2020 Vortex VR 223 questions

[JTrottaNY]

If you want a positive perspective on that drain plug, the brass flange should be NPT and will accept a lighted drain plug without a problem if you wanted to start your customization right off...

 

[Dean P]

If you want a positive perspective on that drain plug, the brass flange should be NPT and will accept a lighted drain plug without a problem if you wanted to start your customization right off...

Great idea! That's what I did...

 

[macguyver13]

Thanks all. I had the sales guy out to the house and he couldn't figure out the bimini either. The owner of the dealership contacted me for more pics and then responded that they were getting Chaparral to send another bimini.

For the drain plug, I did get a different one, but I've had the boat out twice now and neither time has anything come out of there even after hosing it off to clean it. That water came out a different hole so maybe the semi permanent drain plug is intentional.

Also sucked up my first bit of poly line today which wrapped around the shaft, melted from the friction, destroyed some kind of rubber boot and then cooled and hardened making me take off the inlet gate to get it all out of there. Wasn't our rope and don't know where it came from. Good times.

 

[Franced123]

Thanks all. I had the sales guy out to the house and he couldn't figure out the bimini either. The owner of the dealership contacted me for more pics and then responded that they were getting Chaparral to send another bimini.

For the drain plug, I did get a different one, but I've had the boat out twice now and neither time has anything come out of there even after hosing it off to clean it. That water came out a different hole so maybe the semi permanent drain plug is intentional.

Also sucked up my first bit of poly line today which wrapped around the shaft, melted from the friction, destroyed some kind of rubber boot and then cooled and hardened making me take off the inlet gate to get it all out of there. Wasn't our rope and don't know where it came from. Good times.

 

[Franced123]

Sorry to hear you got a rope stuck even worse it wasnt yours! Did you get any direction on the boot? Do you have to get it replaced immediately or can you still enjoy the weekend? Happy 4th

 

[Franced123]

Also your dealer may not have told you that the Chaparral's are self bailing so when you get water in or spray the boat out the two drains on the floor will take the water straight out of the side boat. From the research I've done on this it's a must have if you ever take on water over the bow. A few long time boater we have talked said they wouldn't buy a boat unless it was self bailing.

 

[macguyver13]

We put the boat back in the water and it's running fine without taking on water so the boot must be a protection of some kind.

Yeah, the self bailing is great. So where does water that comes out the drain plug come from? Haven't seen any come out yet so couldn't say where it comes from.

 

[Dean P]

We put the boat back in the water and it's running fine without taking on water so the boot must be a protection of some kind.

Yeah, the self bailing is great. So where does water that comes out the drain plug come from? Haven't seen any come out yet so couldn't say where it comes from.

From everywhere else like the anchor locker...Any water that comes on the boat must be either drained or pumped out. I always have water in the hull. Hate it! Think I have a slow leak from somewhere; just cannot find it. I replaced my pump last month as I forgot to turn it off and it died. I installed 2 just to make sure.

 

[macguyver13]

Just a quick follow up. Haven't received the new bimini yet, hoping it comes soon as Summer is getting hot.

I have had it out on the water 4 times now and I have to say, that neutral and reverse system that Rotax came up with is outstanding. Once you tell your brain that you're always controlling which direction the bow faces (i.e. not like a car in reverse) you can do some really precise low speed maneuvering. I'm just blown away by how easy it is to control when we come back to the ramp to pick people up. I can approach, flip it around (so the swim platform is easy to walk onto from the ramp as we have no dock at our lake), give it a little momentum in reverse and shut her down and glide right up to the ramp. I'm watching other people try to take on more passengers, etc. and they are loading from the bow which is much harder.

I'll let you know when I hear more about the bimini. Just had to post how impressed I am with the control in neutral and reverse.

 

[Enduro900]

C

Just a quick follow up. Haven't received the new bimini yet, hoping it comes soon as Summer is getting hot.

I have had it out on the water 4 times now and I have to say, that neutral and reverse system that Rotax came up with is outstanding. Once you tell your brain that you're always controlling which direction the bow faces (i.e. not like a car in reverse) you can do some really precise low speed maneuvering. I'm just blown away by how easy it is to control when we come back to the ramp to pick people up. I can approach, flip it around (so the swim platform is easy to walk onto from the ramp as we have no dock at our lake), give it a little momentum in reverse and shut her down and glide right up to the ramp. I'm watching other people try to take on more passengers, etc. and they are loading from the bow which is much harder.

