Yamaha Boats, 242 Limited S Manufacturers Defect

Hi man,
looking to buy this boat used.
Wanted to get to know some stuff.
Any experience with riding it on open and rough water?
Does this model have the articulated keel?
Thanks in advance!

give us a call when your ready to sell in a few years. got house just about payed off and looking to buy 3-5 yrs from now , thanks

The door to my head rattled, but the fit was not like yours. I put a few rubber stick-on tabs and no more rattling. Otherwise my boat has been flawless. I hardly use it though so I don't have any hours on it.

Great post. Seems most new boats come with issues - even new.
I put a deposit on at '13 AR192 that was delivered with 12 "defects" of various levels. In short it appeared to be assembly issues (pushing the line too fast), as most were just plain lack of attention to detail.
1. engine hatch seat cushion not correctly aligned (trim does not align with side cushions)
2. at least two of the speakers are not aligned properly
3. engine hatch has moon shaped chip in gel-coat near corner back pad on starboard side
4. the placement of the carpet snaps is inconsistent
5. the floor gel-coat has a low spot where the anti-skid joins near the drivers console
6. the black paint on the window frame is already chipping
7. the port cup holder at the swim platform is loose
8. the hydro-turf on the swim platform is not aligned correctly
9. the center floor storage compartment has sloppily covered-up gel-coat issues
10. the wet storage swim platform hatch has a round white sticker that is used to cover up a flaw in the inside of the hatch I passed on the boat, and ended up going with another manufacturer.
Not slamming Yamaha per se, but the quality as delivered should have been much better.

I have the same boat as you. Bought new and same year as yours. I don't have either problem. The door fits perfectly. The bumpers are still fine, but I store mine inside and also use the highway cover.

Still enjoying the boat?  I noticed this video is from 2014.  How is she holding up?  Any issues with engines?  I am interested in the new 242 limited s e series.

That is a gorgeous boat. The engines...wow!

Hey Eddie, So at about 16 total hours last week, I completed the 10 hour maintenance (recommended between 10 and 20 hours) - which is simply changing the oil.  It took me 2.5 hours, and most of that was extracting the oil.  As you know, there is no oil pan drain plug like on our cars.  So, you have to extract all of the oil via the dipstick hole.  On the recommendation of a mechanic at my dealer, I bought what they use at their shop...a "Suck Up" from go2marine.com.  It looks like a bug or fertilizer sprayer, but instead of pumping to produce pressure in the canister, you produce a vacuum.  With the included hose and tube, you slide it into the dipstick hole and feel around for bottom.  Then, pump away to create that vacuum, sit back for a few minutes and let it work until pressure is lost, then pump away again.  Since the hole and tube is so small, like a milkshake straw...sucking up took a long time.  When the pump starts to gurgle and you see bubbles coming up the tube, you have to fish around some more to make sure you are indeed bottom dry.  I did this several times to get all 2.5 gallons of used oil from both engines.  A Yamalube oil change kit comes with four quarts of oil and an oil filter - that's it.  They were about $43 each...and one for each engine.  Although I pulled out five quarts from each engine, originally put there by the manufacturer and/or the dealer, four quarts is at the full mark on the dipstick at cold engine.  So, I think it was previously overfilled...and the oil was indeed dirty.  One mistake I made is...the black cover on the engine, as you probably know, does not make a seal around the main oil port on top, as it does on my car.  I thought I was leaking oil by the looks in the bilge...but it was just my sloppiness putting oil in that seeped around the oil port - ten minutes of clean up later.  I ended up buying a gallon of additional Yamalube oil from a boat shop, to make up for what I spilled and just to just have some extra around just in case.  Supposedly, Yamalube oil for watercraft have some special additives that help prevent water intrusion and internal rust.  One boat shop tried to tell me oil is oil and tried telling me General Purpose Yamaha 10W-40 for generators and motorcycles will work, but I thought - why chance it, and they are almost the same price.  All in all, about $90 bucks in supplies for the oil change, and the Suck-Up for about $70 that I can obviously use over and over.  Hope that was informative.  Question - For the yearly services, do they do anything else besides change the oil?  Air filters I imagine, but any valve adjustments or spark plug change-outs?  Thanks, Rommel

Love the reassurance that I made the right choice with my 2015 242 LS...and I was shopping the 240 Sea Deck SeaRays.  My boat did arrive with a broken off upper rubber bumper on the window...but my dealer pulled one out their drawer and replaced it.  I also love how pristine your engines still look!  Ever take you boat into salt water?  Got any rust anywhere?