Jet Boats in Salt Water are a Mistake

[gwrace1]

If I was going to invest that kind of money in a boat I would be living on it. Strictly fresh water for us. My family hates swimming in salt water and does not like the idea of being lunch for some creature.....

 

[RACCAP]

If you have a heavy duty truck and the $ for the permit, it shouldn't be too hard to pull. It is a heavy boat that will task a light duty truck's transmission and its towing capacity. I don't know how the hard top will fair towing at highway speeds.

I don't want to buy a truck

Was hoping to get by with a Mercedes Benz GLS 450,

7700 lb tow capacity

369 ft lb torque

 

[RACCAP]

If I was going to invest that kind of money in a boat I would be living on it. Strictly fresh water for us. My family hates swimming in salt water and does not like the idea of being lunch for some creature.....

lol

 

[RACCAP]

Yes they have clean out plugs, all Yamaha jet boats do but once you have to deal with those a few times just for weeds you will learn to appreciate the reverse move. Good luck with your decision, based on your lack of experience with jet boats as well as salt water boating towing etc I would respectfully suggest going with a 24 foot boat and dry docking it.

When in doubt " Don't"

and since I clearly don't know what I am talking about (lol)

I am leaning towards NOT buying anything and just renting for a year.

That way I can meet people at the islands, see what they have and ask too many questions

 

[gwrace1]

I don't want to buy a truck

Was hoping to get by with a Mercedes Benz GLS 450,

7700 lb tow capacity

369 ft lb torque

Remember that manufacturers quote optimistic tow ratings. Typically with only the driver at 150-180 lbs, no passengers or luggage half tank of gas. So subtract full fuel, occupant/luggage load from those ratings. Also consider tongue weight capacities and terrain. Since most boats don't require a load equalizing hitch all the weight is on your rear suspension. Also pulling through the mountains will task any vehicles capabilities. Better to have too much than to little power.
It may not be a problem on most smaller boats since tongue weight is usually pretty light compared to travel trailers. Tow vehicle wheel base length and tongue weight play a huge role in how stable the trailer is on the road. You don't want any uncontrollable sway. Just my two cents having pulled travel trailers and boats all over the country.

 

[RACCAP]

Remember that manufacturers quote optimistic tow ratings. Typically with only the driver at 150-180 lbs, no passengers or luggage half tank of gas. So subtract full fuel, occupant/luggage load from those ratings. Also consider tongue weight capacities and terrain. Since most boats don't require a load equalizing hitch all the weight is on your rear suspension. Also pulling through the mountains will task any vehicles capabilities. Better to have too much than to little power.
It may not be a problem on most smaller boats since tongue weight is usually pretty light compared to travel trailers. Tow vehicle wheel base length and tongue weight play a huge role in how stable the trailer is on the road. You don't want any uncontrollable sway. Just my two cents having pulled travel trailers and boats all over the country.

Thank You

 

[Matt Phillips]

I tow my 242x with a Porsche Cayenne and it does fine...I definitely know the boat is back there. I figure fully loaded on the trailer with fuel and supplies, it's close to 6400 pounds. The boat is about 4400lb + 1000lb for the trailer + 350lb for a tank of fuel. The remaining 600-700lb is for supplies and such which isn't much (there's a lot of stuff that goes in a boat.

Have you thought about the 242 size? They are slightly smaller but much easier to tow, store and such. with a 27 footer, you'd be right at the max with your car.

 

[RACCAP]

I tow my 242x with a Porsche Cayenne and it does fine...I definitely know the boat is back there. I figure fully loaded on the trailer with fuel and supplies, it's close to 6400 pounds. The boat is about 4400lb + 1000lb for the trailer + 350lb for a tank of fuel. The remaining 600-700lb is for supplies and such which isn't much (there's a lot of stuff that goes in a boat.

Have you thought about the 242 size? They are slightly smaller but much easier to tow, store and such. with a 27 footer, you'd be right at the max with your car.

Thanks for the input

 

[marcham]

...

Most newer half ton trucks have decent tow capacities. Good 'ol Capt. Steve from boattest.com did a review, and had a test weight of 6507#. If you add weight to fill the tank and add a trailer, you're probably looking at 8300ish#. Obviously, a F250/2500 would tow it better but it can be done with a half...

Schedule of fees

The problem with 1/2 tons is not the tow capacity, but the actual available payload on the rear axle. Crew cab with nice trim, 4 adults and you probably only have 200-300 lbs of payload left on the rear axle. Brochures don't reflect this, one has to look on the center pillar.

 

[RACCAP]

The problem with 1/2 tons is not the tow capacity, but the actual available payload on the rear axle. Crew cab with nice trim, 4 adults and you probably only have 200-300 lbs of payload left on the rear axle. Brochures don't reflect this, one has to look on the center pillar.

 

[RACCAP]

THE REPELLER GRATE ( Weed Repellant)

Has anyone used this with any success?

The Repeller Grate | Designed for Jet Drive Watercraft

To function properly, a jet boat must have a continuous supply of clean, debris free water. Any blockage of this flow results in a dramatic reduction in thrust. With the Repeller Grate installed, there is no stopping or back flushing. Fouling can be removed at any time and at any speed

repellergrate.com

 

[OCMD]

How does this repeller grate attach to the underside? Drilling holes in the bottom of the boat? Not a good idea, and not necessary. Just learn the reverse clean out move and be on your way. But 1) Jet boating in salt water is NOT an issue, so long as you flush and clean fter every outing. My first Yamaha I sold after 6 years of salt water use and it looked almost showroom when I sold it solely because it was maintained properly. 2) I agree with other posters, just get a smaller Yamaha, preferably used, and screw around with it for a season or two and get used to handling/maintaining the boat. Then, go bigger if you want, but you may find you don't use it as much as you think. I used to use mine often, but got out only once each of the past 2 summers. Or 3) if you do go with the monster, then pay someone to maintain it for you and be done with it, assuming money is no object as my suspicions indicate it is not. Find a reputable marina, call 'em up and take it out' bring it back and drop it off for them to maintain....and just enjoy.

