Ordered my 2016 203 VRX today!

Just wanted to introduce myself. Getting back into boating after a 6 year absence. We had a 1988 Chaparral 178 XL for years until it finally gave up on us a few years back. Family sold the place in MI a few years ago. It was a small lake and that boat was fine. My family recently got a new place in IL on a much bigger lake and it was time for a new boat. Loved my Chaparral and wanted to go with them again but the new lake has size and HP limits so the 21 H2O (my first choice) was out. We decided to go with the Vortex line since the 19 H2O was just a little too small for the family. Anyways just got back from the dealer today and I'm excited to say we ordered a 203 VRX! Dealer said they would change one of their current orders that was not too far along to the options we wanted and it would be 5-6 weeks to delivery. Anyways here is what we settled on:
203 VRX Fire Red with black arch and red canvas top.
Single 250HP
Rotax IST E-Reverse
Cockpit and bow cover
Center Aft Cockpit filler cushion
Premium bucket seat
Storage under port dash
Bow walk-thru door
Fire extinguisher system
Anchor
Spare tire

Dealer was awesome they are throwing in full tank of gas, delivery, and goodie bag with bumpers, couple life jackets, anchor rope, dock rope, and a few other things.
Will keep everybody updated on when it comes in.

Congrats and welcome!

Yeah, what @veedubtek said! What part of Illinois will you be having a blast with your new jet boat?

congrats. I have a 223 VR and boat on the Chain up in Antioch/Fox Lake. Where you at? What dealer did you use? You are gonna love that boat.

and Congratulations on the new boat! Cant wait to see the photos!

Awesome congrats on the new boat. I bet you are beyond excited to get it in!

hurry up and get it so you can tell us about the IST-E reverse

We just received our 243 VRX a couple of days ago. It takes about 7 hours to break in and then the computer will let you top it out. Until then you'll enjoy the 40 mph until it lets you go the 60 MPH or so.

The reverse is odd. While the boat is in reverse, the bow will go in the direction of helm turn. It's a short learning curve tho... In open waters practice. Tips for docking. First on approach to harbor entrance or docking set the Medallion System to Dock Mode. This will limit your power to no more than 40% of thrust. At first,when I got close to the dock, I'd go forward, reverse, etc... to get it parallel. Hint. Get close, put it in reverse for a second to slow speed and then just put it in neutral to finish docking. You will get thrust in neutral but very minimally and you will need to turn the helm farther but with one or two tries you can walk the boat into the dock parallel all while in neutral with very little forward motion. It's like twin screwing. If you get a tad to far forward just tap it into reverse quickly and back into neutral. This Electronic Neutral will quickly become a favorite of Jet Boaters. You will have more control over your vessel at low speeds than I/O or Outboarders do.

Thank you all for the advise. To answer some questions we are at Lake Holiday (private lake in Sandwich IL), we purchased it from Munson up in Volo IL quite a drive for us. The lake has many rules for boat size and hp so this was the biggest Chap we could get (less than 21' including swim platform so the 21 H2O was out). Have had a Chap in the past when we had a place in MI and would not buy a different brand. It is getting delivered on Thursday so I will update with pictures and let everybody know how the IST works. Now if the local marina would get my lift fixed in time is a different story. They have been working on overhauling the hydraulics for 3 weeks now.

Never heard of Lake Holiday (off to google after I enter this for some learning....). Munson is where I got my boat also. Good luck on your lift. With your boat showing up on Thursday, hoping for you the coming weekend is at least 1/2 as nice as this one we just had. Enjoy and do show some pictures!

I can't wait for you to get it and show pictures! I love the look of these Chaps!

Local marina got the life put in the water in time. Did not get the canopy on the lift yet. Got lucky and the tower clears the canopy by about 2 inches with the lift raised. Got our Lake Holiday registration numbers installed if you are wondering what the 7HO sticker is. Busy day on the water got 2 hours on the boat going around no wake. The entire lake is posted no wake because the water level is too high. Happens a lot this time of year. The IST E reverse is a nice feature. First since the gate is now controlled by electronic actuator shifting out of neutral to forward or reverse is butter smooth. Then in the settings menu you can control the position of the gate in neutral to try and get a true neutral with no creep. You can set it anywhere from like +5 to -5 or maybe its +10 to -10 have to play with it some more. Guy from marina said most boats even out at -1 or -2. I have it at -1 right now and its creeping forward a little bit but there was a wind from behind so it could of been that. I will try and get more pictures this weekend and make a video about the IST E reverse and put it on YouTube.

Awesome. She is a beauty.

great looking boat

Beauty! And FAST (Its Red) Love it! I like these Chap boats, I hope I meet someone that has one so I can get ride!

That boat is sexy.

Nice looking boat. Just got to 7 hr. on ours.

Well took it out for our second trip. Went well can get up to 3900 rpm now. Bad news went for a dusk cruise and immediately threw a check engine code. P0201. Calling the dealer tomarrow to find out what they are going to do. When we purchased the boat I was skeptical about the brp engine and not having local service. The dealer is 2 hours away. Was told if we had warranty problems the would send a technician out. Will find out tomorrowif that is true or bs. Going to be upset if I have to drive 2 hours every time it has a problem. That was my only worry about the vortex. Plenty of mercury techs not so many brp techs.

ILfamilyboater said:

Well took it out for our second trip. Went well can get up to 3900 rpm now. Bad news went for a dusk cruise and immediately threw a check engine code. P0201. Calling the dealer tomarrow to find out what they are going to do. When we purchased the boat I was skeptical about the brp engine and not having local service. The dealer is 2 hours away. Was told if we had warranty problems the would send a technician out. Will find out tomorrowif that is true or bs. Going to be upset if I have to drive 2 hours every time it has a problem. That was my only worry about the vortex. Plenty of mercury techs not so many brp techs.

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@veedubtek @ScarabMike

Points to an injector problem. Cylinder #1. I'd unplug/replug and see if it gets better. Does it seem to be misfiring at all? I wanna say seadoo used separate fuses for injectors, might be that simple too.