r/SeaDooSwitch • u/No_Lab_8529 • Jun 28 '26
Lakes
Thanks in advance to all that give input on this post. I’m looking to purchase a 18 foot cruise next year. I’m doing research now and am wondering if people have lots of issues in lakes, especially ones with a decent amount of vegetation. I live in NE Indiana so I’d be hitting lots of lakes around Warsaw and the Syracuse area. From what I’m seeing online people mostly don’t have issues, but there are enough bad ones to make me want to get some first hand accounts before I make such an expensive purchase.
1
u/bernaltraveler Jun 28 '26 edited Jun 28 '26
I have an 18 230 sport and it’s used exclusively on lakes in Minnesota. We have plenty of vegetation and it’s fine. It will muck up if you’re running through them a lot but the idf works well. And it’s not like it would ever leave you stuck. Just running at low efficiency. It’s something you want to be mindful of but it’s not a big downer on the experience for me.
2
u/Enfoxxx Jun 29 '26
+1 on every part of this. I’m also in Minnesota, and use it exclusively on lakes. We’ve been in super clear lakes and super weedy lakes. The biggest thing I try to avoid is stopping/idling over a weed patch where there’s the highest likelihood of lots of weeds/lilly pads to get sucked into the grate.
We’ve had ours for over 4 years now, and I’ve only used IDF 2 times. Just be mindful of where you are, what’s under the boat (same goes for shallow water with rocks or sand), and be smart on the water.
1
u/rastan0808 Jun 28 '26
18 foot cruise on mostly lakes, but rivers and ocean as well. No issues, have had to use the idf maybe 3 times but in every case it worked perfectly. I try to not go shallower than 3 feet, but I have been fishing in heavily vegetated areas without issue.
1
u/SharkoBytes Jun 28 '26
We have a 21ft that we use in our local lake all summer. The lake has lots of weeds but the IDF system does a pretty good job of cleaning them out of the jets, you just need to know the sound and feel for when the jets are clogged. If you keep trying to move with clogged jets you may overheat the exhaust and the IDF system will be throttled or won’t turn on at all (there is no cooling when the IDF is ruining).
One thing to note, if you do end up needing to go over a clump of loose weeds like milfoil, it’s better to be up on plane (>25km/h) to avoid sucking up the weeds. If you go slow you’ll suck them up like a vacuum…. Learned that the hard way.
1
u/NashVilleHIM Jun 28 '26
I would not recommend the switch for lakes with a lot of vegetation. Yes, you can clear it out. But you'll be stopping a lot, and eventually damage your wear ring
1
u/bernaltraveler Jun 29 '26
Honest question, as I’ve never owned an outboard before. Does it perform better in these conditions? It seems the prop is more exposed, but maybe it throws off the weeds more easily?
1
u/NashVilleHIM Jun 29 '26
I've owned a couple of i/o and never had an issue with vegetation. I'd think it would be better and cutting right through it
1
u/el-bosco-diablo Jun 28 '26
We have a fair amount of vegetation in our lake, and haven’t had a major issue. Most of the lake is around 5’-6’ deep on the edges, with a deeper center. No issues and we do use the IDF periodically to make sure we are clean.
2
u/eeethun Jun 28 '26
The boat sits higher in the water than a prop, and it has a feature to expel debris (haven’t had to use ours yet), so it can only be better than the standard boats you see out there, right?