 

[d_coyne1984]

I have not seen that before. That hydraulic unit is kind of a cool idea. I feel like it is probably designed for larger vessels. I also have a hard time believing that it wouldn't cause issues with the smooth feed of water to the jet, but I am no fluid engineer. It might be worth contacting them and seeing if they have a unit designed to fit in place of the Yamaha stock grate or what they would be willing to design and for how much. Please share any info if you follow up on this.

Honestly I never found the weed thing to be too bad. We get some pretty ugly weed beds up here on the northern lakes come late July and August. Once or twice on a long outing I might need to stop to clean weeds from the plugs. I just look at it as just a side effect of having amazing maneuverability. And frankly, it's a lot easier to de-weed a Yamaha Jet than it is my inboard when that thing gets wrapped up. Now I know how Scarab guys feel.

I think you are probably doing the smart thing to feel out the environment down there first before making a big financial purchase. If you come back to wanting a Jet, you will be fortunate to have, bar none, the best, most helpful/friendly/honest support forum right here. I really wish there was as great of a community for the inboard sport boat market since that's what I have now. Wake boaters are (well, can be) ass-holes. (Still not as bad as fishermen though). Lol!

 

[redthumper9]

My last boat after 10 years of salt water use.....

 

[RACCAP]

What was your maintenance routine

 

[RACCAP]

Personally, I would not want something that big unless I could keep it on lift with access to a hose for wash downs because pulling that beast out regularly would be a total pain in the ass! I think if you are getting up into that too-big-to-tow boat class that you might as well go north of 30' to make it worth it and just pay somebody else to perform the maintenance, otherwise get something like the 24'ers that you can easily move around on your own to take care of it. My $.02.

Since it doesn't sound like you have property you can keep it at on the water, have you ever considered a boat club (I am assuming you guys have them down there)? If I didn't have a family lake property to keep my boat at, I think that is the way I would go. The one's by me cost about the same as my boat payments, but you don't have any maintenance or storage issues to deal with.

I have looked into boat clubs down here and they only have little boats to rent

 

[haknslash]

I think you are probably doing the smart thing to feel out the environment down there first before making a big financial purchase. If you come back to wanting a Jet, you will be fortunate to have, bar none, the best, most helpful/friendly/honest support forum right here. I really wish there was as great of a community for the inboard sport boat market since that's what I have now. Wake boaters are (well, can be) ass-holes. (Still not as bad as fishermen though). Lol!

Geez is that bad on the Centurion / Supreme forums or their FB groups? While the traffic is nowhere near as active as here, the Skiers Choice group is pretty welcoming and very helpful. There are a few "know it all's" like anywhere else but the majority of people I've talked to and helped me have been great. I've not met an asshole .....yet ....but like opinions, everyone has one so I'm sure there is one that exists. Heck this forum has had its share of bad apple users at times. At least it's not thehulltruth level lol....well ok maybe wake world forums are pretty bad too and I hardly spend time there lol.

In regards to the weed grater thing yea I don't know a lot about that. I've posted about it before on here and nobody that I know of has used one. It's interesting for sure.

In regards to OP I would probably go for a nice Cobalt for the money and area of boating vs the Yamaha 275 boat. I don't know if you've mentioned it before but what do you plan to do with the boat or how do you plan to use it?

 

[RACCAP]

Geez is that bad on the Centurion / Supreme forums or their FB groups? While the traffic is nowhere near as active as here, the Skiers Choice group is pretty welcoming and very helpful. There are a few "know it all's" like anywhere else but the majority of people I've talked to and helped me have been great. I've not met an asshole .....yet ....but like opinions, everyone has one so I'm sure there is one that exists. Heck this forum has had its share of bad apple users at times. At least it's not thehulltruth level lol.

In regards to the weed grater thing yea I don't know a lot about that. I've posted about it before on here and nobody that I know of has used one. It's interesting for sure.

In regards to OP I would probably go for a nice Cobalt for the money and area of boating vs the Yamaha 275 boat. I don't know if you've mentioned it before but what do you plan to do with the boat or how do you plan to use it?

Without having had a boat around Clearwater before I can only guess our intended use.

With that being said probably go it to the Islands about a few miles off shore and hang out there.

Trailer to Destin Florida and go to the sand bars

Trailer to the Keys and go out there

Maybe if we get confident trailer to Ft Lauderdale and take the bimini trip

At this point we do not have a place to dock the boat. Looking to get a high and dry storage place

As far as vehicle, looking to get a 2020 MB GLE 450 SUV to tow it. 7700 lb tie capacity and 350 torque. Not willing to get a truck.

 

[Wisefam22]

Your vehicle is going to be biggest thing for that boat or anything larger then a 24ft.

5100lb boat 1500-2000lb trailer all the gear and 90 gallons of gas (approx 650lbs) you dont want the boat unless willing to pay someone to tow it for you.

Go with any boat similar size and most weight more then add the trailer and fuel as well.

 

[RACCAP]

So the 275 (5500lbs) will be too big