Need help, I can not decided between the 2018 212x or the 2018 242 limited S E series

[ErniejRobert]

This is my first boat, and I have two daughters 8 and 6 and have a budget of no more than 85k Canadian I can purchase either boat at this price both new, but am really struggling with which one to buy...I know first world problem right. But we will hold it for 10 years. So do I buy the fully load fun 21 or the larger 24 with no ballast or upgraded stereo. Not sure what the kiddo will eventually grow up doing other than tubing. Not sure any feed back is appreciated.
Cheers
Ern

 

[NewBoater]

Get the 24’r

 

[BigAbe75]

I would agree with the 24. You can add the stereo and ballast later on as the kids get bigger, or those desires take higher priority. Can't get it to grow 3 feet later.

Alternatively, do what I did and start off with a several year old model first. Make sure you and your family are going to love it, decide what's most important to you then upgrade later on. Many recommend getting your 2nd boat first.... but how do you know what that should be? I started off with a 2011 21' SX (w/ a tower), so essentially an AR210. Kept it 2 years and now am upgrading to the 242X after deciding what activities and things we know we will love to have and use.

 

[ErniejRobert]

Get the 24’r

Ok why please give some insight, appreciated

 

[Weeb]

The limited will have a bigger Bimini top and seat cushions on the rear deck slot panels to mention a few things.

 

[Liveto99]

Not to many people sell there boat to get a smaller boat. Get the bigger boat. 95 percent upgrade in size.
You have 2 daughters they each bring a friend your wife brings a friend, now there is 7 on the boat and if you want to bring someone that’s 8. Bigger boat!

 

[swatski]

This is my first boat, and I have two daughters 8 and 6 and have a budget of no more than 85k Canadian I can purchase either boat at this price both new, but am really struggling with which one to buy...I know first world problem right. But we will hold it for 10 years. So do I buy the fully load fun 21 or the larger 24 with no ballast or upgraded stereo. Not sure what the kiddo will eventually grow up doing other than tubing. Not sure any feed back is appreciated.
Cheers
Ern

This is not even close...
I love 212s, and theirn smaller size can be a plus, but the specs could not really be more different.
That 242 has E-throttles (non-upgradable in 212x because of the cost - would be about 10-15k), the big tower/bimini (add another 10k), and the big connext (another ?10k?) - it's not even close (given the 10k difference in MSRP between the two models in US)...

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[Benny Sibbitt]

I was told, buy the biggest boat you can afford

 

[tabbibus]

Like swatski said, buy the 242 LSE. With kids you will love the large bimini. The e throttle is amazing! My kids 7 and 5 will be tubing initially, no need for ballasts at the moment.

 

[Rumbo]

I agree with everyone, go bigger. You will have to modify either boat with ballast and a wake booster or @jcyamaharider’s wake wedge to surf but as @swatski said you can’t modify 3 more feet of length.

 

[PJ73]

It's called "2 foot-itis". You're always wanting to go a bit bigger. I went with the 21 ft for a couple reasons. First, my kids are 5 & 7 so they're no help launching, although my wife can back the truck in and do whatever is needed. I felt the 21 ft was a bit easier to launch and recover at the ramps we go to. Not that it was a fully deciding factor, her statement of "It's too big" (which immediately warranted a gutter response on my end) ended the discussion of the 24 ft. For you first boat, the 21 is plenty big, we came from an 18 ft, and it comes with all the bells and whistles. No need to really upgrade anything, unless you wanted to. It has the ballast tanks, stereo, trim, you name it.
Now the 24 ft is a fantastic boat, don't get me wrong and chances are you're not going to need to upgrade anything inside that boat, the Limited SE is loaded as well. But, you don't have, someone correct me if I'm wrong, the ballast tanks. Not that it's a deal breaker, but it's nice to have them just fill and go. You do however, have the "throttle by wire" which is nice. If you were on a lake, I'd say go with the 24 and make the jump to the 242X. I mean, hell, you're right there, only about $6k away and well worth it to get the wake series. So, I'd say, if you can get the 24 LTDS, do that or make the jump to the 242X.
We started looking at the AR210, then jumped to the 212 Limited S, and I said "well shit, I'm here, and splitting hairs at $60k, I might as well get the 212X.
I hope this helps and not make your decision more difficult. It's a boat, you're gonna have fun no matter what you get. Remember that. And when your kids are older they're not gonna say "remember when dad threw that extra cash into his 401k? wasn't that great?" No, they'll remember the boat, 21 or 24 foot.