I'll let you know when I hear more about the bimini. Just had to post how impressed I am with the control in neutral and reverse.

If your dealer has a 223 in stock they should take it off that one and give it to you instead of having you wait.....

Also, i thought the BRP engines had a shaft cover to keep stuff (ropes, etc) from getting wrapped around the shaft?? I think in the Scarab videos they discuss this (as a selling point of why they don’t need the clean-out ports).

Congrats on the new boat! I’m looking to buy next year and still considering chaparral, scarab and Yamaha so LOVE hearing the easy slow-speed maneuverability (Yamaha’s apparently have a hard time with this).

 

[macguyver13]

The dealer only had about 3-4 boats in stock when we bought it. Everyone is buying up recreational vehicles and we were lucky to find this one. The new bimini still hasn't arrived yet (we've had the boat for over 5 weeks now). I'm disappointed in Chaparral for this as we have paid almost $1000 for an option that we haven't been able to use yet. More updates to come.

As for the shaft, yes, they have a shroud, but it ends near the prop and there is a rubber-ish boot that wraps the end of the shaft at that point to keep grease in place. That boot is what the rope wrapped around and then destroyed the boot. I've ordered a new one (they're like $13) but it is backordered. I can't comment on the Yamaha design, but it does look like I could have solved the issue a little easier with that one.

I do have to say though, the boat layout is awesome. We love how spacious it is. Especially as we compared it to a 21 foot Scarab. The fit and finish of the Chaparral was way ahead of the Scarab and the seating area is huge in comparison. If we could just get this issue dealt with I'd be very happy.

 

[macguyver13]

OK, finally got the new bimini yesterday! It was indeed the wrong hardware on the original. The new one is slightly modified but still goes on very tight. Even the 2 guys at the dealer who took the old one off and mounted the new one had a hard time with it. Took us about 3 tries to get it all figured out. Basically, here are the steps:

1. Remove both front and rear arms from the attach points on the ski tower (it's pivoting on a single point on each side at this point).
2. Fully extend the front and rear arms (they both have detents to hold them out long)
3. Unfold the bimini over the ski rope attach point, and the anchor light.
4. NOW attach the rear arms to the ski tower. You have to pull a bit to get the arms to reach the tower.
5. Finally, pull the front of the bimini down to allow the front arms to attach to the ski tower. It is very tight, but it does fit this way.

Finally happy to have some shade, but very disappointed that Chapparal shipped it this way from the factory without testing it out. It's been almost 2 months since we took delivery and couldn't enjoy what we paid for in that time. I'll reflect that in the survey I was just sent by Chapparal. The boat is awesome, just not happy with the Quality Control they had in place on mine.

 

[Enduro900]

OK, finally got the new bimini yesterday! It was indeed the wrong hardware on the original. The new one is slightly modified but still goes on very tight. Even the 2 guys at the dealer who took the old one off and mounted the new one had a hard time with it. Took us about 3 tries to get it all figured out. Basically, here are the steps:

1. Remove both front and rear arms from the attach points on the ski tower (it's pivoting on a single point on each side at this point).
2. Fully extend the front and rear arms (they both have detents to hold them out long)
3. Unfold the bimini over the ski rope attach point, and the anchor light.
4. NOW attach the rear arms to the ski tower. You have to pull a bit to get the arms to reach the tower.
5. Finally, pull the front of the bimini down to allow the front arms to attach to the ski tower. It is very tight, but it does fit this way.

Finally happy to have some shade, but very disappointed that Chapparal shipped it this way from the factory without testing it out. It's been almost 2 months since we took delivery and couldn't enjoy what we paid for in that time. I'll reflect that in the survey I was just sent by Chapparal. The boat is awesome, just not happy with the Quality Control they had in place on mine.

But think of the nice tan you’ve gotten this summer without the Bimini

Although hard to install (it sounds), the tighter the better.......I’ve been watching the 2021 yamaha Boating Magazine test videos and they are flopping in the wind....actually pretty disappointing I hope they are better in production......

Situations like yours, someone should have pulled one from off of an unsold boat in my opinion rather than have you wait that long (someone taking a boat knowing a replacement is on back order is different than you taking possession of a boat thinking it has a usable Bimini then waiting 2 months to get one.....).

Hopefully no more issues now, and you can enjoy many trouble-free years from your beautiful new boat!