Newbie Here Took Delivery of 2016 223 VR

[Scott Potter]

Brand new here, just took delivery of my 2016 223 VR. I did the twin 200's, Medallion, and Sport Seat options. Haven't had it out yet, but I think maiden voyage will be tomorrow!

 

[SCSTWG]

Congrats! Chaparral makes a great looking boat. Looking forward to a full report!

 

[itsdgm]

Welcome aboard @Scott Potter and congrats on taking delivery of that beautiful boat. Can't wait to hear on how your first outing goes. Keep us posted.

 

[Julian]

Welcome and congrats on the new sweet boat!

 

[Vandyman]

@Scott Potter I pick mine up tomorrow after getting its 10 hour check/oil change. I had issues with the Medallion system but they installed a new one, so fingers crossed. It really takes some getting used to (I've never owned a jet before) but know you will love it. Keep us posted..... and enjoy!

 

[njmr2fan]

Beautiful boat. Best of luck with it. I look forward to hearing about it and seeing more photos.

 

[GTBRMC]

Beautiful boat! I love the Chap's classic lines and you picked a timeless color combo.

Welcome aboard! Looking forward to your impressions and more pix!

 

[Zarrella]

Welcome..... Congratulations on the new boat! It's a beauty!

 

[Scottintexas]

glad to have you on board, update your profile with your location, you may have some new friends close by that would like a ride!

 

[Scott Potter]

Profile updated. I am in Central Connecticut, along the CT river. Maiden Voyage was yesterday and wow, so many questions. Running the boat out on the river for the first time was great. Handles amazing, feels solid, twin 200's purring, and even in it's break in period it had tons of thrust. I can't wait to see how she goes after the first 7 hours click by! I'm told it's like a whole new boat all over again. I was learning the various modes on the Medallion system, specifically the docking mode. I would think if you set the docking speed at 1 or 2 mph that the boat would hold there, but that was not the case. It seemed to work well, but the speeds crept up to 5 or 6 mph. I would love to hear peoples methods for docking and trailer loading. This is where I had the most difficulty. First I am on a river, so there was some current. Then I am learning to reverse in reverse I will put it, as steering is backwards when backing. I played around next to the dock for a few minutes approaching numerous times with what seemed like a different result each time. Then getting her back on the trailer was a challenge. Thank god the ramps were empty and there was no one waiting behind me because they would have been as frustrated as I was. After I finally got her up onto the trailer I realized I should probably have just coasted towards it and shut the engine down, rather than forward/reverse, forward/reverse where once again the backwards reverse steering got me. What are others doing to make this easier? Once loaded, I pulled it out of the water and it wasn't quite straight on the trailer. I had to back down into the water two more times to get it to sit as level as I could. And tips here?

All and all it was a fun enjoyable time. I am looking forward to learning more and getting better at it, but like anything, it will take some time!

 

[Zarrella]

Loading takes alot of practice.....hang in there and you will get better with experience. Boat loading crooked is usually an indication of too much trailer in the water. Try to leave more of the bunks out of the water so they steer the boat correctly onto the trailer. Otherwise you are just floating over them. It takes trial and error! Welcome to the site and congrats on your new boat!!

 

[Geiger41]

Nice Boat

 

[smashedheadcat]

I don't believe docking mode is a slow speed "ski mode". It simply limits the available thrust and spreads it throughout the full travel of the throttle.

As mentioned earlier, a crooked boat on the trailer is probably a result of having the trailer too far in the water. Also, docking takes practice and never has to be done "fast". Take your time getting the boat on the trailer, just don't spend all day blocking the ramp.

Congrats on the purchase by the way. It's a gorgeous boat.

 

[smashedheadcat]

I don't believe docking mode is a slow speed "ski mode". It simply limits the available thrust and spreads it throughout the full travel of the throttle.

As mentioned earlier, a crooked boat on the trailer is probably a result of having the trailer too far in the water. Also, docking takes practice and never has to be done "fast". Take your time getting the boat on the trailer, just don't spend all day blocking the ramp.

Congrats on the purchase by the way. It's a gorgeous boat.

 

[fairpilot]

Congrats on your new boat

 

[BobJohnson]

the thing I learned that helped me with the backing up was to stop turning around and backing it up like a car or stern drive boat. I now obviously look back to see what is behind me and where I want to go, but then put it in reverse and steer the front of the boat to get the back of the boat to go where I want. Meaning if I want the back of the boat to turn to port, I steer the bow to starboard while in reverse.

Coming into a dock, again what I do is line up the bow at a 45 degree angle to the mid point on the dock and approach in idle. In idle the boat will still move forward 1 mph. If I need a little correction or umph, I hit the throttle slightly and then back to neutral. Once I am a couple feet away from the dock, I turn the bow away from the dock, go into reverse just quickly and then turn off the ignition. Boat (unless there is some strong wind) will ease right up next to the dock.

I haven't had to load mine on a trailer yet, but it seems like others have taken care of that. I was originally told to bring it in for after 10-15 hours for the break in check. When I called to set up an appointment, I was told the time requirement now was 20 hours for the break in. I'll be over that soon, so looking to take mine in, in a week or so.

Looks like we have the same boat, except I ended up with the 150's in mine. Couldn't justify the jump to the 200's financially, and have been happy with the 150's for my purposes (smaller in land lakes and basically cruising and watersports). You will love the twinn 200's. Should give you plenty of power.

 

[rkluck]

Not sure about your boat but I have two throttles. Think of parentheses "( )" around the throttles. I use the throttles to guide me in more than steering. This helps me react to wind etc. better. There are some good youtubes as well that are worth while watching.

 

[BobJohnson]

The Chaps have 1 throttle which controls both engines.

 

[NKTARHEEL]

Nice boat! I'm going to look at a 224 vrx tomorrow,

 

[Scott Potter]

Update: Okay so now I've got some hours of good learning behind me. Docking is becoming much easier. I watched the video that is on here posted by several different people that shows an angled approach, then about 5 feet away, begin to steer away from the dock while putting her into reverse, for just a blip, then shut down. This scoots the side of the boat nicely against the dock. I've also learned the best depths to have the trailer in the water, resulting in perfect seating on the trailer every time. I had it in too deep, as several of you taught me, I got this down now. I was out on the river first thing in the morning this week after a bad rainstorm which I won't ever do again. The river was littered with floating debris. So 20 minutes into my ride, I hear a strange noise coming from a motor. I shut it down and and restarted the good motor and drove back in on the one. Once out of the water I pulled what was left of a clear plastic Dunkin Donuts cup out of the front of the jet. I haven't had it back in the water yet, so hopefully that was it. Could I have stayed on the throttle and just had that get chewed up and spit out? Or if this happens again do I need to get it out of the water? I am assuming this is pretty normal, right?