I am not a boat guy. Know very little about them other than good outboard motors are very expensive.
I love fishing. I also highly enjoy water skiing when others invite me. I’d love to give wakeboarding a try. I love roading on jet skis.

This new Sea Doo Switch Sport looks like quite the versatile pontoon. We have a number of lakes around here so lots of boating opportunities.
These just seem a lot easier all around than a traditional pontoon. But again I am not a boat guy. I’d love to be able to ski, wakeboard, and tube with the kids.
I could see my brother and I going halfsies on a lightly used one in a couple years.
Not being a boat guy is there something that would make this thing not desirable?

I live on a lake and have many friends that have owned seadoos. Based on their experiences with them, I wouldn't own one out of warranty. I would feel good with a Yamaha or a Honda PWC.

I don't care for the steering / throttle setup. My favorite thing about a pontoon is just puttering around the lake with friends. Most of the hours I've put on the boat are just above idle. I set the throttle and barely touch the steering wheel. This setup looks like you have to maintain a grip on the yoke at all times. I'm not a fan.

Storage also looks sub-par. You can't have enough storage on a boat. You'll need to store vests, rafts, fenders, ropes, anchors, tubes, boards, skis, tools, first aid stuff, etc. Now add coolers and bags (women absolutely can not go boating without a big bag full of God knows what), food and all of a sudden space is gone.

It does look like it might be ok at towing. Most pontoons are too underpowered to be very good at anything but tubing, so this may be a better option. That hull will be crap though if you want to do anything on a wakeboard or ski besides get up and cross the wake occasionally. Pretty sure surfing is out of the question if that was ever a consideration. (note that I have a wakeboat, so I am biased in my opinion here)

A guy at Turks and Caicos who rents jet skis said never to buy a Sea Doo unless I wanted to constantly fix stupid shit. He claimed their Yamaha jet skis were WAAAAAAAY more reliable though the hull gave a slightly less comfy ride and the styling isn’t quite as nice. His comments on sea doo were anything but confidence inspiring. That said it looks like a fun little boat. The supercharged Sea Doo my wife and I rented kept having an alarm go off every 15 minutes. It turned out to be nothing but it kept us from exploring too far away from where we rented the ski.

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Originally posted by stickman428:
A guy at Turks and Caicos who rents jet skis said never to buy a Sea Doo unless I wanted to constantly fix stupid shit. He claimed their Yamaha jet skis were WAAAAAAAY more reliable though the hull gave a slightly less comfy ride and the styling isn’t quite as nice. His comments on sea doo were anything but confidence inspiring. That said it looks like a fun little boat. The supercharged Sea Doo my wife and I rented kept having an alarm go off every 15 minutes. It turned out to be nothing but it kept us from exploring too far away from where we rented the ski.

They were mid 90s PWCS, but we had both a SeaDoo SPi & a Yamaha Waverunner at the same time.
Maintenance wise, they were pretty equal, from what I remember.

The SD was more playful, with a deeper V hull & the Yamaha stuck to the water better, more shallow V.

We sold them when I was 17, right when I'd have been able to really start using them.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: P250UA5,

Well that sucks!

What really sticks out in my memory of our conversation was the guys comment on the sensors and what happens when various electrical shit fails on a Sea Doo verses a Yamaha. He said on a Yamaha it will give you an idiot warning light and unless it’s critical the ski will still run and get you home. He said the Sea Doo machines are far more prone to breaking electrical shit and when it happens it typically means you are dead in the water. Yamaha makes their system in a way that it’s less likely to shut off and leave you dead in the water.

Given the number of boats he was working on (I got to briefly see their shop/ collection of jet skis in various conditions) I am inclined to believe him. I asked him about the buzzing warning we kept getting on the sea Doo and he said it was some sort of trim component that was malfunctioning but not critical and not a sensor that would stop it from going. The engine sensors are a different story.

He did say when a Sea Doo isn’t messing up it’s the most fun jet ski they own.

Those older two stroke Yamaha and Sea Doo skis from the 90’s are MUCH more simple to work on and maintain than the latest crop of supercharged machines.

Perhaps a Yamaha jet boat? We love our Yamaha jet ski. I just sold our older 2 stroke Seadoo.

Yea, sorry bud all that shit’s gonna break. Yamaha is the only name you need to know on the water.

This thing seems fun, big skidoo / teeny party barge niche.

Black92lx, go pick up a used Mastercraft X series boat. You won’t be disappointed.

Edit. I own an X45. Kids love it. Wakeboard, surf, ski and tube. It will do it all and holds 18 people.

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Originally posted by D4Heavy:
Black92lx, go pick up a used Mastercraft X series boat. You won’t be disappointed.

Edit. I own an X45. Kids love it. Wakeboard, surf, ski and tube. It will do it all and holds 18 people.

Do not seem to be even comparable.

