Having owned high performance 2 stroke skis for nearly 20 years IMO, no not at all. Some people blow it out of proportion. Take care of them and keep up with routine maintenance and they will treat you good. Also, don't buy a model with known history of having problems. For the Yamaha, the 66V was an incredible motor and very reliable. For Seadoo, it's the 787.
I had nearly 250 hours on my 2000 GP1200R before it needed motor work. And I had every single modofication done to that ski short of going big bore. Absolutely beat the hell out of the ski and it never missed a beat other than I ripped the pump shoe out of it because I failed to reinforce the mounting bolts/bracket when the speeds got 20 mph faster than stock lol.
Currently have a 2000 GTX RFI (787) with nearly 300 hours and never done a single thing other than clean the Rave valves (it actually has the original RAVES/belows/seals), replace plugs, rectifier replacement and wear ring. And the RFI motor uses so little oil that its more expensive for me to change the oil once a year in my 4TECs than it is to buy oil for the RFI and it runs on 87 octane.
Agree 100%, I've owned many 2 strokes over the years and I purchase a few non runners every year for flip/parts and you'd think by now i'd have a negative opinion on the reliability of the 2 stroke models, but its really the opposite. If the are ridden regularly, receive the proper maintenance (minimal) i'd consider them pretty dam reliable, even in my area which has a lot of salt water. The ones that suffer generally were ridden infrequently, neglected with old gas/cheap oil, stored outdoors, never flushed. IMO they were doomed for failure because of the owners lack of concern.
The only change i'd make to your statement is the SD 717 instead of the 787 but potato potatoe.. I still think the Yami 700 and SD 717 are dam hard to kill, even if you try they still stubbornly start every time.
agreed with mpower, than main issue is not getting ripped off when buying a used ski as you never know what headaches lie ahead. there are some great guys on this forum that can give sound advice when looking to buy a ski especially what to look for during inspection. never fall for the only needs a starter or battery line. if it doesn't run, it probably needs an engine rebuild and should be priced accordingly. compression check and test ride is a must! and ride it for at least 20 min then let it sit for 15 min or so. and see if it will restart.
Solid advice, although I'm still always amazed at buyers lack of concern for comp test and test rides, for example, I sold both my ski's this week to a buyer with a price tag over 8K.
Quick summary:
Never been on a PWC before
No compression Test
No Test Ride
Idled for 30 seconds.
Never towed a trailer before.
He received about a 4 minute flush/maintenance lecture from me while my wife counted the money, then he drove off happy.
Oddly enough his biggest concern was whether or not the trailer lights worked and if he could have two free life jackets.
I could have volunteered a comp test and quick ride but why waste my time and potentially risk the sale when he's ready to buy ?
Frankly, he's dam lucky he bought them from me, AND that they were my personal ski's and not just a couple of pigs that I put lipstick on and listed for sale.
gas start and ride.....
