What a day on the water with a pair of waverunners costs.

[Ronnie]

I was going through the receipts from my last day on the water this season (I.e., yesterday, October 24th).

bridge toll, $15
Launch fee, $20 (should have been $40, $20 per waverunner)
Lunch, $55
Gas on the water, $70 (for 14 gallons at about $5 per gallon)
Gas on the way home, $65 (to top the tanks off for the winter)
4 ounces of stabil, $6 (I used half of an 8 once $12 bottle)
Gas for the tow vehicle, $50 (estimate as I wasn’t able to fill it when topping of the fuel in the skis last night)

Total: $281 (Excludes dinner on the way home, another $50).

I would have paid twice as much for the experience with my wife. The last time / first time we did this was over 12 years ago with our than 5 year old son riding with us. This time she had a smile (Genuine not a nervous) from ear to ear the whole time she was on her new ride (Especially when she was using the brake/reverse lever, no wake and cruise assist modes, Neither of which I have). her ski only used about 6 gallons of fuel on the way out and Almost 12 gallons on the way back, we were traveling a lot faster on the way back in trying to get off the water before sunset.

 

[Cobra Jet Steering LLC]

Damn wave runners I burned over 1800 gallons of gas last year. So I had to bring my lunch lol!

 

[Ronnie]

My son took me to lunch on the water for Father’s Day this year so I didn’t track the spend closely but recall him paying the launch fee $15, for lunch $37, and $17 for sun block because we forgot ours at home. He topped off the fuel in both skis and the tow vehicle with my card, around $150ish. Worth every penny and more. Pics and video don’t do it justice. These are moments I can’t plan or put a price on.

Warning the video is a little blurry, it’s the first I’ve uploaded in months or years and the first uploaded from my phone.

 

[Inlikeflinn]

Holy crap that thing launches

 

[Yambers]

That's crap your pants fast..

 

[Babin Farms]

That's crap your pants fast..

That's "I WANT ONE" fast!!!?

 

[Yambers]

That's "I WANT ONE" fast!!!?

Exactly.

@Ronnie If you have a couple of those, who needs your boat? Sell it and spend more money going fast...

 

[Ronnie]

Funny thing is after I took that video I was feeling like I had the fastest ski on the water. Right about that time a guy on a supercharged (black with neon green trim) version pulled up to drag race against me. I got smoked acceleration wise. We may have the same top speed but I doubt it, by the time I got to 65 mph he was long gone with an adult passenger on the back. I take solace knowing he paid $2k more plus tax for the supercharger but it was still very humbling given the context.

Stock PWCs are supposed to top out at 70 mph per an agreement between the us coast guard and the three major manufacturers (yamaha, seeadoo and Kawasaki), it sure did seem like the super charged ski of yesterday was traveling fast than 65, again maybe he just got there faster.

 

[anmut]

Funny thing is after I took that video I was feeling like I had the fastest ski on the water. Right about that time a guy on a supercharged (black with neon green trim) version pulled up to drag race against me. I got smoked acceleration wise. We may have the same top speed but I doubt it, by the time I got to 65 mph he was long gone with an adult passenger on the back. I take solace knowing he paid $2k more plus tax for the supercharger but it was still very humbling given the context.

Stock PWCs are supposed to top out at 70 mph per an agreement between the us coast guard and the three major manufacturers (yamaha, seeadoo and Kawasaki), it sure did seem like the super charged ski of yesterday was traveling fast than 65, again maybe he just got there faster.

Why top out at 70mph? So the CG can't be outrun? LAME

 

[biffdotorg]

Funny thing is after I took that video I was feeling like I had the fastest ski on the water. Right about that time a guy on a supercharged (black with neon green trim) version pulled up to drag race against me. I got smoked acceleration wise. We may have the same top speed but I doubt it, by the time I got to 65 mph he was long gone with an adult passenger on the back. I take solace knowing he paid $2k more plus tax for the supercharger but it was still very humbling given the context.

