Stumbled on this older thread just now.
Reading some of the posts here reminds me of a quote; “You can only have a rational conversation with a rational person”.
Comparing a BW Dauntless to a Yamaha jet boat is beyond comparing apples to oranges. You pay for what you get, especially in the marine world. One poster said that there was a much better value boat than the 212X but failed to give an example.
Wanting the techy things like drive by wire and not the other techy things is a personal preference. That set up is out there, and like the Dauntless you are going to pay 2-3 times more for such a boat. Are the analogue throttles harder to use than fly by wire? Maybe. But a lot of other boats come with the same type of 714 binnacle. I set my rpms at 6000 when I set off on a cruise then use the cruise assist to make power adjustments up or down from there. As one Canadian reviewer of the 210 FSH said when using the cruise assist, “ I cannot understand why more boats don’t have this feature”.
@Julian ‘s comments are great.
- Electronic throttles should trickle down to more models.
- Fuel economy
- Sound proofing
- 27' model that is 8'6 wide
- Windlass as an option
I would add my own list (a few things off the top of my head):
- Stock options for cabin enclosures (full rain windshield made of vinyl)
- Use standard stereo connections/equipment whenever possible - RCA connections, pre amp outputs, no special wiring harnesses, make it easy for us to mod them.
- More Ballast options
- Larger fuel tank....60 would be nice
- All models should think about Cell phone use, placement, charging, storing, mounting. They are ubiquitous nowadays - assume every seat will have one (at least in the cabin).
- Design the dashes to allow for easier add ons (like GPS/sounders, accessory power, phone holder, marine radio etc).
Fuel economy: I would just say that the fuel economy thing could be accomplished with turbo charging but that is going to be expensive. Much better economy at cruising speed and much more power over a much wider set of operating conditions than engine driven super chargers, but again, cost will be a factor. Current idle speed fuel consumption of .5 gal per engine is pretty good. Yamaha has ready built 1000 cc turbo motor that was used on their snowmobiles that produced 180-190 hp, at 13,000 feet. I’m sure adapting that turbo system to the 1.9L engine would produce a lot more horsepower and way more torque.
Throttle by wire should probably be standard across the board by now, with auto scything and single throttle control. And to that end, IMHO, Yamaha totally missed the mark by not incorporating most or all of the Helm Master features on the H model FSH boats, like spot lock, fish point, slow troll, drift point, auto pilot, that could have been like hitting a grand slam in the bottom of the 9th inning at game four of the World Series for a complete shut out. Maybe there was some insurmountable engineering challenges but Yamaha totally missed the boat by not offering those features on their FSH boats with H designation. And for that matter the bow rider boats with similar functionality.
An appropriate size windlass with through the stem deployment would definitely be nice as an option.
The canvas options would be totally awesome for the shoulder seasons or just crappy weather, heck Yamaha used to sell a little bow tent for their boats but I believe that ended in 2014 or 2016. And the canvas option would certainly open up more days on the water, especially those that might be starting out with a bit of rain but get nicer during the day.
How cool would this be for staying out over night?
The 27’ model with an 8’6” beam would be pretty fast but a bit corky.
The larger fuel tank could be a bit of a double edged sword… the more fuel the more weight and the performance would suffer a bit, and not be palatable for some. Having said that, I know I’d like another 10-15 gallons, but, that would eat into storage space..
Definitely more 12V power points with 2A USB chargers built into them would be great not only for personal electronics but for portable bait wells, portable electric ice chests, hand held floor lights, inflators etc..and to that end, alternators with a bit more power, the stock systems are roughly 200 watts, bumping that up to what the outboards have seems doable, perhaps that would impact engine performance too much.
But it sure would be nice to have 35-40A’s of battery charging power per engine. And now that we are in the lfp battery age, perhaps a LFP battery option that would give folks a lot of power for hanging out at the sand bar or coving.
While I use my cell phone on my boat for the usual stuff..I do hope everyone is in the moment and connecting with each other, what a concept.
The connext screen; These things have crazy price tags for replacements, how about using a Garmin/Lowarance/ Simrad or other MFD as the interface with standard communications like their outboards use? Just have a small screen that takes care of the engines and such, then have a Garmin MFD for charting, fish finder, imaging etc.. is roughly $2500, and has better mapping capabilities. Leave accessory switching to manual rocker or push button switches, sound systems have their own control head.
For sure a dash design that allows for aftermarket electronics… my boat came with blank dash space for just that, again, I get it for a boat that is sitting in a showroom and the average buyer, the integrated connext screen and charting is a one stop deal. Fisherwomen and men have some pretty specific tastes when it comes to electronics, they’re basically all the same but some products have options that others do not have and those are wanted by some and not others. Having only had a boat with a good chart plotter, depth finder and down imaging I cannot imagine boating without those things on board.
Sound proofing; It seems like there has been some good progress in this area since this thread was started, the 1.9L engine design changes over the 1.8L were targeted at more power and less noise over all. And that seems to have worked out well. But some more sound proofing would be great, keeping the DB in the mid 80s would be really great if possible.
I look at a lot of boats, eventually will partner with my friend on one that will have a cabin, hopefully a full down head, three sided enclosure with back canvas, we are looking at probably a Carolina Classic 25’ or an Albermarle, re powering to outboards with an armstrong bracket and using the engine box to house a gyro sea keeper.. point being, going that route and one would be into the boat for about a 1/3 of a new boat would be. All that to say, if you look at all the features a new Yamaha would give the person buying it vs. buying a outboard or I/O powered equivalent, you could buy close to if not more than two Yamaha’s for the same price. Yamaha’s get folks and families out on the water making great memories that will last. Sure, they need some more attention to detail to finish things off, but bang for the buck you can’t beat them.
