An economical entry-level that is practical and built to last. But is it actually any fun? To find out we rode it in the North Sea. For 100km. WORDS: Spicer PHOTOS: Jetman
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Yamaha
vx deluxe The 100km test
I
t feels like I’ve been riding for an eternity. It’s actually more like an hour. The sea is big and messy and, as another wave trounces my face, my eyes take on the appearance of bloodshot pickled onions. But is it ever fun. Hitting massive swells, the VX Deluxe shoots skyward and slices back down with a comforting splatter. With good fuel economy, a 110-horse power 4-stroke and, most importantly, an inviting price tag, the VX is a tempting proposition in times like these. It is an entry-level craft, whose rider demographic is beginners and families, meaning that it won’t scare the hell out of inexperienced riders. It was also awarded ‘Watercraft of the Year’ in 2005 by WaterCraft World magazine. I am riding a demo model, which has been used over the previous months for the Yamaha Wavefest tour of the UK. What this means of course is that gangs
of Vinne Jones-wanabees, who may never have been on a PW in their lives, have been doing their best to squeeze the living Gascoignes out of it. Nevertheless, having those extra hours on the clock provide a great base for testing the VX’s longevity.
HANDLING The conditions were bigger than I would have liked for this test. Large inconsistent swells (no doubt inhabited by Bull Sharks) aren’t conducive for flatout speed tests, but the one thing they are good for is testing the handling of a watercraft. And the first thing I notice, is the VX’s manageability. It is reassuringly easy to drive, and even in choppy seas the semi V hull handles well. Low speed in surf like today’s meant for a wet ride, so it was essential to keep the power on and the bow up >
A tow hook and chunky grab handle make it ideal for wakeboarding
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YAMAHa VX DELUXE
to reduce spray. If you ride it at lower speeds in rough conditions then it can be a pretty wet ride, so it’s all about keeping the bow up. There is a bow spray guard but I wasn’t overly impressed with it, considering how wet I was! The VX has good balance at low and high speed, making it an excellent choice for beginners. Although I found that the stability was best in the mid-range where it had the most substantial grip on the water surface. The deepness of the V helps keep the pump hooked up, and also means that it is well behaved through
corners. As you turn, it has a nice lean and the seat is chunky enough to provide the support you need. Its riding position is a gentle situp-and-beg style, which is good for recreational riders who wouldn’t want too aggressive a stance. And the handlebars are nice and wide and fairly high, making you feel steady and in control. The seat is wide and padded (they don’t call runabouts ‘sofas’ for nothing!), and the footwells are broad and fitted with grippy Hydro-Turf mats as standard. If you plan to consistently ride long
An electric speedo and info centre allow for quick viewing
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distances then I would definitely recommend the VX Cruiser, which has a lumbar support on the seat. This would ease the jarring of big landings and provide extra comfort for those long distances. Furthermore, if you are serious about long-range cruising in big chop then I would recommend a craft with a trim system, so that you can raise the bow out of the water more significantly. Something like the FX HO.
ENGINE The VX’s 110hp 4-stroke is a very civilised engine. Naturally aspirated at 1052cc, the 20-valve, liquid-cooled motor has a power delivery that is spot on for beginners, or riders who like to take things easy. There is no pressure from the VX to do anything but go at your own pace. It isn’t a muscle craft, where one nervous twitch of your finger could send you to Holland. Instead, it has a smooth power band that builds progressively, and inspires confidence in your riding skills. It does dawdle at low revs, only doing around six miles-per-hour at 4,000rpm, and it’s not until you get up to 6,000rpm that it hits the 30mph mark. As far as engine noise, because of its modest
At 8,000rpm the engine begins making noises like Amanda Holden if she’d taken up trouser-ferreting
four-stroke, it is generally a very quiet PW which purrs along gently. But when you get the revs up and start red lining it to 8,000rpm, the engine lets you know that you’re working it, and begins making noises like Amanda Holden if she’d taken up trouser-ferreting. Once you get up to full speed, the top end isn’t too shabby. It peaks at just over the 50mph mark, which I rarely reached in the heaving bowels of Sea Palling, but when I did get there it felt fast enough. On a lake there’s no doubt that you would be wringing the throttle and making it scream, but in today’s conditions the 110 horses were more than effective. And because the engine isn’t highly tuned and shaking like a horny dog with Parkinsons, it means it will stand the test of time. Reliability is key with this craft and that is why it has been a long standing favourite with rental companies.
