Top speed Yamaha boats

[MillsyMO]

When I first started to look at boats I was attracted to the looks and styling of the Yamaha’s. The only negative I found was the top speed. I couldn’t believe they’d make such a nice boat with twin engine jet thrust and it not even go 50mph. WTH?! After pulling the trigger and buying a new AR250 and putting 13 hrs on it already, I wanted to explain to other people that might be looking at this boat and wondering the same thing like I did. Yamaha picked the perfect pitch of impeller for both speed and power in my opinion. I’ve been blown away by the performance of this boat.
my old 22’ boat would run around 54mph (5.7L 350 merc) with just me and my buddy in it. Me and my family of 5 (wife and 3 littles), it would run about 50mph. If I had my family and a couple other adults it would run low 40’s and I think the most I ever had in it was my family and 5 adults and it was a dog. I don’t remember the speed but it seemed like something was wrong with the engine it was such a dog. Same when pulling someone on the tube I couldn’t have more than 3 adults onboard or the boat wouldn’t perform bc of the speed pitched prop.
The new AR250 on the other hand is an absolute beast. With my family of 5 onboard (now my littles aren’t quite littles at 10, 15, and 18) the boat runs 46-47mph. Add 4 adults and the boat still runs 44-45mph. We had 14 people onboard last Saturday with only 3 of them under the age of 10 and the boat ran flawlessly and I saw a top speed at one point (just to try it) of 40-41mph. The biggest test was last night when me and my buddy had our 18 year old boys onboard with 12 other 18 year old boys and girls (Seniors last day of school) 16 total people and they decided they wanted to do some wakeboarding. Top speed was 39-40mph and it pulled the wakeboard pretty much effortlessly. I was absolutely blown away at the power this boat has. I was just wanting to do a quick write up for someone who is like me and couldn’t wrap your head around how a 360hp (combined) boat only has a top speed in the upper 40’s. This is by far the most fun boat I’ve ever driven and I couldn’t be happier with the layout and fit/finish of it. Yamaha hit the target on this one and I give it a solid 5 ️ rating. And as my buddy keeps saying, this is the biggest 25’ boat I’ve ever seen. The layout is great.

 

[HawaiiBreeze]

I used that same phrase when I boarded my friends 212 Limited S....BEAST compared to my single rattle.

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

Your 25’ boat has that big swim deck as well. The useable space on these boats is great!

I love seeing positive posts like this ! You are really getting some quality use out of your boat. And when you pull the throttles back to best cruise it’s pretty easy on fuel.

 

[SantaFeTrailer]

Single engine, 7200' up in the mountains... low 30's top end, so enjoy your beast!

 

[adrianp89]

Never understand why people wanted top end. Here in the ICW over mid 30s gets dangerous with all the traffic and crab traps. Even in chop it gets pretty rough above 30.

 

[Coult45]

I LOVE the top end speed of my 210 FSH, on our calm and empty lake in the morning with my wife...for about 30 seconds...and then I feel the pain of that fuel burn in my soul and in my wallet, and I realize I'm just as happy at 27mph. And not too bothered by No Wake speed either.

 

[kgower]

Never understand why people wanted top end. Here in the ICW over mid 30s gets dangerous with all the traffic and crab traps. Even in chop it gets pretty rough above 30.

We experienced that about a month ago on the ICW in the Sarasota area. Nice area, but with the manatee zones, 100-yard rule, wakes from larger boats it took forever to get anywhere, It made for some long boring rides.

 

[2kwik4u]

Never understand why people wanted top end. Here in the ICW over mid 30s gets dangerous with all the traffic and crab traps. Even in chop it gets pretty rough above 30.

As an inland lake boater, I can run 50+ all day and rarely have any issues with comfort or traffic. Even on busy weekend on large lakes it's not bad.

I had some serious eye opening in FL last year. With 4 adults and 3 kids on board cruising the ICW from Navarre to Pensacola. Even on a relatively calm day we didn't want much over 30-35mph. The ride was dry and the handling was competent, but I would want a MUCH larger boat than my 19' jet to go much faster.

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

I LOVE the top end speed of my 210 FSH, on our calm and empty lake in the morning with my wife...for about 30 seconds...and then I feel the pain of that fuel burn in my soul and in my wallet, and I realize I'm just as happy at 27mph. And not too bothered by No Wake speed either.

When I test drove my boat on the Mississippi River I let it rip for just long enough to top out, that was 44 mph / 8000 rom. After getting it back home to my 5000’ lake, the top speed was greatly diminished, down to 31-33 mph / 7000 rpm with just me and 29-30mph / 6800rpm with 5 adults on board. Towing Big Mable with two people on BM and 4 adults in the boat it would barely get up on plane, 21 mph /6300 rpm.

I bought a set of Solas impellers from Impros and had them pitched for high altitude. Now I can get 41mph / 7950rpm with two adults on board. While the initial off the line punch is a little less, once the boat starts to nose over there is a respectable mid range hook where with the oem impellers acceleration was falling off, the boat then pulls right on up to 38mph then takes a few seconds to hit 41mph. This is with full fuel, trolling motor batteries, trolling motor, down riggers & 3-8# weight, 9 poles, two tackle bags, porta potty, tools etc.. and two adults. Also looking forward to being able to have 4-6 people on the boat while towing two people on Big Mable and being able to get up on plane this summer.

Most of the time I’m cruising at 25-27 mph and burning 8 gph and love listening to the sound of twin triples. But the top speed was useful at my last fishing tournament when I was making numerous trips back to the dock for weigh ins…thank goodness we were catching fish this year!

