Towing a jet boat ?

[AndyC]

Well I guess I'm really nuts. I just went to look at a 00 Sea-Doo Speedster jet boat, in my friend's Marina. I was wondering I've heard of people on the list towing boats, any problems? This is 17' and weighs 1710 lbs.
I had to see what kind of deal the bank's going to give me on a borrowing a cash. Who know once I talk to the guy maybe he's already sold it. If I end up getting this I'm going to have a toy sale, I'll need to unload so stuff :)
Most likely I'll be getting a hitch from Tone to use since I really don't care for the looks of the Dalan ones either way the hitch is needed.

Thanks,

[Joe_Black]

If you like that take a look at the Yamaha! You'll spend more time in the water and less in the shop, just ask any former Bombardier owner.

On the towing, check this LINK (http://www.vehicross.info/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=12648#post12648) for the recent thread on this very question.

[AndyC]

Hey Joe, I have a 96 HX Sea-Doo and a 99 GP800 jetskies. Yea I know about the Sea-doo motor :) I've never had a problem with my yamahas. This Speedster has the Mer 240EFI motor in it:)

Thanks,

[IsuZOOM]

I own an '00 Speedster! It weighs 2,400 lbs BTW. I made the decision not to tow it with the VX as it's longer than the VX and would be dangerous going more than 25-30 MPH. Plus the trailer doesn't even have brakes.

[Tone]

That should tow just fine and you�ll hardly know it is back there. As long as it is under 3K lbs, trailer brakes are not essential but always nice and you can safely tow it at 55-60, longer trailers tow just fine at speed. Backing with a short wheel base, long trailer does require a good deal of skill to keep from jack knifing the trailer but go slow and practice.

Enjoy the SeaDoo - great boats! Yamahas are good too and a lot of rental places use them as they seem pretty bullet proof.

[Joe_Black]

Never had any trouble towing 26 foot trailer with my Trooper RS which is same wheelbase as VX. As Tone mentioned, things happen a lot quicker when backing. I look at it as more manueverability! LOL!

I used to run a Yamaha in amateur IJSBA racing and never did anything to it beyond riding it and cleaning it. The SeaDoo guys on the other hand...

[psychos2]

i towed a 22 ft donzi classic back from cape cod mass. it towed just fine @65-70 mph. probably close to 4000 lbs. i think the short wheel base helps when backing up. the shorter the trailer, the harder it is to back up. shawn

[Heraclid]

Hey, I support what Joe initially said... once upon a time Bombardier (it's French - Bom-bard-ee-ay) fired me, although I can't blame the whole company for that fiasco. However, before that they shut down all operations at the Colorado Springs office without any warning whatsoever - the employees showed up like it was any normal work day and found out they had an hour to get their stuff and get out. So I know I wouldn't buy from 'em. Plus, all their execs are French-Canadian a**holes who look down on Americans. Sorry, but it's true.

They spent a ton of money building a new 5-story office building for CFD (consumer finance division, which financed the SeaDoos & SkiDoos) and then before long shut it down, and I don't know what happened to all those folks. If you ever cruise thru Jax on I-95 you can see it. They tried to get into all sorts of other things like mortgage finance, which was floundering and represented only like 1 or 2 percent of their business and what did they do? Cut CFD here and kept MFD (mortgage). They had three different presidents of Jacksonville operations while I was there (2 yrs). They're also into aerospace (LearJet, Canadair) and railways (high-speed transit systems and railcar leasing).

[AndyC]

Thumbs down for Bombardier on that one.
Since this is a used jet boat that's ok then :) I have a Seadoo jet ski too but that was used when I purchased it. As for SeaDoo themselves Don't know -- a ring let loose in that motor and trashed it. Seadoo first denied the repair ( was a few days out of warranty) So I had to contact SeaDoo customer relations and walla they agreed to repair it minus $300. Well that worked good for me. The SeaDoo's are fast but that comes with a cost. My previous Yamaha was pretty quick but the Seadoo's would beat it. I never had to work on my Yamaha motor though. That was why I purchased another Yamaha jet ski and also Yamaha snowmobiles :)