Advantages / disadvantages of jet drive...

[Tigerbass]

Okay, new guy here trying to do some research on various types of boats. I only have limited experience with an outboard motor.

Serious question (this is not a troll), what are the advantages and disadvantages to jet drives as compared to inboard/outboard or v-drives.

Thanks

 

[Volffas]

Welcome aboard!

My quick list of pros would be affordable, maneuverable, easy to maintain, large swim platform, roomy, and the jetboaters.net community to help you with any and all issues.

Cons would be getting debris stuck, but with the Yamaha clean out plugs it is very manageable.

I'm sure others will chime in with more in depth information.

 

[Speedling]

I don't want my kids to have this.


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[Julian]

Advantages: Safety (no exposed prop), fun to drive (awesome handling), easy maintenance (no water pump, or fluids in the outdrive/lower unit), fantastic layout, no bow rise, no lower unit to hit on shallow rocks etc,

Disadvantages: turbulent wake for advanced towing sports (IE if you are pure wakeboarder etc...this isn't optimal/desireable), with no lower unit-makes trolling/fishing less easy as boat doesn't track as well.

 

[Britboater]

Ease of maintenance, modern, cool looking boat and lower swim deck were our choices. Negatives only really being you have a vacuum so you can suck debris into the pumps and the slight vagueness with steering especially in windy conditions.

 

[RightStuff]

I think part of this question is what type of boating do you want to do? Each type of boating will yield different advantages and disadvantages for each boat type. Maybe describe your type of boating you think you would be doing and we can narrow down some of those things for you.

There is a lot of knowledge here from many different boat backgrounds so I think we can cover most bases...

 

[john94si]

pro: safer, easier to maintain, can back up to beaches
con: does not steer well at all at low speeds with added fins or not. drops a lot of speed when doing tight turns. Reverse is the most difficult to steer.

This will be my last jet boat.

 

[Bill D]

The thing that really attracted me to the jet boats was the swim platform. After years of hanging around behind the stern of my friends boats basically staring at a wall, I like the seating and openness at the back of the Yamaha. I also hated climbing over the sun pad and walking on the upholstery of their boats every time I needed a drink, so the walk through transom was a positive.

Advantages
No winterization, we can take the boat out on nice days during the winter.
Reliability, easy to maintain, no lower unit.
Maneuverable, spins on a dime. Except for in reverse.
Shallow draft, can back in to beaches and sandbars or run shallow rivers without as much worry.
Swim platform / Layout, favorite part of the boat is the platform, but the interior layout is roomy.
Lightweight, compared to other 24' boats. I can pull it with my Grand Cherokee
Fun.

Disadvantages
Loud, pre 2015 24'ers.
Gets squirrely at low speeds and windy days.
Not ideal for watersports without some heavy modification.
Limited experienced technicians. In my area, the closest Yamaha boat dealer is about 3 hours away. The jet ski dealers only know a little about the engines, not much about the boats. Good thing this forum has taught me how to fix the little things that have come up!

 

[McMark]

Every boat is a compromise somewhere. Reliability is key for me and I haven't had an issue in 102 hours. Starts right up. Relatively easy enough on gas for what I do (cruising around and light fishing). Quick off the line. Nothing dangling below the hull is perfect since there's always something in the water.

 

[McMark]

28mph at 5200rpm is fairly quiet. Quiet enough.

 

[Tigerbass]

Thanks for the replies so far.....(except for the picture of that poor guys back!!!!! dude!!)