Are you going to be in fresh water or salt water? The boat we rented spent a life subjected to salt water and being abused at a rental place where it was ridden like it was stolen.

If you are going to be running it in fresh water you might have fewer issues. I could not believe how fast the supercharged Sea Doo was that we rented. If I gave it full throttle and got up to speed it would launch itself off a wave and get airborne. It was FUN!!!!!!

It’s an interesting concept, but the video shows it on glass smooth water. I’d like to see it handles real world conditions when everyone and their brother is out on the lake with boat producing wakes for surfing or wakeboarding. I’d also start pricing those Linq accessories. The small cooler I looked at was $350 while the big one was $700. I stopped looking at that point.

quote:

Originally posted by Black92LX:

quote:

Originally posted by D4Heavy:
Black92lx, go pick up a used Mastercraft X series boat. You won’t be disappointed.

Edit. I own an X45. Kids love it. Wakeboard, surf, ski and tube. It will do it all and holds 18 people.

Do not seem to be even comparable.

Yeah 40k for a very small and underpowered boat vs a 40k proven wakeboard/surf/ski boat. I see your point.

quote:

Originally posted by D4Heavy:

quote:

Originally posted by Black92LX:

quote:

Originally posted by D4Heavy:
Black92lx, go pick up a used Mastercraft X series boat. You won’t be disappointed.

Edit. I own an X45. Kids love it. Wakeboard, surf, ski and tube. It will do it all and holds 18 people.

Do not seem to be even comparable.

Yeah 40k for a very small and underpowered boat vs a 40k proven wakeboard/surf/ski boat. I see your point.

I was thinking more like grabbing the Sea Doo in like 3 years when they are closer to 20k used. The model I specd out new was 32k.

Looking to do more than just Ski and wakeboard. The Seadoo seems far more versatile.
An inexpensive but capable pontoon for someone who is not an avid boater and likely never will be.

quote:

Originally posted by P250UA5:
We sold them when I was 17, right when I'd have been able to really start using them.

Smart parents!

Interesting concept.

I was big into 2 stroke standup skis years ago and worked on quite a few Seapoos. These were mostly late 90s early 2000s models. Things may have changed with their construction since then but I was always shocked by the crappy materials they used and overall design when compared to a Yamaha or Kawasaki of the same vintage.

I also lived on the water at the mouth of a marina.. by far seadoos outnumbered the Japanese machines coming back in being towed.

Not many rental agencies use seadoos in their fleets.

I so remember them being more sporty on the water though.

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Originally posted by architect:

quote:

Originally posted by P250UA5:
We sold them when I was 17, right when I'd have been able to really start using them.

Smart parents!

I disagree wholeheartedly!

Those things are essentially dirt bikes in the water. Responsible operation and training/experience are important (so is licensing if applicable), and that's all that is necessary! 17 YO's have drivers licenses, so if they can drive a 3800# car on the street, they can certainly operate a personal watercraft....At least there's NO chance they'll be texting on their phones while doing so...

quote:

Originally posted by Black92LX:

quote:

Originally posted by D4Heavy:

quote:

Originally posted by Black92LX:

quote:

Originally posted by D4Heavy:
Black92lx, go pick up a used Mastercraft X series boat. You won’t be disappointed.

Edit. I own an X45. Kids love it. Wakeboard, surf, ski and tube. It will do it all and holds 18 people.

Do not seem to be even comparable.

Yeah 40k for a very small and underpowered boat vs a 40k proven wakeboard/surf/ski boat. I see your point.

I was thinking more like grabbing the Sea Doo in like 3 years when they are closer to 20k used. The model I specd out new was 32k.

Looking to do more than just Ski and wakeboard. The Seadoo seems far more versatile.
An inexpensive but capable pontoon for someone who is not an avid boater and likely never will be.

Your original post said ski, wakeboard and tube with kids. This is exactly what I do every weekend. No way a pontoon is more versatile than a wake/surf boat. Been on the water my whole life. Have had many boats and been in many boats. You asked for advice and I’m giving it too you but sounds like you made your mind up.

quote:

Originally posted by nhracecraft:

quote:

Originally posted by architect:

quote:

Originally posted by P250UA5:
We sold them when I was 17, right when I'd have been able to really start using them.

Smart parents!

I disagree wholeheartedly!

Those things are essentially dirt bikes in the water. Responsible operation and training/experience are important (so is licensing if applicable), and that's all that is necessary! 17 YO's have drivers licenses, so if they can drive a 3800# car on the street, they can certainly operate a personal watercraft....At least there's NO chance they'll be texting on their phones while doing so...

Agreed, we took them out often, so I was plenty familiar with safe boating on the river we usually rode.
I took them out a couple times solo with a couple friends, had no problem launching/retrieving with our old Suburban.

By the time we sold them, they were ~10 years old & going through a battery/yr & starter/2yrs. The SD was salt water stored (beCh house in Galveston) for the first few years of its life.