New Member - AR250 - Ohio

[HangOutdoors]

Your 21' footer is fine, don't sweat it. We go up and down Lake Michigan coastline. The 25 is a bit bigger but not worlds apart. Enjoyed my time years ago on Lake Mitchell. In the winter's we used to go stay at Bill Olivers for snowmobiling and the nude hot tubs afterwards. Think about it every time I drive through there on my way out to Manistee to go salmon fishing. Still remember the poor Bear in the cage.

 

[Eriejetboater]

Now back to feeling some spring time vibes - when is everyone planning on launching this year? I am hoping to launch April - got a new finger dock off our breakwall and putting it in this weekend to open things up in our cove and add 2 new dock spots. My cousin got a new Tri-Toon so we were running out of room at the in!

Picking mine up right around April 15 from the dealer and bringing her up to my indoor rack storage at CIC. Can’t wait to get out on the water!

 

[Mully262]

OK, if the covid crap lockdowns continue, I think we should arrange a US/CAN border meet!

Be careful! I was given the riot act by Canadian Border Patrol last year on Rainy Lake (Voyageurs Natl Park in MN). Floated over the imaginary line in the water. They were only the third boat I saw all day. All because of covid.

They threatened to arrest me and take my boat because the border was closed.

I responded with "So let me get this right. Because of covid, you might arrest me, take me FURTHER into Canada, and risk having me around Canadians? All becuase I am 200' over the border in open water nowhere near any Canadian shore?" They didn't see the humor or irony. I promptly moved along. Hahaha.

 

[Bizywk]

 

[LakesideLaw]

And....Boom! Got the call today... Yamaha set my delivery date! March 27th is the ETA for my AR250! So stoked! Summertime can’t get here fast enough.

 

[LakesideLaw]

Delivered! Finally - Boat came in this past Saturday the 10th.... Hallelujah! Only 2 weeks off the ETA. Jet Dock setup same day - and just scheduled my actual pickup for the 23rd. My dealer is taking their time with all the boats coming in and going over them with a fine tooth comb and fixing anything before the customer even sees it - they are scheduling 2 pickups a day (M-F) so 10 a week. They explained it is cutting down on a ton of issues - the "Prep" portion of the boat seems to really be earned right now - I feel very comfortable knowing my dealer is on top of this out of the gate. But they said they are not seeing (have not seen) any major issues with the recent 3 truckloads of boats - the ones that came in January/February had lots of issues (they declined delivery on 2 of them) - must have had some major production issues during the build on those ones - but March/April delivered boats have been back to their expected standards of Yamaha quality - minor issues only according to my dealer.

Still no covers though - so will be shipping cover for the time being until they come in. Just super excited for the boat and upcoming season!


Here is my new Jet Dock lift setup all ready! My towing of the jet dock adventures I detailed in another post.

 

[212s]

Delivered! Finally - Boat came in this past Saturday

Congrats!

Here is my new Jet Dock lift setup all ready! My towing of the jet dock adventures I detailed in another post.

How does that work...same as a jetski setup - just power load it on?
Will it scratch the gelcoat on the bottom?

 

[Mully262]

Here is my new Jet Dock lift setup all ready! My towing of the jet dock adventures I detailed in another post.

Looking forward to seeing the post on the dock. Looks pretty dope. Will you need to add guides to it? I assume the float submerges to land/launch?

 

[poordealguy]

@Plpbecks Hopefully the weather and the 'rona will get better and we can have a NE Ohio Yamaha meet up.

@Dumbassbass
We have been talking about hitting a couple of the wineries we know near Port Clinton and then taken the boat over to Kelly's island and the other islands.

Would be great to do a poker run or something with a group of Yammies on the Bay and LE this summer.

We spent all summer on West Branch last year. If all goes as planned, we’ll be the white 190 in the jumping rock cove. We also plan on spending some days on Milton and Berlin. No wake Portage sounds like a constant litany of ‘I am bored’ with kids so planning that as an adults only weekday in Mid-may. We would also join a Sandusky bay, Kelleys Island etc day trip if conditions are right for a 190.

Does anyone dock in the seasonal slips at West Branch? Experience?

 

[LakesideLaw]

How does that work...same as a jetski setup - just power load it on?
Will it scratch the gelcoat on the bottom?
[/QUOTE]

Looking forward to seeing the post on the dock. Looks pretty dope. Will you need to add guides to it? I assume the float submerges to land/launch?

Similar to a jet ski setup just much much larger (the Jet Dock is 12 feet by 28 feet to give size perspective it is huge) - this one has an air assist which lowers the back about 10-12 inches to help load/unload. Has rollers at the back as well and then the round hull guides are actually pretty big (much larger in person than they look in the pictures) - JetDock will come reset the guides if I need them to, but the previous owner had a Scarab 255ID on it - so it is setup for a 25 ft jetboat already and JetDock thought it would work plug and play as is.

The guides and rollers are pretty slick - they have a coating you can touch/up spray on to help make em slicker but the guy said to try as is as his Scarab went up and down super easy on it. Apply only about 15% power to kick it up rest of the way and then attach the winch hook to pull it level. Has a reverse winch system to help launch it but with the air drop in the back it takes minimal effort to launch.

I will be adding a keel guard to the bottom of the AR250 before launching the new boat and using the lift to ensure no issues but I inspected the hull on the Scarab as well as another Jet Dock that had an AR240 sitting on it next slip over and no damage/issues at all with the hull or gelcoat. Think of it like trailer bunks touch points. Of course you need to ensure it stays clean so in Lake Erie and the Bay we have zebra mussels and other things that can get on the dock and guides - If they are dirty and you drive up of course a zebra mussel shell could scratch a hull but I have a hose at the dock and can just hose it off as needed to keep it clean and figure I will power wash it 1-2 times a season as well. Jet Dock on their site indicates the guides and blocks are made of poly materials softer than any fiberglass gelcoat so if something gives it is the dock block/guides and if it leaves a streak it is just surface plastic that rubs right off (think like a black dress shoe sole leaving a mark on a tile floor rubs right off) but I did not see any evidence on the boats of hull issues or damage.

I am stoked I found this and the deal I got on it - saved $20K over a new one.

Pic of me towing it back last weekend for size (my dad riding shotgun ).