AR240 solely for salt

[Rg5384]

So I’ve finally got my wife on board with selling our skis and getting a boat. Based on our criteria the AR240 or now the 250 fits the bill on the surface perfectly. We like to tow the kids around on the raft, do some wakeboarding in the manatee river(brackish), and island hop to all of the local gulf islands around sarasota/Venice/ st Pete etc. One our our kids is special needs which makes the easy swim platform and lack of a prop back there extremely appealing, even if we loose some of the upsides to a proper stern drive

I know the motors and the jets have no issues living in salt so long as they are properly flushed and maintained, my concern is with the rest of the trim and the soft surfaces. Some of the storage areas are carpeted, and it doesn’t look like a boat you can just take the salt away with a garden hose to all over it. I also have concerns about the electronics like that remote receiver on the transom( although if that fails it’s just time to upgrade the system!).

Is anyone using these for predominantly salt water island hopping with a family? If so how is the rest of everything holding up? I’d want this thing to not just last but be in great shape for 10+ years until the kids are grown and gone.

pic our one of our current skis . It’s a blast and will be missed but with six kids a boat is a much better option .

 

[PatrickKolby]

Great question!

My wife & I life in Southern California and purchased our 2021 212SE last year. We use the boat for pleasure & business (rental) & all saltwater application. The boat so far has held up very well. We flush with salt away after each use and spray the entire boat down with dawn soap and vinegar.

Only complaint is that the vinyl is cheap. Even with 303 cleaner protectant after each use the vinyl is starting to wear.

Also, the snap in carpet is awful. We’ve never worn shoes in the boat and use soap and a scrub brush after each use and the carpet is starting to look spotty and permanently dirty.

I see people at the ramp putting away their Yamahas without the care we put in and can see a noticeable difference.

 

[RobbieO]

Great question!

My wife & I life in Southern California and purchased our 2021 212SE last year. We use the boat for pleasure & business (rental) & all saltwater application. The boat so far has held up very well. We flush with salt away after each use and spray the entire boat down with dawn soap and vinegar.

Only complaint is that the vinyl is cheap. Even with 303 cleaner protectant after each use the vinyl is starting to wear.

Also, the snap in carpet is awful. We’ve never worn shoes in the boat and use soap and a scrub brush after each use and the carpet is starting to look spotty and permanently dirty.

I see people at the ramp putting away their Yamahas without the care we put in and can see a noticeable difference.

Don't you have Seadek in that boat? They have cleaner just for cleaning the Seadek. I don't allow shoes in my boat because as you already know, footprints are a PIA to clean. I give you a lot of credit, I could never rent my boat out.

 

[fatboyroy]

Great question!

My wife & I life in Southern California and purchased our 2021 212SE last year. We use the boat for pleasure & business (rental) & all saltwater application. The boat so far has held up very well. We flush with salt away after each use and spray the entire boat down with dawn soap and vinegar.

Only complaint is that the vinyl is cheap. Even with 303 cleaner protectant after each use the vinyl is starting to wear.

Also, the snap in carpet is awful. We’ve never worn shoes in the boat and use soap and a scrub brush after each use and the carpet is starting to look spotty and permanently dirty.

I see people at the ramp putting away their Yamahas without the care we put in and can see a noticeable difference.

do you cover your boat in storage, the vinyl on mine still looks good after 6 months covered when not in use.

 

[rbarthur21]

We have a 2020 sx190 and live in Port Charlotte. We cruise around and down the Peace and Myakka Rivers and Charlotte Harbor to the ICWW and islands (Cayo Costa is our favorite spot). We love it. The 24’ or 25’ should handle in moderate chop much better than my 19’. With proper care no problems. I agree the carpet is cheap but it’s fine. I have not had any issues with the vinyl. Still looks great over a year later. I store it in my driveway and it always has the cover on so it doesn’t sit out exposed to the Florida sun all the time. Simple flush and wash when we return home after a day on the water. We love it but will upgrade to a larger boat as my son gets older and our family grows.

 

[PatrickKolby]

We cover our boat with the Yamaha cover since day one. I’m super picky so, yes, the vinyl looks new still, but is just cheap overall compared to my Sea Ray . The Sea-deck cleaner doesn’t work well IMO; dawn soap seems to work best.

As far as renting, if you vet your customers I’ve found that it’s not too bad. We find ourselves declining around 10-15 requests a week because of inexperienced boat history. Overall a good business for us.

 

[Drift Away]

We take our SX240 Out (for now, its up for sale, ,getting a pontoon) to 3 Rooker, Honeymoon and Anclote about every other weekend. As long as you flush it good and spray and wipe down the inside its fine. We have had ours new since 2016 and it still looks fine. We have used the carpet. Speak of cleaning it. We went out yeasterday.

 

[Babin Farms]

@Dean P uses his all the time in salt, posting pics of his travels making the rest of us envious.

