• This site contains eBay affiliate links for which Sea-Doo Forum may be compensated.

What seadoo handles rough water the best? So many models....

Status
Not open for further replies.
cowsgonemadd3 said:
You are correct. Like I said this is a idea gathering stage. Part of my plan to sea if I want to make this run is to take it down to Charleston South Carolina and do a beach run in real ocean water. Go along the coast and out to see about a mile or 2 and see how well I handle a hour in the ocean.

I was on a cruise boat a month ago and we had 50mph winds and 20-30mph winds all day. We missed 2 ports because of it and caught one on the way back home. The waves were 4+ feet high. On a seadoo that would be a nightmare. It would take skill to just keep the seadoo upright.
Click to expand...

glad you agree, didn't want to insult you but as soon as I heard "haven't been in ocean before" the red flags went up. What I want to hear is that your an experienced ocean rider, not the other way around, and also its a very expensive trip, customs, hotel, fuel, food, etc, so its not as simple as just heading over, then back, its quite pricey, and should be dragged out so you get your money's worth.

IMO 80% of the "cool" part of the trip is being able to cruise around the local waters, and check everything out, its not the actual trip over. There are a LOT of very cool ride spots out there but a 4 stroke is definitely the ride of choice since you will have to cover quite a bit of distance to get to certain destinations.

those video's (that I love, especially engineers video's, which are incredible) show the cool part, but if you dig into a couple of the threads you'll hear about cuts, contusions, sprained ankles, disabled ski's (left behind) and missing front teeth from hitting a rogue 7 footer that came out of nowhere, etc. this is not a trip for the meek, unprepared, or inexperienced rider, and IMO its not a ride for a 2 stroke, but it has been done, and will again, its just ill-advised.

I'm a swamp rider myself, although we do head out to the gulf and ride about once a month, a vast majority of my rides are rivers and lakes, hitting the twisties, dodging gators, and chasing down the occasional cruiser to jump wake. I did a LOT more surf riding when I had my Yamaha XL and I've spent some time on my buddy's FXHO, and even when only 2 miles off shore, some nasty sets can come in and make things very interesting in a short period of time. Always have a ride buddy, (or preferably 3) and make sure those riders have experience in the ocean and have a ski large enough for two up riding in the event that you need to drag a ski back. But when your 30 miles from shore in either direction, you better be over prepared, not under prepared, or we'll be sending flowers.

that's my 2cents.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
spx800 said:
it means, the oil pump fails wide-open, so the engine won't burn down.
Click to expand...

Dr Honda said:
Hey guys... please do not start rumors that you can not support.

The oil pumps DO NOT just spontaneously fail because you hold the throttle open. And the Mikuni oil pumps are more reliable than the engines they are bolted to.

In all my time playing with Seadoo's... I've never actually seen an oil pump fail. I've seen plugged check valves/nozzles, hoses that have rotted and fallen off, plugged filters, and a hose fitting that pulled out of the pump body.

Most of the problems come from lack of maintenance, or mixing oils, (and wrong type) and the sludge plugs the system. Oh... and I can't tell you how many times I've seen a blown engine, and they blame the oil pump, and then I find out that they were using "Whatever oil was on sale at the gas station/hardware store/wal-mart." (normally TC-w3)

I won't let this board turn into some of the others where there is a bunch of BS info. We go by facts here, and nothing else.


Not trying to be harsh... just trying to make my point.
Click to expand...


Its true what Dr is saying the little lines to intake are what fails b/c of human error.
Pump is gear driven.

And correct me if I wrong but i thought/read if pump does fail b/c of cable the return spring gives you the 40:1 vs variable.
I think that is was SPX was trying to say.

Its a choice and depends on person to premix or not.
I'm starting to like idea of pump. That ratio BS sucks while your trying pump gas and don't know how much is in the tank.
 
(normally TC-w3)
Click to expand...

What is the best oil to run? I have ran several brands that say its compliant. I prefer not to spend 30 bucks a gallon as oil is basically oil as far as the brand versus brand goes.
 
For quality and value, Amsoil Interceptor. Oil in a rotax engine makes a huge difference. You can't hardly swing a dead cat here without hitting a thread about oil. You need to be running full synthetic API-TC oil.

Do NOT use TCW-3.

