OLD BOATS

[BravoMike]

Just came across this thread. Previous boat was a 2001 Malibu 21LSV. Loved the boat for what it was intended. But, as an all around boat, not what we wanted. Wanted something that we could fish out of if we wanted, handle rough water better, and still do water sports when we felt like it. I had seen the Yamaha's at a couple of boat shows and love the swim deck and like the simplicity of the jet drives. Sold the Malibu and was boat-less for awhile. Wife and daughter wanted a swimming pool and I wanted another boat. Impasse. The one day in May 2011, they decided a boat would be fun to have again. Did a quick nationwide search (already knew what I wanted), and came across my current boat in Arizona (live in North Texas). Had 70 hours on it and looked brand new in the pictures. Flew out the next day to look. I was not disappointed. Asking price was $18,999. The same boat, except 2006, at local used boat lot, sold about the same time for $24,000. It was a piece of sh@# and the salesman would not even tell me hours on the engines. Anyway, dealer split shipping costs with me. Paid $19,500 including shipping. Went from no boat to Yamaha owner in 3 days and loved it ever since. Like some others here, I am tempted by the newer models. But, for the price I paid, it is hard to part with it. Plus, I like the looks of the Classic 230's. By the way, dealer was Outdoor Sports in Prescott Valley, Arizona. If my memory is correct, I dealt with Rob, one of the owners. Great dealer to work with...wish they were not so far away.

 

[Glassman]

Just came across this thread. Previous boat was a 2001 Malibu 21LSV. Loved the boat for what it was intended. But, as an all around boat, not what we wanted. Wanted something that we could fish out of if we wanted, handle rough water better, and still do water sports when we felt like it. I had seen the Yamaha's at a couple of boat shows and love the swim deck and like the simplicity of the jet drives. Sold the Malibu and was boat-less for awhile. Wife and daughter wanted a swimming pool and I wanted another boat. Impasse. The one day in May 2011, they decided a boat would be fun to have again. Did a quick nationwide search (already knew what I wanted), and came across my current boat in Arizona (live in North Texas). Had 70 hours on it and looked brand new in the pictures. Flew out the next day to look. I was not disappointed. Asking price was $18,999. The same boat, except 2006, at local used boat lot, sold about the same time for $24,000. It was a piece of sh@# and the salesman would not even tell me hours on the engines. Anyway, dealer split shipping costs with me. Paid $19,500 including shipping. Went from no boat to Yamaha owner in 3 days and loved it ever since. Like some others here, I am tempted by the newer models. But, for the price I paid, it is hard to part with it. Plus, I like the looks of the Classic 230's. By the way, dealer was Outdoor Sports in Prescott Valley, Arizona. If my memory is correct, I dealt with Rob, one of the owners. Great dealer to work with...wish they were not so far away.

Great story Mike. And an even better deal on a great boat. I do love me some Malibu when it's skiing time though. A few of my friends have them and boat with us regularly. It's a fair trade off. One of my buddies will take my wife out skiing while I entertain their better halves on the Yamaha..haha. We get some great pictures that way - using the Yamaha as the chase boat.

 

[biglar155]

I first saw a Yamaha at the 2009 Milwaukee boat show. The economy was crap, I had just had to lay off my buddy (permanently) and the thought of buying something like a new boat was crazy. We were just at the boat show "for something to do."

The kids had fun checking out every boat at the place but I have to admit that after a couple hours of trying to keep them in check I was getting tired of being there.

We had made the final turn down the final aisle and were heading for the door when the kids went up yet another set of wooden stairs to check out yet another open-bow runabout. They said "Dad, can we go on this one?" and stood at the edge waiting expectantly. I fully intended to say "No, we've seen enough. Let's go," but the salesman beat me to it with a "Sure! Go on in!" The kids looked at me with those grins you just can't resist. "O.K. Fine. But BE CAREFUL!" (Fate rears its head #1.)

Chris and I followed them aboard just to make sure they didn't wreck the thing. I immediately noted the dual tachometers and throttles. My gaze went 'round and saw the head compartment. Then I saw that it was a Yamaha. Huh. Didn't know they made boats like this. Either way, in my brain I knew this was a $60K+ boat so don't even think about it.

I chatted with the salesman a bit and was surprised to learn that it was a twin-engine jet boat. Pretty cool!

We had gathered the kids and were about 10 yards away (my brain having already put the thing in the same class as the 55 foot cruiser we had been on earlier) when Chris leaned in to me and said "I really liked that one." (Fate rears its head #2.)

I spun on my heal and went back and grabbed a brochure and price sheet. By the end of the day I was on the internet and had found... well... let's just say I found "you guys."

Of course that summer we had a two-week layoff for us salaried folks at the plant. There was clearly no boat purchase in the near future.

Time marched on and the new boats came out. We attended the 2010 show and checked out the new boats - we liked them even more than the old ones.

