223VR delivered today

[BobJohnson]

Got our boat today. Looks great. Unfortunately weather sucked. 49 degrees and raining. So will be putting it in water tomorrow morning. Heading out with someone from our dealer so he can walk me through everything. Will post more information soon.

 

[Murf'n'surf]

Looks great! Good luck on your maiden voyage!!!!

 

[Vandyman]

Awesome color combo (same as me!). I look forward to sharing hints and ideas. I'm not sure we have the same setup, but did find some good material on the Polk stereo (PA450UM) which was not included in my owners packet (the specs and entire owners manual are here: http://www.polkmarine.com/polk-am-fm-wb-usb-siriusxm-ready-ipod-and-iphone-ready-with-bluetooth.html?SID=69eee055fe4075c85f8d327d9884d7b2). Let me know how it goes..... happy boating!!

 

[BobJohnson]

(Couple pics of my son driving)

Got to lake at 7 and met the guy from my dealer. He was great. Spent at least an hour going over many things and working with me on docking. The steering sensitivity on this thing is incredible. That and the fact that we had 20 mph winds today made for fun training. Will take a few more try's and I'll get it.

Thanks Vandyman for that Polk manual link. I do have the same and that will be a help..

Disappointed in the navigation module. Have to buy maps of lakes or it is worthless. Guess that makes sense, but would have been nice to have a map included.

My boat has the twin 150's. And we got it up to 40 with the wind behind us. So think this will be plenty of power once we get out of the break in.

Love all the space. We had a 19' old 1987 fourwinnns stern before this. And this is night and day.

Noise level is way more less than I was worrying about. At cruising speed (30 ish mph) I could talk to my wife sitting across and in the corner without any problems. You hear the motors for sure but if it is possible, it is a soft noise ( if that makes sense).

I will be back out Friday or maybe thr if I can sneak out of work. Will post more then.

After 1 day on water, extremely happy.

 

[fairpilot]

great looking boat, I think the blue white combo is perfect. Good luck with it and please post all the info you can. When the 2016 boats come out Im buying either a new chaparral or Yamaha SX240, so Im eager to hear all about everything on the Yamahas and chaparral's. One question for either you or vandyman, the seats on the back deck that lift up, is it possible to get water into engine compartment when you stop fast and the wake wave washes on back of boat, can it go that high and are the seats sealedat all. Thanks

 

[Vandyman]

The seats are high enough and swim platform wide enough that I don't think it possible, or at worst plausible. There is also a drainage groove around the seat that keeps out rain or other water that might come in contact.

 

[Julian]

@BobJohnson Nice looking boat you got there! I lived in Lake Forest for a while and would frequent Highwood/Highland Park! Where did you buy the boat, and where are you boating?

 

[BobJohnson]

@Julian Thanks! Bought the boat from Munson Ski and Marine in Lakemore. We boat up on the Chain o' Lakes in the Antioch and Fox Lake area. During the weekends on nice days, it is wall to wall boats there. But I save as many vacation days as I can so we can hit it during the week when it is basically empty.

 

[OrangeTJ]

Just beautiful! I have been drooling over these things online ever since checking them out at the Sacramento Boat show. I love the blue. Can't wait to hear more about your experience with the boat.

 

[itsdgm]

Congrats on the new boat. It looks great. Make sure to post lots of pics. I don't think most of us have seen too many pics of the Chaparrals

 

[Julian]

@Julian Thanks! Bought the boat from Munson Ski and Marine in Lakemore. We boat up on the Chain o' Lakes in the Antioch and Fox Lake area. During the weekends on nice days, it is wall to wall boats there. But I save as many vacation days as I can so we can hit it during the week when it is basically empty.

Yeah...the chain is madness on the weekends....but so is any lake (except Michigan) in the Chicago area on the weekend. We used to trailer up to a small lake in WI (Silver Lake), one weekends it would get so crowded they had a required direction of travel!!!!

We would put in at the State park near Blarney Island (is it still open?)....great spot to watch people loading and unloading boats. Some of those channels between lakes were interesting....only place I've ever seen a traffic jam on the water!

 

[fairpilot]

The seats are high enough and swim platform wide enough that I don't think it possible, or at worst plausible. There is also a drainage groove around the seat that keeps out rain or other water that might come in contact.

Thanks so much, I was curious and concerned since I boat in salt water

 

[Murf'n'surf]

Thanks so much, I was curious and concerned since I boat in salt water

Here's my take on those under seat access holes. When I saw them at the Miami boat show I cringed. I might be off base but here is why I don't like them and think they will lead to problems for saltwater boaters.

Wet swimmers sitting on the seat will add salt water to the top which will roll over the edge and work its way under the seat possibly dropping into the engine compartment when opened or as you hose off the boat. You know it only takes a little salt to start the corrosion process-- usually where you can't see it. My worst fear is the two air hungry motors are in there sucking in air from wherever they can.

I don't think it's a reason to not buy the boat but you'll have more cleaning to do for sure.

 

[SCSTWG]

Congrats. The Chap's have great lines.

 

[BobJohnson]

Loving the boat. Finally got out on it on a day above 70 degrees Tuesday afternoon. Took kids and friends tubing and it handled great.

I had trouble dealing with the backing up issue where you have to turn the steering wheel right to make boat back up left at first. After some practice I am getting it down. Found to concentrate on the bow of the boat while backing out of docks or coming into dock. If I steer while in reverse so the bow goes to port, I know the stern will go to starboard.

I haven't been on the lake yet when it has been crowded. But the few wakes I have encountered head on, the boat has very comfortably cut through.

As @Vandyman said, I don't think there is any way water is going to approach the rear facing seats.

Wife and I are super pleased with the noise level after the first few times out. In the attached video the sound is louder than actual on the boat. You can easily speek with someone else at cruising speed.

@Julian - yes.. Blarney Island is still going strong. http://blarneyisland.com/

I'll try to remember to get a picture of the engine compartment this weekend. I think someone asked for that on Vandyman's thread about his 223VRX.


few pic's for now of the boat on the water and one showing the table set up (sorry, this one is black and white). Can put the table in boat or on the swim platform.

 

[farrelltravis]

Looks nice! Congrats!

 

[smashedheadcat]

It makes me smile when I see new posts in the Chaparral section. Awesome boat!

 

[Vandyman]

Someone asked about engine pics a while back so I'm posting a few. Still having Medallion issues so dealer is replacing entire head unit this week. Boat running fine, hit about 53mph at 7600 rpm but much prefer cruising around 27mph.

 

[Glassman]

I'm not sure which model Chappie we saw over the weekend, but it was covered from stem to stern with a huge bimini!

they were the envy of the river I tell ya....the sun was blazing hot and those tiny biminis just don't cut the mustard on days like that!

Pretty boats, lovely lines. Enjoy yours and be safe

 

[Vandyman]

Th

I'm not sure which model Chappie we saw over the weekend, but it was covered from stem to stern with a huge bimini!

they were the envy of the river I tell ya....the sun was blazing hot and those tiny biminis just don't cut the mustard on days like that!

Pretty boats, lovely lines. Enjoy yours and be safe

Our Bimini is the standard one but does provide just enough shade for me... Wife and kids can sun all they want. We've had lots of comments, and yesterday as we were heading out of our cove saw a guy taking pics of us... As we were water rats they had to be of the boat!!