Sea Doo pwc
 

I am looking at a 98 GTX XP three seater two cylinder. What can you tell me about them, size of engine, hp, speed, what kind of problems, and what they are worth in decent cond? Thank's, Ike.

From a 41 Apache to this...............:confused: ;) Did you get any info about plating at the show?

lake lice
just be safe and have a better head on you then most others riding
ihave owned skis and have came close to almost being ran over by one on the river. He made the mistake of telling the cop that he thought they(the PWC) were more manuerverable than his boat. He just figured I would get out of his way and he had no reason to give way. I would like to know what that ticket cost him :)
Be safe!

I still have my 41, the 4 wheeler, the 3 wheeler, the race car,etc. just need more toys:p

I could not find anyone at the show who did that. There were only about a third of the venders that are normally there, the whole show sucked. Get chris carney to paint them.

Got a 97 GTX, Runs 54 with my wife and 2 kids on board, makes no sense but runs the same with only me on board. Paid $3500 for it in early 2001. Paid $350 for a trailer from Riva Yamaha in Pompano. Pay ~$400/year for insurance from State Farm. Expensive to maintain and if you run it hard (what other way is there) it sucks gas like a big block. For example:

1 carb replaced and 1 rebuilt $600
Replaced reverse cable and fuel sender $400

The key is to use it. The freakin battery for the thing from Wal-mart is $80, and the injector oil is $37/gallon

It is just another toy. I don't think that you can worry about the money, they are a ton of fun, specially if you have kids. Taught mine to ski on it, pull them wake boarding, tubing etc. It will even pull my wife on a slalom ski (1 person on the ski). I'm away from home and don't have the numbers with me, but you can PM me and I'll be glad to give you Fuel Costs / Hour and my Maintenance costs per hour.

Mike

Ike, my dad has a 97 sea doo 3 seater.green and white.paid 4,800 on a new trailer.runs about 52 on the speedo with my son and i on it.nice machine and rather hard to tip.

Check e-bay or boattrader. I would imagine they would be dirt cheap right now. If nothing else you could get an idea of value.

I own a 96 XP and a 98 GTX. Two different skis. The best 3 seater ever made is the 98 GTX. 130 HP, 70 on the speedo once and great on gas (with moderate throttle use). Pulls like a tractor and comfortable dry ride. The 97 GTX only has 110 HP (a bit underpowered for a 3 seater, and does guzzle gas). The 99 GTX has all kinds of sound deadening exhaust restrictions. If you find a clean one buy it.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

Thank's for the help, seems like a good deal.

We does Chris get out of the big house?:p

I've got a '97 Sea Doo XP (first year for the suspension seat).
It's advertised as a two seater, but even that is a pretty liberal statement. Unless the second passenger is a small child, two full grown adults will tip over on an XP. The hull is very narrow and has an extremely high center of gravity. This boat will tip over, many, many, many times. The "Dreamomter" on the Sea Doo reads 58 mph at WOT. The best I've ever been able to pace her with the boat is 50.0 mph on the GPS. :(

I've had MANY guys claim their PWC goes 70 mph ("I can beat that there cigar boat of yours..." :rolleyes: ), only to run away from them at 60 mph. However, I did pace a Kawasaki model a few years back at an honest to god 70 mph. The fast ones are out there, you just have to sort through all the bullschitters first.

-Bayley

We does???????:D

He is a free man as of dec. 23

When does............long day!!! I heard the show wasn't that good.

Ike, there are several "gotchas" on used SeaDoos...

Item 1: you mention a GTX XP. There are either GTX models or XP models and since you do specify a 3 seater, that rules out the XP so I'll go with the GTX.

The '97 GTX in green is the best seller and most popular of the used 3 seaters. The '97 uses the tried and true 787cc Rave rotary valve motor. Runs low 50's (shows 58 on the dream meter).

The '98 GTX "standard" was not available. In 98 the GTX was either a GTX Limited uses the big 947 carbureted twin or a GTX RFI. The 947 motor vibrates stronger than the 787 and while offering improved ski pulling power, then top speed is only 2 mph more. Fuel usage is significantly thirstier. The motor is also significantly larger than the 787 and is hard to reach around to work on it...

The "other" GTX available in '98 is the GTX RFI. It has a 787cc fuel-injected rotary valve Rave motor. A good variation on the standard 787, it is the first year for the RFI motor and did indeed have teething problems. It is very quiet though.

With all that said, the Rotax SeaDoos are good boats, but there is a particular issue that can bite your butt off.

Sea Doo crankshafts are notorious for flaking the hard-chrome off of them while sitting. The only way to be sure that you won't have flaking problems is to KNOW that the boat was properly fogged EVERY TIME the boat was stored for more than a week.

If the boat was ever stored with condensation in the motor and not fogged properly, it WILL flake chrome. Once this occurs, you have between ten minutes and 20 hours before the rod bearings start hammering OR seize up on the crank, breaking the rod and punching it through the cases so many times that it almost cuts the block in half (yes, I have seen a great many of these now-worthless blocks).

Whenever we takd a Sea Doo in on trade or buy one from auction, etc, we ALWAYS figure in the cost of a crank kit and labor (appx $500) before determining whether it is a good deal or not.

Hope this is helpful. I'll be happy to forward more info if you need it.

As far as price, we sell NICE used 97's with trailer and 30 day warranty for $3,600 to $4,000. We actually kind of shy away from RFI boats since we had to eat a $650 computer on one.

