Yamaha 255xd on Lake Michigan (Chicago) - Yes/No - Our experience

[MarkG33]

So I wanted an answer to this question for months prior to buying our new 255xd.

Can this boat hanlde Lake Michigan waters? Is it a good boat for the lake?

Of course the dealerships said yes, we have many out there, yadda yadda yadda.

We had ours harbored at 31st in Chicago for the remainder of the 2023 season, we got a late start due to the boat delivery in July.

My opinion on the question of is this a good fit for this boat is NO!

If you have a wind from the East and espeically from the North, or any combination of the two, you're not gonna enjoy boating off Chicago with this size boat and here's why:
- With these wind directions especially from the north, the waves have lots of time to build size.
- Most of the Chicago shoreline is breakwall. This means the waves come in and bounce off vs dissapate like they would on a beach. As a result you get a bathtub effect where there are waves coming from all directions and its just not fun unless you enjoy getting bounced around, A LOT.
- Anything over 1-2 feet, which was fairly common, and you're just not having fun at all.
- With water this rough I would not dream of putting my kids on a tube behind the boat, absolutely no way possible to do it safely.
- There are also so many boats around Chicago they make lots of chop themselves.
- You also burn a shit ton of gas boating this way.
- The wave frequency on Lake Michigan is migh higher than the ocean. You generally get smaller waves buy a lot more of them vs bigger ocean swells.
- 31st street harbor is also kind a like a weed fest, its by far the most common thing you're gonna smell there. So if that is or is not your deal take that into consideration.

Now, we did have some calm days but generally you gotta get out early as winds tend to pick up later in the day. Those days were great but honestly we never saw a glassy day up there.

We may trailer the boat over to South Haven next year to try it there and see what its like. We are over there quite a bit and the water does seem calmer in comparison. Overall though, this size boat off Chicago, nah. You're just gonna miss way too many days of the season with wind and wave issues.

 

[Judge]

I have a 275SD and I was worried about how it would do in Southwest Florida in the Gulf of Mexico. Seas can be less than a foot but are typically 1 - 2 feet and can quickly go over 2' as winds kick up as the day goes on running within 5 miles of the shoreline. We also get a lot of smaller waves closer to shore vs big swells because the Gulf is fairly shallow in places 5 miles out from shore. I can be a mile or two off shore and it will only be 12 - 15' deep.

I have to say I have been pleasantly surprised with how well the 275SD does in the Gulf. Perhaps its the 9' beam and extra 2 feet that helps a little but I also put Lectrotabs on the boat before I every dropped it in the water as well. I had pretty much made up mind before purchased the 275SD that a 27' boat would be the smallest I would purchase for seas that were typically 1 - 2 feet.

I have a friend with a 25' NauticStar and his boat does not handle the choppy seas nearly as well as my 275SD. He could not believe how much better my boat handles the chop and waves compared to his boat. He won't even go out of the seas are going to be over 1 - 1.5 feet.

Last week were were anchored at Sanibel Island. The wind kicked up and we had 3 to 3 1/2 footers at times. Pulling up the anchor and getting it in the boat was challenging for sure. Its not as much fun boating in those waters and we got a lot of spray over the bow heading back but the boat handled it ok. I'm glad to know that I can deal with rougher seas if I have to but if the forecast is for anything in the 1 - 2 foot range I don't hesitate to go out but my buddy with the NauticStar will stay in port for sure. I'm also fine with the ride in the 2 - 2 1/2 foot range.

As far as tubing, I would never want to be tubing when chop is approaching 2 feet in any boat. That's just not my idea of fun at that point.

The 275SD eats gas because it is a 500HP SVHO but it hauls the mail and I think it does very well in the 1 - 2 chop of the Gulf. We also get a lot of boat traffic with a lot of wake from anything from 20' up to 60' and those massive yachts can kick up some big wakes. When the seas get rough I used the trim tabs to lower the bow more and cut right through it.

 

[Wicked92]

fyi, any boat in that size isnt gonna have a good time in those conditions. Its your waterway, not the boats fault. Find a better place to boat unfortunately, or pick your days to experience it when everything lines up perfect. Barnegat Bay, NJ where I spend most of my time becomes a mess with any north/south wind over 10-15mph as its blowing in the directions of coming and going tides in/out the Barnegat inlet.