Thoughts on a 2004 16ft Sea Doo Speedster with a 240hp Mercury engine

[saad]

Hey guys... newbie to the boating world here... I am interested in purchasing my first boat. I have never driven a boat. I have always wanted one and finally decided to pull the trigger.. I will be mainly using it for watersports and driving it around Ft. Lauderdale and Key Biscayne area... if anyone has other suggestions please let me know.. I will be going for a test sea run on Saturday with the owner... what should i look out for during the test run? (They stated that it has not been in the water since September 2007 but they occasionally start it and run the hose water through it..) and if i like it then bringing it to RIVA Mot9orsports ( www.rivamotorsports.com ) in Pompano Beach, Fl for a check up ($125) to test the engine and look over then boat and then run it in the water.... and if all is good then make an offer on the boat. What do you guys think is a "good buy" for me I check NADA values on this and it says $9500 is the low retail...

I'm open for any type of comments & suggestions about buying it or not... please explain your reason so i can understand why...

 

[nautiquelfe]

I would definately spend the money to have a jetboat w/ the Merc engine checked by a profesional. As you will find from searching through the forum these engines can be extremely costly to repair. It might also be a good idea to make some calls locally to be sure you'll have someone that will work on it for you. Many posts have indicated that there are sea doo dealers that will not work on the Mercury engines. And many Mercury dealers refuse to work on Jet boats.....While you inspect the boat make a list of any flaws the boat and trailer may have. Try to get good estimates on what these would cost to repair back to original condition and deduct these amounts from the NADA qouted value. Good luck and hope to see you in a boat soon!

 

[rookie101]

Mercury....

Nautiquelfe covered most of the important things. My only concern is that Riva may not be qualified to check the Mercury out. They might be expecting a boat with the Rotax in it. Give them a call and verify that.

Who ever you do get to check the boat out be sure and have them check the pump and stator oils as well to make sure there is no contamination of the fluid. Also get them to let you know if the boat is still running the Hydro Surge intake grate. If it is allow for a couple hundred to replace it with a fixed grate as they tend to shed tines as they get older, and can cause a fair amount of pump damage when they do.

Other than that the Mercury can be a great engine, so don't run away from a boat that is powered by one, just be sure to do your research and get a proper inspection.


Aaron:cheers:

 

[boeing747arowair]

I love my 250 merc. Been around them for time now and just bought a 205 utopia with it. Sorry to hijack the thread but rookie do you check the stator oil by just pouottin the reverse gate in forward and removing the plug? And with the new grate, do you have problems with weeds. Currently if i do suck up weeds i jus rack the boat in reverse turn it off and it clears the weeds off the grate. just wondering if a fixed grate would change that.

 

[saad]

On average on the 40 gallon tank how many hours are you guys getting to the tank?

 

[rookie101]

boeing747arowair:

Any time you want to check the oil in the stator all you have to do is put the shifter in the forward position and access the fill plug. There are however two schools of thought on changing the fluid. The first involves disassembling the entire pump to change the fluid, and the second is to just put the shifter in forward and suck the fluid out. I tend to follow the second idea, as the main reason for changing the fluid is to look for any contamination, and by using the second method you will get about 99% of the fluid, and will see any signs of moisture in it. If you do see any contamination THEN you have to disassemble the pump and change the shaft seal and the O ring.

Look at it this way, do you take the oil pan off your truck every time you do an oil change??? If not why would you pull the entire pump apart just to change the oil in it? Also every time you pull the pump apart you risk damaging the seals that you are trying to check when you change the oil in the first place.

When it comes to the grate you aren't using the Hydro Surge right when you do the back-up trick. The whole idea with the surge grate is any time it sees a vacuum on the pump side, as in when the grate is plugged with weeds, the whole grate "opens" to let the obstruction pass through the pump. This is both the advantage and the Achilles heel of the Hydro Surge. It will let any object through that sufficiently plugs the grate, be it weeds or rocks. Any grate will try to self clear when you run the boat in reverse and then shut the engine off.


Saad:

Fuel consumption has as much to do with the driver as the engine. I get about four days on a full tank of fuel, but I rarely run my boat past about thirty miles per hour (4200rpm), and do a lot of floating around with the wife. Having said that you could burn a tank in a day easy if you run at full throttle all the time, or never shut your boat off.


Aaron:cheers:

 

[saad]

Thanks for all your insight guys... I talked to the guys at RIVA and the service guys said they do not work on the Mercury engines anymore which is weird because a few days ago the other service guys said they do... so I called the another Sea-Doo service center listed from Sea-Doos website called Jet Ski of Miami... they are expensive! $190 just to take the boat for a test run in the water and $400 to do an inshop "trade-in" evaluation..... I'm not ready to spend $600 on a boat im not even sure i want unless it comes back as healthy.... but then again i dont wanna get screwed and buy the boat based on the test run we will have this weekend from the current owner and myself that does not know jack about boats... I was thinking of seeing if there is a mechanic on craigslist that will come out with me on saturday to inspect the boat.... What are your thoughts? Also if all is good whats a fair price to offer for this boat?

 

[CypherAZ]

Thanks for all your insight guys... I talked to the guys at RIVA and the service guys said they do not work on the Mercury engines anymore which is weird because a few days ago the other service guys said they do... so I called the another Sea-Doo service center listed from Sea-Doos website called Jet Ski of Miami... they are expensive! $190 just to take the boat for a test run in the water and $400 to do an inshop "trade-in" evaluation..... I'm not ready to spend $600 on a boat im not even sure i want unless it comes back as healthy.... but then again i dont wanna get screwed and buy the boat based on the test run we will have this weekend from the current owner and myself that does not know jack about boats... I was thinking of seeing if there is a mechanic on craigslist that will come out with me on saturday to inspect the boat.... What are your thoughts? Also if all is good whats a fair price to offer for this boat?

$400? Talk about bad business. The shop we use does a pre-sale inspection for $65.

 

[boeing747arowair]

I somewhat dislike jetski ok miami seem to rip people off. Hey thanks rookie for the info on the oil and grate.


Saad let me know. I have a mechanic that is mobile and have used him for years. He just took care of me when i bought my utopia with the 250 Merc. PM me if you like and ill get you in contact with him.