Maiden Voyage and the questions that follows

[Hezi]

So I took my freshly purchased 2015 242 Limited S yesterday for the first trip on the water. I lunched from Secaucus NJ ramp and drove down the Hackensack and out to Sandy Hook NJ. We were 3 men, my 2 teenage boys, and my friend 9 year old son. My friend guided me to a sand bar where we beached and enjoy the sun, water and beautiful nature around us.

When it was time to leave, I reversed the boat and as we are pulling, the throttle levers got stuck. The boat kept going back circling back to shore and the darn levers wouldn't budge! I cut the motors before hitting the beach with the jets and my buddies jumped to the water to prevent the jets to collide with the beach.

The next hour and a half was spent with a Yamaha dealer, my friend that has 242 for the last 2 years, my insurance, local boat shop, you name it... Eventually I managed to pull the jet cover on one end, and my friend pushing the lever and we freed the first cover and than the 2nd. By that time, the tide got so low, trying to leave, the boat tilted sideways than I realized we bottomed and I am pushing sand. There was nothing to do except waiting for the tide to come up. It was 3pm, high tide was at midnight, come 1030pm we were free and pushing the 30+ miles trip back home.

It was an adventure. Thank god I took my Lawrance GPS from my Hobie Tandem Island and installed it prior to leaving (that was easy since all I had to do is screw the RAM Mount ball I already had and use the wiring to the small GPS battery I already had). It was a life saver to be able to plot my way back at night where I see every buoy and rock on the map before or w/o seeing it on the water.

The first thing I must figure out is why the hell the jet covers got stuck in place? My friend said I must have got a rock wedged in the mechanism but both handles were stuck. Did I happen to get rocks in both? Is there something I should look into? The boat is 2015 with 38 hours on and in a great condition. I will say when I backed up, the throttle handles have such a long travel from center position to the point the motor react, I did push the motors to a higher RPM I intended on. If I'm not mistaken, the manual calls for gentle power when reversing. I don't remember it to be like that on my friend 2014 242 LS. I drove his a little when he invited my and my wife to join (which led me to to buy mine a week later). His levers had much better feel.

Did something similar happen to any member here? This is crazy... while I'm at it, on a 38 Hr boat, is the dead long travel in the throttle levers forward and back from the center position is natural to the boat and I just need to get use to it, or it could be adjusted? I must add the reverse is very subtle. Trying to dock the boat, reversing power was week and lagging to me. Maybe I need to get the hang of it. The boat already came with thrust vectors. Is there after market device worth looking into that can enhance reversing? I don't want to jump the gun....

Other than that, the boat is a beauty. It is still loud at cruise speed (in spite 2015 noise dampening). I never got the carpets and my buddy told me not to bother and just get the Seadeck. I will make a call tomorrow since the boat is slippery as hell. Another question I have, when washing the boat, do you use Salt Away on everything or just the motors? I use if for the motors and use soap for the rest. In due time I will want to upgrade the sound, lights, fish finder, 2nd bilge pump, mirror and maybe solar panels to power music etc when beaching. I would love to hear any suggestions about the jet covers getting stuck and anything worth investing in upgrading my boat.

Thank you all

 

[njmr2fan]

Wow what an experience! My old stomping grounds in NJ! Welcome to the forums Im sure you'll have some knowledgable 242 owners chiming in to help out.
Great photo!

 

[swatski]

So I took my freshly purchased 2015 242 Limited S yesterday for the first trip on the water. I lunched from Secaucus NJ ramp and drove down the Hackensack and out to Sandy Hook NJ. We were 3 men, my 2 teenage boys, and my friend 9 year old son. My friend guided me to a sand bar where we beached and enjoy the sun, water and beautiful nature around us.

When it was time to leave, I reversed the boat and as we are pulling, the throttle levers got stuck. The boat kept going back circling back to shore and the darn levers wouldn't budge! I cut the motors before hitting the beach with the jets and my buddies jumped to the water to prevent the jets to collide with the beach.

