Chaparral 223 VRX Test

[10-8]

Nice looking boat with some great features. Comes in at a lower price than I would have expected! Just 53k with 405hp. Looks like real competition.. 53mph and lateral thrust for docking. Looks like the lateral thrust was a pretty easy implementation and great idea..

http://www.boattest.com/boats/boat_video.aspx?ID=3222

 

[ScarabMike]

This has worked like a charm for me in several occasions. I have had fishing netting, seaweed, and rope try to get cllogged, and whatever has gone past the grate, will get chopped up and spit out in a second. This system works guys. I use my boat in 99% salt water environment.

Shaft protection is achieved by enclosing the shaft in a stainless tube. Normally we have access ports allowing us to reach our hands down to the shaft to clear weeds. Here, the shaft is protected from ever getting fouled in the first place. Does the impeller get fouled? Sure, same as the competition, but no builder in its right mind allows access to the impeller. That gets cleared with a boost of power to send any weeds on their way. A grate over the intakes prevents larger objects from entering the flow that goes through the thrust ducts. If those get clogged, typically all it takes is shutting down and letting gravity do its thing.

 

[Bruce]

I love the looks and that they implemented a stern thruster!

But I want it to be bigger with a bow thruster!

 

[Ziess21]

Its a good looking boat for sure, if not a bit busy.

The shaft being encased in a stainless tube is a great concept that will surely help with fouling ropes and weeds...however, almost every stoppage I saw this year was caused by little pieces of wood that get jammed between the impeller and the liner. The blades tend to slice into the wood and just pin it against the liner causing the boat to loose thrust and rattle. Its a bit unnerving the first time you feel/hear it and most customers thought something was catastrophically wrong! Without the manhole plugs there would be no easy access to remove the debris.... Each case took less than 5 minutes to resolve.

 

[Lspeedss]

Nice. Very nice!

 

[Freezer41]

bow cushion looks pretty narrow. I value bow room more than most things.

 

[SCSTWG]

Very nice looking boat. I am only interested in the 24' though because with (3) little girls, the head is a must. Chaparral usually has a very nice head compartment and I expect when the 24' comes out that this will be an area where they have a clear advantage over the Yamaha (assuming t he head compartment is similar to their other bowrider models).

 

[RightStuff]

My (internal) complaint after I saw this article this morning was why did they use the pic of him covering the back of the shaft-cover where it attaches to the prop/blades? To me he's covering up the most interesting part of the design of that thing. Has anyone else seen a better pic of it without Steve's grubby mitt in front of it??

 

[octavio3311]

I like it!

 

[Bruce]

I really like how Chaparral uses Garmin displays built into the dash on their larger models. I hope they will on the 243. Having a good chart plotter is a big priority for me.

 

[dutchman]

If I look at the props it seems like they have a double sets of blades behind each other, like a stage 2 pump....
Anyone else sees that? Advantages compared to the Yamaha's?

 

[Skysurfer2010]

Exactly what Zeiss said. Any time I've had something stuck it was a piece of wood or a stick that was small and jammed between the impeller and liner. I think all of these jetboats without any type of clean out are a horrible design. I'm shocked since I consider Chapp a higher end boat. I also would never want rotax power in my boat!!

Otherwise a beautiful boat from Chapp (no surprise there) but if I were to buy new Yam would definitely win my business again with the 2015 242LS. I wonder if Chapp will stick to their MSRP like Yamaha and be at the price point of the 24' boats or if they'll be sold at reduced prices like other boats in their lineup to be comparable in price to Yams 21' boats?

 

[ScarabMike]

Exactly what Zeiss said. Any time I've had something stuck it was a piece of wood or a stick that was small and jammed between the impeller and liner. I think all of these jetboats without any type of clean out are a horrible design. I'm shocked since I consider Chapp a higher end boat. I also would never want rotax power in my boat!!

Otherwise a beautiful boat from Chapp (no surprise there) but if I were to buy new Yam would definitely win my business again with the 2015 242LS. I wonder if Chapp will stick to their MSRP like Yamaha and be at the price point of the 24' boats or if they'll be sold at reduced prices like other boats in their lineup to be comparable in price to Yams 21' boats?

