AR 220 vs 222s are the 1.9s (and nicer trim) worth the upgrade?

[Snoman93]

Hello all,

I have been reading this forum for some time but just joined and this is my first post. Thank you all for all the information and learnings I have already had fro you all.

I have been looking into jet boats for some time now and am currently in an 17.5’ Seaswirl with a 90hp outboard. My family of 4 does mainly lake and Long Island sound boating - sand bars, tubing, water skiing, knee board etc… But also have had several jet skis over the years in the same waters.

I looked at the 19’ and the 22’ and the 22’ is clearly the right size for us but the difference between the AR220 and 222s were significant in our opinion but not sure its worth the money. Certainly the trim is way nicer in the 222s and my wife prefers the passenger captains chair vs the bench (I think bench is just fine but…) but after the finishing it seems to come down to the 1.9s vs TR1s. Multiple dealers and posts that I have read seem to say that the 1.9s are significantly better in every way but wondering going from what I have now either will be a significant change for the better. My family has had the current boat for 24 years and its in great working order so what ever I buy we will probably have for some time which is why I am leaning towards 222s but at $70k its a hard pill to swallow… kids are 9 and 11 so friends will be coming sooner then later I’m sure, not in a rush to buy so maybe over the winter will be a better time to buy at a boat show or something vs peak summer but the only dealer near me has both the 220 and 222s currently. The 222s price at 70k was with the morning cover, coast guard kit, tube/rope plus CT tax and reg.

 

[JASmith]

Buy your second boat, first, is what the saying usually is. The 1.9 is light years ahead of the TR1 (1L) in power. The TR1 is a little anemic by today's standards so for that reason alone, I'd be looking at the 222. The trim upgrades are a bonus on top of that to me personally.

I've got the TR1's now, and I'm waiting for the 1.9 super charged to hopefully come in the 25' this fall and then we'll probably be finally ready to upgrade.

 

[Snoman93]

Buy your second boat, first, is what the saying usually is. The 1.9 is light years ahead of the TR1 (1L) in power. The TR1 is a little anemic by today's standards so for that reason alone, I'd be looking at the 222. The trim upgrades are a bonus on top of that to me personally.

I've got the TR1's now, and I'm waiting for the 1.9 super charged to hopefully come in the 25' this fall and then we'll probably be finally ready to upgrade.

Thanks for the info, I had even considered the AR 250 as its about the same price as the 222s to get the 1.9s but really no reason to need something that big for what we use the boat for so 222s may be best fit. It seems pretty telling that by everything I can read and find otherwise the 1.9s are the way to go, just wish there wasn't such a hefty price tag to get them!

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

I’ll second getting the boat with the 1.9’s The 1.9’s are 200 hp vs the 111 hp of the TR-1’s at sea level, or 400 hp vs 222 hp combined. Significant. Both engines run on regular unleaded fuel.

Ive included this handy boat buying guide to help you with your decision.



Currently Yamaha has some good sales incentives and Wonderland Marine in Michigan has some good deals going on.
https://jetboaters.net/threads/sale-on-all-2024-yamaha-jetboats-mi.44483/ With the exception of one person everyone speaks highly of Ryan @Wonderland Marine.

As @JASmith says buy the second..well in your case third boat first. If your wife likes the seating better in the 222S then might as well get her what she likes.

I have TR-1’s in my 21’ FSH and do most of my boating at 5000’-3000’ above sea level and during the summer the density altitude gets up to 9000’ feet which results in a 27% horsepower loss, I got a set of impellers pitched for high altitude and that helped performance a lot over the stock impellers but it could still use more power. With 6 people on the boat it’s definitely struggling but will still get up to around 33 mph at WOT.

I’ve not run my boat at sea level but this last March I was at Lake Mohave and it’s elevation of 650’ above sea level and the TR-1 engines ran a lot stronger, a lot, I ran my stock impellers there and the boat performed well with me and two of my friends and I could get up to close to 40 mph at WOT. But, if I could have more power I’d take that. The other advantage the 1.9’s have is that they are quieter and the four bladed impellers also help to reduce noise.

Member @HangOutdoors has an AR 210 with the TR-1’s and has a wife and two teenage daughters and uses his boat similarly to how you use your current boat, maybe he will chime in here with his opinion.

Cargo weight, including people and fuel load make a big difference in the boats performance and it looks like you’ll be having a “boat load” of people in the near and farther future and you’ll be glad that you have the extra power of the 1.9’s to get up on plane while you’re towing people and have more folks in the boat.

It also appears that the AR 250 has a head compartment where you could put a porta potty (I wouldn’t own a boat without a head compartment) as well as extra storage. Speaking of storage, the AR 250 has 731 gallons of storage vs the 222s’s 502 gallons of storage.

 

[Jim_in_Delaware]

It’s apparently a pretty easy upgrade to pull the passenger bench seat in the AR190’s, I wonder if that holds true with the AR210/220’s? Definitely would be less expensive than getting a 222.

Jim

 

[Snoman93]

I’ll second getting the boat with the 1.9’s The 1.9’s are 200 hp vs the 111 hp of the TR-1’s at sea level, or 400 hp vs 222 hp combined. Significant. Both engines run on regular unleaded fuel.

Ive included this handy boat buying guide to help you with your decision.

View attachment 222736

Currently Yamaha has some good sales incentives and Wonderland Marine in Michigan has some good deals going on.
https://jetboaters.net/threads/sale-on-all-2024-yamaha-jetboats-mi.44483/ With the exception of one person everyone speaks highly of Ryan @Wonderland Marine.

As @JASmith says buy the second..well in your case third boat first. If your wife likes the seating better in the 222S then might as well get her what she likes.

