GP1800?

[gmtech16450yz]

Ok I've been drooling over those things for awhile now! My son is onboard and wants to share one with me now. I think we're going to pull the trigger on an '18 or '19.

Tell me why I shouldn't buy one. hahaha! My son and I are motocross guys, we both currently ride '18 YZ450's so big power and crazy handling isn't scary. Actually we both think the same thing, anything LESS than a GP1800 would be probably be boring to us really quickly. It looks like they fixed the shaft and made the housing one piece instead of two so those issues shouldn't be there if we buy new.

The one thing I was wondering about is fuel use. How much fuel do you use on an "average" day on the water? I know in our '17 212 Limited S we usually go through a tank of gas in two days of our "average" use on the water. I know my son and I are going to be thrashing the cr@p out of one of these GP1800's, are we going to be burning through a tank of fuel in less than a day of playing around?

The other question is how "friendly" are these things for others to ride? I see they have a low rpm mode, can you put somebody that's never ridden a ski on a GP1800 and be relatively sure they aren't going to kill themselves? Is that what the low rpm mode is for?

Thanks!

 

[Julian]

I've barely ridden skis and rode this when it came out.....was a blast....and scary fast. They didn't show me the low rpm mode....so can't comment on that.

@veedubtek has the FX skis....my question to him would be...is the extra $ worth it to get the GP? I think the difference is like 5 mph.

 

[Weeb]

I had a 1999 XL1200 with carbs, it burned 18 gallons an hour wide open so injected should be better than that. I could run all day just cruising on a tank.

 

[veedubtek]

Certainly ain't worth it to me, but they are touring vehicles for me, not so much thrill toys. Plenty fast enough to scare most, just ask @Eric Ballard , but I mostly use mine for long trips. If I wanted a toy, I'd get something light and tossable, like a spark Trix.

 

[veedubtek]

Of course with that said, I'm also getting ready to buy a pair of 300's once my FX's sell, but only for the options they come with, not so much the power. If I get everything I want on a 155, I'd likely be plenty happy with those.

 

[Ramblin Wreck]

Hummm....I burned 4 tanks Saturday and Sunday and never got above 45mph.

 

[gmtech16450yz]

Hummm....I burned 4 tanks Saturday and Sunday and never got above 45mph.

Yikes! What's that in?

Thanks for the quick replies guys. Yeah, I'm all about the thrill of the power, just look at the video in my signature! My son drives a C7 Vette and my wife and I have a driveway full of fast cars. I even pay 4 times as much as pump gas for oxygenated race fuel in my dirtbikes just so I can tune them for the maximum absolute power. lol. I know the VXR is the same ski except with the bulletproof NA 1.8 engine, but I'm just afraid my son and I would be craving more power and knowing it's available in the GP1800. If logic prevailed, the VXR is a probably better choice all around. Just not sure it would fit our style.

 

[Ramblin Wreck]

Yikes! What's that in?

Thanks for the quick replies guys. Yeah, I'm all about the thrill of the power, just look at the video in my signature! My son drives a C7 Vette and my wife and I have a driveway full of fast cars. I even pay 4 times as much as pump gas for oxygenated race fuel in my dirtbikes just so I can tune them for the maximum absolute power. lol. I know the VXR is the same ski except with the bulletproof NA 1.8 engine, but I'm just afraid my son and I would be craving more power and knowing it's available in the GP1800. If logic prevailed, the VXR is a probably better choice all around. Just not sure it would fit our style.

It was a trip covering somewhere between 300 to 350 miles. Get the GP and be happy. They all burn a lot of fuel running wide open.

 

[Neutron]

You can empty that tank in less than 1.5 hours with hard ridding.
But its very fast and will hit top speed so fast your arms will be sore from holding on from fighting the force trying to throw you off.
The 19 will be a better handling than the 18. With the new ride plate.
You wont be disappointed with the new GP at all.... get the SUPERCHARGER not the VXR

My FZS is fast and stock it was close to the GP but the its heavier so the GP will nudge it out slightly off the line.
Currently with my mods i will take a stock GP

 

[Pinhacker71]

I just bought a 2018 gp1800 a month ago. Crazy fast with insane acceleration. I had the tune done to increase top speed to 77. No mods just allows increase of rpms. I was going to get the vxr but sales guy sold me this for 12,200. I couldn’t be happier. You can only go full throttle for a short period. It’s worth the pay for the play to me. My 12yo rides it. He knows enough to stay off the throttle and does well with it.

 

[BlkGS]

My rxp215 will burn through 18 gallons in 3 or 4 hours without even trying. I can't imagine this with the extra power is a lot more efficient. Oh and that was pre.ium it was burning as well.

 

[gmtech16450yz]

Ok I got a killer deal locked in on a blue '18! Might have it for this weekend, we'll see.

Faaaaaaaaaak! What have I done?

 

[boudin]

Buy it! I would love to have one myself, but am too cheap to buy a new ski. I have 5 skis, but nothing newer than 2009: (2) Yamaha SUV 4-stroke conversions, 2009 Yamaha VX, 2006 Kawi 12F, and a mid-80s Kawi stand-up.

I've been bugging my buddy to buy a GP1800 so I can ride it sometimes! Too bad you are not in Texas or I would become your best friend!

Check out the Yamaha PWC Performance (4-stroke) forum on greenhulk.net. Lots of good info there on the GP1800. I know a lot of guys have had problems with the hull cracking at the pump shoe brackets, and there are some help threads for reinforcing them.

http://www.greenhulk.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=124

-Greg

 

[gmtech16450yz]

Ok we got it!!!

