First Time Buyer

[Jay Perrier]

Hi everyone. I’ve been stalking this forum for a while, and this is my first official post. I’d like to thank everyone for all the information and advice that is shared here. This is truly a great community of people that share a love for jet boats. I’ve been fantasizing about owning a Yamaha boat for almost a decade and I’m finally in a place where I’m ready to take the plunge and purchase one. I have a deposit down on 2022 SX250, but I’m torn between that and the AR250 and need to make a decision within the next 24 hours. I’m looking for some advice from people who clearly know more about this stuff than I do. I plan to use the boat for cruising and occasional tube, ski, and wakeboarding sessions. My questions are how essential is the tower to being able to enjoy light Watersports, and how much smaller is the bimini on the AR as opposed to the SX? You’d think the AR doesn’t have a bimini because it’s never shown in the pictures. Sorry for the long post and thanks in advance for helping.

 

[jlcj7]

Get the tower. I bought my first boat without one (SX210). And then started wake boarding and wished I had one. Even if you don’t use it a lot it is better for resale, you can hang more speakers from it etc. you can wakeboard without one but if there is even a 25% chance you maybe any one, Get it now.

 

[Jay Perrier]

Get the tower. I bought my first boat without one (SX210). And then started wake boarding and wished I had one. Even if you don’t use it a lot it is better for resale, you can hang more speakers from it etc. you can wakeboard without one but if there is even a 25% chance you maybe any one, Get it now.

That’s exactly what I was thinking. Better to have and not need than to need and not have. However, I love the Yacht Blue on the SX, it has a bigger bimini, and it’s cheaper to store at the marina w/o the tower. On the flip side, I’d hate to spend $70K just to turn around and regret not getting the tower down the road.

 

[HangOutdoors]

That’s exactly what I was thinking. Better to have and not need than to need and not have. However, I love the Yacht Blue on the SX, it has a bigger bimini, and it’s cheaper to store at the marina w/o the tower. On the flip side, I’d hate to spend $70K just to turn around and regret not getting the tower down the road.

You can do so many things with the tower and it is so handy. Fishing Rod Holders, Hammock, Towing, Sound Bar, VHF radio atteneae, Baby Swing, an Awesome thing to hold onto getting in and around the boat. You can mod out the bimini and create one that goes all the way to the back. You can put side curtains on it to create an enclosure, and the list goes on. Scan the forums here, so many creative ideas. Also the resale is better on boats with the tower.

 

[Acard7]

Get the tower, you’ll use it for more than just water sports, we love the tower on our AR230. I will never buy another boat without one!

 

[Jay Perrier]

You can do so many things with the tower and it is so handy. Fishing Rod Holders, Hammock, Towing, Sound Bar, VHF radio atteneae, Baby Swing, an Awesome thing to hold onto getting in and around the boat. You can mod out the bimini and create one that goes all the way to the back. You can put side curtains on it to create an enclosure, and the list goes on. Scan the forums here, so many creative ideas. Also the resale is better on boats with the tower.

Thanks for the advice. Now all I have to do is convince MarineMax to let me switch. Hopefully it won’t be an issue.

 

[J-RAD]

+1 tower. For every reason mentioned above ...and they look cool!

You'll never regret having one, there's a good chance you may regret not having one.

 

[rad1026]

The tower, get the tower. Also, it folds down in seconds if you need to lower it for a storage unit. I've had a couple different towers and this one is by far the easiest, fastest to lower and set up.

 

[Sean R]

Just like everyone has said, get the tower if you can.