 

[MillsyMO]

Never understand why people wanted top end. Here in the ICW over mid 30s gets dangerous with all the traffic and crab traps. Even in chop it gets pretty rough above 30.

I live in MO so all my boating is inland water. The biggest wave I’ll ever see is around 2’ and the 25’ boat absorbs those effortlessly. As far as top speed goes, everyone is different but my wife and I enjoy busting ass out across the lake every once in awhile (probably more so me). Plus not to mention the “who has a bigger **** contest” with the bass boats zooming by at 60+ mph. lol

 

[MillsyMO]

For the guys talking about low power in altitude, I’m extremely surprised Yamaha doesn’t offer a different engine tune for it. We have to switch our jets out in the dirt bike and quads when we go out to Colorado and ride in the mountains. Has anyone asked their dealership about it or looked to see if there is an after market tuner?

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

For the guys talking about low power in altitude, I’m extremely surprised Yamaha doesn’t offer a different engine tune for it. We have to switch our jets out in the dirt bike and quads when we go out to Colorado and ride in the mountains. Has anyone asked their dealership about it or looked to see if there is an after market tuner?

There are some tuners out there, mostly from what I’ve seen they raise the rev limiter to 8500 ..

Im no stranger to jetting dirt bikes to altitude… just about the time I got jetting FCR carbs down I bought a fuel injected bike LOL! I guess Yamaha just leaves it to the ECU and the open loop FI to get the most it can out of the engines. About the best you can do is put in the correct pitch impellers…kinda like putting on a smaller counter shaft sprocket for tight trails and high altitude riding. The only thing Yamaha could do would be to put the turbo chargers on the TR-1 engines that are in their snowmobiles. Which would be a hoot to say the least!

 

[MillsyMO]

The ECU can adjust very minimally the fuel air ratio inside of a set parameter that’s why when you add performance parts to engines you have to have it tuned, so I’d say the same goes for altitude driving/riding/boating. On my Harley not only do I have it tuned for my performance upgrades but I have a secondary unit that constantly analyzes my engine and remaps it accordingly. When I get it to Colorado it’s a bit doggy for awhile until the ECU gets remapped and then it’s good to go again.

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

I live in MO so all my boating is inland water. The biggest wave I’ll ever see is around 2’ and the 25’ boat absorbs those effortlessly. As far as top speed goes, everyone is different but my wife and I enjoy busting ass out across the lake every once in awhile (probably more so me). Plus not to mention the “who has a bigger **** contest” with the bass boats zooming by at 60+ mph. lol

And our boats cost half as much as those dick slingers lol! Not to mention all of the other things our boats have over the bass boats. Those bass boats are specialized for their task to say the least. Bet they wish they had a head compartment on occasion.

They were all smiles as they passed me on the way out when I was doing 40 and they were doing 60…at the first fishing tournament this year but were probably wishing they had a T top or Bimini top to get out of the rain/sleet then snow that fell all day long. There was one guy who had a Bimini and a full iseinglass enclosure on his warrior and he was set. The tournament started at 0700hrs, and by 1000hrs half of the 60 boats had tapped out, and on a Sunday only 20 boats put in.

Watch any of those bass boats dealing with 2-3’ chop? Doesn’t look like a very fun ride.

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

The ECU can adjust very minimally the fuel air ratio inside of a set parameter that’s why when you add performance parts to engines you have to have it tuned, so I’d say the same goes for altitude driving/riding/boating. On my Harley not only do I have it tuned for my performance upgrades but I have a secondary unit that constantly analyzes my engine and remaps it accordingly. When I get it to Colorado it’s a bit doggy for awhile until the ECU gets remapped and then it’s good to go again.

Agreed!

I will say that the plugs have shown good color all the way down and almost three threads of heat. The exhaust smell is hydrocarbony and not lean.

 

[haknslash]

On our big lake our AR192 would beat you to death if you attempted to run anywhere near top speed due to all the boat traffic and waves. On the smaller rivers where it’s easy to find glass or very light chop, we could run the boat wide open (48-49 mph after mods) often. A lot of what these boats are capable of depends on the waters they’re boating in. They are lightweight boats that run a shallow draft, so they’re not going to be a Cadillac on the water. They make for fun and “spirited” driving experiences and only limited by how much pounding the crew wants to take if it’s rough. On the Gulf of Mexico we would do15-35 mph depending on the conditions.

 

[Cbullard3895]

2022 2012se runs 47- 48 with 3 adults and a child

 

[MillsyMO]

On our big lake our AR192 would beat you to death if you attempted to run anywhere near top speed due to all the boat traffic and waves. On the smaller rivers where it’s easy to find glass or very light chop, we could run the boat wide open (48-49 mph after mods) often. A lot of what these boats are capable of depends on the waters they’re boating in. They are lightweight boats that run a shallow draft, so they’re not going to be a Cadillac on the water. They make for fun and “spirited” driving experiences and only limited by how much pounding the crew wants to take if it’s rough. On the Gulf of Mexico we would do15-35 mph depending on the conditions.

That is exactly why I chose the 25’ series over the 21’. It was a toss up between the 21’ with all the bells and whistles or the AR250. We ultimately decided to go with the AR250 due to size and the fact it came with some of the bells and whistles the upper end 21’ series has. As mentioned above I only boat on inland waters and rarely see 1.5-2’ waves at most, but it rides great even in those conditions.