Lou
 
I think the last gallon I bought was that TCW-3 stuff :(
I think the gallon before that was the good stuff as I paid 22 bucks for it and only 12 for this stuff in a blue container at walmart. I hope 1 gallon wont hurt my motor.
 
cowsgonemadd3 said:
I think the last gallon I bought was that TCW-3 stuff :(
I think the gallon before that was the good stuff as I paid 22 bucks for it and only 12 for this stuff in a blue container at walmart. I hope 1 gallon wont hurt my motor.
Click to expand...

one gallon most likely won't hurt a dam thing.

but please

invest in good oil (and $12 TCW-3 is NOT GOOD OIL) and I think even at $22 you are still cutting corners.

flame me if you want, but water sports aren't cheap, except maybe canoeing... an extra few bucks on oil can save an engine, or at the least extend the life of it by several seasons... don't cut corners on oil, its a small % of the overall expenses related to a summer full of water fun, a small %. I hear people tell me all the time that they can't afford good oil, and if they can't, then honestly, they can't afford to own a PWC either.

even extreme price examples are nothing ,, $12 vs $40 for oil, well, thats $28 difference over 40-50 gallons of fuel, which is for most people a minimum of a full month or two of riding, if not more. so for the sake of argument your talking somewhere between $4-7 a weekend extra spent on oil, pack a PB&J sammich instead of a subway footlong and poof,, you just saved enough to buy good oil.

I spend roughly $1 a mile between fuel/oil. (high test gas, high grade oil) i'm not going to ride any more or less if it cost me $.88 a mile instead of a buck. the difference is negligible.

get a buddy and split the cost of a case of amsoil online $70 each.. and you'll have oil for most of the summer unless your riding long and hard and more than once a week.

and keep in mind, this is a Rotax issue, not nearly as much of an issue if your riding a Yamaha701, which i've seen hit 200+ hours running that cheap blue bottle.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Yamaha701
Click to expand...
I would guess this type of PWC is no where near as good as a rotax powered one?

Well the way I ride my seadoo is with friends. I am not rich so I bought a 1250 dollar seadoo. Me and my friends go out sometimes once a week in the summer, other times every other week. We ride for 2-3 hours or so per trip to the lake.

We all chip in for gas and I pay for all the oil and maintain my seadoo. So I might spend 20 bucks and they cover the rest. Sometimes I raise more money than I spend and other times I break even. I take out 7-11 people and so 5-10 bucks a person per day we go out means we all have fun and its cheap on everyone to run this amazing machine.

I will go to walmart and get the good oil instead of running any more of the junky stuff :)
 
I get a case of Amsoil interceptor, full synthetic API-TC, 4 gals. for $116.00 delivered. The guys that sell amsoil are independent you can get the name of your distributor from the Amsoil website. I can give you my guy's name but you will probably do better locally, no shipping.

Lou
 
I will see what I can find locally. My family owns a dairy farm and we get tax free and discounts on sales at places. My cousin works at walmart and could get me 10% off oil there too.
 
yellow jug of synthetic from seadoo i get here in fla for 43.00 that includes tax --- y use anything else ????

ive lost that much in 1 race at the dog track
 
haha I guess the reason to use something else is because other stuff is cheaper. I know for a FACT that many oils are owned by the same brands and made in the same factory as each other. They sell the same oil for more money as you can buy the cheaper stuff. Its kinda like buying name brand medicine vs the dollar store brand. Same active ingredients without the marketing costs added into the medicine cost.

I think if its not the cheap TCW-3 stuff then just about all the oils are similar. The difference has to be very little. We all know seadoo brand oil is nothing more than some other oil companies oil put in a special jug and sold for more than it would cost you to buy it at a store. My Honda car says the same thing, "use only Honda oil". We all know better....
 
cowsgonemadd3 said:
haha I guess the reason to use something else is because other stuff is cheaper. I know for a FACT that many oils are owned by the same brands and made in the same factory as each other. They sell the same oil for more money as you can buy the cheaper stuff. Its kinda like buying name brand medicine vs the dollar store brand. Same active ingredients without the marketing costs added into the medicine cost.

I think if its not the cheap TCW-3 stuff then just about all the oils are similar. The difference has to be very little. We all know seadoo brand oil is nothing more than some other oil companies oil put in a special jug and sold for more than it would cost you to buy it at a store. My Honda car says the same thing, "use only Honda oil". We all know better....
Click to expand...

Hoping DrHonda adds his .02 cents. He's very familiar with that stuff.
 
cowsgonemadd3 said:
I would guess this type of PWC is no where near as good as a rotax powered one?

Well the way I ride my seadoo is with friends. I am not rich so I bought a 1250 dollar seadoo. Me and my friends go out sometimes once a week in the summer, other times every other week. We ride for 2-3 hours or so per trip to the lake.