FEATURES The VX Deluxe is a very nice looking PW. For a conservatively priced watercraft, it has all of the styling of its more expensive cousins, with dynamic angles and a smart blue livery with tribalesque decals. Its handlebars are chunky
with foam padding to protect your bonce should you headbutt them. They do feel a little plasticy but then anodized racing bars would be completely out of place. Glancing down while going at pace, I always want a clear view of my speed and fuel, without having to waste any unnecessary time without my eyes on the task ahead. And the VX’s electric speedometer and info centre, allows you just that - a clear and quick view of the essentials. Saying that, I did have some issues with the fuel gauge and speedo. After the first 50km the speedo stopped working completely. This didn’t worry me too much, as there was obviously just some seaweed or something stuck in the speedo wheel beneath. But before long it cleared. Then the fuel gauge went from over half down to two bars. I was worried as I still had around 40km to ride! But, reassuring myself with the fact that I had just put over half a jerry can of fuel into it, I stopped briefly and the digital bars jumped back up to the halfway marker. So I carried on my merry way, only for it to fall back to two bars! Easing off the throttle until I reached Cromer, the two bars were still standing
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strong, so I turned on my heels and headed gingerly back to Sea Palling.
The VX Deluxe has a smooth power band that builds progressively and inspires confidence in your riding skills Other notable features on the VX Deluxe include a rear boarding platform of a pretty decent size, which would give you space to stop and put on a wakeboard, or jump off to go snorkelling. If used as a family craft, the VX definitely has its advantages, like 67-litres of storage and a glove box. And on days such as today, a large capacity for holding things like a sand bag, chocolate and water, is welcome. A reverse (on the VX Deluxe and VX Cruiser but not VX) allows the watercraft to be backed up off a trailer or out of tight spots where you can’t turn around easily. The only thing is, it is on the right hand side, so you have to take your hand off the throttle to engage it. I am sure this is a safety measure to ensure that you don’t slam it into reverse while at top >
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The RNLI lifeboat met the group at Cromer and, as a sign of support, accompanied them back to Sea Palling
THE START OF IT ALL After very little sleep and feeling slightly worse for wear, everyone woke up to a beautiful day – glorious sunshine and not a cloud in the sky. Eating a bacon butty and supping coffee with Jetman, Andrea and Sheldon - all prepared in their awesome mobile home which I had travelled up with them in - we watched the car park steadily fill up with more and more cars and skis. This was going to be good fun. Upon arrival every rider registered in the shop, and was given a goodie-bag packed with around £700 worth of treats and savings, including a very generous £400 discount for any Waverunner bought from Beachrock, as well as a free copy of Jet Skier&PW and subscription offer. Participants next had their watercraft scrutineered, to check that they were in worthy technical states for attempting the challenge tomorrow. As the day got warmer, more people arrived - adding to the friendly, bustling atmosphere. I went for a wander and poked my nose inside Beachrock Leisure, which was full of eager looking people signing up for the Yamaha Wavefest demos on the beach. Outside the shop, Tinkler’s motorbikes from nearby Norwich had a trio of Yammie bikes for the public’s perusal, and beside the bikes a lengthy queue was
snaking its way out of the café. Once the riders’ craft had been checked over, Graham or Nick Deary would tow them down to the beach with the tractor. It’s an effective system that they’ve got going, allowing the car park to be cleared quickly for new arrivals. Heading for the beach, I pass the ice cream shop and walk up and over the ramp, where a sweeping stretch of white sand greets me. On the way over to Yamaha’s red tent, I pass the guys from Flexifoil kites who are teaching kids how to fly power kites. And also Ocean Kayaks, who were providing free trials of their open top surfable kayaks, which I go and have a play on. Brilliant fun. Along the shore a little way the Yamaha boys are keeping busy. Karl, Stuart, Dave and Richie were helping people on to the Waverunners available for testing, which was the SHO, FZR and VX. Unfortunately there was no Superjet available today as the seas were a little rough for inexperienced riders. And I don’t blame them, because as it got later there were groups of people waiting, all eager to ride. With the new FZR being a clear favourite. It was a fantastic atmosphere on the beach, which got busier as the day went on, with everyone getting excited about the following day’s ride. Another major
Lesley and Gayle loving it!
