~$9000USD budget to buy a used PWC for Fishing/Spearfishing/Freediving?

[SpearoSki]

Going back a few years, but looking for a low hours unit, what hull would be the best for me on this limited budget?

Feasibility of self servicing, large hull to carry two people 10km offshore, enough speed to get out of a hole but speed is largely unimportant.

Please suggest a few models as the local market is fairly limited. Much appreciated yall.

I will mod the hull for various uses, ie towing biscuit vs carrying a large tuna back, trolling lures/live baits vs spearfishing or just freediving for photography etc. Will probably put a ski collar on it for additional stability at rest, getting in and out of the hull etc.

Thank you.

[SpearoSki]

Any suggestions? I want to get into something before summer hits here. cheers

[DrivingZiggy]

It's hard to recommend something with such a small budget. But I'll try.

My first recommendation would be the Yamaha FX HO. Good hull for cutting through the waves, "comfortable" seating, enough power for anything you'd need, "No Wake" mode if you want to troll at 5 MPH.

Maybe you can find a SeaDoo Fish Pro in your price range? Probably not since they're relatively new.

Some guys like the old Yamaha SUV and convert them to a more modern 4-stroke engine. That way, it's dependable as well as big and stable.

Just be sure to go 4-stroke. More dependable and more areas are outlawing 2-strokes due to their emissions.

[K447]

- before summer hits here. -

Where are you located?

[Myself]

It's hard to recommend something with such a small budget. But I'll try.

My first recommendation would be the Yamaha FX HO. Good hull for cutting through the waves, "comfortable" seating, enough power for anything you'd need,

LOL! I was going to say the exact same thing. 2009 or newer with a non supercharged 1.8L. I'd go for the Cruiser with the hip support seating but don't let it be a deal breaker cause you can always swap out the seats.

[SpearoSki]

LOL! I was going to say the exact same thing. 2009 or newer with a non supercharged 1.8L. I'd go for the Cruiser with the hip support seating but don't let it be a deal breaker cause you can always swap out the seats.

Is hip support, essentially the indivudal bumpy seat style?So VX cruiser is the 1800?ve seen a lot of yamaha's around 2012 with 100-160 hours on them for $9k.

I can service an outboard and an inboard merc cruiser etc, are jetskis much harder, i mean the oil and such looks piss easy, but what generally what are servicing intervals, 10 hours and 100 hours, or more like 30 hours and 100hours?

I hadnt considered converting the 2 stroke model listed above, I didnt know they were a bigger hull. Bigger is better, but will be adding a foam collar for extra stability at rest for getting in and out diving. I know the sea doo st3 hulls are big but i do not know what year that hull type started. I would prefer yamaha, only as my outboards, motorbikes, heck even my audio and music gear is yamaha lol and I they have never let me down. And the sea doo st3s are newer and closer to twice my budget. I dont want a super charger as its just one more thing I need to service/repair and reliability is key when diving.

So a vx 1800 or an FX HO around 2009-2014 with less than 150 hours, is that the ideal for what I am looking at?

[K447]

Read up on Yamaha SUV engine conversions. The hulls are well liked for fishing as they are huge, five feet wide and has tons of storage room.

Multiple engine swap projects have been documented using Yamaha 4-stroke motors into SUV hulls.

[HDAV]

Dude just buy a boat……..

[DrivingZiggy]

And then there's also the Yamaha RecDeck. But now we're talking at least double the budget.

[SpearoSki]

Read up on Yamaha SUV engine conversions. The hulls are well liked for fishing as they are huge, five feet wide and has tons of storage room.Multiple engine swap projects have been documented using Yamaha 4-stroke motors into SUV hulls.

Wow, now I get it, the SUV hull length was L:3.85M and Beam W:1.51M, current FXHO is L:3.6M W1.27M. The SeaDoo fish pro is 3.73 but only 125.5M wideThat is essentially a foot longer and a foot wider, people add jetski collar just to get 2/3 of a foot more width for stability at rest. Imagine 3.85 AND a collar, that would be truely stable and dang good in the choppy stuff/waves. In terms of displacement, longer is always better, of course, the reason a lot of people use jetskis for fishing and diving is due to parkng limitations. For me I have 60:40 in $1.4M, but do not want to raise the house just to fit a boat. Plus jetskis are hella fun for other activities that the Mrs is isnto (biscuitting, wake boarding etc).The question is, how cost effective is a 4 stroke SUV conversion? And can a person capable of doing pretty much most things to a car and strip an outboard apart and rebuild, put back together, capable of doing this themselves? (im not sure why Im worried, I guess anything knew it pays to ask before jumping in head first).How do I know which SUV model to look for, all I have looked at so far is the SUV1200.... and where would I get an 1800cc 4 stroke engine to replace it from?Much Appreciated !!!!

[K447]

get an 1800cc 4 stroke engine - ?

You don't buy just an engine. You buy an entire damaged Waverunner complete with 1.8 engine and everything else. Electronics, fuel system, controls, wiring, everything.

Almost all the guts from the donor (damaged) ski will get put into the SUV hull.

I am not an expert on the Yamaha SUV model history but for your purposes I think all the model years it was sold are about the same. You can find online model histories for Yamaha that will include the SUV info.

Hull condition and hardware condition are probably going to determine the SUV suitability for conversion. It is less work if you don;t have to first fix the hull itself and search for replacement hatch hardware, trim, stuff like that.

[SpearoSki]

Hull condition and hardware condition are probably going to determine the SUV suitability for conversion. It is less work if you don;t have to first fix the hull itself and search for replacement hatch hardware, trim, stuff like that.

yep. didnt realise they had hatches on the back, also a lot of the length might be explained in the rear end over hang, ie not hull in water as such. the hatches worry me in that, they look hard work to make sure they 100% water tight.

But I will do a bit more research, but seems if you can get a 2009-2012 fxho for my budget with 100-150 hours on it, probably easier to run with one of them and just add a collar around it.

[K447]

https://www.jetdrift.com/yamaha-suv-1200-review/

There is also a Greenhook.net PWC Fishing forum on here.
Lots of useful info, and you can see some of the models and upgrades that others have chosen.

http://greenhulk.net/forumdisplay.php?f=213

[SpearoSki]

Well I looked into SUV 1200 conversions and its just too much hard work, yes the hulls look awesome, but finding a transplant wrecked model not easy, then having to do a lot of work Im not familar with.

So have decided to find a $9-10k USD used Yamaha and put one of the collars around it which add beam etc. Seen a lot of guys spearing out of newer yamaha wave runners like brand new fxho's but i just cant afford one.
Im just not sure what is the biggest hull back in 2004-2009 type era, GP1800, FXHO?

[SpearoSki]

There are sooooo many good skis with little hours on them in my budget. The question is, how do I choose which hull. Ideally I would pick an ST3 hull, but they just out of my price range.

I can always just add a jetski collar, but which engine should I aim for in the 2007-2012 yamaha market and which hull had the flatest seat, so easy for 2 people to turn around (or a single person etc)? Also a boarding platform with space makes things a lot easier.

I would like to keep things as simple as possible. The older FX HO was 1100cc, will this still do the job?