anmut
Jetboaters Admiral
- Messages
- 2,990
- Reaction score
- 2,819
- Points
- 277
- Boat Make
- Yamaha
- Year
- 2020
- Boat Model
- 212S
- Boat Length
- 21
Starting a review thread for others considering the upgrade to the twin impeller design by Leading Edge. Here's the link to the impellers I purchased for my 2020 212S: Yamaha 212 Twin Force Impeller
Boat specs at time of this review:
270 hours on motors
3 people
Full gas
500lbs of lead
Dual AGM house batteries
Yesterday was our first run of 2025, just a shakedown run to start the season. I ran a stretch of the Wisconsin River near our home which was still flowing a lot of water from spring rain.
Notes (my percentage estimates are just guesstimates based on the previous 270 hours I've used this boat):
I then headed back down to our sandbar, another few miles down river. Did some WOT pulls in that time frame and bilge eventually stopped shooting out water. When I got to the sandbar I opened the cleanout plug hatch and it was FILLED with water. I'm talking like the entire hatch was a lake, inches above the ports and drain.
Pulled the plugs and drained the water. About an hour later we left the sandbar and went back to the dock. After I got the boat on the trailer I pulled the boat out of the water and just slightly up the ramp so I could reach the plug and the boat still had a heavy list down ramp.
Pulled the plug and had tons of water pushing out. I lifted the hatch and it wouldn't go up - the gas strut had become disconnected from the bow side mounting point and had extended itself into and under the bow side hatch lip.
When I got home I unscrewed the hatch hinges and reattached the strut and got that fixed. Now, I'm not sure if the water in the hatch caused the strut issue or if I somehow screwed up when I put my sand anchors away and it popped the strut off. I'm leaning towards my error on that one - but something to watch.
The next thing I did was take the garden hose and force water down into the cleanout drain. I think the drain may have been clogged. I didn't notice any draining at the sandbar and, after cleaning it and filling the hatch with water on the hose, it appeared to drain very quickly with a noticeable vortex. Question: if the drain under the swim deck is under water, the drain should still function, right? I've been racking my brain on that one...
My hypothesis is that the new twin impellers are loading the pumps earlier in the pump tunnel, which is forcing water past the cleanout plugs at a higher rate. Last year, unless we were surfing, my cleanout plugs would have only inches of water in them and the boat was dry. On yesterday's run, I think the water was coming in at such a high rate, along with the clogged plug, that it was pouring into the boat through the cleanout tray.
We're going out again this weekend so we'll see if the drain can keep up with the water past the plugs. It's also clear to me that I need to seal those cleanout ports and plugs better. I'm going to try the o-ring as suggested by another member, and also inspect the entire system back there for loose or unsealed areas.
Other than the water intrusion, I'm very happy with the upgrade. Heck, the lower tone of the pump noise was worth it alone!
Boat specs at time of this review:
270 hours on motors
3 people
Full gas
500lbs of lead
Dual AGM house batteries
Yesterday was our first run of 2025, just a shakedown run to start the season. I ran a stretch of the Wisconsin River near our home which was still flowing a lot of water from spring rain.
Notes (my percentage estimates are just guesstimates based on the previous 270 hours I've used this boat):
- First thing I noticed pulling out of the dock, and later running at speed, is that with these impellers the tone of the jet pumps is lower. Before it was much higher pitched at any RPM, but the twins have a deeper tone.
- Hole shot - I'd say a 20% improvement to plane with these impellers.
- Idle/No Wake 1,2,3 - nothing to report (as expected)
- Cruising speed - I was able to cruise at 30mph at about 200 - 400 less RPM, leading to a lower cabin noise RPM
- MPGs - We ran about 20 miles last night, against the current and back with the current. 50% was WOT speeds. Initially it appears I've picked up .3 mpgs - usually my MPG average is 1.7, yesterday it was 2 MPG average. I confirmed this when I filled up at the gas station on the way home.
- Top speed: Since adding the lead and batteries a couple of years ago I lost about 3mph off the top end. Best I've ever seen on this boat was 51 on a calm day and just me in the boat. Last year I hit 47 top speed all year. With the new impellers i hit just under 46. Funny story though, our initial cruise from the dock always goes up river, so upon my initial WOT run I was only hitting 41 mph, which was very surprising. It took me a few miles to remember I'm pushing up against a decent down river current... duh!
- Turning hook-up: I did some WOT testing of the boat turning at speed and I easily picked up 30-40% more hook/power through hard corners. I want to test this further, on more open water (this part of the river is pretty narrow), but I did not have any cavitation and, while I still lost some speed on a sharp port/starboard turns, it was significantly less than before. Bottom line here - my nephews that like to go tubing behind my boat are really in for some pain this season.
- Surfing/wakeboard: TBD - water was only 61f in the channel and I didn't feel like putting my wetsuit on.
I then headed back down to our sandbar, another few miles down river. Did some WOT pulls in that time frame and bilge eventually stopped shooting out water. When I got to the sandbar I opened the cleanout plug hatch and it was FILLED with water. I'm talking like the entire hatch was a lake, inches above the ports and drain.
Pulled the plugs and drained the water. About an hour later we left the sandbar and went back to the dock. After I got the boat on the trailer I pulled the boat out of the water and just slightly up the ramp so I could reach the plug and the boat still had a heavy list down ramp.
Pulled the plug and had tons of water pushing out. I lifted the hatch and it wouldn't go up - the gas strut had become disconnected from the bow side mounting point and had extended itself into and under the bow side hatch lip.
When I got home I unscrewed the hatch hinges and reattached the strut and got that fixed. Now, I'm not sure if the water in the hatch caused the strut issue or if I somehow screwed up when I put my sand anchors away and it popped the strut off. I'm leaning towards my error on that one - but something to watch.
The next thing I did was take the garden hose and force water down into the cleanout drain. I think the drain may have been clogged. I didn't notice any draining at the sandbar and, after cleaning it and filling the hatch with water on the hose, it appeared to drain very quickly with a noticeable vortex. Question: if the drain under the swim deck is under water, the drain should still function, right? I've been racking my brain on that one...
My hypothesis is that the new twin impellers are loading the pumps earlier in the pump tunnel, which is forcing water past the cleanout plugs at a higher rate. Last year, unless we were surfing, my cleanout plugs would have only inches of water in them and the boat was dry. On yesterday's run, I think the water was coming in at such a high rate, along with the clogged plug, that it was pouring into the boat through the cleanout tray.
We're going out again this weekend so we'll see if the drain can keep up with the water past the plugs. It's also clear to me that I need to seal those cleanout ports and plugs better. I'm going to try the o-ring as suggested by another member, and also inspect the entire system back there for loose or unsealed areas.
Other than the water intrusion, I'm very happy with the upgrade. Heck, the lower tone of the pump noise was worth it alone!