Thinking about a jet boat and have some questiond

[Vetterman]

My lake is shallow as in 6ft to 12ft and is very weedy. I am in canada in ontario. The weeds are kinda like the grass in your back yard but grows to near or at the surface in many areas. My concerns are with tubing and skiing where you spend alot of time at idle will I clog up my intake alot and while I read tips and tricks to clean it without having to swim my next concern is wear items like wear rings and impeller. will I spend alot on maint due to chipping weeds alot. Had a used boat dealer say stay away due to maint costs. Jet boats are for clear lakes. Opinions and experiences please.

 

[Luc Lafreniere]

Where abouts are you in Ontario? I boat on some lakes including the Frontenac region (near Sharbot Lake), the Ottawa river (near the city) and lake Nipissing (North Bay area). I can't speak to Yamaha, I own a Scarab. But at least with my boat, the weeds are generally chopped up and spit out at the back as long as it isn't super thick. Sometimes, a clump of weeds will get stuck on the intake grate, but that's been relatively rare. If that happens, you lose some efficiency and top speed since the intake is limited. But otherwise, it hasn't caused any issues. I would just pull out the weeds when I happen to be in the water next time. With all of that being said, I generally do avoid going through thick weeds... but I definitely boat across areas with weeds at times with minimal effects. Third year of using this boat.

You DO need to be extremely careful with ropes though. If it gets sucked up, it's very likely you need to be towed to shore and out of the water to get it out. Hopefully no major damage.

My personal experience with the impeller/ring.. third year. Got a pebble sucked up once which was ejected on its own within seconds. The other time was a piece of wood about the size of my pinky that got stuck once in the impeller after I was stupid and went through 10-12" of water at practically idle (i.e. I sucked up the wood because I was stupid). In that case, I was able to pry the wood out using a piece of rebar. Yamaha has the port access which is an advantage for that part for sure. But again, I can't properly compare a Yamaha since I don't have one. You can read the same stories from many members here, but it seems both brands have their pros/cons. Pick the best boat for you/your boating area.

Zero dollars for me on maintenance of any kind except normal oil change, etc.

 

[buckbuck]

Maintenance is very low on a jetboat but I would not recommend one in an area with a lot of weeds.

 

[Betik]

Ask the dealer to let you test drive it at your lake.

 

[Vetterman]

There are a couple of other boaters on my lake with seadoo boats and pwc's - I even owned a pwc for a couple summers before I moved up to a bowrider, and I rarely had an issue with my pwc - but when I did it was easy to fix.

The best advice to get is from other real world boaters on your own lake

 

[Julian]

It really depends on the weeds. Sargassum weeds in the atlantic....are a pita. Weak weeds in LOTW Ontario weren't much of an issue. Weeds wont do a thing to your impeller. But if there really are a lot of them....it might become a pain.