thoughts on chaparral or yamaha jet boats

eodguy2

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Sep 23, 2013
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I know there is much debate on jet vs prop. but very intrigued/intetested in jet boats for many reasons (been around props all life). question from current/previous owners of either yamaha or chaparral on their reviews advise on which. looked up a lot on line, but trying to get real time thoughts.
 

sutor623

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May 23, 2011
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My good friend has a 2014 21' Yamaha with dual jet engines. $38,000 if I am not mistaken. He loves it. It actually does very good on gas. Those Yamaha inboards!!! It has a nice smooth ride and is a lot of fun. One thing to keep in mind is driving a jet boat is totally different than a conventional because you MUST be on the throttle to turn, as I am sure you already know. If I were more into pleasure boating and had that kind of cash I wouldn't hesitate on it.
 

Slip Away

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Look at Scarab jet boats as well. Same BRP engine packages as the Chap's.
 

jkust

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My thoughts are exactly that...just some thoughts based on owning a Chap prop boat and having just shopped for a Waverunner and having been in the Rotax vs Yamaha comparison mindset.

Chaparral build quality is very nice but most boats have very nice build quality nowdays and then it seems the rotax has a bit more tech features than the Yamaha as is the same with Sea Doo versus Yamaha Waverunners. I just bought a Yamaha Waverunner in part based on the apparent reliability reputation they have over the Rotax and the Rotax requiring expensive overhaul at 100 hours as standard. Yamaha detunes their 1.8 liter supercharged engine versus rotax's smaller more tuned engine to get the power. I gave up a few digital features to go with reliability and in my case (not sure abouth their jet boats) the Yamaha takes 87 octane versus the Sea Doo requiring premium though both are supercharged.
 

eodguy2

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Sep 23, 2013
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so would the twin be better than single???? looking at the 20-21 ft. notice yamaha utilities twins while chap using single for tjat size.
 
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The Yamahas may be better, but my experience with a friends SeaDoo jet boat which used the same BRP rotax engine as the Chaparral jet boats was that they were considerably noisier than my own sterndrive, guzzled gas, and was was awful to ski behind as you could pull the stern around every time you cut a turn. It was however very roomy inside compared to similar sized sterndrives and it handled very well.
 

OrangeTJ

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I have a 2011 Yamaha SX210, which is a twin engine 21 footer. Really like it as an all around family boat. Ours has been 100% reliable. Literally, it has not had one problem since we bought it new. About the only thing I don't love about it is the noise level at higher speeds. It's pretty loud. Other than that, no complaints at all. It took a bit to really get comfortable with the low speed handling, but now it is second nature. Higher speed handling is very responsive but the boat is sensitive to cross winds. Addition of Cobra steering fins made a significant difference in tracking at all speeds, but for me the biggest improvement they provided was a planing speeds crossing wakes or other rollers at shallow angles.

Regarding Yamaha vs. Chaparral: Honestly, I think the overall build quality of the Chap looks better than the Yamaha. That said, the Yamaha engine/drive setup is very well-known for reliability. The Rotax setup in the Chap should be reliable as well, but the superchargers do require some periodic maintenance and the lack of cleanout ports is not something I see as a "feature" as a stick or piece of bark getting lodged in the pump will stop you in your tracks until you can clear it. Easy with the ports. Not so much without.. That brings me to another thought - these boats are really not ideal for waters with a lot of surface debris. Not an issue for us, since the lakes on which we boat are quite clean.

Oh, yeah - I'd definitely go twin engine. Chap's 22 footer is a twin. Beautiful thing about that is that you can still get back to the dock (slowly, though) if something happens to one of your drives. The twins also accelerate hard, which is a fun characteristic!
 
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jkust

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so would the twin be better than single???? looking at the 20-21 ft. notice yamaha utilities twins while chap using single for tjat size.

I'm at the point in my life where If I'm going to buy whatever it is...I'm going all in where possible. If there is a bigger engine option/twins or any option and I can locate the model that has it, I'm going to go ahead and get it. (ie my waverunner I just bought is the 1.8 liter supercharged version vs the naturally aspirated version or the smaller engine version). I'd take twins over a single but keep in mind you are going to drink gas with any twins. The 100 hour supercharger overhaul requirement on the Rotax at least in the PWC world seems to be a turn off for many. I do like that the Jet manufacturers have finally fixed the low speed handling deficiencies with technology solutions.
 

OrangeTJ

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Just for fun, here's a pic of our Yamaha SX210.
 

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