[RichardL]

hi guys, Im glad I found this forum,
I am about to purchase a jet ski of some sort but don't know much about them, I don't know what brand to get, Im after second hand a 2-3seater ski, that is reliable, relitivly cheap to maintain and resonably powerful, something over 900cc,
any advice would be appreciated as it will point me in the right direction, cheers

Richard

 

[RichardL]

bump..........

 

[SeadooWINS]

Ok, what I'm here to do for you is narrow your search. So let's first start by figuring out whether you want a 2 or a 3 seater. Are you more interested in riding in the rough water, or are you more interested in precision handling. Are you looking for a new or used ski. Let's start from there!

 

[RichardL]

hi, cheers for the reply
as stated in my first post Id like a 2or3 seater ski second hand
its use will vary from light sedate crusing to full on "im an idiot"
stunt work, lake and sea use, so something thats a good arounder. good power too

 

[SeadooWINS]

Like I said in the previous post, your ideas are to broad we need to narrow them down. Are you ever going to have passengers and how often will you have them. How is the chop. From what I think your looking for, maybe a couple year old GP 1300r is what you need. Its good in the rough, awesome handling and easy 65 mph. Try for an 04 for maybe 4-5k

 

[RichardL]

will be carrying passengers, 10% of the time, while what youve suggested would be good, i will be looking for something much older than that, Im in New zealand so price does vary alot from US prices, there are alot of second hand ex USA skis around here, they must be cheap as there,
so in my price range puts me in the 96-2001 year jetski
kawasakis ar well priced here quite like the look of the 1100xsi what are your thoughs on them, (not that im ruling out any other brands though)

 

[SeadooWINS]

kawi 1100sxi aint bad...but I would ride it before buying it. Check the hull, see how bad its gotten in the years. How many hours are on the ski. Might even want to bring to kawi dealer get it checked...and replace oil and gas b4 riding

 

[RichardL]

cheers, obviously you are a sea do fan, went out on one today a 700cc xp, think it was a 96, not very fast and unstable as hell, what are the 900cc's like

 

[SeadooWINS]

I am a seadoo fan..but i am not bias whatsoever...ill tell you not to get the rxp for reliability, ill tell you that straight up. Yes 700 xp is unstable. With the 900, its alot faster and more stable without a doubt...If you want a seadoo tho, don't go with the XP, go with newer models, i would say your kawi is good as long as you do normal "buyers" checkup on it

 

[RichardL]

yes I have heard that about the older seadoo's I read somewhere the early ones were just marinised go kart engines,
at this stage the kawasaki does look promising, undecided on a 900cc or 1100cc, the average hours on them are between 50-80
I see alot have had rebuilt engines, from what I can gather its usually poor matenince, and misuse,
what exactly would a jetski mechanic be looking at when doing a pre purchase inspection?