I just love my little 210 CC! It does everything very well.
Having said that, I’m kind of glad the 255E came out after I bought my boat or I may have had to have it!
I did some checking on fuel consumption / range between the 252 & 255. At best economic cruise the two boats are very close in gph. However, once you start using more power the SC engines consume more fuel. If I was buying one of these boats I would definitely go with SVHO engines of the 255 E. Overkill is underrated. Plus, with the extra power you will not be affected by adding a lot of people + cargo to the boat as far as getting up on plane, towing a skier, tube or getting some place in a hurry... top speed is right at 54 mph.
Both boats appear to come equally equipped in every other way, with the engines being the main difference. Except, you can get the “cool” interior colors on the 252. Too bad this color interior doesn’t come optional on the 255E. Who knows, maybe it would if you asked.
From what I understand the 12“ Simrad is an excellent electronics package.
There is no factory trolling motor mount on the 252 or the 255, so either a custom one or a universal one would be in order. The 252 and 255 boats sit higher out of the water than its 21’ & 19’ counterparts so I’d imagine a 72” shaft for a troller would be required. Unfortunately the Simrad will not connect with the Ulterra or other minnkota trollers.. if it was me, I’d probably get a Solix 12” control head, pull the out the Simrad and replace it, then just sell the Simrad so I could tie in the trolling motor with the control head. I don’t know these units intimately, so I’m making that statement based on my limited knowledge.
So far on my 21’ I have not felt the need for thrust vectors, other steering enhancements or trim tabs. I have trolled in some pretty heavy winds from all directions. Yes, you will need to pay attention to your heading as the boat will turn quickly on its own. One huge advantage the jet boats have is infinitely adjustable thrust. This is a pretty big deal if you have found that magic trolling speed and need to maintain that in any condition. A prop driven main engine will deliver X amount of thrust when in idle ahead, most prop boats from what I understand will move at approx 5mph in idle ahead, wayyyy too fast for my needs. I’ll share one experience where having twin jets was such an advantage. While out trolling on a pretty windy day, probably 15 mph gusting to 25, at one point the wind was a quartering wind from 7 O clock and I was getting pushed faster, 5-6 mph, than my magic 1.8 mph, and the boat was skidding. I was able to use the jets in reverse, had to split the throttles, starboard engine to straighten the boat, and port just enough to keep the speed where I wanted it. While I operated the helm, my guests were able to catch a lot of fish in these conditions.. we kept the youngster on board very busy reeling in all of the fish.. at times three fish on at once-what a hoot!!! I just realized as well that the first position forward on the throttles is what Yamaha calls the TDE or Thrust Directional Enhancer. The buckets raise just enough to make forward motion, the thrust is back and down, and you can use the No Wake mode to increase speed in small increments. I’m looking forward to trying that as opposed to just opening the gates up all the way to allow the full water flow rearward at idle-if that makes sense. I’m hoping for a little more low speed steering authority. The twin jets take a bit to get used to handling wise but with just a little practice you‘ll get it down.
It also goes without saying that operating in shallow water without having to worry about a prop strike. Yes, you can suck stuff up if you are not careful in super shallow water, just use common sense. Since I use my boat for water sports and swimming as well, I don’t have to worry about kicking an outdrive when re boarding.
One thing you may notice on this boat is that it will list to port some if the rear starboard live well is not filled with water On my 21’, 26 gallons equals 221#. That was a vexing issue one day when I was on the water and finally figured it out. When my 26 gallon live well is full, the boat is perfectly balanced left to right. I think on the 25’ FSH’s the rear starboard live well is 30 gallons, 255#. And speaking of the live well, it serves double duty as an ice chest when not being used for fish, toss in a couple of bags of ice and put your drinks in there, pretty convenient way to keep the beverages cold. The live well aerator works very well at keeping fish alive and perky! The aerator can be run in manual or automatic. When it automatic you can adjust the run and off times on the connex screen. We had 25 good sized trout in it for hours on end and they all stayed alive and well. On some days as I get ready to leave, the fish in the live well get a stay of execution and are returned to the lake alive and well.
View attachment 139442
Yes, all of those fish were in the live well and were perky.
On the 252 and 255 you get the aquarium live well up front which is great for entertainment, and can be used as another ice chest if you were using the boat for a three hour cruise.. (sadly I just heard that Dawn Wells aka Mary Ann passed away today).
The hard top on the 252/255 is also a big improvement. Full glass windscreen, storage box, spreader lights front and rear, and the red map lights are a huge plus for not messing up your night vision. The hard top would be easy to have some canvas / iseinglass panels made up for less temperate wether conditions to keep you out of the wind and rain. Six wet sounds speakers are on the boat with a blue tooth capable stereo so you can play your tunes, or your guests tunes.
The courtesy lights switch also turns on the rear starboard live well light, found that on my boat by accident.
I also like the rear bench seat. The center section can be folded down to make for easy transition from the main deck to the swim deck. These boats also come with a table for the front and I believe there is a mount on the rear for the table or a bbq. The table also makes the bow section into either a large casting platform or put the pad in there and have a sun deck up front... pretty dam bitchen if you ask me. The jet boat pilot one is in my future..
There are ton of rod holders with 8 under the gunnel holders for the ride to the water... and a built in tackle box, sweet.
That’s my two cents..
