My last "boating" trip of 2014.

[Ronnie]

My son and I picked up his new to him 1996 yamaha wave blaster II from the pwc shop yesterday. It took a few pennies to get it back into shape, it was running rough when we first got it in October. I had the shop rebuild the carbs, add aftermarket air filters, install a new aftermarket impeller, replace the choke with a primer and drain the old gas out among other things.

When we picked it up yesterday we headed straight for the water to see if it felt any different than our first and only test ride in October. The difference is like night and day. It starts immediately, it sounds great and accelerates smoothly. My son only rode it for 5 to 10 minutes before we switched pwcs so I could try it out. When I tried to switch back my son declined saying he wasn't ready for such a big difference and that he wanted to wait to ride it again until next season. I was a little perplexed by this, I thought we were going to be on the water for at least an hour and was dressed for the task with a half / spring wet suit, a float coat and water shoes on. Then I realized why my son didn't want to ride it anymore. He was afraid of falling off and into the cold water, even with a half suit on himself. I understood that since I almost tipped the waveblaster over as I transitioned to it on the water. It is only half the weight of the wave runner I was on and Im almost three times heavier than my son. It had been raining on and off for the last week, it was cloudy but not windy during our session and the air temperature was 58 degrees when we launched. Neither of us got all the way in the water but I got my legs wet and they were still numb 30 minutes after we got the skis back on the trailer.

All told it took us 6 hours from the time we left in the morning to the time we returned in the afternoon with the skis in tow. In that time we were riding on the water for 20 minutes max. I would not change a thing. My son was excited the whole day and we spent a lot of time talking there and back. He only slept for about 30 minutes at the tail end of our return trip which is a lot less than when we go boating in season. When we got home we test fitted the mats and seat cover that we purchased a few weeks ago. Of course he wanted to install something right away but I convinced him to wait.

We got a little bonus yesterday in that the pwc shop owner and his son met us at the ramp with two pwcs, they were going there anyway to test them. Both were single rider / free style hurricanes (previously bobs). For clarification these are high end skis with a cost of $15k or more by my estimates. One was for a customer the other was the shop owner's son's. He practiced a few of his free style tricks and even with the crappy conditions he managed to draw a few people out from the nearby marina and restaurant to watch him. His pwc was less than 250 lbs and had an engine that produced over 250 hp. These things have come along way since the venerable Kawasaki 550 (one of the first jet skis). I almost forgot to mention that the rider is this year's amateur freestyle world champion. His older bother held the same title a few years ago and their father the shop owner built and maintained or maintains both skis. I will attach stills and video later today.

Lastly, the shop owner complimented me on the pwc trailer. He sees a lot of them but likes how I added boat buckles and fulton winches and a fulton trailer jack. He also noticed and liked the hydroturf placement, led lights and quick connect / disconnect "s" hooks on the safety chains. Its a nice compliment coming from a long time pwc shop owner and a guy who builds and maintains high end skis. So ends my 2014 boating season, not what I was expecting but still all good, all very good actually.

 

[Ronnie]

Here are a few pics, a video I just threw together and one I found on you tube of another freestyle champ but this one taken with a quad copter (not mine though).

 

[4x15mph]

Ronnie, those were some great freestyle tricks and nice trailer setup that you put together. Do you like the 96 waverunner and would you recommend this as an option for someone that wants a ski? I would guess you put $700+ with the recent fixes/upgrades, right? Impeller, carb build, shop "materials" (I love that one), etc.

 

[Ronnie]

We love the waveblaster II. I sought it out specifically because it shares a lot of the same specs as the Seadoo spark 2 up (rider) high output. That is same weight (~ 400 lbs) and hp (90). Incidentally, the waveblaster I is lighter and shorter but has the same hp (60) as the spark 2up non high output. If you are looking for a really maneuverable pwc with a good but not great top speed and don't want to spend $7k to $9k on it I can't think of a better choice. If you want a more comfortable/stable ride and don't mind the relatively slow response to steering inputs and / or want / need a higher top speed (I.e., greater than 50 mph) than a bigger / newer pwc may be a better choice.

Before I disclose costs I have to admit that I didn't flow my own experienced based routine when I bought this ski. That is I didn't water test it before I bought it. It was 400 miles away and it wasn't until we finalized the details of the transaction that I realized I wouldn't be able to water test it so I compression tested it on the trailer instead. Of course it started up and checked out on the trailer but ran like crap when we got it to the water. I thought it just needed to be tuned since it was a high altitude pwc and I boat at sea level most of the time.

At a net spend of $800 for the ski I believed that I couldn't lose. I was wrong, Both carbs were all gummed up and the fuel was gelled, apparently the previous owner didn't use it much and didn't stabilize the fuel. the carbs were the worst my shop owner had seen, they showed me a pic which made me question how it started and ran at all when I first got it. all of the work cost another $1,500 but some of that was optional (e.g. $250 for aftermarket air filters and $400 for a solas impeller, these are parts and labor costs), Before additional upgrades some of which we have already purchased but not installed this pwc cost $2,300. I will have around $3k into it by the time we are done. This is what I would expect to pay for a similar pwc in good running condition but without a lot of upgrades. The shop owner said they only made this model for a few years (96 through 98 I think). We could have save some labor costs if We did more of the work ourselves but it seems like We have less and less time these days so We needed to limit the amount of wrenching done on this pwc.

Money aside the bonding time between my son and I over a common interest that this pwc has brought has been priceless, for me anyway, and there is definitely more to come. The Next tasks for my son primarily (I will supervise and sponsor) replace the mats and seat cover before adding a keel guard and aftermarket intake grate.

 

[4x15mph]

Thanks Ronnie and i will start looking at these some more. I think with some of these lower cost options, a good trailer can be as much of the "cost" that weighs into the equation although sometimes this is overlooked. I can't tell you how many boats I had looked at that didn't have a title for the trailer. I also see title-less PWC's advertised which is not something I want to deal with being in Pennsylvania.

Enjoy the ski