2019 AR240 top speed

[Barbarian911]

My wife and I just purchased a used 2019 AR240. I have been looking at Yamaha for a long, long time and all the tests and performance info says 7500 RPM and 51 mph. We just took the boat out. It was smooth glassy water with a full tank of gas. We had four of us in the boat with an estimated weight of 600 lbs on board. We got to 7000 rpm and 43.9 mph top speed on the speedometer. I called the dealer and the sales guy said his mechanics told him that is an average speed. I’m wondering if I should replace the impellers for better performance or look at various other future mods. I would love to get mod 50s eventually. So far I love the boat but we need tower speakers, thrust vectors and I want to get Yamaha’s wake booster for surfing. Please tell me what to check so I can get the speed up to where it should be.

 

[AZMark]

What altitude are you at? That can have a big impact. My 212s has the same engines and weighs less and I’ve never quite hit 50 at 1500-2000ft here with just two of us on board.

If you change impellers for top speed then you’ll lose acceleration at low speeds.

 

[Barbarian911]

The lake is at 3000 feet and we are in California.

 

[marcham]

That would be about a 10% reduction in HP.... it might be necessary to change the impellers to get max rpm. Still that will never get you the same performance as sea level. I would imagine that Riva has a few ways for you to part with your hard earned $$$.

 

[tdonoughue]

Is the boat a California model? If so, the emissions will bring down the top speed.

Also, fuel weight and people weight will affect top speed. So will having a bimini deployed (the thing tends to be a sail). When they are testing for top speed, they make sure all of those things are in the boat's favor (10 gal of fuel, 1 person, top down, etc.).

 

[Smiley]

Not a 240, but my 195 is picky about the oil level and I noticed a difference after I changed the spark plugs at the end of the season. Also can tell a big difference in gas, but that could be more a forced induction thing. All said, when my wife and I first took it out after the break in procedure with 1/3 tank of fuel we could hit 49mph on smooth water, but the boat was basically empty. Since then we have all our gear, usually a couple kids and a full tank of fuel when we are on the water 47 is about my typical top speed with the fam, 45 if we are at capacity on our usual lake conditions.

I thought about all kinds of ways I might make it faster, tweak it, etc. last year for a while, then the kids started wakeboarding and now I spend most of my time under 20mph and loaded down with as much weight as we can…

 

[CarolinaJet]

Sounds like altitude and load are your top factors. If everyone sits in the stern you can sometimes pick up some more speed. Water temp is a factor too. I get a few hundred more rpms and higher speed with cooler water

 

[TX_Mercenary]

My wife and I just purchased a used 2019 AR240. I have been looking at Yamaha for a long, long time and all the tests and performance info says 7500 RPM and 51 mph. We just took the boat out. It was smooth glassy water with a full tank of gas. We had four of us in the boat with an estimated weight of 600 lbs on board. We got to 7000 rpm and 43.9 mph top speed on the speedometer. I called the dealer and the sales guy said his mechanics told him that is an average speed. I’m wondering if I should replace the impellers for better performance or look at various other future mods. I would love to get mod 50s eventually. So far I love the boat but we need tower speakers, thrust vectors and I want to get Yamaha’s wake booster for surfing. Please tell me what to check so I can get the speed up to where it should be.

I would do some more research with what you want. Sacrficing speed for water sports is a trade off. Of course you’ll see the debates with steering Systems. But also add that twin engines that have wakebooster and Thrust vectors do not make a surf wake pretty. It’s surfable but very frothy. The wakebooster guides the water in towards that back and smacks the outer fins while the thrust vectors are out of the water

 

[Ronnie]

I think you should take the boat to water at or near sea level to see how it performs there. If it’s still maxing out at 7k rpm and 44 mph start looking for bad coils and/or spark plugs. I’ve baited close to Tahoe so 5k to 6k above sea level and my performance loss was similar (it also took longer to get on plane). I don’t know what to expect at 3k above sea level. Finally if your topping out at 7k rpm on both engines not just one of them it’s probably an elevation issue, it’s not likely that that you would have a coil or plug go bad in each engine at the same time. If it’s an elevation issue take comfort in the fact that everyone on the water is experiencing it.

 

[crazy4life]

I have the same exact boat. It did 51 to 52 when it was brand new and empty at sea level. After all the equipment and a full tank of gas and a keel guard and passengers it does mid 40's. Works for me,

 

[Cobra Jet Steering LLC]

If you are planning to do water sport activities you probably should consider my super magnum ak-19 deluxe system.
It is built of tempered aluminum it has super fins that are on the outside of the nozzles with adjustments and the fins are not down by the rudder but form a V configuration with the rudder. And since it is the lowest point when the boat is on plane the fin surfaces above the bottom of the nozzle are completely out of the water automatically just by the position of the hull. additionally there are extra top fins that are above the outer fins so that when the boat slows down to docking and off plane speeds the entire set of fins is submerged and since the inner fins are above the outer fins the combined surface area creates an exceptional slow speed influence , then when the boat is back up on plane all that extra surface area is once again out of the water.
To add to the features and benefits there is a second tie rod to balance out your steering system to increase longevity of the factory steering system and add redundancy to the entire system.
Next is the plaining surfaces that help the boat get on plane quicker as well as make the ride smoother in chop and clean the wake behind the boat for water sport activities.
As for top speed, boats usually have a hull speed that they like and doing anything faster just consumes fuel, when you are driving on plane and you notice a speed that the hull seems to gravitate to and your engines are not working hard that is you hull speed and it will use the least fuel and feel comfortable at that speed.
Mods will get you a couple of M P H but seriously if you have my steering system added the boat will turn so much faster and not loose nearly as much speed on plane doing turns also the hull will stay in control even if you are turning and rapidly decelerating at the same time.
Ironically I have been seeing the new models displaying what appears to be a softer more flexible rudder.
I assume it has something to do with the rudder being the lowest point of the boat and often sustaining serious damage if it hits the ground.
If my observations are correct this means that the portion of the rudder remaining in the water at speed will actually flex under pressure and have less influence on the boats direction than the more ridged rudders.
So all the more reason to add a super steering system to the boat that will greatly enhance all the steering and handling needs of the boat. see the hull in the first picture , this shows the nozzles and the top of the rudder out of the water . second picture shows the position of the top fins the super outside fins and the rudder with the system mounted on the boat. There is also a spring loaded setup like this one called the super ultimate ak-19 deluxe but seldom is that necessary due to the position of the fins . and the last picture of a boat equipped with my steering system that broke loose from it's anchor , hit the beach backward and destroyed the rudder, my system remained in place and allowed the owner of the boat to drive back to the ramp and load the boat on the trailer.

 

[Weeb]

My California 4 star ar240 only hits about 47 by myself with the bimini closed At 850’.

 

[jdkaeser]

3000' is most likely your issue!

 

[biffdotorg]

If we really wanted to get our 242 over 50mph, glassy water was not optimal. In fact, a slight chop got more of the hull out of the water with less drag. We would see this on waverunners as well. But with them, we could trim the hull up and get it ripping on the ride plate. No trim on the boats, so slight chop helps greatly.

Glass has the most drag. But what others are saying makes the most sense.