 

[Damsroy]

I'm sharing my experience with wet sleeping in salt water.
Season 3 has started and it is going to be another one for the books!

https://jetboaters.net/threads/documenting-the-long-term-effect-of-wet-slipping-in-salt-water.24703/page-2#post-538700

 

[Rg5384]

Thanks for all the responses, it seems I don’t have a whole lot to worry about! Well, aside from that small problem of actually finding one . Going to wait until our house closes in January then will be on the hunt for the new boat, hopefully there will be some deals by then..right now everyone wants more than they cost new.

 

[Chad Jones]

Am I too late to reply to this? Anyways, I've boated in salt water one week per year with a 2010 242 for the last five years.

Some friendly advice based on my experiences:

1 - Do not power out of any scenario where you will stir up sand from the bottom. The sand will easily get sucked up into the engine's cooling passages and can create over heating issues with the engines. If you are lucky the sand will blast out through the cooling passages but do this too often and you may have a clog and a persistent over heating problem. Luckily the ecu will put the engine into limp mode if it becomes to hot but its a big aggravation. BTW, this holds true for rivers and lakes as well with sandy bottoms.

2 - Floating seaweed and grass is your enemy. This year in the FL keys there was quite a lot of seaweed in certain areas in and around Marathon Key near the 7 mile bridge and also on the way to Sombrero and Looe keys. At times there is simply no way to drive around it. First of all when you suck it up you suffer a major power loss. Depending upon how much weight is in the boat and the level of chop it can become difficult to get on plane. You are going to want to keep your jet clean out ports in good working order to where they have not become stuck so that you can clear the seaweed out as needed. Otherwise its diving under the boat to clear the seaweed and or seagrass out from underneath. The same sea weed can also block the water inlet passages, that suck seawater into the engines for cooling, in the jet housing which again will create the over heating issue.

3 - Its also worth nothing that you shouldn't leave a jet boat in salt water more than a week or so. Some would say less, but you need to flush that saltwater from the engine's cooling passages and normally you cannot do that with it sitting in the water.

4 - The boat accommodates 1-2 feet seas satisfactory but its for sure limited by length. You are going to get a rough ride and times and with 3 foot seas you are probably heading home. To be fair though, most boats under 30 feet are heading home as well but a deep v-hull in a 27 plus foot boat is going to ride smoother in higher seas and heavy chop. No way around it. That being said, I don't know to many people that want to ride around in 4 foot plus seas. It just gets to be too much unless you have something with huge length that probably costs more 5 to 10 Yamahas.

I've had a great time boating with the Yamaha in salt water and it offers a lot of size and luxury for its price point but on the ocean or in bays, I would get a center console with two outboards. Biggest negative is that they are fairly expensive, compared to the Yamaha, but there is a reason why that's 80% of what you see along the coast.

Happy boating.

 

[bigsapper]

This guy bought a 2017 SX190 a couple of years ago and lives in Hawaii. He doesn't wet slip it but he's documented that he's been in the water almost every weekend in the past 2 years.
Hawaii Jetboat & Drone Adventures

 

[Damsroy]

@Chad Jones on your items #3 tow shut off valves are pretty easy to install and really easy to use.
After any run in salt water, close the valve, run salt away or any equivalent on the hose for 5 min at high idle, reopen the valves. Ready to go for next trip and cooling lines are nice and clean.

 

[jocolo21]

for the ocean get the 250 with the new hull, it will do goo in 3' seas, this year our Bahamas trip was 2' to 4' i was going faster than my friend in a Cobia 27 CC with twins, it will not be a perfect ride but it will be way different than on the 240, ivve own both

 

[Nous Defions]

So I’ve finally got my wife on board with selling our skis and getting a boat. Based on our criteria the AR240 or now the 250 fits the bill on the surface perfectly. We like to tow the kids around on the raft, do some wakeboarding in the manatee river(brackish), and island hop to all of the local gulf islands around sarasota/Venice/ st Pete etc. One our our kids is special needs which makes the easy swim platform and lack of a prop back there extremely appealing, even if we loose some of the upsides to a proper stern drive

I know the motors and the jets have no issues living in salt so long as they are properly flushed and maintained, my concern is with the rest of the trim and the soft surfaces. Some of the storage areas are carpeted, and it doesn’t look like a boat you can just take the salt away with a garden hose to all over it. I also have concerns about the electronics like that remote receiver on the transom( although if that fails it’s just time to upgrade the system!).

Is anyone using these for predominantly salt water island hopping with a family? If so how is the rest of everything holding up? I’d want this thing to not just last but be in great shape for 10+ years until the kids are grown and gone.

pic our one of our current skis . It’s a blast and will be missed but with six kids a boat is a much better option .

I have always used mine exclusively in salt/brackish water. The entire boat/trailer gets washed, the engines flushed for 10-15 minutes with a blast of salt away at the end. All bright work and surfaces inside and out get wiped down. It takes me over an hour by myself when we return to get it all done. All worth it if you want the boat to stay new looking and functioning properly. Mine is also for sale, see the classified section, SX240 Vero Beach, FL