If you don’t have the funds to go out and buy a motorboat (you could try going to our sister site Aussie Boat Loans of course), a jetski is a great way of having a lot of fun out on the water.
As the term ‘Jet Ski’ is officially registered to Kawasaki, another term used to describe this type of craft is the ‘personal watercraft’ or PWC.
The Jet Ski itself was originally invented by Clayton Jacobsen II from Arizona, who was a motocross enthusiast. Kawasaki brought the craft to market in 1973 with a stand-up model with a 400cc engine, but it was pretty hard to handle, particularly in choppy water, and the company didn’t sell a large number of them. In the 80s the company released a two seater sit down version which was much more stable than its predecessor, and by the 90s improvements in cockpit and hull design made Jet Skis much easier to use. As a result they became very popular indeed, so much so that a rival PWC from Canadian company Bombardier (called the Sea-Doo) became the largest selling ‘boat’ in the world.
So, Which Jet Ski Should I Buy If I Want The Best?
Today there’s a huge range of personal watercraft to choose from. If you’re after the best, you’ve got two models to choose from, whether you’re looking for luxury or speed.
The Most Expensive Jet Ski
The model that takes the title of ‘most expensive’ jet ski is the Yamaha FX Cruiser SHO. It seats three people ‘comfortably’ and its V shaped hull is made out of a new ultra lightweight material called NanoXcel, nanoscale ‘slices’ of clay layered into fibreglass resin, making it 25kg lighter than the previous model. As well as being capable of 65mph (105 kmh) on the water, Yamaha have incorporated bafflers to reduce the noise generated by the supercharged four stroke engine. Yamaha also claims it takes only two seconds to reach 30mph (48 kmh). If you want to get leisure finance for this little baby you’ll need to budget for a purchase price of around $25,000.
The Fastest Jet Ski
On the other hand, if you’re less enthused about shuttling your friends and family around on the water and you just want to get the fastest jet ski you might want to consider the Kawasaki Ultra 300LX, priced at a slightly more reasonable $22,000.
The specs on the Ultra 300LX read more like the specs on the latest super bike – a 300 horsepower 1.5 litre DOHC liquid-cooled inline four cylinder engine cranks this ‘personal watercraft’ up to speeds the manufacturer does not want to divulge, safe to say pretty fast. The engine is equipped with what’s called an Eaton Twin Vortices Series Roots supercharger and a liquid cooled intercooler to keep everything at optimum operating temperature. Although the race derived hull and supercharged engine emphasise the racing pedigree, you can if you like, bumble around in ‘Fuel Economy Assistance’ mode or switch on the One Touch 5mph mode so you don’t break the rules in no-wake zones.
Although both Yamaha and Kawasaki tout the ‘comfort’ levels on their respective machines, we recommend you don’t offer to take your mother-in-law to the shops on one.
Image credit: daninho_ibk
