Jet skis anyone?

[Travis E]

Does anyone have jet skis for summer toys? Last year was the first year going out on the lake for me but I really enjoyed it so I've been keeping my eye out for a jet ski all winter. Whats everyone running? I'm looking for a newer Sea Doo Rxp which seem to be pretty much top of the line.

[metro36]

I dont own any but I love riding them. A couple of my friends have them and we have loads of fun in the bay. I have spent my fair share of time fixing them too. I am looking to get one this year. I am trying to find a newer kawasaki or seadoo with low hours.

[thomsoutdoor]

I didn't have a Jet ski but I had two Yamaha wave runners. When I looked into it several years ago I was told by the salesman to stay away from the sea-dos. All he had to do was point to the service dept and point out the number of sea-dos compared to the Yamaha's. That may of change by now. Lot of fun but they beat the hell out of you.

[deere615]

We have a camp and my parents have one, seadoo is the only way to go trust me they are the best most advanced out there, nicest riding to boot. I sorta grown away from it since I got my quad and can ride that all year long. Jet skis are expensive and can only ride them so much. Very fun though and I still jump on it every so often on those hot weekends in the middle of summer

[Travis E]

Ya i know the older sea doos had some problems but newer ones seem to be better. I agree with them being most advance. I love taking my buddy's sea doo out and on calm water i can hit 70 mph and thats a blast!

[nepatsfan]

Originally Posted by Travis E

Does anyone have jet skis for summer toys? Last year was the first year going out on the lake for me but I really enjoyed it so I've been keeping my eye out for a jet ski all winter. Whats everyone running? I'm looking for a newer Sea Doo Rxp which seem to be pretty much top of the line.

Bought a kawasaki ultra 130 brand new in '02. I sold it last year with 23 hours on it. I lived on a lake until '05 and have several close family members(including my sister and grandparents on both sides) that live on a lake less than 10 minutes from where I live now. They are fun but I just never had time to ride it. Plus once you own it, there is no real incentive to go out on it. Get home from work all tired and just don't feel like going out or I would take a spin for 10 minutes and put it away. Of the 23 hours on it, my friends and family probably racked up half. So $7400+$2000(yearly maintenance and aftermarket impellar)-$3500(what I sold it for). It ended up costing me about $513.04 an hour to ride it plus fuel and oil.

[deere615]

Yeah remember these things suck fuel down also. especially when you got them wide open which is most of the time

[ohiogreenworks]

Honda Aquatrax are sweet, my buddy had three of them at one time. All of them turbo, they were a blast to ride. Check them out, You cant beat a Honda Product.

[PEVO]

I got into the jetski game a couple of years ago. These toys have grown (size wise) to huge proportions. I laid down some guidelines for buying my skis:

1. Nothing new...WAY to pricey for me. This would be something to play on
in addition to my boat & not be a money pit.

2. I'd be working on it myself, repair shops really break it off in your a**
to work on them.

3. It still had to look decent, style wise...not a old POS!

4. 2-stroke...=work on it yourself. vs. 4-stroke...=repairshop to work on it,
refer to #2 reason. Besides that...at the time i knew NOTHING about big
2-stroke engines...but was determined to learn.

5. I can resell it for what i paid for it.

6. Since i have to daughters, a 3-seater is what i wanted.

Started looking on CraigsList for 2-3 months starting in the fall (off-season) up to 150 miles away. Of all things i found a pair of kawasaki 3-seaters right in my home town. for cheap!...(one of them had a locked up engine). I figured i'd sell the broke one & trade down to a single place trailer. BUT One week after buying them, a engine just so happened to pop up on CL for sale. Needless to say i jumped on it like a duck on a june bug! So to my kids delight i decided to keep both. Ended up with 2 kawasaki 3-seaters that still look in style (modern) a 1998 STX 1100 & a 2000 900STX for right at $3k Great to take out while camping at the lake. They are a blast...for a while...then get kinda boring. This way you take em out for a while then pull up for a few hrs then go back out & get your 20-30min fix again.

You don't go for long WOT joy rides with these...they suck TOOO much gas. Works best to go play crazy for a while & get off them. Thats why i really don't care to just spend a whole day at the lake on just them with out camping. These fit the bill just right for me. Cheap to buy, still look good, easy to work on & can sell em for as much if not more than it got in them.

These looked sad when i first got em due to peeling graphics & oxidiation on the hulls (they looked real dull & faded) plus the POS plastic fenders on the trailer were broke & half missing. So i replaced them with steel fenders, buffed out the hulls, put new somewhat custom graphics on them & since these pics, i repaintecd the trailer black. Yup i'm happy with them.

Final note: You ask why the purple on the yellow jetski...No idea, bought it that way. Looked real odd...so instead of repainting it...i made up some vinyl graphics to bust up the purple. (i work in graphics shop)

[deere615]

Yeah working on them is another thing but let me tell you my aunt had one identical to your yellow one That I drove quite a few times and the difference between that and a seadoo is night and day, let alone the difference of a four stoke. 2 strokes you also have to worry about the oil etc.
2 big things I didn't like about that Kawasaki was the spray from the front (of course you are supposed to get wet on a jet ski yes) but it all comes up the front constantly and right into your eyes. Also the reverse lever the position of it and your throttle makes docking and loading etc very hard.