Jet ski

B

BrentB

New member
Anyone bought a jet ski in the last couple of years? I never been on one and appreciate any comments. I planning on buying one and like the SKI DOO mid range models and looks ok to perform DIY service. I don't need a high end fast one. Just one for running around the local waters and for family and friends. I don't the The Admiral is that interested in one but I think it would be a lot fun in SW FLorida
 
Brent,
I would be looking at the PWC Forum--it seems to be pretty well attended and solid information.

I have a close friend, and his PWC is the only one I have ridden. He is a responsible rider--but his PWC will go 70 MPH! 40 mph was enough for me. He buys a new one every or every other year--and gives the "old one" to his grandson. He favors Yamaha.

PWC have pretty well died out in our part of FL--We used to see them all of the time--now I have not seen one this summer behind out house. Heard a couple on Perdido bay on weekends 2x this summer.

A now retired Florida Marine Patrol Captain, joked with with me that we should have multiple PWC seasons: Bow and Arrow, Sling shot, muzzle loader, hand gun and different rifle calibers... :smileo

Be safe. I used to go out and tow ones which had broken down to their home docks. Often were kids who had capsized them, and then didn't right them correctly and got water in the engines etc...
 
A lot of places have banned them. The bans came when most PWC were 2-strokes making them noisy and polluting. The yahoos riding them irresponsibly did not help.
 
Brent, I do a calendar for some family around Christmas and, of course there is a different picture each month, and always of the C-Dory right? Well, except for April. (guess why) So one year I rented a PWC at a resort in Canada, just to try it out and get some pix for the Calendar. They only had one style and the guy told me they didn't go fast, Only about 65 or 70, and those were MPH, not Kilometers, as most everything else is up there.

Believe me, my C-Dory goes about 20 knots, and I cruise comfortably on my motorcycle at 60 mph. 40 on a PWC is fast. The lake was glass flat. It took me about 30 minutes of riding to get up to 40 and another 15 minutes to get up to 50mph and that is where I quit. I still had another third of the throttle to go. I got my pictures and enough speed on the water for a very long time.

It just didn't feel right, going that fast without leather, gloves and a helmet.

Stay careful.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon

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One of my friends has a "three person", four stroke. I think it's a Honda. That thing is fast. I mean 60+ mph fast. We've ridden it out on Lake Tapps. They are fun but one needs his/her head on a swivel when other boats are about. Maintenance was pretty straight forward, like a modern car but with an impeller.
 
I like the SeaDoos I rode one in Alaska on Big lake a couple summers. They are a lot of fun. The problem tho around here is that the people riding them seem to think the rules such as no wake zones don't apply to them.

To me many of the riders often fall in the same category as the idiots in wake boats. How these kids can afford this stuff is beyond me and they treat their "toys" with little to no respect. (generalized opinion - I know)

But they are great fun indeed. Sea-doo like ski-doo (snow machines) use bullet proof bombardier engines. (I flooded one once (tends to happen when you submerge the thing and pop out of the water like a whale) we drained the cylinders and off she went for another round)

Be safe and enjoy the ride!!

H
 
Well...if it's "appreciate any comments".

Fun yes...but in general most fisherman in FL despise them. 90% of them have no clue on what they are doing. No ramp etiquette, no boating etiquette, no clue...

Sure I just made a big generalization, but I can tell you from personal experience I really really [second really intentional] hate to see them anywhere near me. Beach, river, bay, at the ramp, trailering, driving...they always seem to be "that guy".

Perhaps I should have more coffee, but I don't think that would change my thoughts; probably just represses them.
 
If it was me...I would look at a Mokie kayak... I dislike those water lice (as fisherman call them) Jetski noise makers... The Mokie is so kool... has all the neatness of a kayak and you don't have to paddle... goes in super thin water and can be carried inside a Prius...so it easily will fit onto a C-Dory... Only downside I see is it costs 5K

Joel
SEA3PO
 
BrentB":g81kf2gc said:
I never been on one and appreciate any comments.
Click to expand...

Kid across the bay has one. Everybody on this side removed their mooring buoys because he and a friend would run slalom through them. Pain because some buoys will need a diver to put in again once school starts and he disappears. For now, he stays out in the middle of the bay going around in circles like a swatted fly on the floor. It must be a lot more fun than it looks if it outweighs all the annoyance that he causes the neighbors up and down the beach. Maybe that doesn't figured in to his calculation of what is "fun."

For a model that is quiet and inoffensive, Google "Bonzai Wave Rider."

Mark
 
My last encounter with jet skiers was when I was on the Chesapeake. I was cruising along in the middle of a pretty big bay (miles across). 4 jet skies over take me from behind and two of them cross in front of me at about 10 feet.

There was plenty of room in the bay and absolutely no reason for them to do that except total disregard for others.
 
I had an experience with on of them :roll: :twisted: I was at a fuel dock on Lake Washington, and a pair of jet skis came in just in front of me. The one immediately to my front, went to get off his, (and he was not a millennial, but a 50 something guy who should have been smart enough to know what he was doing,) and had the throttle handle in hand as he turns to get off. The JS jumped forward 6-8 feet to the front of my boat. The guys head missed my anchor by a few inches, and he hit the starboard forequarter, leaving some gouging and scrapes. With the force he hit, it would have knocked him out at least, and could have put a huge dent or hole in his head at worst.

I'm much happier out in the chuck, where they don't go.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon

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I'm not a fan of those things

My oldest friend was a ferry captain of a high speed cat on San Francisco Bay. As he was pulling into the SF pier, one moron drove under his boat between the hulls. Coast Guard was immediately summoned.
 
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