried some other jets, including the superb RXTX-260RS and there is a significant difference in comfort. Remember that I live right on the Mediterranean sea front, and I only used this machine here, I never tried it on a lake and furthermore, I could not compare it with other machines on a lake. Here, it isn't unusual to have 1 meter (3 feet) waves and with 50cm or so we can do skiing or wake boarding. Most of the time, when we get out there is a minimum of 30cm/1 foot waves. 20cm or less can exist, but only very early in the morning (and I sleep) or late in the evenings and it is not authorized here to ride a jet then.
I purchased with the machine the Ski module, this is a very convenient device to have each time the same startup power as well as constant speed. It is easy to adjust the speed with one finger while driving. Definitely the option to have if you intend to do wakeboarding. This option is installed as standard in the two models of wake seadoos, the wake 155 and wake 215. A must have I would say, in a wavy environment, I find it quite difficult to have the same start speed each time, and the same speed during the ride.
I also purchased the wake rack and I am somehow unhappy with it. It is nice to have the board sitting outside the boat, it gives a lot of room for the legs, and again, in a wavy environment, you don't damage the jet and the board having the board inside the jet. However, the rack doesn't like waves too much and I already lost it twice as I was speeding a bit to come back to the harbor in a sea which was getting quite bad to ride. The weather can change very rapidly where I live, so is sea wind and swell. I got surprised more than a couple of times when the conditions changed rapidly despite a good forecast. Since I lost it for the first time, I double and triple check that it is well secured to the seadoo and I managed to loose it again... Now I use a leash, about 1.5 meter attached to the wake rack on one side, and the seadoo on the other to avoid loosing a third one. It can be an expensive loss, each time the wave rack as well as a wakeboard with the bindings. The board is very well secured to the rack, but the rack has a bad tendency to escape from the jet !!!
Another bad thing about the rack when the board is fitted to it: riding in a wavy environment, the wakeboard shovels large quantities of water inside the jet, and guess what ? we need to ride faster to get the water out of the jet, the jet has a huge tendency to go to the left (where my rack is fitted) and if we don't pay much attention to get a good balance when you jump waves, the landing could be quite hard..
1) Tilting: I am a beginner with jets, and I believed for quite a while that when the jet wants to go left/ tilt to the left, it could be due to the swell, to the sea wind, to my passenger bending to the left... I have done 55 hours now, and it seems that it isn't the case, my jet want's to go left/tilt to the left, full stop. if I go quite fast, I don't have this feeling. When I mean fast, means over 55 knots.
2) Seat: Because of the salty conditions, I need to spend in between one hour to two hours cleaning the jet each time, as well as the trailer, life vests, etc... The seat seems to fill with salt water as I ride and it is virtually impossible to remove I clean it as well as I can, but need to come back to it with a piece of cloth with white vinegar to dissolve the salt which is clearly visible around most sewings. Would you have a remedy to this ?
3) Engine compartment: on this particular model, the engine is in a supposedly "sealed compartment" However, after each ride (2 to 4 hours on average, in a couple of times it was 6 to 8 hours.) once the jet is cleaned (rinced, cleaned with salt and an additional produce to dissolve salt, and rinced again) I dry it to 80% with a dry cloth and I open the seat which reveals a door, supposed to be waterproof, and I can often see salt everywhere. Would you know where it comes from ? and how to get rid of this salt ? I use for the moment a little brush with vinegar, but, my god, this is long a tedious !! When I remove the back compartments, there is no water everywhere, no signs of salt either, I did put a little bit of grease on all visible screws and bolts to prevent oxidation, but all is clean, which isn't the case in the engine compartment. I can see some salt here and then, I remove it, but what annoys me is that where i can't see, it could be all covered with salt !!!
Some pictures:
Engine
Engine, near the bottom, dried salt again, this is what I get each time after an afternoon on the sea.
Back compartments door, the salt traces can easily be removed with vinegar.
Saddle, with a very strange thing at the back of driver position, is it normal or I need to as for a replacement ?
Your comments will be greatly appreciated.
Help-me-decide-!-GTX-260-Ltd-Yes-but-2011-2012-or-must-be-2013
I finally decided to buy a new one. GTX 260 Ltd Is, the Black and grey one. I have been playing since early July with this new toy and I am quite happy with it with the exception of some little issues.