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attraction were the East Coast Freeriders, who were out ripping it up. Phil Rose, who featured on JS&PW’s news pages recently after pulling a tremendous backflip here at Sea Palling, is an awesome rider and was putting on a great show on his Superjet. No matter the inconsistent chop, Phil, Mik, Nathan and a couple of other freeriders were out there, nailing barrel rolls, rail grabs, heel clickers and Supermans. Although Mik did get one
BEACHROCK 100X100 landing slightly wrong and bruised his shoulder pretty badly. A couple of hours later, and I’m back at the horse box with them, where they are playing with a home made spud gun bazooka! It involves jamming a potato down the end of the barrel, spraying deodorant into the canister, and then sparking an ignition switch . . . BOOM! Does it ever go! Following a quick round of vodkas, it’s time to head to the evening’s entertainment in the marquee opposite. It is a good size marquee, with a bar inside and a band playing, making it slightly reminscent of a wedding. And as the evening gets progressively fuzzier around the edges, a dance-off ensues between some of the local lads, Brett Hodgkins from Team Dred Wakeboarding, and Stuart from Yamaha! There is video evidence somewhere in my posession, which may or may not make it onto YouTube. Bribes in the post please!
RIDING THE 100x100
Sunday morning and I drag myself out of my pathetic excuse for a tent, which I managed to rip a man-sized hole in while entering last night. I head over to see Jetman and Andrea who kindly make me a sausage sandwich and coffee.
But I don’t have much time, as the riders’ meeting is about to start. I leg it over and listen attentively as the day’s proceedings are outlined, from the route we will follow, to the position that we will stay in, and the safety marshals and support boats which will accompany us. Very professional. Down on the beach and launching has commenced, with Graham swiftly manouevring the tractor and getting each craft into the sea. Within long, I join the masses of skiers in the sea. Today I’m on a VX Deluxe, which Yamaha kindly loaned me for the challenge. (For a full review of the VX Deluxe turn to page 16). Out on the water there is a tremendous feeling of camaraderie as riders wait for everyone to get launched. With smiles all round, and everyone wearing pea-green ‘We Are MacMillan’ T-shirts, it feels like we are part of something special. With all participating craft now in the water, the safety marshals (in yellow Tshirts) raise their arms to signal that we are ready to depart. Then suddenly, we’re off! What an incredible sight as 100 skiers leave en masse, bombing it towards the horizon. White wash everywhere, rooster tails spraying up in every direction - it’s like the sea has turned into a water >
The infamous spud gun bazooka!
The horse box
Ocean Kayaks
Graham Hicks receives instruction
Down at the beach, it rocks!
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PROJECT SUPERJET STAGE III
Our starter bendix looks pretty good but for this project we intend changing it anyway.
flywheel and damage the stator. Now put a spanner on the centre nut. I do two taps clockwise, then one hit on the end. Keep repeating this until the flyweel pops off. Now take the woodruff key (half round piece of metal) out of the crank and put it into your bottom-end fixings pot… don’t lose it. Sure enough as I thought, the front oil seal has been weeping. This may give you some funny carburetion problems when tuning… most likely an erratic tick-over or fade out at top end .
Removing the starter motor
of the small end bearings making four in total. When I took our pistons off I only had 3 thrust washers so either Yamaha didn’t put one in… which is highly unlikely, or someone has had this engine apart in the past.
Removing the flywheel Remove the flywheel cover (10mm socket). When I took the flywheel cover off our Superjet I noticed a black oily sludge at the bottom of the cover, this would point to a worn-out oil seal on the front of the crank. Now it’s time for the “special tool”. As pictured, attach the puller to the flywheel making sure you don’t do the bolts up so tight that they go through the
Remove the stator by taking out the two cross head screws and set it to one side. Now you can lift out the starter bendix and inspect it. Grab it at both ends and twist it anti-clockwise. Basically what you are looking for is no rust on the retaining spring and that the 3 bob-weights are in the correct position. Luckily ours was ok but as this is an ongoing project with our suppliers helping us out we will be fitting a brand new Aqua-Torque starter bendix - £109. Now its time to remove the starter motor and check it. Really, this can only be done by twisting the pinion on the end and checking the bearings and end float on the shaft. The draw of the magnets will make turning it feel lumpy but what you are feeling for is bad bearings, the one on our Superjet was an original starter motor and to be honest felt a bit lumpy, so true to form, the boys at Aquatorque came up trumps again and gave us a new starter motor for the project - £199. Bear in mind that the Starter Bendix and Starter Motor that we are using are not original Yamaha parts but they are very reliable and are half the cost of OEM.
Sure enough as predicted the front seal is leaking. This could lead to some odd running problems.
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Yamaha kindly put some pry points on the crankcase to help get them apart... but careful not to do any damage.
This is the small end bearing and thrust washers. New small end bearings normally come with a reconditioned crank.
