Will Yamaha make the boats faster over the coming years? Thoughts?

[pagekl]

I'm with most guys here, I cruise around 30 - 35 mph, then drop anchor somewhere and that's how my boating day will end. When I was younger I had a Sea Doo Speedster and it was fast and I was always at WOT. Crazy thing about when I had that boat, haulin' ass everywhere, I didn't have gps/chartplotter/depth sounder. Now that was crazy looking back. As opposed to speed with any new line of Yamaha's, I'd like to see them build a boat with a cuddy, however, if that happens, Yamaha might just takeover the boating market on several fronts. When we're young and without kids, we want speed, but then once the family comes, we tend to want to slow things down a bit.

 

[Overspray]

I don't want to slow anything down, except when they're in the boat. I do however love having the option of the extra power for when they're not. Fun is still fun. I wouldn't mind seeing a jet powered performance cat like I had said before, or even a mid cabin open bow V hull. Just more options than seating 12 people.

 

[pagekl]

Really?

Yes, really. When I first bought my Sea Doo Speedster in 2001, there weren't that many jet boats on the water. A lot of boaters looked down on these boats years ago and didn't consider them "real boats". While Sea Doo fell by the wayside, Yamaha stepped up their game with a totally redesigned hull and turned skeptics into believers that jet boats are just as much as a real boat as typical stern driven boats. I've operated a stern drive and to me, the handling is completely different from a jet. Are these boats performance boats like Baja's, Formula's, or Scarabb's, no, but they offer versatility and comfort, which those boats don't. Aside for not having a cuddly, my boat offers everything I want in a boat. Going a million miles on the water is fun, but gets old, fast. Relaxing on my Yamaha with my family, now that never gets old.

 

[pagekl]

My "Really" comment was in regards to if Yamaha made a cuddy .

That was BEYOND a stretch. They dominate the jet market ONLY. They will be starting from the bottom in any other market and will have too numerous to count well established competitors.

@ClemsonTiger, I was only pointing out how Yamaha has become a major player in the jet boat market and surpassed Sea Doo, who dominated the jet boat market for years. With the introduction of the FSH, Yamaha entered the center console/fishing boat market where there are plenty of strong and well known competitors, but i think, given enough time, the FSH could become a serious contender if Yamaha produced bigger models. It would still be cool to see a bigger Yamaha with a cuddly.

 

[swatski]

My "Really" comment was in regards to if Yamaha made a cuddy .

That was BEYOND a stretch. They dominate the jet market ONLY. They will be starting from the bottom in any other market and will have too numerous to count well established competitors.

@ClemsonTiger Not to argue with you whatsoever! But I think @pagekl has a good point as I believe Yamaha outsells all other runabouts by a big margin right now. Which is funny as some of the traditional runabout makers used to coach their dealers to say all kinds of derogatory things about YJBs, and now they sell their own jet boats...
The 24ft Yamahas with the keel are basically like traditional boats with jet propulsion.

Of course outboards rule in salt, for a reason, and that is not going to change. I don't think Yamaha wants to compete with all the sea faring boats running their outboards! Which is smart.

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[jdonalds]

More top end speed wouldn't mean much to me. We learned (from boattest.com) that the optimum speed for best fuel consumption is 30mph for our boat. I normally run with the PerfectPass set to 30mph when not towing. Our boat tops out about 42 mph but it really sucks gas at that speed. It also gets a little too breezy above 30mph.

 

[Bob S]

I'm pretty sure I don't want to go over 50 in my jet boat. I love my 21' boat but way to light for rough chop.

 

[BareHand42Style]

My "Really" comment was in regards to if Yamaha made a cuddy .

That was BEYOND a stretch. They dominate the jet market ONLY. They will be starting from the bottom in any other market and will have too numerous to count well established competitors.

Yamaha dominates the outboard market as well. Also, I recently checked out a Edgewater center console. It had all the same yamaha parts my 242 LSE has except it has yami outboards
http://www.ewboats.com/boat-models/center-consoles/228cc

 

[swatski]

Yamaha dominates the outboard market as well. Also, I recently checked out a Edgewater center console. It had all the same yamaha parts my 242 LSE has except it has yami outboards
http://www.ewboats.com/boat-models/center-consoles/228cc

Does Yamaha make Edgewater boats' hulls and parts other than the outboards?