My initial thoughts on our potential use of a boat:
-Cruising around on a relatively large and crowded inland lake (Lanier). I know there are some big boats during the summer weekends and I hear there can be some pretty large waves.
-Towing the kids on a tube. They are 10 and 13 so I figure they might have fun on a tube for a while, but then I'm pretty sure they will want to try....
-Wake boarding. Complete beginners, but I'm sure the kids (and maybe me!!) will want to try. I have no idea how serious we will get at it.
- Wake surfing??? maybe
-Anchoring in a cove, beaching, hanging out, partying: definitely
-Entertaining family and friends: I'm sure we will typically have 6-8 people with occasionally a couple of more. Some of these will be kids.
-Fishing???: I am an avid bass fisherman, but I know it is impossible to have a boat that can both play/do watersports and fish adequately. I have decided to get something that the wife and kids will really enjoy while they are still relatively young and get a newer bass boat later when, as my wife says, "the kids won't want to hang out with us anymore"!!! If I could on occasion anchor on a hump or point and fish a little here or there it would just be a bonus. I have an old bass boat that just needs some TLC.

So, my initial thoughts were to look at a bowrider that would handle the waves, cruising, towing tubes, entertaining, etc. pretty well. BUT, the wakeboarding/surfing thing lingers in my mind. I don't want to get something that doesn't have any wake capabilities.

So, I began looking into the wake boats. Then realized how dang expensive they are and, supposedly, they don't handle rough water that well. My boss has an air nautique and he says it rides really rough.

So it seems a bowrider, with a higher deadrise, that has decent (but not expert level) wake capabilities is what I think I might want!!! The new Yamaha 242x caught my eye and seems REALLY nice, but more than I want to spend right now (maybe some slightly used ones will start showing up in 6-12 months).

 

[Julian]

As I was reading your post I was thinking....AR240 or 242 Limited S or 242X is just what this guy needs! (I'm biased as I've just ordered an X)

 

[RiverRat]

I'm with you on the bass fishing! I also went with the family friendly boat, and glad I did. I can always hop in my parents fishing boat when I want to get some serious fishing in.

 

[john94si]

I almost forgot. NO trim. So kids can easily get jet blasted while tubing. That is a con

 

[Tigerbass]

I forgot to add that the thought of two motors scares the crap out of me (twice the chance of something going wrong!!!)

We've had a ton of problems and exspence with our old Yamaha v-max outboard, but to be fair it was pretty worn out (and I suspect driven very hard) when we got it.

 

[Tigerbass]

I'm with you on the bass fishing! I also went with the family friendly boat, and glad I did. I can always hop in my parents fishing boat when I want to get some serious fishing in.View attachment 37072

Nice smallie!! Lanier is full of big spotted bass and stripers (I prefer the spots). I can probably put a little money into my old bass boat and get a little more time out of it, plus I have a few friends with bass boats so I can probably get by for a while. One problem is that in the fall when the weather begins to cool I know the family boat will get parked for six months and that is when I get the itch to start fishing again (fall, winter, and spring...to hot to fish in the summer down here in GA).

 

[Julian]

I almost forgot. NO trim. So kids can easily get jet blasted while tubing. That is a con

Add 10 feet of rope and problem solved.....but yes....with a standard 65' rope that is a problem.

 

[Tigerbass]

I almost forgot. NO trim. So kids can easily get jet blasted while tubing. That is a con

After driving an outboard on a bass boat this concept is completely foreign to me!! So I assume these boats plane very easily?? I've heard they do not have much bow rise.

 

[Murf'n'surf]

This is easy......

Jet =Tons of fun AND you're welcome to be part of the greatest Jetboating forum known to mankind

Prop = hmmmm.....well..... not so much fun and the greatest group of boat owners ever amassed in one spot will not be able to help you at every wake

 

[MattFX4]

I bought a Yamaha jet boat without ever even testing a jet boat and really like it. I grew up boating on outboard's and sterndrives, and the jet boat was a whole new world to me. I really like the boat. Other than slow speed handling, it feels and drives like normal boat. One thing I like is the lack of outdrive maintenance. I don't have much free time, and like the fact I don't have to worry about staying on top of all that. Now, I have friends with some nice boats such as Supra's and Malibu's. They are really nice boats. My boat doesn't even compare, but I didn't spend $100k either. For general boating, tubing, and lounging in a cove on the swim platform, the jet can't be beat. If you have a very specific need such as surfing or wake boarding then you may want to look at dedicated wake boats.