The next hour and a half was spent with a Yamaha dealer, my friend that has 242 for the last 2 years, my insurance, local boat shop, you name it... Eventually I managed to pull the jet cover on one end, and my friend pushing the lever and we freed the first cover and than the 2nd. By that time, the tide got so low, trying to leave, the boat tilted sideways than I realized we bottomed and I am pushing sand. There was nothing to do except waiting for the tide to come up. It was 3pm, high tide was at midnight, come 1030pm we were free and pushing the 30+ miles trip back home.

It was an adventure. Thank god I took my Lawrance GPS from my Hobie Tandem Island and installed it prior to leaving (that was easy since all I had to do is screw the RAM Mount ball I already had and use the wiring to the small GPS battery I already had). It was a life saver to be able to plot my way back at night where I see every buoy and rock on the map before or w/o seeing it on the water.

The first thing I must figure out is why the hell the jet covers got stuck in place? My friend said I must have got a rock wedged in the mechanism but both handles were stuck. Did I happen to get rocks in both? Is there something I should look into? The boat is 2015 with 38 hours on and in a great condition. I will say when I backed up, the throttle handles have such a long travel from center position to the point the motor react, I did push the motors to a higher RPM I intended on. If I'm not mistaken, the manual calls for gentle power when reversing. I don't remember it to be like that on my friend 2014 242 LS. I drove his a little when he invited my and my wife to join (which led me to to buy mine a week later). His levers had much better feel.

Did something similar happen to any member here? This is crazy... while I'm at it, on a 38 Hr boat, is the dead long travel in the throttle levers forward and back from the center position is natural to the boat and I just need to get use to it, or it could be adjusted? I must add the reverse is very subtle. Trying to dock the boat, reversing power was week and lagging to me. Maybe I need to get the hang of it. The boat already came with thrust vectors. Is there after market device worth looking into that can enhance reversing? I don't want to jump the gun....

Other than that, the boat is a beauty. It is still loud at cruise speed (in spite 2015 noise dampening). I never got the carpets and my buddy told me not to bother and just get the Seadeck. I will make a call tomorrow since the boat is slippery as hell. Another question I have, when washing the boat, do you use Salt Away on everything or just the motors? I use if for the motors and use soap for the rest. In due time I will want to upgrade the sound, lights, fish finder, 2nd bilge pump, mirror and maybe solar panels to power music etc when beaching. I would love to hear any suggestions about the jet covers getting stuck and anything worth investing in upgrading my boat.

Thank you all

Yes, sounds like you got pebbles/grit blocking/jamming the reverse buckets, it is not uncommon. Do not force the throttles, can do a lot of damage, even rip the cable mounts off of the transom. Rather, try to free the buckets first.

Yes, the throttle lever travel/dead range is awful, I hate it. If you had an E-series, the throttles are better moving but you couldn't run the engines if you jammed the buckets...

The reverse is super weak, too.


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[bronze_10]

First off I have beached my boat once and it made my skin crawl.. Lol .I don't like it but a lot of people do. If u choose to, push the boat off the bank, don't power it off. If u look at where the reverse buckets pivot there is not a lot of clearance. It sounds like sand and rocks were packed in the hindge points preventing movement. It happens. I would say a lot of jetboaters, possibly even most anchor just off the sand with the stern to the beach. Easy on and easy off. When we are ready to go we pull up the stern anchor and push the boat out to deeper water before starting the engine.. We also use an anchor buddy to do most of the moving to deep water work.

My boat is an 08 but the reverse bucket design is the same. U may need to adjust your reverse buckets. They may be to high. Never the less this boat will not have a reverse like a prop boat does.

 

[Coheeba]

Sounds like an adventure for sure. I never beach my boat, I anchor with the stern to the shore in about 3-4'. When anchoring always be mindful of the tides. In PCB I see tourists with rental pontoons stuck all the time. They come in beach it and the tide goes out 3-4 hours later they are trying to push it off. Tidedatafree is a good free app for the tides.
I use "Salt Terminator" to flush and as a rinse for the boat inside and out.