Like I said earlier. Haven't needed it. As far as Rotax power...been pretty reliable so far. Enjoy the 2015 Yami. I doubt the Chap will loose any business to the Yami's, I really dont think they are competing in the same market. Yamaha is more in tune to compete with Sea Ray, and Regal. Being a jetboat is just a similarity to the Chap.

 

[octavio3311]

Chaps are nice, but I don't consider them tops. Id put them in line with Crownline. I'd consider a Bryant or a Cobalt way before a Chap.
That said - Of course they are competing with Yamaha. They're trying to grab some of Yamahas market.

 

[OrangeTJ]

Looks like a nice boat. Are the seat cushions hinged? I definitely want that on my next boat! Chaparral makes nice boats - a buddy of mine has a 99 19 footer that looks basically brand new. Honestly, I don't get all of the stratifying of brand names. There doesn't seem to be any consistency to how the various brands stack up, except at the top and bottom of the ladder. Honestly, who cares? Chap is typically a high quality boat. This one is at a price point that puts it in direct competition with Yamaha. Competition in the segment at this price point is good.

 

[SCSTWG]

Yamaha is more in tune to compete with Sea Ray, and Regal. Being a jetboat is just a similarity to the Chap.

I think this is subjective. IMO, Chaparral competes against the better quality (but not the best) manufacturers. I put them in a category with Regal, Monterey, Sea Ray. Above them, I would put the likes of Formula and Cobalt. The next step down would be Crownline, Four Winns and I think Yamaha would be in this group.

As I have stated many times, I am a HUGE Chaparral fan, but after following their owner's forum for years, I became concerned with quality after a large percentage of new boat owners were appalled by the number of issues with new boats and the poor craftsmanship. Chaparral has a great owner's forum, but they are not fans of the jetboats and I don't think they will be much help to future Chap jetboat owners. Most would like nothing more than for Chap to exit the jetboat market. For me, a large part of the value proposition with Yamaha is the established reliability and the support from this forum. It is #1 reason why I bought a Yamaha jetboat instead of a Chap prop boat. There is just a ton of Yamaha specific knowledge here which means lower cost of ownership and less time having the boat at the dealer during the precious days of summer.

 

[Evil Sports]

Its gonna take me a while to accept a 1.5 liter making 250 Hp. I will get over it some day.

 

[OrangeTJ]

Just read through the detailed test reports. Looks like the Chap is going to be another loud boat. At WOT, they recorded 100db. That's 7 decibels higher than the recorded WOT numbers from the 2013 SX240. 7 db is a lot. Putting that in terms of stereo sound - it takes 4 times as much power to get 6 db more sound. From 4500rpm on up it is 3 db louder than the previous generation SX240 is at WOT and as much as 9 db louder at any given rpm. That's really a shame. I also just noticed that it appears to be fully 2 seconds slower to 30 mph than an SX240. In fact, it's 6.1 time is a hair slower than that of an SX210. What's up with that?

 

[GTBRMC]

A). While a good source of basic info on the boats they review, all should remember that Boattest is not providing unbiased reviews. Think of these as not so much reviews as "advertorials." Some of the comments in this written piece are downright cringeworthy.

B). I am intrigued by this feature on the Chap: "Ski Mode – Allows for a controlled launch with up to 3 pre-set acceleration curves. Once underway it accurately maintains tow speed with a GPS based controller." While waterskiing seems a bit old fashioned vs wake boarding and surfing, my family loves to ski. I am sure I am not the only jetboater that finds launch much more tricky than with a "just bury it" stern drive launch when getting skiers up...especially young skiers.

Has anyone used this? Does it work? Does Perfect Pass have a similar feature?

The Chap lines do appeal to me. I will stick with my Yammie powerplants, however.

 

[OrangeTJ]

A). While a good source of basic info on the boats they review, all should remember that Boattest is not providing unbiased reviews. Think of these as not so much reviews as "advertorials." Some of the comments in this written piece are downright cringeworthy.

You mean like the 38 millimeter thick vinyl with a 10 millimeter top coat? That's some thick vinyl!