Picked it up yesterday and stopped by the lake on the way home. My son and I put a couple hours on it already. I had it up to 73mph when it had about 30 minutes run time on it, got air off some boat wakes when it had an hour on it. lol. RIP break-in. Submarine'd it already once too trying to dive into a super tight turn. haha. My son did pretty much the same, he's already used to full speed runs and cranking the bars into a tight turn at speed. (Which is terrifying btw.)

It's gonna be a blast for us. Our research and assumptions, and your inputs here made it so our expectations met with the actual experience. It's pretty friggin fast, but my son and I are both comfortable on it already pushing it to probably 90% of it's potential. One of the most impressive options on it is the "Low Rpm" mode. Without that, it would be hard to turn anyone else loose on it. In "normal" mode, the throttle is super touchy. Just sneeze on it and the thing wants to jump out from under you. In the low rpm mode, the throttle mapping is HUGELY more rookie or newb friendly. Very smooth and gradual. The rpm and top speed in low mode is about 5500rpm/45mph.

Riding it in low rpm mode really made our decision clear though. In low mode, it's probably very similar to an N/A watercraft or some of the "cruiser" type skis. It's certainly capable of pulling 3 riders at a decent speed, but my son put it perfectly. He said "If we bought a ski that only had the power and acceleration that this does in low rpm mode, I'd never want to ride it". He's just like me, it's ALL about the thrill of power. Hell even my wife is a power junkie, her work commuter car is the fastest production wagon in the world. lol. So I'm super happy that this GP has the low power mode so we can let ANYONE hop on and ride it themselves, but we're thrilled that normal mode makes it a monster!

So far, I know I'm going to mod the intake and remove the ribbon. The exhaust is probably quieter than it needs to be too, I'll look into that. We did get it to cavitate on hard starts in choppy water, I'm betting that's what they put the top loader grate on to fix. I'll have to figure out if aftermarket or the stock '19 grate is a better answer. If it took away any top speed I might not bother, it didn't do it very often. Fuel use so far looks reasonable, we burned probably 5 gallons in a couple hours. It's really easy to maneuver at slow speeds, about a hundredybillion times more responsive that our boats! Makes me want to re-entertain the idea of putting the watercraft buckets on our boat. I'm also going to figure out a radio (two-way) solution for it. We have a 25 watt marine radio in our boat, and a 50 watt dual-band in our motorhome. Talking between shore and the boat is awesome. I know we'll want to be able to talk to whoever is on the GP also. I'm not sure if it will just be a portable we throw in the glove box or a higher wattage unit with a little antenna mounted and hard wired up. I'm thinking the latter will be better for us.

Thanks for the input guys! I think this GP is going to be a fun addition to our boating weekends.

 

[gmtech16450yz]

Requisite pictures of course...

 

[Spooling]

I love my GP1800. We have the same year/colour.

 

[swatski]

It's really easy to maneuver at slow speeds, about a hundredybillion times more responsive that our boats! Makes me want to re-entertain the idea of putting the watercraft buckets on our boat.

Have you looked at/considered the new 2019 boat nozzles?

--

 

[gmtech16450yz]

I love my GP1800. We have the same year/colour.

Nice! My son and I both really wanted the '18 colors over the new '19's.

I put in my mod parts order already. lol. Here's what I ordered...

1 x RIVA FZ & FX SVHO/SHO Performance Blow-off Valve Kit (RY17040-BV) =
$379.95
1 x RIVA Yamaha GP1800/VXR/VXS Top-Loader Intake Grate (RY22110) = $299.95
1 x RIVA Yamaha GP1800 Pump Seal Kit (RY25110) = $79.95
1 x RIVA Power Filter Kit for GP1800 Waverunners (RY13110) = $299.95
1 x RIVA Yamaha GP1800, 2015+ VXR/VXS Rear Exhaust Kit (RY15061) = $369.95
------------------------------------------------------

It was a blast totally stock. I'm excited to see how it sounds and runs with a little modding.

 

[gmtech16450yz]

Have you looked at/considered the new 2019 boat nozzles?

--

Poor Mr. Boat just got moved off the "Most likely to be modded" list. Hahaha. I'm pretty happy with it right now anyway.

 

[Neutron]

Nice! My son and I both really wanted the '18 colors over the new '19's.

I put in my mod parts order already. lol. Here's what I ordered...

1 x RIVA FZ & FX SVHO/SHO Performance Blow-off Valve Kit (RY17040-BV) =
$379.95
1 x RIVA Yamaha GP1800/VXR/VXS Top-Loader Intake Grate (RY22110) = $299.95
1 x RIVA Yamaha GP1800 Pump Seal Kit (RY25110) = $79.95
1 x RIVA Power Filter Kit for GP1800 Waverunners (RY13110) = $299.95
1 x RIVA Yamaha GP1800, 2015+ VXR/VXS Rear Exhaust Kit (RY15061) = $369.95
------------------------------------------------------

It was a blast totally stock. I'm excited to see how it sounds and runs with a little modding.

Nice list
Believe it or not there wont be much gains untill you tune or flash the ecm and an impeller
The BOV will save your supercharger clutch life expectancy for sure.
All new watercraft are limited to 68/69 mph by coast guard rules. So without a socom or reflash you cant expect much. It already has crazy acceleration.
The speedo is wheel driven and is way off

I bought the ecu and tune from Deans. Worth every penny to have the stock ecu to go back to in case of a major failure and bring back to dealer.