- Messages
- 5,940
- Reaction score
- 5,394
- Points
- 452
- Location
- Florida
- Boat Make
- Yamaha
- Year
- 2021
- Boat Model
- Other
- Boat Length
- Other
Keeping in mind I have P W C's not boats, my last 2 were 2014 models with the 1800 NA engines, aside having a chain hatch on one of them and Yamaha covered under my warranty I put 870 hours on these , the pumps are still original never been rebuilt but I did add gear lube to the grease a couple years ago at 650 hours. I did change the pump housings over to the plastic liners around that time also. The impellers are all original as well as the drive shaft and all but one motor mount. The engines run fine they usually topped out between 55 and 58 mph the acceleration was ok, obviously not like the super charged versions but they do not need premium fuel either. I have owned a super charged Yamaha and a Crapasacki that I still will never waste another second on one of those. So recently I purchased a couple of new 2021 Yamaha skies one from barneys and one from Cycle Springs a side note locating new FX models is not easy and I needed to get 2 before the end of the year, Neil at cycle springs was very helpful in that endeavor.
Now keep in mind the weather has been poor to say the least and having 2 new skies to break in is time consuming as I am one of those people who break in the ski very carefully and slowly, probably why they last so long considering how hard I drive them.
My first impression of the new skies this is important because I have 2 and getting the same results from both makes my findings credible in my opinion.
I start out just idling and gradually put the engine in no wake mode, I run that speed for about 30 minutes so it gets boring to say the least.
Eventually I get out of no wake mode and start to very gradually increase the speed a couple of M P H at a time and stay there about 15 minutes what a surprise when I reached 15 mph and the ski violently rocked side to side it continued to do that until I either reduced the speed or increased the speed to about 20 NEVER in my life did I experience anything like that on any ski I owned, I played with the trim and found raising it up a bit would reduce that effect but not get rid of it. This was totally unacceptable in my mind. I found the same exact issues with both skies so I readjusted the trim to a better location on both and went out on a second day to continue the break in process, now I also posted on some p w c sites to see if anyone else had this problem and I learned it was a common issue along with the wet ride issue I experienced on these hulls. SO for the record my skies already had my steering added and my Jeff cruise and a few other things like my custom intake grate. and all the tricks I do to the engine and intermediate bearings never seize and white lithium grease on the engines and electrical and I had a hell of a time inventing a funnel that would work around that huge vent they placed in the filler tube without spilling fuel out. So I had some time invested in this set of skies. So back on the water and I get out riding around 25 mph for the day using the cruise control and bumping the speed up and down etc for a day with a few increases to 40mph and then back down again.
But the chine walk is just not going away so I call on the inventor in me and I ponder a solution and then I decide the hell with it and modify both skies go for broke or go home.
Next I bring out the skies and my girlfriend she has never driven them she has only seen them in the front yard. SO I take the one she is going to operate and warm it up for her this is a ritual I always follow slow warm up before going any plaining speeds. then I warm up the one I am going to drive. I explain the process to her that we will not be opening these up for a few hours and we will be cruising around 30 to 35 most of the time. I then have her get on with me so I can explain the E series because she has only driven the 2014 models. Once she feels comfortable with the differences we go riding around in the damn fog freezing , well she was freezing I was just a bit chilled. Now the good part I had warned her about the chine walk just in case my mods did not solve the problem, well it was so impressive that I just could not believe how big a difference the mode made and the ski hit 60 mph so damn fast I was thinking it was close to the acceleration of the supercharged skies I had previously.
I told her to go do some maneuvers and tell me what she thought and all I saw was smiles and thumbs' up she would rather ride on the back than drive and she drove it all day long 5 hours, so here is the other thing that totally amazed me about this engine design, they obviously made some changes because every time I ride them where my old skies would burn through 5 gallons of fuel an hour religiously year after year, these engines burn half the fuel I went through 9 gallons of fuel between the 2 skies for the entire day. So the fuel economy acceleration and top speed was impressive I put her on the back hit 60 mph in a flash out of the hole. And no more chine walk. great day on the water.
Now keep in mind the weather has been poor to say the least and having 2 new skies to break in is time consuming as I am one of those people who break in the ski very carefully and slowly, probably why they last so long considering how hard I drive them.
My first impression of the new skies this is important because I have 2 and getting the same results from both makes my findings credible in my opinion.
I start out just idling and gradually put the engine in no wake mode, I run that speed for about 30 minutes so it gets boring to say the least.
Eventually I get out of no wake mode and start to very gradually increase the speed a couple of M P H at a time and stay there about 15 minutes what a surprise when I reached 15 mph and the ski violently rocked side to side it continued to do that until I either reduced the speed or increased the speed to about 20 NEVER in my life did I experience anything like that on any ski I owned, I played with the trim and found raising it up a bit would reduce that effect but not get rid of it. This was totally unacceptable in my mind. I found the same exact issues with both skies so I readjusted the trim to a better location on both and went out on a second day to continue the break in process, now I also posted on some p w c sites to see if anyone else had this problem and I learned it was a common issue along with the wet ride issue I experienced on these hulls. SO for the record my skies already had my steering added and my Jeff cruise and a few other things like my custom intake grate. and all the tricks I do to the engine and intermediate bearings never seize and white lithium grease on the engines and electrical and I had a hell of a time inventing a funnel that would work around that huge vent they placed in the filler tube without spilling fuel out. So I had some time invested in this set of skies. So back on the water and I get out riding around 25 mph for the day using the cruise control and bumping the speed up and down etc for a day with a few increases to 40mph and then back down again.
But the chine walk is just not going away so I call on the inventor in me and I ponder a solution and then I decide the hell with it and modify both skies go for broke or go home.
Next I bring out the skies and my girlfriend she has never driven them she has only seen them in the front yard. SO I take the one she is going to operate and warm it up for her this is a ritual I always follow slow warm up before going any plaining speeds. then I warm up the one I am going to drive. I explain the process to her that we will not be opening these up for a few hours and we will be cruising around 30 to 35 most of the time. I then have her get on with me so I can explain the E series because she has only driven the 2014 models. Once she feels comfortable with the differences we go riding around in the damn fog freezing , well she was freezing I was just a bit chilled. Now the good part I had warned her about the chine walk just in case my mods did not solve the problem, well it was so impressive that I just could not believe how big a difference the mode made and the ski hit 60 mph so damn fast I was thinking it was close to the acceleration of the supercharged skies I had previously.
I told her to go do some maneuvers and tell me what she thought and all I saw was smiles and thumbs' up she would rather ride on the back than drive and she drove it all day long 5 hours, so here is the other thing that totally amazed me about this engine design, they obviously made some changes because every time I ride them where my old skies would burn through 5 gallons of fuel an hour religiously year after year, these engines burn half the fuel I went through 9 gallons of fuel between the 2 skies for the entire day. So the fuel economy acceleration and top speed was impressive I put her on the back hit 60 mph in a flash out of the hole. And no more chine walk. great day on the water.
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