buying a 2012 210 w/ twin 1.5's and have some misc questions

[WETJET2012]

hey all, was at a boat show yesterday and came across a beautiful 2012 210 with twin engines totaling 310 hp (non-supercharged) with about 60 hrs. I had no intention whatsoever of buying a boat but we loved this sea doo's layout the second we saw it. A half hour later we went ahead and left a deposit on it, contingent on sea-trial. I've had i/o's and outboard powered boats but never a jet drive... Basically i'd like to know what i should be looking/listening for during the water test? Are these hulls/stringers all composite? What would be a realistic life span(hours) of these twin motors? How often would the drive impellers need replacing? (if thats the correct wording) Should this boat/motor setup track perfectly straight or is some pulling normal? Typical top speed 45mph's or so? I'll be doing the sea trial tomorrow or tuesday and would appreciate any info before i commit to this purchase.
thanks!!

 

[Wboulton]

The hulls are all composite which I love about mine. No wood rotting or any of that bs. Non supercharged engine can do 1000+ hours if maintained. I inspect my pumps once a year and grease them. Rebuilds, I'd say probably 200hrs. Mine tracks dead straight but my buddy's Yamaha pulls so I don't know what a challenger will do. Top speed I would think high 40s maybe 50mph. Mines a 430hp speedster which will run 63mph with 3-4 people no problem. Getting use to docking is the worst part but once you get it down, it's cake. My last boat was a baja islander with an I/o and before that outboard bow rider. The jet boat is better in every way to me. Fuel mileage, speed, handling, shallow is a breeze now, I love it. Hope this helps.

 

[Coastiejoe]

Test the wear ring, impeller and the carbon seal by accelerating fast. If the engine RPMs increase quickly but the boat does not, one or more of what I mentioned needs serviced. do each engine separately. If the RPMs increase with the physical boat speed, then they are good.

The 155 engine is very proven, efficient and reliable.


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[Wboulton]

You can't do one engine at a time as it'll just cavitate badly. Mine will not get on plane with just one engine. Just an FYI.

 

[Coastiejoe]

Not suggesting you can get on a plane, but you can do a test this way. If you turn inboard of the engine you are testing, it reduces the load. Basically, you are just making sure the engine RPMs don't max out with no performance.


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[WETJET2012]

Thankyou guys for the excellent info!..If indeed there are signs that the wear ring, impellar or seal are worn, what kind of repair costs am i looking at roughly, just so i can factor that in to my purchase price/offer.?

coastie Joe: are you saying i should run 1 engine at a time to ensure theyre putting out power/and has compression. When i was in the boat i only saw 1 key ignition. How would i go about shutting one engine down while keeping the other running?
Wboulton: Glad to hear your enjoying your boat. I was a little wary at first of owning a jet drive so your post is certainly reassuring. I'm surprised your fuel mileage is better than the i/o & o/b.. I previously had a 120 carb'd outboard which is a pig on gas but i was under the impression that the this twin setup would be significantly worse...
Ive read somewhere that these motors have a closed cooling system..Does that mean no raw water is running thru the engine block or exhaust system?

 

[Coastiejoe]

Both engines running. Use only one throttle to do a engine performance type test. You won't get much performance per say, but you will be able to tell if there is a miss or vibration as well as see if you get high RPMs but no umph.

Wear ring is cheap by comparison to almost anything else. $200 ish at the dealer. $60 if you do it.


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[WETJET2012]

Well I just got back from the sea trial.. The boat ran and performed well. However when we got back to dock I noticed about a gallon of warm salt water in the bilge. We revved engines in neutral and looked for any leaks but found none. I did see some minor splattered salt deposits on the motors that's it. We're stumped. Any thoughts? They're going to have their mechanic check it out tomorrow but he doesn't work on jet drives so his knowledge may be limited

 

[Wboulton]

mine also had that. I found the cables running threw the hull for the drop grate system leaked water when under pressure. I solved that issue with some rtv on the top on the cable and the bottom where it comes out of the hull in the pump tunnel. 15 min job and $2.00 worth of rtv.
costiejoe the challengers have single controls like a normal boat. you can't control each engine like a speedster. theirs one key, but should have switches for each engine.

wetjet the first few times out the jets may piss you off when docking. once you get it down, docking is a breeze and i now like it better. I just put 100+ miles on mine today. everyone's different but I know my buddy feels the same way about his seadoo boat. he's ordering the new chaparral 243 now because he wants something bigger. I don't know if i'll ever go back to I/O. My baja had a 350 with a 4 barrel so it sucked down gas, but I do miss that sound!! you'll love your new boat though, have fun with it and enjoy it's amazing handling!!!

 

[Coastiejoe]

The rub rail is a common leak area as well as it rides below the water level when in the water.

To test. put the plugs in, leave it tied to the trailer, back down the ramp to the point that the rail is below water and look and see if water is coming in.

 

[WETJET2012]

the only thing is that the water in the bilge was fairly warm (id say85-90+ deg). The sea water temp is under 70deg. I would almost think that it was coming from the cooling system. Now, on these engines only the exhaust is raw water cooled, right? Their mechanic is supposed to look over the engine again this morning and see if any more water pools up in the bilge.. My next time down there i will check the rub-rail as well. thanks

 

[Vander59]

The only raw water passing through is in the exhaust. I would check for a pinhole in the exhaust system. I have a 2011 Challenger with twin 155's.


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[WETJET2012]

this is a pic of the motor compartment. I drew a red circle in the area i found salt residue, as if it was splattered in there. Its hard to see in the pic but how would any salt get on the engine itself? normal? will these engines hold up in a salt environment if maintained properly?