Issues with weeds?

[PJ73]

New to Jet boats. Purchasing an AR210 this winter. I hear a lot from others (not jet boat owners) that I'll always have issues with weeds and such clogging up the impellers. I'm thinking here and there isn't that big of an issue but how often does it happen? I understand that I'm going to have to stay off of lakes that have a lot of weeds, but what about in a channel or a dock at no wake speed that might have weeds and stuff? Is it more when you're at higher RPMs that creates a higher suction or what? I apologize for my ignorance, but I'm just trying to do as much research as possible. I didn't see a thread that addressed the issue. I will be boating on inland lakes, in the midwest (mainly Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan). Thanks for any advice.

 

[Jgorm]

Weeds suck. If you drive over floating weeds at idle you will have issues. I avoid them like the plague on my waverunner, but I've had to jump in and unclog it a number of times. A tiny weed will make it cavitate badly.

 

[adrianp89]

Most of the time you just gun it and it chops them up like a blender. I pretty much mowed the entire channel of the house we stayed at in like Lake George.... had to open the clean out ports twice but only one time had to pull stuff out. That was very shallow water too.

 

[mdchachi]

Many people report success with the reverse trick.
In four years (summers) of Michigan boating with my Sea Doo boat, it wasn't a big issue. That being said, the clean out port would have come in handy a few times.

 

[Buckeye Boater]

I moved from an AR192 to a 212X and the twin boats seem to deal with weeds a lot better. I live on a channel that progressively gets more weedy throughout the summer and so far I haven't had to clean my ports out. I think it has something to do with the intakes being a bit away from the keel line whereas the singles have it right down the middle like a waverunner.

 

[tdonoughue]

Don't boat in a lot of weeds, but equally, in the rare instances I encounter them, never had a serious issue.

 

[props2you]

Unfortunately it is a defense mechanism for the non-jetboat owner to say. They simply do not understand so they defer to the "you'll suck up (insert objects here) all the time" tactic. Will you suck up weeds, sure, will it be a problem, depends on your lake, but mostly not at all. If you're running no wake channels plum-full of weeds, you'll have issues. There is a thread around here about a member having an FSH in FL that his channel is FULL of weeds and has issues all the time. In that situation, yes there will be problems. Most of the lakes in your neck of the woods will be fine. As someone else mentioned, high speed turns into salad, low speed, unless you go over a large amount, the hull will disperse a pretty good amount, whats left can be managed from the clean outs.

In my opinion it's a negligible issue, barring you're not in a shallow swamp where only an airboat would work.

 

[Betik]

Weed can be an issue but it depends a lot on the type of weed and situation. That Sargrass weed ( as seen east of Port Everglades) is nasty stuff. Even at full throttle we could not pass though. The reason is because it will get stuck at the intake and never makes it to the impellers. Every-time I had to clear the impellers were relatively clean. It was the intake that was nasty and completely clogged.

@PJ73 I am not sure if you have seen that Yamaha boats have clean out ports on the swim deck. So in theory you should not have to get in the water like you would with a PWC.

The weed should not be a deterministic factor a per buying a jet boast or not. Unless, as mentioned above you boat in infested channels. Jet boat have other advantages or disadvantages that are more important that some weed on the impeller.

 

[PJ73]

Thanks all. I'm still getting the AR210. It hasn't deterred me from getting it, just wanted to know what to expect, if anything really. I'm sure I'll be fine on the majority of the lakes I hit. I just talked my cousin into selling his Sea Ray and getting a Jet boat and his lake has a channel where there are weeds at the bottom. I don't think he'll have an issue due to the fact that most of the boats on his lake are I/O and will clear them out down to about 2 feet so he'll just have to watch for the floaters.

 

[Moose]

We are on our 3rd jet boat. The first two were Mercury sportjets and had problems with weeds in the Madison lakes. We bought an ar195 last year and spent 40 hours running in Madisons weeds without any problem. I believe the wider intake grate helps let the weeds flow through and get chopped up. I have 90 hrs on the boat now and haven't used the clean out plug yet. if you do have problems the Yamaha clean out plug is far better than going diving to clean out weeds .

 

[SupetD]

Are weeds a problem, absolutely they are. We live on a relatively shallow lake with lots of weeds, some days are worse than others. The clean-out plugs on our Yamaha make removing weeds pretty easy, I sometimes have to do this 3-4 times a day depending on where we go. Doesn’t bother me, only takes a couple of minutes, just part of owning a giant Hoover!!!

 

[McMark]

I wouldn’t stress out about weeds. Just know that you’ll clean some out once in a while.

 

[Cobra Jet Steering LLC]

Once you master the reverse move you can usually clear the weeds with little effort without getting up from your seat. And if you do not have clean out ports on your jet boat "other makes don't" the reverse move I came up with 16 years ago worked for me as I never had clean out ports on my first jet boat but I sure had a lot of weeds to deal with in Tampa bay area. I use it on my skies also when necessary. This move will save you a lot of grief.
Simply get going in reverse, shut off your engines and put your controls in forward to open the reverse gates and allow water to back flush through the pumps.
You will usually see a lot of weeds float out from under the boat, then be on your way once again. This works for weeds not plastic bags or ski ropes so the clean out ports are a good thing to have.

 

[merlinjet]

Reverse procedure works well most of the time for me, however, weeds that wrap around the impeller shaft require more work. Here on Lake Havasu there are a lot of shallows as you traverse from the lake to the Colorado River. These shallows have some sort of weed (not grass) that wraps around the impeller shaft. This stuff is like wire and sometimes requires a knife to cut it out. But even with that worst case scenario Its not big deal in the whole scheme of things.

 

[jvegas]

I had the same concern when i was researching 2 years ago. We don’t really have weeds or grasses around here but I was curious. All boats will have their pros and cons. My last boat was an i/o. And I’m 100% glad I went with a Yamaha this time (2018 AR210) over another prop boat. I’d rather risk having to pull weeds from the clean out than suck sand up through the outdrive and ruin impellers that can’t be fixed on the fly. And let’s not even get into deeper drafts, bellows, trim tabs to get on plane better, and smacking rocks with props and out drives.

 

[johnkim]

My cottage is at a weedy lake. Is it dumb to get a jet boat?

I spoke to the owner of the local marina and he doesn't recommend jet boats.

He said jet ski is fine since the port is small but the intake on jet boat is large and will get clogged.

He mentioned several owners at the lake sold their jet boat unknowingly the issue they will encounter...

Any thought?

 

[Elliott]

You should mention your location, lake and weed type(s) to help people respond.

 

[johnkim]

You should mention your location, lake and weed type(s) to help people respond.

Hi Elliot,

I'm at Rice Lake, Ontario. Canada. I'm not sure what type weeds they're.

I really like the AR series by Yamaha. There is nothing comparable in term of look and space at this price point for sterndrive...

I don't anticipate using the boat much if I buy it. Perhaps one weekend per month during summer months (june - august).

 

[Cobra Jet Steering LLC]

The intake grate comment is basically incorrect, the boats just have 2 of them the size is similar.

 

[johnkim]

The intake grate comment is basically incorrect, the boats just have 2 of them the size is similar.

Thanks. I do see jet skis around the area. Obviously I don't know if they're getting clogged or not...