I have TR-1’s in my 21’ FSH and do most of my boating at 5000’-3000’ above sea level and during the summer the density altitude gets up to 9000’ feet which results in a 27% horsepower loss, I got a set of impellers pitched for high altitude and that helped performance a lot over the stock impellers but it could still use more power. With 6 people on the boat it’s definitely struggling but will still get up to around 33 mph at WOT.

I’ve not run my boat at sea level but this last March I was at Lake Mohave and it’s elevation of 650’ above sea level and the TR-1 engines ran a lot stronger, a lot, I ran my stock impellers there and the boat performed well with me and two of my friends and I could get up to close to 40 mph at WOT. But, if I could have more power I’d take that. The other advantage the 1.9’s have is that they are quieter and the four bladed impellers also help to reduce noise.

Member @HangOutdoors has an AR 210 with the TR-1’s and has a wife and two teenage daughters and uses his boat similarly to how you use your current boat, maybe he will chime in here with his opinion.

Cargo weight, including people and fuel load make a big difference in the boats performance and it looks like you’ll be having a “boat load” of people in the near and farther future and you’ll be glad that you have the extra power of the 1.9’s to get up on plane while you’re towing people and have more folks in the boat.

It also appears that the AR 250 has a head compartment where you could put a porta potty (I wouldn’t own a boat without a head compartment) as well as extra storage. Speaking of storage, the AR 250 has 731 gallons of storage vs the 222s’s 502 gallons of storage.

First of all the buyers guide is hilarious - even funnier for me I read it in my email at first which was just a link to a buyers guide so i was expecting to be like a brochure or something but this is much better!

Thanks for all the info and your input! The AR250 certainly has a but more storage and the porta potty option is nice but I am thinking that will be overkill for the relatively small lakes we are usually on and I have not come across a spot I have needed in thus far. I started looking at the 25' because the base model AR has a few more niceties then the bas model 22' and at the 222s price point I figured it was worth a look. Probably would be good to see the 2 together to compare (last dealership I was at had 19' and 22' but I had not said I was looking at a 25 so I will follow up to see if they have one to see.

I actually did reach out to Ryan at Wonderland yesterday after seeing a post he made about the sales and unprovoked when I asked for a quote of the AR220 and 222s he also recommended the 222s for being so much more boat with much nicer engines over the 220. I have been chatting back and forth a little with him and hoped to talk today but I woke up to late from night shift to catch him.

Me being at sea level I would expect to have optimal power from both boats but clearly the 1.9s will out do the tr-1 and my current 90 outboard!

Wondering if yamaha will keep the tr-1 in 220 next year or just following 25' trend putting the 1.9s in lower tier.

 

[Snoman93]

It’s apparently a pretty easy upgrade to pull the passenger bench seat in the AR190’s, I wonder if that holds true with the AR210/220’s? Definitely would be less expensive than getting a 222.

Jim

I had not seen that - Ill have to look around a little more to see if people are doing that in the 22' Thank you.

 

[JASmith]

Wondering if yamaha will keep the tr-1 in 220 next year or just following 25' trend putting the 1.9s in lower tier.

They wouldn’t put the 1.9 in the 220 I think. The 1.9 replaced the outgoing 1.8. I think they would replace it with something more similar if anything, but we haven’t caught wind of that happening yet so odds are it’ll remain the tr1

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

First of all the buyers guide is hilarious - even funnier for me I read it in my email at first which was just a link to a buyers guide so i was expecting to be like a brochure or something but this is much better!

Thanks for all the info and your input! The AR250 certainly has a but more storage and the porta potty option is nice but I am thinking that will be overkill for the relatively small lakes we are usually on and I have not come across a spot I have needed in thus far. I started looking at the 25' because the base model AR has a few more niceties then the bas model 22' and at the 222s price point I figured it was worth a look. Probably would be good to see the 2 together to compare (last dealership I was at had 19' and 22' but I had not said I was looking at a 25 so I will follow up to see if they have one to see.

I actually did reach out to Ryan at Wonderland yesterday after seeing a post he made about the sales and unprovoked when I asked for a quote of the AR220 and 222s he also recommended the 222s for being so much more boat with much nicer engines over the 220. I have been chatting back and forth a little with him and hoped to talk today but I woke up to late from night shift to catch him.

Me being at sea level I would expect to have optimal power from both boats but clearly the 1.9s will out do the tr-1 and my current 90 outboard!

Wondering if yamaha will keep the tr-1 in 220 next year or just following 25' trend putting the 1.9s in lower tier.

One time when I was talking to Yamaha corporate I asked why they had not put the the 1.8L engines in the 210 FSH Sport and the CSR explained to me that the TR-1 was a less expensive engine and that helped them to keep the price point down on the the 210 FSH. There a lot of TR-1’s out there and the variants in the side by sides, YXZ and snowmobiles‘ much more powerful 140 hp Viper variant.

The TR-1 engine is small, light and powerful so while I don’t know about how many boats will have it in the future, it is a very reliable and fuel efficient plat form.

 

[EdwardTeach]

Go for the AR250. You will not regret the larger boat as the kids get older and the friends start tagging along. You get the 1.9’s as well. You can find them for sub 70,000 (including freight, prep, etc) plus tax. Wife and I were in the same place this weekend between 222SD or AR250. After being on both it was an easy decision. The port storage/head was a large plus for us as well. We now own an AR250!

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

Perhaps you could help the brotha out and direct him to the place you got yours for sub $70K.

I totally agree with what you said about growing into the boat and having a head compartment.

 

[EdwardTeach]

Perhaps you could help the brotha out and direct him to the place you got yours for sub $70K.

I totally agree with what you said about growing into the boat and having a head compartment.

Wasn’t sure about the advertising rules kinda thing and didn’t want my first post to break rules…lol. There are a few in that price range along the gulf coast from Gulfport, MS to Tallahassee, FL.