Need help deciding which used SJ for first time rider

[Goldfishnado]

Hi all,

I've been lurking this forum for quite some time but decided to make my first post. Now that I've sold off all of my couches I want to try my hand at stand up and purchase a stock SJ to see if it's something I want to start pursuing getting addicted to. I have the option of two ski's that I can't decide on so would appreciate any suggestions.


#1 - 2014 SJ that the guy claims has only been used 5 or 6 times. It only has a couple mods - Blowsion 0 degree handlebars with ODI grips, some aftermarket CDI that I don't recall the brand of and a Worx intake grate (WR228). It doesn't look horrible but it has some pretty rough scratches on the bottom considering how little use it got. Some of the decals are scratched but he did buy a new set to replace them (not a big deal but a nice gesture). He claims he kept it in a detached garage/shed but it definitely has some sun fading on the chin pad and tray mat. The impeller looked perfectly fine and the engine bay was spotless. He is firm at $6000 though which I feel is a little rich considering how deep some of the scratches are (sorry, no pics). My concern is trust with the seller. It may have way more hours than he claims but if I could get him down another $500-$800 then I think it might be worth it. Oh, I read about paint peeling issues with the ~2014 models and this one has no issues at all.


#2 - 2011 SJ 100% bone stock no mods and the guy has literally only ridden it 3 times, once in 2012 when he bought it, then once in 2013 then two days ago when he put in a new battery to make sure everything was functioning properly. He's in his 50's and had back surgery and recently bought a big 2018 Sea-Doo couch since he can't use the stand up anymore. We haven't 100% agreed on a price yet but he's somewhere around $5500 and I'm hoping to get it down a little more. My concern with this one is the age, it looks absolutely perfect as he had it covered and inside the garage for the past 6-7 years and you can even still feel a little wax on the hull. The engine compartment was a little dusty and smelled a bit but I didn't see any gas or oil anywhere inspecting with a flash light. I'm going to go back and do a compression test sometime this week but I expect it to be fine, I'm just not sure what negative effects a brand new engine has sitting for so long?


My EZ-Ski hauler should be here Thursday (thanks Chris!) so I can hopefully have one of these in my possession for the weekend (yes, I bought an EZ-Ski before owning a stand up).

Thanks!

 

[SuperJet-Dave]

No way I would buy a ski from an unknown person without test riding and a compression test. I would suggest test riding them both and then make your choice. It might be obvious.
Seems like both skis have been stored quite a bit. While that is nice since it is less chance they are beat, it also brings the concerns of corrosion/rust and any rubber part being hardened... depends how-where they were stored.
This time of year is a buyers market, so haggle.
Nice to see another coucher converted

 

[Goldfishnado]

Thanks! Yeah, the guy with the 2011 lives on a lake and gave me the lanyard and said "have fun" but it was pretty late and I didn't have my vest or board shorts. When I go back to do the compression test this week I will test ride it even though it will be my first time on a stand up so I guess I'll cruise around on my knees, lol. The other guy lives in the middle of nowhere so not sure if I would even be able to ride it unless he met me over an hour away at the closest lake. As far as the compression test goes, I'm looking for 150+ psi per cylinder with a <10 difference between the two, given these ages right?

 

[Big Kahuna]

#1 comes with over $500 worth of parts you would actually need. Bars and grips plus intake grate a must. The CDI is most likely an MSD Enhancer. #2 is stock, 3 years older and is about $500 less. They are both the same ski, just different graphics. Both are priced about right.

 

[SuperJet-Dave]

Thanks! Yeah, the guy with the 2011 lives on a lake and gave me the lanyard and said "have fun" but it was pretty late and I didn't have my vest or board shorts. When I go back to do the compression test this week I will test ride it even though it will be my first time on a stand up so I guess I'll cruise around on my knees, lol. The other guy lives in the middle of nowhere so not sure if I would even be able to ride it unless he met me over an hour away at the closest lake. As far as the compression test goes, I'm looking for 150+ psi per cylinder with a QUOTE]

An hour for a test ride is well worth the many hours of potential issues work... I would suggest 150+ psi and less than 5-10 psi diff

 

[Goldfishnado]

#1 comes with over $500 worth of parts you would actually need. Bars and grips plus intake grate a must. The CDI is most likely an MSD Enhancer. #2 is stock, 3 years older and is about $500 less. They are both the same ski, just different graphics. Both are priced about right.

