Looking to buy a 21 ft Yamaha need engine advice.

[TheRedRocket]

Hi guys like the title says I am looking to buy a used 21 ft Yamaha. The SX210 seems just what I want but I am a little concerned about the stock 220 hp not being enough to pull my kids on a tube with 5 or so people in the boat. Can any of you squash this concern? As an alternative I have been looking at the 212X and 212SS with the 1812cc HO engines and I am sure that would be enough. Thanks in advance for taking the time to help me out.

 

[Bruce]

@ar240owner, I believe you should be able to help with this.

From my experience a friend with an AR210 would add perhaps 1,000 pounds of ballast and take 6 to 8 adults out wake surfing. My family of four joined his family of three on his boat for surfing and it did fine. I would not have any concern about 6 people and tubing.

 

[RightStuff]

Never had a problem with the power in my 210 doing what you are looking to do. Would I want more power? Sure, it's always nice to have that extra 'gear', but hasn't been necessary at all for surfing, tubing, skiing for us. Typically we have tubed with 4-5 adults and 4-5 kids (2-3 in the tube). With the 1.8L you'll get a little quicker hole shot, a bit higher top speed, and maybe a bit more torque over all.

I have had 1500 lbs of ballast (for surfing) on board and the only diff I noticed was it just took higher RPMs to keep the 10mph or so, which would be expected for any boat taking on that much weight.

The cost to jump to a 212 was too much for me to jump to it when I bought mine new (about $10k more). I think if could have found a 212 that was close to a 210 in price (all other things being equal) I would have jumped on it, just wasn't able to find many used 21' around here when I was looking.

 

[spaz1868]

No complaints with the power. We've had 4 adults and 4 kids on our boat with all the gear and have tubed and other water sports without issues. More power is always better but as @RightStuff said, we couldn't justify the price uplift with what we got with the AR210.

 

[Trevor Shipman]

As a 210 owner myself, pulling shouldn't be a concern. Like @RightStuff said, do I wish it had a lil more umph, sure, but the current setup hasn't prevented me from pulling activities.

 

[d_coyne1984]

If you aren't in a hurry, I am betting on a redesigned 21-22' Yamaha out next spring. It's currently the oldest boat in the Yamaha fleet and the fact that they just debuted a lighter weight, and slightly more powerful replacement for the old MR-1, I'll put money down that a new boat is coming. With a new hull, (hopefully) the same sound deadening tech from the 24'ers, and the new TR-1's in a twin configuration, it might just be the perfect all-around boat.

 

[Alex Smith]

I've also not had any problems towing an inflatable with our ar210. Usually 4 adults and two kids on the boat with two kids on the tube.

 

[TheRedRocket]

Thanks for the responses everyone, glad to know i can expand my search a little bit.

Never had a problem with the power in my 210 doing what you are looking to do. Would I want more power? Sure, it's always nice to have that extra 'gear', but hasn't been necessary at all for surfing, tubing, skiing for us. Typically we have tubed with 4-5 adults and 4-5 kids (2-3 in the tube). With the 1.8L you'll get a little quicker hole shot, a bit higher top speed, and maybe a bit more torque over all.

I have had 1500 lbs of ballast (for surfing) on board and the only diff I noticed was it just took higher RPMs to keep the 10mph or so, which would be expected for any boat taking on that much weight.

The cost to jump to a 212 was too much for me to jump to it when I bought mine new (about $10k more). I think if could have found a 212 that was close to a 210 in price (all other things being equal) I would have jumped on it, just wasn't able to find many used 21' around here when I was looking.

RightStuff I too live in the Twin Cities area south saint paul and am having a hell of a time finding a nicely priced used 21ft yamaha. Thanks for the response.

 

[TheRedRocket]

Does anyone know if the maintance/reliability on the different engines relatively the same?

 

[RightStuff]

RightStuff I too live in the Twin Cities area south saint paul and am having a hell of a time finding a nicely priced used 21ft yamaha. Thanks for the response.

Good luck on the search, I don't personally know of any for sale at the moment, so I can't help much there.

I did a bit of looking thru Craigslist to find boats to look at, that seemed to get the most hits for me around here. They are out there, just tough to find up here, I was even looking during the fall and didn't have much luck finding much for used boats. That's why I caved and went with a new one instead.

Here's a search that includes some areas nearby that has some options: http://goo.gl/ldhXNp
This one looks nice (exactly what I have): http://lacrosse.craigslist.org/bod/5490574317.html

Does anyone know if the maintenance/reliability on the different engines relatively the same?

As for this, there really isn't much difference, both have been in jet skis for years with many, many hours on them without issue. So they have tons of history for reliability.

There are some posts around here about cost to maintain these engines, generally you are doing about the same stuff to either engine type (same # of spark plugs, oil quantity per engine, 2 engines for things to break , etc., etc.) The 1.8L will suck a bit more gas that the 1.1L for a day on the water, but that's about the only cost of ownership difference engine-wise that I can think of. The rest of the boat/trailer is basically the same outside a few internal upgrades on the 212s (speakers, ballast, cruise assist option, seat colors).

I would take @d_coyne1984 's advice since they probably will be coming out with a new model this fall that will be in that 21' range. If you are ok with being patient for 4 mo. (details usually come out mid-Aug.) that model might be worth a look...

 

[TheRedRocket]

Thanks for the quick search that is exactly what I am looking for. Now you guys have me intrigued about the new design this fall i'll probably wait and see what that brings.

 

[Evil Sports]

Could not be happier that I went with the 1.8s. They always said, theres no replacement for displacement

 

[Speedling]

I feel that every jet boat from Yamaha is too slow. Buy the twin v8 with 255mm pumps for towing.

 

[ToddW850]

We wakeboard and tube every time we go out on my AR210 and I have no complaints. Like others said, I'd love to have the HO or faster engines, but these get the job done.

 

[OrangeTJ]

No problem with power pulling tubes, wakeboarders or skiers with our SX210. We typically have our family of 5 plus another family of 4 on board and have never had any issue with being short on power for any activity we wanted to do. It may be "only" 220 hp, but the boat does an excellent job of putting that power to use. Due to the nature of jet drives, it simply does not bog down when starting from a stop. The engines spool up to full RPM in an instant and the boat pulls with all of its power right out of the gate. Sure, the more weight you have onboard or on the end of the rope, the slower it will actually accelerate, but in my experience it accelerates with much more speed than any similar sized and powered boat that I've been on.