Anyone with SX/AR190 boating above sea level?

[chrisinslc]

I am curious if there are any owners with the N/A 1.8L boating in utah or colorado and what you are getting for RPM and speed?

 

[ZJbrandon]

I'll have some info in a few weeks! fingers crossed, I bought a 2017 AR190 in January, and first time to the lake should be in a couple weeks or so.

 

[chrisinslc]

I'll have some info in a few weeks! fingers crossed, I bought a 2017 AR190 in January, and first time to the lake should be in a couple weeks or so.

Definitely let me know. I am curious how you stack up versus what I am getting with mine.

 

[ZJbrandon]

yeah man, will do. one thing for me to try to ascertain (if I can) is whether it has the "high altitude" impeller, I was told it does, but I have no proof.

 

[chrisinslc]

yeah man, will do. one thing for me to try to ascertain (if I can) is whether it has the "high altitude" impeller, I was told it does, but I have no proof.

Here in Utah they do not come with the high altitude impeller. I had that done this winter, so when I took it out for the first time this year, my RPM's and speed were less than with the stock impeller. I took it back to the dealer and they said they replaced the spark plugs and that should do the trick (the boat had 5 hours on it). Took it out again and no change. Took it back and they are sending the repitched impeller back to get redone and will put the OEM impeller back in it so I at least have a boat. I am not happy with the performance thus far.

 

[ZJbrandon]

oh no. sorry to hear that.
did you buy this boat new then? last fall?
what altitude? good gas?
I suppose there is the ribbon delete mod i have read about. might eek out a little from that.

 

[chrisinslc]

I bought it brand new last fall. Only used it a couple of times before storing for the winter. I boat from about 4,200' to 6,200'. It seems to get good gas mileage. I am waiting till this fiasco is over and then I will do the ribbon delete as well.

 

[ZJbrandon]

I see. we are pretty similar, then.
I expect to do the ribbon delete at some point as well, but I'd like to see how it goes first.
I know the altitude will cripple our NA boats, but I'm hopeful it will be "good enough".
I had a 15ft Seadoo before this, and was happy with it - but then it's a different animal, really.

 

[ZJbrandon]

ok, so we took our boat out last Sunday for first trip.
Boyd Lake, Loveland, CO
Altitude 5,000ft.
temp in the 70s, light-medium choppy conditions imo. it's rarely super smooth unless you get there very early!
4 Adults, half tank of fuel, and light cargo, bimini not deployed for first runs around the lake (I do have the Tower, too, so thats some extra weight)

The hole shot, well, there barely is one, lol, lots of 'wait for it'
I could only hit 30mph tops on boats speedo every time I was driving. (did not double check with a GPS, yet)
I was a bit disappointed but not too surprised, honestly.
Now, I do know the gas in it is old, like probably around a year. I did treat with some Seafoam but a light treatment not knowing what had previously been added.
My plan was and still is to use up as much of the old fuel in it as possible, which we kind of did. Used a tad over a 1/4 tank,
then replace the spark plugs, pull the 'ribbon' out of the intake, pull the snorkel inside air box, add some fresh fuel and go see if things improve.

 

[chrisinslc]

What were your RPM's?

 

[ZJbrandon]

The missing data! *shaking my head
I cannot recall, to be honest. Why I didn't note that is beyond me.
Something to record next time, I suppose.

 

[swatski]

Ribbon delete would be a must at that altitude. Don't let anyone tell you those are required as flame arrestors, they are not in your boat.
It's a simple mod in 1.8n/a, there are some good posts on it.
You can re-pitch the OEM impeller on the trailing edges yourself, too, to get it to spin faster. You want to be as close to 7,800 RPM at WOT, but realistically anything approaching 7,400 or so would be great.


Check (J):

 

[ZJbrandon]

thanks swatski, good info!

 

[chrisinslc]

*Update*
I did the ribbon delete and that gave me about 100 more RPM's. I have been so disappointed in the performance of my AR190 I have been debating buying a new impeller and having the other company in Colorado repitch it and see what that does for me. Or trade in the boat and take a bath and get something more powerful. Today I decided to call Impros who does the repitching of the impellers for Southvalley Motorsports and talk to them directly. I left a message with not much hope of hearing from them. Then about an hour later Glen called me and we discussed everything that has transpired. He told me my boat at this elevation with a repitched impeller should be in the 7700 RPM range. He told me to bypass Southvalley and deal with him directly and he would get this taken care of. I am going to send him my impeller on Monday and he will repitch it for me. I will take care of the shipping there and back and he will repitch at no cost to me. He assured me this will be fixed. I have a renewed hope that I can save this boat and finish out the summer with the performance it should be giving me. If this goes down as he states...I will sing his praised to anyone who will listen!

 

[ZJbrandon]

well now you have my attention!
I also did ribbon, gained a little. very little.
please do report back how the impeller works out, I may very well follow your path!

 

[chrisinslc]

Just sent it off to Impros, will be to them on Wednesday. I will let you know when it is back and I have run it. Keep your fingers crossed I see 7500-7800 RPM's.

 

[steve0617]

Just sent it off to Impros, will be to them on Wednesday. I will let you know when it is back and I have run it. Keep your fingers crossed I see 7500-7800 RPM's.

Did you get the impellers back? Any improvement?

 

[chrisinslc]

Did you get the impellers back? Any improvement?

I did get it back, tested it and no real improvement, I am sending it back again tomorrow for him to make more tweaks.

 

[steve0617]

I did get it back, tested it and no real improvement, I am sending it back again tomorrow for him to make more tweaks.

I'm in Denver with a 195 and yesterday I only saw 6300rpm stock when i can normally get 6800. Still less than I want so I'm looking out for your results.

The one thing I'm thinking is the water is about 10 degrees warmer than it was a month ago the last time I had the boat out. But this is what Denver is like in July/Aug. 90* air and 78* water. Hoping the impeller can improve things.

 

[chrisinslc]

I'm in Denver with a 195 and yesterday I only saw 6300rpm stock when i can normally get 6800. Still less than I want so I'm looking out for your results.

The one thing I'm thinking is the water is about 10 degrees warmer than it was a month ago the last time I had the boat out. But this is what Denver is like in July/Aug. 90* air and 78* water. Hoping the impeller can improve things.

Still waiting on the impeller to come back from Impros for the third time. I ran into a guy with a 2012 AR190 here in Salt Lake and asked him about his performance. He loves it. He is getting close to 37 mph at my elevation with RPM's close to 7500. The only thing he has done differently than me is have his impeller repitched from the company in Colorado that handles the other Yamaha dealer her in Utah. He had an oem impeller that he sold me and it was sent to Colorado today. We will see if my boat performs like his. I sure hope so.