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What to look for in a personal watercraft?
#210487 06/03/08 06:24 PM
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I am thinking about purchasing a PWC sometime in the near future. (Probably won't actually happen for several months to a year)

Anyway, just wondering if anyone here has any pointers? I was looking at Seadoo, but thought about waverunner too.

I would like to have something that is a 3 seater, and is fully capable of towing an adult skier/ wakeboarder behind it without any problems.

Plan on buying new unless I find a used model with a few hours on it for sale or something... even then I still think it would be best to just get a new one.

Anything I should look out for on said purchase?



Thanks!


-David
Re: What to look for in a personal watercraft?
terzaghi #210523 06/03/08 09:44 PM
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At risk of hijacking . . . just a little safety story! We were on vacation and rented seadoos, the three-seater kind. All the other couples attached the stretchy key-clip to the person on the back, with the idea that if they fell off the watercraft would stop. Ian wasn't much on that idea. We headed out in some rough waters, and on our way back home again it had turned into three-foot seas. I was on the back, arms around Ian and holding him for dear life with my eyes screwed shut because the waves were coming over us like crazy (and permagrin on my face 'cause it was a crazy fun ride!) when all of a sudden we lurched hard to the right. I went under, figuring Ian was also going under, but when I swam up to the surface again Ian was still on board and sort of far away! At any rate, turned out it was a good idea that he had not attached the killswitch to me - at the speed we were going we would have both been stranded in waters that would have made it very hard to swim for the seadoo. So if you're going out in the ocean, remember my little story \:\)

Re: What to look for in a personal watercraft?
Amie #210533 06/04/08 12:12 AM
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Amie I thought those things were supposed to come to an idle and make small circles whenever the operators fell off. We have lot's of accidents down our way involving PWCs, alcohol and inexperienced operators. Those contraptions don't fare too well with the go fast offshore fishing boats hauling the mail through our inlets around these parts.

Years ago whenever we first bought our smaller boat that was used primarily on the lakes around the Orlando area we had problems with folks on PWCs jumping our wake close to the boat and then getting a kick out of splashing the occupants ... a long spinning rod with a nice heavy casting plug and huge treble hooks resolved that issue.






Rick
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Re: What to look for in a personal watercraft?
RickF #210538 06/04/08 01:35 AM
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 Quote:
a long spinning rod with a nice heavy casting plug and huge treble hooks resolved that issue.


Nice! \:\)


A computer once beat me at chess, but it was no match for me at kick boxing.
Re: What to look for in a personal watercraft?
terzaghi #210547 06/04/08 01:57 AM
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1. Winning lottery ticket
or
2. sails.


Fred

-------
Blujays1: Spending Fred's money one bottle at a time, no two... Oh crap!
Re: What to look for in a personal watercraft?
HomeDad #210548 06/04/08 02:09 AM
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Back when I was able to use my boat regularly the pwcs were just becoming popular around here. I would curse the wake-jumpers and wonder if they comprehended just how dangerous their actions were, we were there to ski and i could just see getting hit and killed by a pwc. A group of us spent a week in the ozarks one year and someone rented a pwc for us to all try. When my turn came it only took a few minutes to learn to operate the thing and become bored. Before I knew it I was being completely unsafe for a public cove. didn't jump any wakes but I now understand the draw of it. When I realised this I handed the thing off to the next person and parked myself.
On a closed course for pwcs I see them as boundless fun. On a public lake they're a loaded gun. It's like sex- you say you'll be safe but it's way harder to be responsable than you think.

Re: What to look for in a personal watercraft?
fredk #210600 06/04/08 12:47 PM
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 Originally Posted By: fredk
1. Winning lottery ticket
or
2. sails.


They make PWC with sails now?!?!?


Last edited by terzaghi; 06/04/08 12:48 PM.

-David
Re: What to look for in a personal watercraft?
RickF #210641 06/04/08 04:31 PM
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I don't think they go into idle with the key out but I could be totally wrong. I am glad ours didn't - that would have been a big bonk on the head when I surfaced if it had circled back at me!! Love the spinning rod - you say so much without saying a word!

Re: What to look for in a personal watercraft?
Amie #210656 06/04/08 05:18 PM
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My brother had one for a couple of years. Around here, as long as you avoid the busy beaches there isn't nearly as much danger in running into another person on the water. Not saying it's impossible, but it's a big ocean. I can see how sharing with water skiers in a lake or river would get tricky though.

I did have a near collision with a curious pilot whale last weekend though. A younger one broke away from a pod I was watching from my sea kayak and came over to watch me instead. Very cool experience. I'm not accustomed to close encounters with them.


With great power comes Awesome irresponsibility.

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