Yeah, blue vs black ski at the end of the day but the first thing I did after looking at the 2014 was price out those same parts except the CDI plus a hydro turf mat kit and it came to a little over $400 so that's exactly how I see it. I'm just leaning more towards the older ski since he may be firm at $6k which just feels a little too rich considering the condition in my opinion but worried about the effects of the 2011 sitting for so long.

Just thought of option #3 - I get both for $10k-11k (if possible) since a new one from the dealer will be about that much and the wife will have one to play with too

 

[Big Kahuna]

There you go, get both.

 

[SXIPro]

Both of those prices seem steep to me. Of course if they are on Craigslist, they are jacked up anyhow as people expect to have to haggle but always hope for the sucker that may pay advertised price.

I'd try to land the 2011 for $4,500 or so. And personally I'd go for a pre-2008, as I just don't like the way the 'newer' ones handle at all.

 

[SRQski]

I'd be inclined to look hard at the 2011, it sound like you have a better sense of trust w/ the seller. Mod it the way you want, I'd start with the intake grate.
Both skis are going to need carb rebuilds and fuel system completely gone through from sitting and have fairly equal chances of other potential issues. I wouldn't expect either one to run great in the water considering the likely carb issues, but compression should be pretty spot-on if the actual run time is what they say it is.
- or -
Look on the classifieds here on the X, lots of very trust-worthy sellers with nice skis and some nice deals. I bought a ski that way and had it shipped from NC to FL for less than $300, got one built already with most of the mods I already knew I'd want and got a nice deal. Have ridden the daylights out of it, it rips and I have zero regrets. My first entry into standup world, I have changed a few things like rideplate, grate, steering setup to suit my style so far - which you'll probably do the same.

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[Goldfishnado]

Well, option #1 is not going to happen. I'm questioning the sellers mental state at this point so I told him I was going to pass. I'm going to test ride the 2011 on Thursday and will update the post then. I appreciate everyone's comments and suggestions!

 

[SuperJet-Dave]

Well, option #1 is not going to happen. I'm questioning the sellers mental state at this point so I told him I was going to pass. I'm going to test ride the 2011 on Thursday and will update the post then. I appreciate everyone's comments and suggestions!

A couple thoughts for testing.
Make sure engine is cold and see how easy it starts up. Might want to ask the owner to not start it before you arrive. You can touch the exhaust under the hood to assure it is not hotter than air temp before starting.
Since you are a new rider, when taking off with more than half throttle it should feel like it is ripping your arms off. That is how it was described by my buddy who test rode my 2001 SJ for me (I was in a sling at the time).
No worries. You get used to it, and soon enough you will be adding performance enhancing parts ;-).
It really shouldn’t hesitate or bog down at any throttle level.
If you are uncomfortable giving it a full test kneeling, also have the owner ride it and listen for anything uneven sounding.
Good luck

 

[SRQski]

I still pretty firmly believe its likely to have carb or fuel line issues (or both) after having sat for years, the fuel has probably crystallized in the carbs. Should that be the case (hesitation, bog, uneven idle, etc) you can simply use that as a bargaining chip, just be prepared to do a carb rebuild in short order - not hard at all to do.

I'd put more emphasis on compression and overall condition as buying consideration although it sounds as though it was stored pretty good.
Take some pics when you go for your test ride Have fun!

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[slag]

I purchased the same skis this summer. One thing about the black skis is that the hood paint is horrible and will come off in chunks so you'd need to probably get it repainted. That's my 2014 of course. The 2011 I bought is identical but a nice blue. For reference, I paid $6250 for the 2014 in the middle of July and $5500 for the 2011 again in the earlier part of july. I drove 2000 miles round trip to get both of them.

 

[Goldfishnado]

I purchased the same skis this summer. One thing about the black skis is that the hood paint is horrible and will come off in chunks so you'd need to probably get it repainted. That's my 2014 of course. The 2011 I bought is identical but a nice blue. For reference, I paid $6250 for the 2014 in the middle of July and $5500 for the 2011 again in the earlier part of july. I drove 2000 miles round trip to get both of them.