PROJECT SUPERJET STAGE III
Rusty bearings can seriously damage your engine when they fail and seriously damage your wealth when paying for the concequences.
Removing the carburettors and crank Now remove the carburettors and intake manifold, at which point you can inspect the reed valves. When the engines are built from new they use a metal reed valve petal. This is ok until later in their life when fatigue starts to take effect, they then break off and can cause big damage to the engine internals, so it’s a good idea to change them while it’s apart to a fibre type petal. That way, if they do fail they will probably get chewed up and spat out not causing very much, if any damage. Remove the 8 bolts (12mm socket) from the bottom of the crankcase. Find the pry-points on the crankcase halves and with a large flat screwdriver pry the two halves apart and lift the crank out. The
way I check the crank is visually… look for rust on and in the bearings and by listening to the bearings when the are spun one by one. If when spun they make a noise or their is excessive play side to side on the big ends it is time to get the crank shaft reconditioned. As you can see from the picture ours had signs of rust on the front bearing. This could be as a result of poor winterising in it’s life or that the machine has been sunk and not got running again immediately, so we’re sure that the crank will need re-building but we’ll be sending the crankshaft and top end to Preben from Preben Engineering to get all the relevant work carried out. A reconditioned crank will come back with four new main bearings and two new conrod kits and apart from needing new crank seals sliding on to each end will be ready to drop in.
Drive line and jet pump To check the jet pump bearings all you need to do is turn the drive shaft by hand and feel for any lumpiness or binding. I make no apologies for overusing my saying “while it’s apart” but while it’s apart you may as well change the pump bearings and seals. Our impeller was “ok” but not great, if we were just getting the ski back on the water and not bothering about all the extra modifications we’d probably just file the edges nice and sharp and leave it on, but the fact that we’re installing so many aftermarket products to the ski, we’ll be To check the big end bearings and main bearings, spin them and listen for any noise, also check for any excessive play.
Take a look at the big end bearing and check for surface rust and pitting.
fitting a brand new Solas Impeller (YB-CD-13/17). On a Superjet there is also what they call an intermediate bearing bolted to the bulk head on the engine side. Both sets of bearings in the intermediate housing and the pump unit were well passed their sell by date, so we’ll be completely rebuilding them both with new bearings and seals. The same applies to checking the bearings and changing them if necessary. The intermediate bearing can be changed complete, Yamaha supply this as a complete unit or you can purchase the items separately and do the job yourself. Check that the wear ring (stainless steel impeller housing) is not lumpy and that when the new impeller is fitted that the clearance is around 1/2mm evenly all the way round. There are aftermarket impeller housings available with plastic liners so that they can be easily changed at a fraction of the cost of a genuine one. So that’s it for another instalment of Project Superjet. Just to recap, so far we have bought the ski, completely stripped it down, re-sprayed the hull, dissected the engine and established what repair/ replacing needs doing. Next month we’ll be visiting Preben Engineering where the crankshaft and cylinder will be sorted, and also going to see Chris and Lisa at Airtime Products to actually watch our performance cylinder head being machined. Our reed petals are all closing onto the reed cage so look to be ok, but I’ll be changing them as I’m not keen on metal reeds because of the damage they can do when they fail.
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N I W
A Yamaha wetsuit and impact vest worth £170!
After reading our wetsuit guide on page 28 you will be hankering after some new neoprene. And nobody blames you – it’s looking like a beautiful season already and you are bound to want some new riding gear. In conjunction with Yamaha Motor UK, we are offering you the chance to win a fantastic Yamaha wetsuit - the New Adventure Shorty (£93), which is flatstitched with a 2.5mm neoprene body and 2mm arms and legs. To accompany that, we also have the Yamaha New Adventure Front Entry Vest (£77), with mesh panels for water drainage, a D-ring for PW lanyard attachment, CEapproved neoprene, integrated back protector, and two wide adjustable straps. And if you are lucky enough to win this riding gear, there are more benefits than just the awesome prize. Oh yes. The vest may have the potential to make you look as suave as the Frodo Douchebaggins who’s modelling it.
JUST ANSWER Which type of ring is used on the Yamaha vest to attach your PW’s emergency cord? Enter online at www.jetskier.co.uk, or by snail mail to: JS&PW Yamaha wetsuit comp Jet Skier&PW 49 Sidney Street Alliance House Cambridge CB2 3HX Don’t forget to include your contact details on any entry as we need to let you know if you win!
CLOSING DATE: 6 July 2009 LAST MONTH’S WINNER Congratulations to Mark Phillp from Southampton who won a day’s coasteering and kayaking
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