We all chip in for gas and I pay for all the oil and maintain my seadoo. So I might spend 20 bucks and they cover the rest. Sometimes I raise more money than I spend and other times I break even. I take out 7-11 people and so 5-10 bucks a person per day we go out means we all have fun and its cheap on everyone to run this amazing machine.

I will go to walmart and get the good oil instead of running any more of the junky stuff :)
Click to expand...

yes, no more junky stuff, they'll hate you if it breaks down !!! lol

rotax makes a good engine, gets good performance, but you have to love it so it will love you back !
and if you want your Rotax to say "he went to Jared", then give it full syn API-TC. and if your going to wallyworld, i think its this bottle.
92-858036Q01_med.jpg

and actually the yami 701 is an excellent motor, excellent, its just not quite as particular.
 
Well if you do not take care of your stuff it will break. I have learned that the hard way. I told my dad I have learned so much in the last couple of days on here. I am ready for all the riding this summer now :)
 
the yamaha 650 and im pretty sure 701 recommended oil was tcw-3. iirc, in the 91 vxr 650 we had there was a sticker next to the oil tank that said to use tcw-2, as that was the top spec at the time. the 650 was a boat anchor, but the 701 powered yamaha was one of the top dogs on the lake until the xp 800s came out.
 
SeaDooLou said:
I get a case of Amsoil interceptor, full synthetic API-TC, 4 gals. for $116.00 delivered. The guys that sell amsoil are independent you can get the name of your distributor from the Amsoil website. I can give you my guy's name but you will probably do better locally, no shipping.

Lou
Click to expand...

Dude that is cheap!!! I'm looking up my local dealer now! I've been running the Quicksilver Black jug from Wally World and its like $42 a gallon.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Once again.... ESPECIALLY FOR THE NOOBS.....


Do not start rumors!!!


Oils are not the same !!!!! API, JASO and TC-w are ratings... not brands. I will admit, that a "house brand" oil/anti-freeze/grease/etc... are many times that same as a national brand. But we are not talking about "Use Honda Oil Only"....

I will make this very simple....

1) TC-W oils are environmentally friendly, and are designed for outboard engines. They are designed for low RPM's, and low power density.

2) API-"TC" and JASO-"F" oils are designed to support higher RPM's, and Higher power density's.


The above statements have NOTHING to do with quality. A typical 150 HP outboard engine spins 5000 RPM, has 6 cyl's, and is HUGE> (+2000 CC's) So... they can use the Environmentally friendly version of the TC oils. (TC-w3)

Our Rotax seadoo's make 110 hp with 2 cyl's, spin +7000 RPM, and are only 800 cc's. SO... we need an oil that can support that power level.


IT'S AS SIMPLE AS THAT !!!!!!!!!!

Here's an example:

Would you fill the engine of your car with cooking oil? Of coarse not. Why??? Because the engine would eat itself in short order. BUT... does this have any effect on the "Quality" of the oil? No !!! But you can't expect an oil to work for something it wasn't designed for. It's as easy as that !!!!!!


Wal-Mart brand TC-w3 oil (in the blue bottle) is an EXCELLENT oil. BUT... it's not meant to be used in our Rotax engines.

If you read my threads on oils (and there are a lot of them) you will see I NEVER say "Use XPS oils only." I always say "Use a good quality API-TC oil only." That's because I don't push one brand over the other.





Last word on this......


Yamaha, and many of the other companies fell into the TC-w oil BS back in the day, and they stuck with it because it was environmentally friendly. the 650 and 701 Yamaha engines can safely (more or less) run on TC-w3 oils. But... if you are a fan of Yamaha... you will notice that once the 800 GP was released, it was almost a failure for them since that engine would only last a few seasons. (the same goes for the GP1200) BUT... if you fed them an oil designed for the higher HP and RPM's... they will live a long healthy life.

Polaris also fell into that trap, but once they released their "Domestic" engine... the realized that the TC-w oils could no longer support the power, and they changed the recommendation to a JASO-F oil.


Finally... I will start to have accounts locked, if I see false info being given. Please don't make me the bad guy.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

S
Bilge pumps are the best
Replies
12
Views
796
Legacy37
Legacy37
T
92 SP rough running extended idle
Replies
3
Views
285
tomski
tomski
J
Looking at a pair of GTXs (1998 and 2003). Should I avoid DI?
Replies
5
Views
241
WhiskeyD
WhiskeyD
S
1998 Seadoo GTX Limited Water in the engine compartment
Replies
0
Views
242
sheffs
S
D
1995 SeaDoo GTX Runs Rough and Dies After Starting
Replies
1
Views
222
DBecker504
D
Back
Top