thoughts about 1997 speedster

[drabbit]

Hello All, hope you guys doing fine.

Im planing to buy a 1997 speedster and I was wondering if you guys could let me know your thoughts about this jet boat like maintenance, gas consumtion, information like that..

I just want to be sure that is a nice boat.. This is going to be me first boat and Im going to use it in salt water.

Thank you in advance.

:thumbsup:

 

[Dr Honda]

They are good boats, and a lot of fun... but you are looking at a 15 year old boat... so reliability, is all about how that last guy took care of it.

 

[drake1]

fuel consumption at full power is 24 gallons per hour

 

[Robj]

For salt water I would suggest buying more boat. Not sure what the water gets like where you are.The water around here can get rough and having a bigger boat in those conditions is a good thing. Just my opinion....

 

[Dr Honda]

fuel consumption at full power is 24 gallons per hour

Huuu ????

The 720's only drink about 8.5~9 gal/hr. So... that 18 gal/hr at the most. If you are drinking 24 gal/hr.... then something is wrong.

 

[LouDoo]

You asked for opinions so here's mine. The twin engine speedsters are fast and fun but personally I wouldn't buy one especially an old one. The reason, two engines, twice the trouble, twice the expense. I would look for a single engine boat with a larger engine.

Lou

 

[drake1]

opps that was for the 787 engines on the challenger according to the manual is 24 gph at wot, forgot the speedster has the smaller engines

 

[boggs]

I bought a 97 speedster this year and it has been a great boat!! But with any boat they can get expensive fast. My family loves it and i do as well. But in 5 years i would like a 17 foot bowrider with an out board motor.

 

[illru]

Its a great boat! Very fast if the engines and pumps are in any type of OK shape. I can get mine to 55 on gps. The going gets rough at speeds over idle in the chop. At 15 years old its less maintenance and more replacement of parts. Having the twin engines have been a blessing for me. having a dead engine with the wife and two kiddies on board I limped back to the ramp on the good one, more then once.

-dave

 

[drabbit]

For salt water I would suggest buying more boat. Not sure what the water gets like where you are.The water around here can get rough and having a bigger boat in those conditions is a good thing. Just my opinion....

Im from Costa Rica, Central America and buying boats here its kind of expensive... so I cant buy another type of boat. Im going to use ir in salt water but its going to be use for wakeboarding and those kind of stuff, even tho I know that the wake is not that big in a jet boat. The beach where I will be using it, its a place where there's no waves at all so the water is really flat and nice to practice this sport.

 

[drabbit]

I bought a 97 speedster this year and it has been a great boat!! But with any boat they can get expensive fast. My family loves it and i do as well. But in 5 years i would like a 17 foot bowrider with an out board motor.

Hey boggs thans for your thoughts.. How is that speedster doing? have you done any maintenance to it? change of oil or something?

 

[DSchmidt54]

We had one , largest problem we had was the previous owner put the wrong kinda oil in it , we ended up doing two top end rebuilds (one on each block) and the thing was great! i learned to kneeboard behind it and its great for that due to how it turns and zips around real quick , the only downfall of it is that the wake is TINY! im talking like 6-8 inches at best, so your really not gonna get much air off of it, we sold ours and upgraded to a 19.5 foot Glastron with a 4.3 volvo penta i/o, and that boat is the pinnacle of reliability, we have probably put around 400 hours on it in the last two summers. on top of that , we have a much larger wake (around 2-2 1/2 foot when trimmed properly) and that boat caused me to get into wakeboarding. My buddy gets around 8-10 feet of air popping off of the wake.

Just some food for thought.

 

[boggs]

Hey boggs thans for your thoughts.. How is that speedster doing? have you done any maintenance to it? change of oil or something?

It has been great my family loves it, I use Amsoil oil, and just changed the pump oil and am getting it ready for the winter. I had one problem on the water and it turned out to be an easy fix. I pertty much just remind my self that a new motor will run me about $900, if i may ever need one. Thats pertty cheap considering how much outdrives cost on a conventional boat!!

 

[drabbit]

It has been great my family loves it, I use Amsoil oil, and just changed the pump oil and am getting it ready for the winter. I had one problem on the water and it turned out to be an easy fix. I pertty much just remind my self that a new motor will run me about $900, if i may ever need one. Thats pertty cheap considering how much outdrives cost on a conventional boat!!

you are so right with the $900 motor.

Well thanks so much for your thoughts.. I think Im going to buy one and enjoy it!!

Have you ever check engine compression? what values did you get?

 

[DSchmidt54]

should be around 135 - 150 in each cylender

 

[drabbit]

should be around 135 - 150 in each cylender

ohh ok.. Ill check that before I decide to buy it..