 

[OrangeTJ]

The "cool stuff" the 212 has can be added to the 242 later on. The extra 3 feet of the 242 can never be added to the 212. If you're going to keep the boat 10 years, consider that as your kids get bigger they'll want to bring friends, and they'll all be bigger too. I'd go 242 and not look back in your situation.

 

[Whisky]

@PJ73 walked you through some of the same decisions we worked through to get to the 212X also.

For us, we wanted a turn key boat with all of the features we wanted, we were upgrading from an AR190 and wanted the sports features (tower/ballast) we thought about going with an AR210, but knew that we would then want to add lots of upgrades, whereas the 212x had pretty much all of the upgrades we would make like the stereo and seadeck, plus some really nice trim, seating, and upholstery that we couldnt really add to the AR. So we figured, well, if we get the x, it can be our 10 year boat also and it will age well and when we do go to resell one day it will be loaded and hopefully easier to sell.

On the 21 vs 24 ft question, I have not owned a 24ft so cannot comment, for us, we considered the 24ft over the 21 also and for us we felt the 21 was just right space wise, and for us as it allowed us to get an X where we wouldn’t have been able to with 21ft. I will say though, I would have loved to have an e-series boat if it was in our budget at the time.... I’m still sad that the 212X’s didn’t get the E-series treatment!

 

[swatski]

I will say though, I would have loved to have an e-series boat if it was in our budget at the time.... I’m still sad that the 212X’s didn’t get the E-series treatment!

I agree, I will say however that with the @Ridesteady proving itself to be really robust I'm not sure I would want to go with Yamaha E-throttles. I almost feel like I have the best of both worlds, the simplicity and safety of cable throttles combined with the finesse and range of the R-S.

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[buckbuck]

If you are leaning toward the 24' boat take into account the bimini. It may be a real deterrent in your location.

 

[rrmidden]

I grew up on a 17’ I/O. When I got on a 19’ Yamaha I thought wow, this is so much more roomy. Then I got on a 21’, and thought wow, this is even better, the extra 6” of width really makes the cockpit feel bigger, then I got on a 24’, and thought it wasn’t that much more roomy. But for us it’s usually just the two of us, we’ve had 6 people on maybe a half dozen times, and 4-5 people twice as many times as that. The 21’ is plenty big enough for our purposes, but if we had kids l, and we envisioned having them and their friends in all the time, I could understand looking at a 24’. It’s all perspective though, I stil look at our 21’, and absolutely love it and think it’s plenty big.

 

[haknslash]

The difference in size between a 21' and 24' Yamaha is mainly in the bow / anything forward of the helm.

 

[tdonoughue]

We, too, had a decision point between the 21' and the 24'. Boating friend advised towards the 24'. I have not regretted it. Mostly when the kids were your kids' ages, it was darn nice to bring along everyone who wanted to go out on the boat. I have filled it several times. We have 3 kids, so the calculus was if we brought out another family our same size, what would that look like? Would everyone be comfy? Turns out that only happened a handful of times, but was far outnumbered by times when I had a boatload of buddies, the church youth group, miscellaneous kid friends, etc.

That said, I think a lot of the input above is excellent--both directions. Hope it is all helpful to you.

 

[AJR1977]

For me bigger isn't always better.... 212x has been perfect for my family. As the above graphic shows the difference between 212x and 242 isn't really that much inside the boat. We've had 6-8 people on the boat several times with no issue. One thing no one has mentioned is yearly costs. My marina charges by the foot. So 3 more feet of boat x $200/foot I think they charge for high/dry is an extra $600 per season... x 10 years. For me 21 foot with the ballast tanks and sound bar has been all I needed.