Does the Yamaha 252SE have enough power? (upgrading from Chap 203)

[Dr_Zao]

I have the Chaparral 203 VRX, single 250 engine. My main complaint with the boat is performance, its grossly underpowered. With 4-6 adults in the boat, I can barely pull a tube (takes 20 seconds to plane and bogs down on even slight turns, can't even get to 20mph). If I have more than 4 people I basically floor it everywhere.

Looking to upgrade to a 2023 252SE, but I'm worried it will still feel underpowered. It's a way heavier boat and only has 360 horsepower... are those stats misleading somehow? Do the double engines somehow apply a sort of magic where it has more torque? Like in theory, is 2x 200hp engines 150% better than a single 400hp engine somehow?

Can anyone with a 252 weigh in on tow performance with a full boat? I don't care about top speed, I just need to be able to easily pull tubes/wakeboards with 6 adults on board.

 

[gthorson]

2021 252XE with twin NA1.8s. You will be more than fine in the hole shot. I'm at 4500' with high altitude impellers. The hole shot is great. The only under power I have is that top speed will max out at 40mph at 4000' and 37mph at 6500'. I have not noticed a difference regardless of how heavy the boat is loaded.

Your Chaparral performance numbers don't make sense. There would be some serious troubleshooting on your current boat before I accepted that kind of performance.

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

I have the Chaparral 203 VRX, single 250 engine. My main complaint with the boat is performance, its grossly underpowered. With 4-6 adults in the boat, I can barely pull a tube (takes 20 seconds to plane and bogs down on even slight turns, can't even get to 20mph). If I have more than 4 people I basically floor it everywhere.

Looking to upgrade to a 2023 252SE, but I'm worried it will still feel underpowered. It's a way heavier boat and only has 360 horsepower... are those stats misleading somehow? Do the double engines somehow apply a sort of magic where it has more torque? Like in theory, is 2x 200hp engines 150% better than a single 400hp engine somehow?

Can anyone with a 252 weigh in on tow performance with a full boat? I don't care about top speed, I just need to be able to easily pull tubes/wakeboards with 6 adults on board.

2021 252XE with twin NA1.8s. You will be more than fine in the hole shot. I'm at 4500' with high altitude impellers. The hole shot is great. The only under power I have is that top speed will max out at 40mph at 4000' and 37mph at 6500'. I have not noticed a difference regardless of how heavy the boat is loaded.

Your Chaparral performance numbers don't make sense. There would be some serious troubleshooting on your current boat before I accepted that kind of performance.

I was just starting to write that the OP’s boat sounds as if there is some sort of problem. I know very little about those boats but have a few questions based on what Ive read here.

Is the engine reaching rated / max rpm?
Is the engine super charged?

I ask those two questions based on what I’ve read about the Yamaha 19’ super charged models which have suffered a broken sprague clutch on the super charger and only reach 5500 rpm, have a hard time getting on plane, low top speed etc. On the Yamaha’s there is a simple test to check to see if the clutch is broken.

 

[Dr_Zao]

It's supercharged, yes. It will be running at 8k RPMs but just really slow

 

[blacksapphirez]

bogging down on turns is inherent to a single engine boat...mine does the same but twin engine boats are a different animal. you will be much happier with the performance of a twin engined boat.

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

It's supercharged, yes. It will be running at 8k RPMs but just really slow

Thanks!

Is the impeller and wear ring in good shape?
Is the pump cavitating?

Has the boat always performed this way?
Did you buy it new?
How does it perform with one or two people in the boat?

 

[gthorson]

Get the Yamaha, you'll love it.
Also, getting on plane isn't a thing for me. The boat is long and has such small bow rise that it doesn't really "plane" at any point, it just rises almost level up out of the water as you go faster rather than the conventional climb out head first slowly and then speed up.

 

[Adrian @ JB Solutions]

I've never had an issue with towing and hole shots. Biggest issue I have had towing is the rope getting stuck in the jet-wash, I bought a booster ball for that but never got around to using it. I've had probably 400lbs on a single tube and the boat did just fine.