Alas, by the time July rolled around we had figured out the sad reality: We are a single-income 4-kid family. The price of the boats was going up faster than we were able to save for one. We could ALMOST pull off a purchase but the interest rates were just too high for us to be comfortable.

In the middle of all this, I was fooling with a little stock I had in my e-trade account. That's always been my "gambling" money so it was never much. I was watching one of my perennial favorites (Principal Financial Group) taking a slow nose-dive. I ditched it and started buying the one stock I really should have avoided: Ford. And I was determined to be dangerous. Every time Ford dropped significantly I bought another 200 to 300 share. By the time it hit rock-bottom I had averaged out to 1000 share at $2 / share. (Fate rears its head #3)

After several weeks of not thinking about it, I happened to check in with "you guys" to see if anything was new. (Fate rears its head #4) Someone had posted that Yamaha had reduced their financing to 2.99% on 15 year loans.

Within the hour I had located a "leftover" 2009 sitting in Kenosha. Of all the colors, it just HAD to be black. (The two Mustangs I had owned were black - why? Do they come in other colors?)

I walked in the door and must have had a funny look on my face because Chris said "What's wrong?"

Before I had even put down my laptop bag or closed the door I said "Yamaha just dropped their financing to 2.99% for 15 years. Ford is at $7.50 / share. There is a leftover 2009 Yamaha at a dealership in Kenosha. He's open until 6:00 tonight."

Without batting an eyelash she marched into the kitchen and started putting away the pots and pans she had taken out to prepare dinner with.

"What are you doing?"

We're eating dinner in Kenosha tonight.

The rest, as they say, is history.

Heading into our 4th full summer with it (5th if you count a month in 2010) I can say that I wouldn't trade my boat for anything else right now. It's the perfect fit for us.

In a few years when the kids are gone a "sport boat" might not suit us as well, but we'll see. Everyone else's kids will be gone too and our friends will have more time to come with us!

 

[MOA_Chaser]

I'm still very happy with the deal I got with my boat. I got my 2004 SX230 from a motivated seller for $15.5k in August 2011.

I try to keep an eye out, and it seems like I'd have a hard time matching that price even 3 years later.

 

[txav8r]

I absolutely enjoyed that story immensely @biglar155 ! Somewhat similar to ours in the beginning. But yours was a great story! Loved all the fate!

 

[bibbubouy]

I don't have a cool story to tell but we have a 2003 AR230. I believe this was the first year for the 230. We purchased it in 2004 used from a pilot who was moving on to other ventures for $19,500 which I thought was a lot, but the family really liked the layout and there were very few out there. I guess not many were made in 2003 because I seldom see anyone on here with a 230 that old. Anyway we used the heck out of it when the kids were younger skiing and tubing. I added a second battery, depth finder, and Hydro-Turf and it's been a very reliable toy. Always stored inside and still in great shape although we only use it 2-3 times a summer now a days.

 

[Cotay]

Not that I don't like the looks of the newer Yamaha's, but I am still found of the pre-2007 models, just a sexy looking boat, here is my old boat.

View attachment 7602

The new boats are very tempting and are beautiful in their own right, but I have to agree with you that there is just something about the pre-2007 models that I love. In appearance, the pre-2007's have an esthetic that is more of a blend of a "classical" wooden runabout with a modern technological footprint. They seem to be holding their value in the market anywhere between $15K (for a beat up example) to $25K (for a clean sample or a crazy owner). I paid $18,999 for my 2005 AR230 last year and that was fair. The instrumentation (speedo, fuel gauge, depth finder) was generally non-operational but that was repairable. The previous owner had generally taken care of the boat but I think he'd stopped putting money into it and left the repairs to the next owner. I've sunk maybe $3K-4K in for new kit/repairs/tires.

Now my only issue is finding a lake here in California to use her on. The closest lakes to me are in the next county (Santa Clara), but they've banned all boats from my county (San Benito) because the one lake here was found to have mussels a few years ago (never mind that my boat has never been in any water in my county and couldn't have been since the lake was closed before I purchased). Most other lakes within a three hour drive are either closed due to drought or are severely low. This may be our "off" year while we wait for El Nino to bring us a nice wet winter.

 

[Glassman]

I met a 2003 SR230 owner over the weekend. His boat was looking and running great. 2003 was the first year for the Yamaha 230 series, the "SR" was the model. The "AR" (the one with the tower) came out on 2004.

The '03 owners were given a questionnaire about features that they would like to see on the new models - things such as pop-up cleats, dual independent throttles, built-in cooler and other amenities were listed. Many of the features we enjoy today are the result of these questionnaires given to owners of previous iterations.

 

[Lspeedss]

Ahhh... Something special about the good looking classics. We love our 2007 AR230... It is and has been a wonderful boat. I love the in sync feeling I feel when driving this boat. Agile and secure. I love it....