Wow small world! Since the 2014 is out of the equation now I won't have to worry about the repaint but what's funny is that he was originally firm at $6000 then evidently he bought a trailer and raised the price to $6250 firm this morning even though I didn't need the trailer. Things got dramatic pretty quickly with him so I walked away.

Hopefully the 2011 runs well and the compression test is fine so my plan is to offer somewhere around $5000 but not pay over $5500 since the seller was asking $6500 then $6000. If I end up owning it, I will copy and paste your signature because the first thing I plan to do is put on Blowsion 0 degree bars, a WR228 intake and probably sponsons at some point. I will probably need to change the pole length since I'm 6'3 as well but I'll worry about that once I own a ski.

I live about 1000 miles from Lawrence, Kansas so I wonder if we're in some sort of parallel universe time warp consortium and we own the same skis? Maybe I'm you or you're me? Am I your alt account? Whoa.....

 

[slag]

I'm 6', 205 lbs. I ride the 2014. My 17 year old rides the nice blue 2011 and he is going to race it next year (and he did the end of this year also). One thing you'll probably want to do is remove the carbs and drill out the cover over the high and low speed adjusters. My 2011 looked squeaky clean inside when I checked the carbs, but didn't run well. After removing the covers/plugs on the adjusters, I found they were terribly out of whack and after adjusting them, it runs much much better, nearly perfect. They were very lean. I've not had this issue with my 2014.

 

[SXIPro]

The 2008+ SJs have built in sponsons already. So you may not need or want to add another set unless you want to race.

 

[Goldfishnado]

Well, UPS changed the ETA from Thursday to Saturday on the EZ-Ski but I took the afternoon off and went up to ride and test the ski today. The compression test was 155 psi on both cylinders, I don't have the highest quality gauge in the world but it isn't a Harbor Freight one either (not sure the brand or where I got it) but there was MAYBE a 1-2 PSI difference but I unscrewed and screwed the gauge back in on both and got ~155 psi every time with both spark plugs removed. I rode around for about 15-20 minutes and definitely have some balance training to do but it wasn't as bad as I expected coming from 20 years of couch riding. I'm obviously no expert but I couldn't feel or hear anything obviously wrong when running it in the water. The negotiation went super smooth and I honestly thought I was going to end up between $5000-$5500 but at one point HE actually said he would take $4800 for it so I shook his hand right then and there. The ski is at his house but I'm going to borrow my neighbors truck tomorrow and go pick it up so I will take pics then.

Woohoo! Southern Fried Freeride here I come since I live about 30 min away from Allatoona. How many cases of beer do I need to bring for everyone to be accepted to the club? Are stock skis even allowed?

 

[Big Kahuna]

Well, UPS changed the ETA from Thursday to Saturday on the EZ-Ski but I took the afternoon off and went up to ride and test the ski today. The compression test was 155 psi on both cylinders, I don't have the highest quality gauge in the world but it isn't a Harbor Freight one either (not sure the brand or where I got it) but there was MAYBE a 1-2 PSI difference but I unscrewed and screwed the gauge back in on both and got ~155 PSI every time with both spark plugs removed. I rode around for about 15-20 minutes and definitely have some balance training to do but it wasn't as bad as I expected coming from 20 years of couch riding. I'm obviously no expert but I couldn't feel or hear anything obviously wrong when running it in the water. The negotiation went super smooth and I honestly thought I was going to end up between $5000-$5500 but at one point HE actually said he would take $4800 for it so I shook his hand right then and there. The ski is at his house but I'm going to borrow my neighbors truck tomorrow and go pick it up so I will take pics then.

Woohoo! Southern Fried Freeride here I come since I live about 30 min away from Allatoona. How many cases of beer do I need to bring for everyone to be accepted to the club? Are stock skis even allowed?

Good Deal!!!!!!!! 1 Case of Bud Light Please!!!!!!!!!!

 

[SXIPro]

Well done. Enjoy!

 

[Goldfishnado]

Good Deal!!!!!!!! 1 Case of Bud Light Please!!!!!!!!!!

Done!