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[T. Turner]

More top end speed wouldn't mean much to me. We learned (from boattest.com) that the optimum speed for best fuel consumption is 30mph for our boat. I normally run with the PerfectPass set to 30mph when not towing. Our boat tops out about 42 mph but it really sucks gas at that speed. It also gets a little too breezy above 30mph.

I hear you on that. I mainly cruise around at 25 - 30mph. For me to go WOT I really have to "feel the need, the need for speed."

 

[BareHand42Style]

@swatski I don't think so but it looks likethey have a huge role on them

 

[Noko]

Nope. Whats the point? Is 60kts or 70 enough? It takes incrementally more HP and pump output to achieve higher speeds. And the point would be why? Ego maybe. But our boats hit almost 50kts and thats fast enough. I don'tn know any tubers or skiers that want to do 50. And on the other end, people are trying to go slow for the wakeboards. So while it would be cool to do faster than we do now, we probably average about 25kts so why bother with a faster boat?

 

[Speedling]

Nope. Whats the point? Is 60kts or 70 enough? It takes incrementally more HP and pump output to achieve higher speeds. And the point would be why? Ego maybe. But our boats hit almost 50kts and thats fast enough. I don'tn know any tubers or skiers that want to do 50. And on the other end, people are trying to go slow for the wakeboards. So while it would be cool to do faster than we do now, we probably average about 25kts so why bother with a faster boat?

Why is 50 good enough? Why not 40? Or 60? What if the boat only topped off at your most efficient speed of about 30-35?
You could have afforded a much cheaper boat, saved a bunch of money and bought more boards and speakers and things like that. Too bad they don't offer the 240 series with the non ho mr1 for the haters of speed.
Same thing with cars. A sports car doesn't come with a 4 cylinder for fuel economy.
And just because you CAN go fast doesn't mean you do it all the time.
In this case a speed nut would turn to scarab 21 footer twin 250 hp motors and upgrase the superchargers and furl system and probably hit 70 mph. Just throwing that out there.

Otherwise you're going to props.

 

[4x15mph]

Like the speed right where it is @ 50mph, twin engine, 2000lbs. What a blast. I think Yamaha has lost some followers with the limits on the FSH and 21 series (outside of 212) since they just don't have the power/speed that most of us are looking for. A solid 45MPH would be fine but even that is not possible in some of the yamaha line up. Its not really the speed that a lot of us look for but also the power for pulling/sports

 

[biglar155]

Same thing with cars. A sports car doesn't come with a 4 cylinder for fuel economy.

Clearly you've forgotten about the 1989 Ford Mustang LX with the 2.3L 4-cylinder. All 88 horsepower of it.

(It will go down in my memory as "best car ever" because it was my first and I got it brand-new when I graduated high school. The reality is, it was like driving a 4-wheel moped. At least I didn't have to worry about wearing out the tires from smokey burnouts.)

Sorry. You just brought back some memories.

 

[Speedling]

Clearly you've forgotten about the 1989 Ford Mustang LX with the 2.3L 4-cylinder. All 88 horsepower of it.

(It will go down in my memory as "best car ever" because it was my first and I got it brand-new when I graduated high school. The reality is, it was like driving a 4-wheel moped. At least I didn't have to worry about wearing out the tires from smokey burnouts.)

Sorry. You just brought back some memories.

Perfect motor swap car if there ever was one! Insurance of an escort and then put in that v8!

 

[BareHand42Style]

I like using my phone, but having depth overlay on the gps map is not possible. I've had great luck with mx mariner for coastal charts on my android. It's a one time fee and works great! I'm looking at the Garmin with the contour mapping features. Im in shallow water a lot of the time.

Edgewater boats are extremely high-end (~$200K for 25ft well equipped), comparable to Grady-White. Other than the outboard, outboard rigging/wiring and outboard gauges...there is not a single Yamaha part on them.

so your saying the motors aren't a big deal?

I grew up as a professional charter fisherman and the best outboards were and still are the yamis and suzukis

 

[BareHand42Style]

Edgewater uses Yamaha out boards exclusively. The throttle and start are all the same as my 242. Not sure what's confusing about that

 

[BareHand42Style]

Never compared it to a jet boat but clearly your an expert on every thing. So sorry for adding to the conversation

 

[swatski]

so your saying the motors aren't a big deal?

I don't see where did @ClemsonTiger say that...?

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