 

[0627Devildog]

I saw I was only the second Canadian. C'mon Canada time to step up and represent!

Canadians Own boats? I thought they just sailed around in those ice skate catamaran thingy's. . . .

 

[bibbubouy]

"I met a 2003 SR230 owner over the weekend. His boat was looking and running great. 2003 was the first year for the Yamaha 230 series, the "SR" was the model. The "AR" (the one with the tower) came out on 2004."

Ah yes it is an SR. Sorry for mix up. Old age setting in...

 

[Julian]

We bought an LX230 in 2003, new from Neilson's in Round Lake. Loved it and had a great time on it, but in December 2004 we adopted our daughter and driving the LX with no windshield in the rain between islands on Lake Of the Woods Ontario for our 2 week summer vacation was not the best experience. So I was keeping my eye out for a 230....and was trolling the threads on Camper Covers too!

In 2007 I finally got tired of squinting into the rain and called in a favor from my boss's boss's admin's husband (who I talked to often and had found out that he was SVP of Yamaha NA Boat sales). I asked her to ask him if he could find me a good deal on a boat in my area. He called Jeff Neilson, who in turn put me in touch with his Sales Manager's father who was selling his 2005 SX230 (which I'm sure he got a heck of a deal on through his daughter).

He was the MOST ANAL boater I've EVER MET! He had a log book of EVERY TRIP out on the boat, who was on board, time out and back, hours running, gas used, water temp and weather!!!!! Also logged every maintenance item with similar level of detail! Needless to say, the boat was spotless with only 2 items he was appalled at (2 tiny burn marks from a guest who's cigar dropped some hot ash---the size of pin heads). It was almost comic how he told me about these two marks before going out to the boat, and I'm thinking...great....the seats are going to be full of cigarrette burn holes--this ain't going to work! When he uncovered the boat, it was spotless, and he takes me over to the seat behind the captains chair and points at the two TINY marks and I'm like...."Really....where?"

We struck a good bargain....and the rest is history!

One of the first mod's was the camper cover! (see link in my signature) Funny part is, now I've move to NC I only use it if we get caught in a downpour....

 

[Ronnie]

One night I prepped my Seadoo challenger x to take it to the shop the next day (it was running rough). In the morning I walked out to find it, the trailer it was on and the truck it was hooked up to had been stolen (all the gear and more was gone as well). This was in 2008. I had seen the 230s years before but they were already in the $30k range (out of my range at the time). Fast forward 5 weeks after the date of the theft and I was inspecting a used but immaculate 06 sx230ho. On the day I got the check from boat u.s. (6 weeks after the theft), I passed on going to work, went for a water trial and ended up at the bank with the seller before lunch. I took $23k out with the swipe of my card and he immediately deposited it with a card swipe of his own. After putting 4 seasons and a bunch of mods on it I sold it to hidnnos for a few thousand less than I got it for. That was a great boat that still has one feature my 242ls doesn't, yet, a pink slip (I.e., it was paid off, no lien holder).

 

[Chillypilot]

Canadians Own boats? I thought they just sailed around in those ice skate catamaran thingy's. . . .

Some of us even have indoor plumbing in our igloos

 

[rick johnston]

For those of you with older Yamahas or any other old boat for that matter, post up questions, concerns or funny stories and anecdotes here.

I'll be happy to help out whenever I can. I own a 2004 AR and I've crawled in and around every space on board, so I'm somewhat familiar with the vessel. I tend to take care of my toys fairly well, not as anal as some, but they hold up. If your goal is to keep yours seaworthy then that I can help with.

If I can't, I'll light a fire under someone to see if we can't get answers.

Answers to questions that bother us so....



That's what a successful forum is all about if you ask me.

 

[rick johnston]

good morning, don't even know if you have your jet boat anymore but here it goes.
can you give me directions on how to set up and use the dept finder? when I try, all it does is beep and flash.
I have read the directions and that don't help too much.
thank you and have a great year!

 

[scokill]

good morning, don't even know if you have your jet boat anymore but here it goes.
can you give me directions on how to set up and use the dept finder? when I try, all it does is beep and flash.
I have read the directions and that don't help too much.
thank you and have a great year!

For this model it is likely the transducer that is the issue. It is a known issue and I believe this goes back to 2004 models. If you want some the same or similar this was the original manufacturer. NorCross Marine Products | Depth Finders & Coolers I would give them a call or email.

 

[biglar155]

good morning, don't even know if you have your jet boat anymore but here it goes.
can you give me directions on how to set up and use the dept finder? when I try, all it does is beep and flash.
I have read the directions and that don't help too much.
thank you and have a great year!

Yes, as @scokill says, this is a common issue with that whole generation of boats. Honestly, your best bet is probably to just replace the whole smash.

Here's what I did: https://jetboaters.net/threads/depth-finder-replacement-2009-sx230.5719/