Stock PWCs are supposed to top out at 70 mph per an agreement between the us coast guard and the three major manufacturers (yamaha, seeadoo and Kawasaki), it sure did seem like the super charged ski of yesterday was traveling fast than 65, again maybe he just got there faster.

Yup, that's been a long standing agreement. But you are right, the acceleration is what they have now. Yours popped up there pretty darn quick! If I was hearing it right, it sounded like it cavitated and popped off the rev limiter. I could be wrong.

Ronnie are the speedos in the new machines like yours GPS? I think they are, and are not the Dream-o-meters we had on our GP1300R's. I don't have the heart to tell the kids they are not pulling 74mph. But I'm sure they are doing a strong 69 or so.

 

[Ronnie]

The new gp and fx models have gps based speedos (no pick up wheel or transducer). I didn’t believe mine at first but checked it against navionics on my phone as well as against my garmin smart watch and it was in the range of those two devices. Sometimes the ski does cavitate on launch.

 

[Julian]

Funny thing is after I took that video I was feeling like I had the fastest ski on the water. Right about that time a guy on a supercharged (black with neon green trim) version pulled up to drag race against me. I got smoked acceleration wise. We may have the same top speed but I doubt it, by the time I got to 65 mph he was long gone with an adult passenger on the back. I take solace knowing he paid $2k more plus tax for the supercharger but it was still very humbling given the context.

Stock PWCs are supposed to top out at 70 mph per an agreement between the us coast guard and the three major manufacturers (yamaha, seeadoo and Kawasaki), it sure did seem like the super charged ski of yesterday was traveling fast than 65, again maybe he just got there faster.

When I test drove the new GP1800 it topped out at 72......

Before I got on it, one of the champion ski racers got off it, and asked me "Don't you want chaps, and gloves?", I said "why?", his reply was....."If you want to stay on it, I'd recommend them!" I put on a pair of gloves...no chaps. After riding it, I understood the need!

I went back to shore and asked the Yamaha reps...."I thought there was an agreement that they wouldn't do more than 70?".....they grinned and said....well these are well tuned models! Talk about scary fast. So fast, and so low to the water, (and I wasn't wearing my glasses for fear of losing them) that waves come up on you SUPER fast....it was fun, but I'd need to invest in some real prescription goggles inside the helmet!

 

[biffdotorg]

When I test drove the new GP1800 it topped out at 72......

Before I got on it, one of the champion ski racers got off it, and asked me "Don't you want chaps, and gloves?", I said "why?", his reply was....."If you want to stay on it, I'd recommend them!" I put on a pair of gloves...no chaps. After riding it, I understood the need!

I went back to shore and asked the Yamaha reps...."I thought there was an agreement that they wouldn't do more than 70?".....they grinned and said....well these are well tuned models! Talk about scary fast. So fast, and so low to the water, (and I wasn't wearing my glasses for fear of losing them) that waves come up on you SUPER fast....it was fun, but I'd need to invest in some real prescription goggles inside the helmet!

Give or take a few mph. I would say the biggest difference between our older 175hp GP1300r's and the supercharged SeaDoo I rode recently is just the flat out acceleration. (OK, handling, turning, seat ergos, displays, hull shape) you get what I mean. They all topped out the same. But just how brutal that speed comes on literally jerked your arms at the shoulders! Let alone the low end sound of the engines. Torque at any speed too.

We have worn kevlar palmed HO Water Ski gloves for years. The ones with the velcro overlap wrist band and pre-curved palm. As they truly transmit a ton of that stress from the handlebar to your arms, rather than your fingers when trying to hang on!

 

[Ronnie]

Why top out at 70mph? So the CG can't be outrun? LAME

The way I understand it, 70 mph is the break point after which severe injury (e.g. traumatic dismemberment) or death may occur if you fall of the ski. Water is softer than concrete but at 70+ mph it may as well be concrete.

I don’t think many that try to outrun the coast guard
are successful. On the rivers here I see a lot of CG on large ribs with a cabin and two big outboards. They can’t catch or keep up with all boats but most boats, around here anyway.