seadoo or seadont

[bigler]

Need your guys opinion on this one. I am seeing all these sweet mods on the seadoo boats and now i really think a jetboat is going to be more fun for me and my friends. i want to either sell my 97xp and buy a boat or trade it for a boat. i have a few offers. one person will buy my xp for 2600$. other guy wants to trade his 96 challenger for my xp. the challenger has alot of cosmetic problems but the guy works at a jetski shop and he went thru the engine and got it completely redone.

so i can either do the trade and start restoring the boat or sell my xp and find a different boat.

One guy wants to sell his 97 sportster single 85hp boat to me for a good price. the boats in very good condition but that engine seems too wimpy for me.

heres some pics of the challenger. tell me what you guys think. what can be done about the seats and the fading on everything? has some upper hull damage that was halfassed repaired it looks like. i think i just need to sand over that filler and repaint the area.

thanks guys for any info you provide! :hat:

 

[cjb]

To me that boat is not worth the $2600 you can get for your ski.

 

[seadoo GTS 1993]

Motor is more important then how it looks, if it runs good, id pick it up... then worry about its looks in the winter

 

[bigler]

yeah well detailing it and sanding and painting those spots will make this boat look much better. i know if i sell my xp for $2600 now and wait til off season i could find a heck of a deal on a boat but i dont think i can go that long without a watercraft. my xp wont sell for 2600 in the offseason

 

[Dr Honda]

That challenger is beat!!! If it has a fresh engine, and the pump is in good shape… I would say it’s worth $2500… possibly $3000 since we are in the middle of summer. One thing to remember… most people who buy a boat (or used car) want something that is pretty. You put a fresh paint job on a turd of a car… and you will sell it. If you have $20K invested into a race car, but it needs bodywork, and a paint job… you won’t get much for it.

With that said… and with what I said on your last thread… IF… that challenger is mechanically sound… I would do an even trade with your XP. If it needs any mechanical work, your XP is worth more. I don’t remember if I told you on your last post or not… but I got my boat for $1500 with a new engine, but it was ugly. (like that challenger) so that should give you an idea of what it’s worth.

As far as the sportster thing… no, it’s not the most powerful boat out there… but 90hp in a boat that is only 1000 Lbs, is still a fun ride. The top speed difference between the sportster, and the challenger is probably nothing (in the mid 40’s) since they both use the same prop, pump, and the engines get to about the same RPM’s. The challenger has an extra 20hp on the sportster, so it will have a better mid acceleration, but out of the hole, they both have the same limitation of a single 140mm pump, and both will cavitate out of the hole a little. If you move up to a speedster, you will feel a performance difference since it has 2 pumps pushing it, and twice the power of a sportster. But it has the drawback of having twice the maintenance of 2 drive trains. (2 pumps to rebuild, 2 impellers to replace, etc)

My sporterster with a new engine, new drive shaft seal, and a skat-trak 16-21 swirl impeller shows almost no cavitation out of the hole with 3 adults in the boat, and it will pull a tube, or a wake boarder without too many problems. Also, it will run 45mph all day long, and not brake the bank with a high fuel bill since it only has a single engine.

I’m not trying to sell you a sportster… but if you have one available for a good price, and it is in very good condition… don’t look past it because it’s a single engine. And no matter what… the sport boat won’t be exactly like your XP. Even with a twin engine… you have more weight to move… and more importantly… you have WAY more “wetted” area to move through the water. (more drag)

Sorry that got long… but I just wanted to threw out what I knew.

Good luck with your choice.

 

[pincusa]

My 2cents - When you're having a great time with the boat and your friends are drunk, tubing/skiing, you can't see what the rest of the boat looks like. If the boat is good mechanically, then it will be fast, reliable and enjoyable. If it's a show queen that doesn't come out of the hole or leaves you stuck on the water, you will maybe care that the seat you're sitting in waiting for a tow doesn't have a rip in it....

 

[bigler]

yeah this all makes sense. i really wouldnt mind fixing up the cosmetic damage but it hurts me to trade a almost perfect XP for a not so perfect boat. my problem is that i want a boat within the next week or two and its a really bad time to buy. i only see one for sale every week. all the good condition challengers are asking $4500 or so. i dont want to spend over $3000. thanks for the good input guys

 

[factory81]

I paid $3000 for my 110hp 15ft Challenger wanting to take my buddies out.

You know these engines, we run them at 7k rpm all day, now do it with 600-700 pounds on the ski. These boats rule in their own way, but they have their limits in regards to towing capacity and seating capacity.

I am wishing I had the 135hp engine, because I feel pretty underpowered in my 110hp boat. So I would be turned off by the 85hp.

Lastly this is at most a boat for you and 3 buddies to go out on. This isn't even a boat, its like an oversized jetski. Try to stash a tube on this thing while you are going out to your favorite tubing spots. If the tube is in the cabin, its in the way. The only acceptable place is to bungie cord your tube to the back of it.

I have not tried wakeboarding behind my boat, but people do it, they aren't the best for it. But they get the job done with no wake tower even.

In my opinion these are kind of like Mazda Miata's....real small and sporty. It'll handle those turns way better then your Ford Taurus will. They aren't meant to store much.

Just made to go fast, pull people on a tube fast, and slowly tear your rotary valve shaft to hell as you jump waves with 600-700lbs of cargo along with the weight of your ski.

That's what makes these boats a POS I think. People who do not lay off the throttle when they land. If you ride around full throttle and your turning in cavitating water, hopping waves and never giving any regard to the engine in these jet boats...the engines are weak.


Find a single engine 135hp boat with the 951 engine for some real fun. That 85 will be a drag. Your engine will never cost more then like $1500-2500 to replace and thats with a 2 year fault free warranty.

I am on my 3rd 787 engine. I ruined the engines because I did not lay off the throttle jumping huge wakes, and forgetting to put oil in thus eating my rotary valve shaft.

I dunno, it seems jet-skis with a 150 pound rider will last a lot longer, and stand up to more abuse than the jet boat owner with 650 pounds of cargo with the SAME ENGINE.

When it comes down to it my 110hp can't keep up with many pwc, but boats it stays with a lot of them until we get out in to Lake Michigan and they let $100k-900k worth of engines do their thing. I can't ride listening to an mp3 player because I have to listen for when we are airborne and the intake is sucking up just air.

Plus with the amount of water these boats can take on with the fun we like to have in them....stereos get mess up easy.

 

[bigler]

well that sounds like something that i would do. i drive like a moron on anything that goes fast. i am thinking ill just hang on to my XP and maybe sell it next spring or early summer. a boat would be really cool right now but it just wont happen because i cant find a good enough deal right now. i dont want to spend every cent i have on fixing up a boat.