We did sell that one for $4300 with no trailer but it came back three times until we popped for the puter...

Ike-
Here's the spec. sheet on the '97 GTX (couldn't find '98).

http://www.tappedin.com/hop/html/sd_gtx.htm

I just bought a very clean '97 GTI (85 HP). Paid $2600 for it w/ brand new trailer. Three seaters are the only way to go. Maybe I'll see you at the Flats this year ('Yo, R Addiction- I'm the guy w/ the red kayak from last summer. Remember?)

My ridding partner of many years has the 97 GTX so the things I am about to say are well founded.

His 97 GTX is a dog. It will barely pull him (6 ft and 160) up on a salom ski, it uses more gas at cruising speed (45 or so) because he has to keep up with our 96 XP and 98 GTX. We ride 70 to 90 miles a weekend. 12 or so weekends a year. I havn't noticed any extra vibration with the 98 GTX that the 96XP and 97 GTX (same motor) have. If you want to ski behind it only, buy the GTI.

I've got over 120 hrs on my XP and have never fogged it before. The dealer said he's rarely seen a motor as clean as mine when he did the 100 hr tear down. Maybe that's just west coast weather.

Hopes this helps a bit.

My buddy just put a deposit on a new 2003 Sea doo. Get this, It has 185 HP supercharged. Great so now some snot nose kids are going to be blowing my Sunsation away come summertime. They claim this thing will do at least 80mph stock? Can this be true? :p

stock 80mph. sorry, I'll have to see it to believe it.

so far, nobody has gone 65 box stock...
I'm not sayin its not happening, I just am real skeptical till I see it myself...

I've got a 68 mph GPS Ultra150 - it didn't run but 62 as a stocker... (speedo shows 76 at 68GPS)...

I remember you Arks. How are ya? Can't wait for summer!:cool: see ya soon.

A full superstock raceboat that the factories run might run 80 mph on a good day. And that's a BIG might. We are talking boats that cost in excess of 35k to build. Somewhere in the area of 250+hp.

"They" claim this a lot when trying to sell PWC. I see this in ads for used PWC all the time.

The Supercharged Sea Doo in question will be doing good to run over 67mph, and I wouldn't be surprised if it didn't break 65mph.

Buck
#183

Oh sorry I forgot about the Speedo vs. Gps results. I know 80 on a speedo is a far cry from 68-70 on gps. I just would like to know they advertise these speeds. I guess I gotta take 1 for a blast to see real speed. Lets go summertime>:D :p

Well i got to talk to the guy last night and it turns out it's a 94 not 98. It has a rebuilt engine and pump and is a 750??. He is asking $1,200.00 for it on a trailer,what do you think?

Oh Holy One, this opens up a whole new case of whoopass on you now
A Wave runner
You sell out

God, Nicest looking boats on the east coast, awesome Impala and now you go and ruin your reputation by a wave runner

God damn

Call me, we must talk about a certain 2 people :snide:
Jason

This is the best site I have found for PWC info. and they have the best prices and warrenty on motors. http://www.sbtontheweb.com/index.htm

Ike, those numbers sound good.

Run a compression check - they should be within 8 psi of each other.

Take it for a test ride (I dont care how cold it is out, you need to ride it). Boat should not cavitate coming out of the hole - should run out nice on topend. True 48- 50 mph is expected.

Fuel tank sender commonly bad on them, so check it too (can run $75 to fix otherwise).

Thank's for the advice, maybe not this weekend though 10 degrees:crazy:

How about I buy you a brand new wave runner any style you want and Ill trade you that for the apache?
Fair deal?
Okay Ill get your specs of what you want today and order your new wave runner
Great doing business with you
Your getting an awesome deal
Thanks for the apache
Greatly appreciated
Jason

Didn't you hear? Apache just came out with a 41 ft waverunner. Now i'll take mine with full stagger 1300 sterlings #6 dry sumps half cabin with a/c and 6 man bolsters. When should we make the swap?:drool:

Ahhhh name of the thread is SEA DOO
SEA DOO brother YOU WROTE IT
We can make the Apache swap for the SEA DOO next week?
Might be 2 weeks until your new SEA DOO comes in
Hey Ill be a hell of a nice guy and even throw in the baja for ya.
that way you can tote your tart craft around by a rope hows that?
LOL
How goes it bro?
Talk to douche bag yet?
If not let me know ill call him and badger him all day today
Also if you dont mind, can I post the movie of the apache on the "other" offshore site so all the world can see War Party up close?
Jason

Ya know i was thinking about doing it until you said you would throw in the Baja, now i changed my mind. Have a nice day.

no it is a done deal
the baja is a bonus for you
what are you saying
Baja's suck ass?
is that what your saying
Oh wait till the baja guys in the baja forum her this
that a baja is not as good as a wave runner?

Hummmm we shall see my son, we shall see

Jason

And if you even try to throw the ford:crazy: in the deal you won't even get a ride on it.;) :D

okay when the duramush cant pull the trailer and boat up the ramp, you know who to call!!!
LOL

So you going to guarantee that the Baja runs this summer for me?
Jason

It will be running on the water this year even if i have spend your last dime.;) :D

YIKES!!! Are you going to throw in T-shirt and a key chain to, Ike?:D

Specs on all Seadoos 1996-2002 are at Seadoo.com

go to product then 1996-2002 archive

Gtx (hull) very good for a family ,stable hard to tip - had one
Xp (hull) just the oppostite - fun , better for one rider