First of all, this machine is very, very comfortable, I tried some other jets, including the superb RXTX-260RS and there is a significant difference in comfort. Remember that I live right on the Mediterranean sea front, and I only used this machine here, I never tried it on a lake and furthermore, I could not compare it with other machines on a lake. Here, it isn't unusual to have 1 meter (3 feet) waves and with 50cm or so we can do skiing or wake boarding. Most of the time, when we get out there is a minimum of 30cm/1 foot waves. 20cm or less can exist, but only very early in the morning (and I sleep) or late in the evenings and it is not authorized here to ride a jet then.
I purchased with the machine the Ski module, this is a very convenient device to have each time the same startup power as well as constant speed. It is easy to adjust the speed with one finger while driving. Definitely the option to have if you intend to do wakeboarding. This option is installed as standard in the two models of wake seadoos, the wake 155 and wake 215. A must have I would say, in a wavy environment, I find it quite difficult to have the same start speed each time, and the same speed during the ride.
I also purchased the wake rack and I am somehow unhappy with it. It is nice to have the board sitting outside the boat, it gives a lot of room for the legs, and again, in a wavy environment, you don't damage the jet and the board having the board inside the jet. However, the rack doesn't like waves too much and I already lost it twice as I was speeding a bit to come back to the harbor in a sea which was getting quite bad to ride. The weather can change very rapidly where I live, so is sea wind and swell. I got surprised more than a couple of times when the conditions changed rapidly despite a good forecast. Since I lost it for the first time, I double and triple check that it is well secured to the seadoo and I managed to loose it again... Now I use a leash, about 1.5 meter attached to the wake rack on one side, and the seadoo on the other to avoid loosing a third one. It can be an expensive loss, each time the wave rack as well as a wakeboard with the bindings. The board is very well secured to the rack, but the rack has a bad tendency to escape from the jet !!!
Another bad thing about the rack when the board is fitted to it: riding in a wavy environment, the wakeboard shovels large quantities of water inside the jet, and guess what ? we need to ride faster to get the water out of the jet, the jet has a huge tendency to go to the left (where my rack is fitted) and if we don't pay much attention to get a good balance when you jump waves, the landing could be quite hard..
1) Tilting: I am a beginner with jets, and I believed for quite a while that when the jet wants to go left/ tilt to the left, it could be due to the swell, to the sea wind, to my passenger bending to the left... I have done 55 hours now, and it seems that it isn't the case, my jet want's to go left/tilt to the left, full stop. if I go quite fast, I don't have this feeling. When I mean fast, means over 55 knots.
2) Seat: Because of the salty conditions, I need to spend in between one hour to two hours cleaning the jet each time, as well as the trailer, life vests, etc... The seat seems to fill with salt water as I ride and it is virtually impossible to remove I clean it as well as I can, but need to come back to it with a piece of cloth with white vinegar to dissolve the salt which is clearly visible around most sewings. Would you have a remedy to this ?
3) Engine compartment: on this particular model, the engine is in a supposedly "sealed compartment" However, after each ride (2 to 4 hours on average, in a couple of times it was 6 to 8 hours.) once the jet is cleaned (rinced, cleaned with salt and an additional produce to dissolve salt, and rinced again) I dry it to 80% with a dry cloth and I open the seat which reveals a door, supposed to be waterproof, and I can often see salt everywhere. Would you know where it comes from ? and how to get rid of this salt ? I use for the moment a little brush with vinegar, but, my god, this is long a tedious !! When I remove the back compartments, there is no water everywhere, no signs of salt either, I did put a little bit of grease on all visible screws and bolts to prevent oxidation, but all is clean, which isn't the case in the engine compartment. I can see some salt here and then, I remove it, but what annoys me is that where i can't see, it could be all covered with salt !!!
Some pictures:
Engine
Engine, near the bottom, dried salt again, this is what I get each time after an afternoon on the sea.
Back compartments door, the salt traces can easily be removed with vinegar.
Saddle, with a very strange thing at the back of driver position, is it normal or I need to as for a replacement ?
Your comments will be greatly appreciated.
