Jet Boat Makers Quality

Hi All,

Now I know this is a Sea Ray forum however I also know that many of you have been into boating for a long time and have got a wealth of experience with all kinds of watercraft. I was wondering when it came to jet boat manufacturers, what are the thoughts on the quality of the work by Sea-Doo and Yamaha? Have any of you had or have a jet boat from these manufacturers? If so what are/were your thoughts on the build quality?

When we sell our express cruiser we are looking at going for a jet boat just for daytime family fun use. Our kids are still young and we want to get them into a more active lifestyle activity like water skiing and wake boarding.

Well,, the butt naked truth is,,,,

We've owned 9 Bombardier/Sea Doo/ Can Am products, all bought new,, and they were all crap.
The above pictured 430 HP $40.000 Sea Doo jet boat the worst of all.
Problems too numerous to list,, no way the company wasn't aware of the issues before release for sale.
The worst of all the problems was loss total loss of steering at 60+ MPH.

Yamaha has a bad record too,, but their new, big family style Jet Boat is getting good marks,, and for god sakes,, get the Factory warranty with it,, and don't buy used.
If the dealer is an asswipe with service and warranty, contact Yamaha and be willing to try another dealer.

I gotta hand it to you to ask in this forum. My hat is off to ya.
Lotta boating snobs here, but some real, genuine, authentic people here too.
I'd wager you're a good person too.

Even Azimute or equiv owners aren't snobs. This is braggin rites:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBSX3-Q1O3w

Be humble and buy the boat that fits your taste and needs and heart,, and ignore the boating snobs.

We have 260 HP and 300 Hp Kawasaki Jet Skis and they have been fantastic BTW.

Angry Ranch Hand said:

Well,, the butt naked truth is,,,,
We've owned 9 Bombardier/Sea Doo/ Can Am products, all bought new,, and they were all crap.
The above pictured 430 HP $40.000 Sea Doo jet boat the worst of all.
Problems too numerous to list,, no way the company wasn't aware of the issues before release for sale.
The worst of all the problems was loss total loss of steering at 60+ MPH.

Yamaha has a bad record too,, but their new, big family style Jet Boat is getting good marks,, and for god sakes,, get the Factory warranty with it,, and don't buy used.
If the dealer is an asswipe with service and warranty, contact Yamaha and be willing to try another dealer.

I gotta hand it to you to ask in this forum. My hat is off to ya.
Lotta boating snobs here, but some real, genuine, authentic people here too.
I'd wager you're a good person too.

Even Azimute or equiv owners aren't snobs. This is braggin rites:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBSX3-Q1O3w

Be humble and buy the boat that fits your taste and needs and heart,, and ignore the boating snobs.

We have 260 HP and 300 Hp Kawasaki Jet Skis and they have been fantastic BTW.

Click to expand...

Damn that is what I was afraid of hearing, thanks for being brutally honest. It was the 430 hp Challenger 23 SE that we were looking at and we were going to purchase new. Might have to rethink this and maybe go with a Sea Ray bowrider instead.


I watched your video and that is one sweet ride, you have to love the Arneson surface drives. Fantastic video too, well done.

Angry Ranch Hand said:

Well,, the butt naked truth is,,,,

We've owned 9 Bombardier/Sea Doo/ Can Am products, all bought new,, and they were all crap.
The above pictured 430 HP $40.000 Sea Doo jet boat the worst of all.
Problems too numerous to list,, no way the company wasn't aware of the issues before release for sale.
The worst of all the problems was loss total loss of steering at 60+ MPH.

Yamaha has a bad record too,, but their new, big family style Jet Boat is getting good marks,, and for god sakes,, get the Factory warranty with it,, and don't buy used.
If the dealer is an asswipe with service and warranty, contact Yamaha and be willing to try another dealer.

I gotta hand it to you to ask in this forum. My hat is off to ya.
Lotta boating snobs here, but some real, genuine, authentic people here too.
I'd wager you're a good person too.

Even Azimute or equiv owners aren't snobs. This is braggin rites:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBSX3-Q1O3w

Be humble and buy the boat that fits your taste and needs and heart,, and ignore the boating snobs.

We have 260 HP and 300 Hp Kawasaki Jet Skis and they have been fantastic BTW.

Click to expand...

Either you are a slow learner or they can't be all that bad. After all, you admitted to have purchased 9 of their products. How many more will you purchase before you quit on them? Exactly what problems were you experiencing? I bought a 1997 Challenger 1800 new that had 2 - 110 HP jet Rotax engines and I beat the hell out of that boat for 10 years without any problems. I did my own winterizing and periodic maintenance and the only thing that I ever changed on those engines were spark plugs. It was still a great boat when I sold it.

~Ken

i had a yamaha lx2000 jet boat for 2 years. one problem after another

Angry Ranch Hand said:

I gotta hand it to you to ask in this forum. My hat is off to ya.
Lotta boating snobs here, but some real, genuine, authentic people here too.
I'd wager you're a good person too.

Even Azimute or equiv owners aren't snobs. This is braggin rites:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBSX3-Q1O3w

Be humble and buy the boat that fits your taste and needs and heart,, and ignore the boating snobs.

Click to expand...

Care to explain this lovely set of words?

I had a Sea Doo Challenger (20') I bought new. Pretty much a disposable boat.. I wasn't very nice to it though.

My first boat was a Jet Boat.....but it was a SeaRay - 1996 13' Sea Rayder.... that boat was a lot of fun. I sold it in 2005 and it was still running strong. I have a friend who owns a Jet Ski / Jet Boat repair shop and he ends up rebuilding a lot of engines. He recommends the Yamaha engines over the Seadoo, but still sees a lot of problems with each. With all the Yamaha and Seadoo boats/skis in my area, he stays pretty busy!

I've had both Sea Doo and Yamaha jetski's and in my opinion they are all problematic. My Yamaha ski is needing repair now and just sitting on the floating lift. Because these motors run at such high RPM's they are prone to break. It seems like they all eat batteries too (unless you have it hooked to a charger or run them constantly). I would opt for a small boat with an outboard. Much less maintenance and much more reliability!

We've now got 5 years and 250 hours on our freshwater Yamaha VX 110 Deluxe. So far it's been trouble free. I change the oil every 30 hours and put plugs in every 100 hours. It sits covered on a jetport out of the water when not in use. My Marina has a rental center and they swear that this model is "bulletproof". They use them for 3 years and 600+ hours in the rental market and then replace them.



Now the 110 is not supercharged, so it only goes about 52 in high mode, but that's plenty for me (now Grant - age 15 - wants more!). We tow tubes and skiers with ours in High Mode, but when Sue and I take it out we use Low Mode - it still goes 45.

My dockmate's red hot Sea Doo needs a supercharger rebuild every 100 hours - scheduled maintenance - that's not for me.