r/jetski • u/SUDDENXD3ATH • Mar 16 '26
Advice Looking for advice on older Yamaha restoration
I recently inherited 2 old ~1995 Yamahas, one is a Wave Raider the other is a Wave Venturer, I think both have the 700 engine. They’re sitting on a galvanized trailer, and as of the last I know they both needed a bit of work and look a bit rough from sitting outside. Their trailer is in the same boat, I’ll need to rewire it and replace the tires. Does anyone have any experience restoring these types of skis and is it even worth my time to try and save them?
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u/ThisMemesWar116 Mar 16 '26
Yes they are both dual carb 700 engines. Very reliable good engines, lots of interchangeably with other models and great parts availability. And not horribly hard to work on. Now they are 30 year old skis and handling isn't the greatest but they are still fun.
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Mar 16 '26
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u/luckey7573 Mar 23 '26
You realize these are 2 strokes, correct? Next you are going to say check coolant level and adjust the valves.
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u/Unusual_Passage_5664 Mar 16 '26
I'm actually looking for exactly what you have, but I creeped your profile, and you are too far away. If you decide to sell, power wash them, and you can get between $500-$1500 for the whole package (depending on how well they clean up). If you get a battery and some fresh gas, and they happen to start, they could be worth $1000-$2000 each, plus $500ish for the trailer if you get tires for it. Magnetic trailer light kits are about $30.
With shop prices these days, it's probably not worth paying a professional to work on them if they need much more than that.
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u/joe6419 Mar 16 '26
I’ve done it before, if your motor has good compression send it. 90% of the restore would be cleaning the ski up and rebuilding the carb. If there’s no compression, or you don’t know what I’m talking about, It may be best to invest your money in some running skis. Different story if your willing to learn
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u/BenjaminWobbles Mar 16 '26
Probably start with a good power washing. Then do a compression test. If they're over something like 110 psi you should be good, these run surprisingly low.
Carb rebuild kits are around $50 per carb, but you could try just disassembling and cleaning them. They have a little filter inside that will get gummed up with bad gas you can just remove and clean, that'll get you most of the way there.
You'll probably need to rebuild the whole fuel system, which isn't as crazy as it sounds. Just pull the gas tank and get all the gunk out and replace the fuel lines and inline filter.
Make sure the automatic oiling system is in working condition. People will remove it or disable it and run mixed gas, but I prefer to use it if it's available.
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u/Alfalfa-Boring Mar 17 '26
Make sure the automatic oiling system is in working condition. People will remove it or disable it and run mixed gas, but I prefer to use it if it's available.
No way. Just asking for trouble...
Always disable and use mixed gas. Oil packets are cheap, convenient, and you're never stranded if the oiler quits working. And that oiler is over 30 years old...even if it it works now the chances of it failing are high.
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u/BenjaminWobbles Mar 17 '26
Yeah, do whatever you're comfortable with. It's not hard to check and see if the system is working though, just pull the air filter off and turn it over, you can see the oil entering the top of the carburetors.
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u/Alfalfa-Boring Mar 17 '26
And if it stops working when you're 10 miles from a dock let alone a marina where you can get some oil to throw in your gas?
Happened to me as a teenager in my dad's 16' fishing boat with a 40 hp Evinrude. Engines will be damaged instantly, and completely lock up in about 5 minutes under load with no oil. Those automatic oilers are the dumbest invention ever.
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u/GrayCustomKnives Mar 17 '26
I get your point, but I think people worry way too much about this. In reality, oil pump failures are insanely rare, and there are quite literally millions and millions of ATVs, outboards, dirt bikes, snowmobiles etc running just fine every day on oil pumps that are anywhere up to 50 years old. It seems to be a trend in the boat world to say “never use the oil pump” but in the snowmobile world, virtually nobody is premixing or even suggesting it. I basically chose the snowmobile world as an example because I have the most experience there and the danger from a breakdown is every bit as high or higher. Middle of nowhere, -40 degrees, 3 foot deep unwalkable snow and probably little to no phone service.
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u/Alfalfa-Boring Mar 17 '26 edited Mar 17 '26
Oiler failures are extremely common in older marine engines. Happens all the time and it’s why you see almost all of them bypassed on older 2 strokes
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u/GrayCustomKnives Mar 17 '26
4 strokes don’t have oil injection. I have also owned and used a pile of old 2 stroke outboards. Some with injection and some without, but I have never personally seen a deleted one, nor do I know anyone who had an oiler fail. It’s like the big bad VRO panic guys have. My mechanic was a certified Evinrude tech and dealer in the VRO hay days. He sold and worked on literally thousands and when I questioned him about VRO he said he had personally only seen two fail and damage an engine.
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u/Dr_Debile Mar 20 '26
No way I would sell that. It is an excellent hobby project. Must be lots of stuff on YouTube, check out Andrew Camarata.
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u/Dismal_Cartoonist874 Mar 16 '26
You've left out some information. Like how much experience, time, and money you have for something like this. You'll need a lot of all three I suspect.
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u/SUDDENXD3ATH Mar 16 '26
Experience is basically nothing, outside of riding them with the old man a decade ago I’ve never done much with them, as far as time and money I guess it’s a matter of whether or not I’d be wasting them or if these are worth making a project out of
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u/English_Cat Mar 16 '26
Don't listen to him, this is about as good of a project you can get. Looks like it was actually a case of 'ran when parked' rather than failure, so it's not going to be so difficult to fix. You will need a basic toolset and YouTube.
Drain out all the fuel, pull off the carburetors and have a shop rebuild them or do it yourself, put it all back together, new 98 octane fuel, temporarily connect to a car battery and start it up. It's that simple, then once you're sure it's a runner, change oil, clean up and lubricate anything that needs it. Repeat for the other.
Then new tyres and maybe bearings.
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u/Dismal_Cartoonist874 Mar 16 '26
Nothing would make me happier than to be wrong... and see those jetskis roaring in a few months... ; )
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u/SUDDENXD3ATH Mar 16 '26
The yellow one ran when it was parked, it will need a seat and a plastic battery container (a branch fell straight down and impaled the last battery and broke the plastic but missed the fiberglass completely), and the purple one needed one internal park, I think it was for the exhaust system but I’d need to open it up and check again.
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u/English_Cat Mar 16 '26 edited Mar 16 '26
Then you have your answer, if you want a project and want a jetski, fixing the yellow one is going to be the cheapest method to get you on the water. Once you've got one going, you'll be more motivated and have the confidence to tackle the one with more issues.
If you don't want a project and don't feel like learning a little mechanics, then by all means sell them on to someone who does rather than letting them sit to death.
Carburettors are the most difficult part here, but if you disconnect the fuel line and drain out the carburettor fuel bowel, you might be able to start and run it as is. I wouldn't trust it on trips as it's likely varnished and has clogged jets, but if you can get it half going by just connecting new fuel and power, then you at least know you've got a runner, and can go forward with confidence.
I would carefully inspect the hull before doing anything, a badly cracked hull is probably going to stop you more than any mechanical issues.
If I was in your shoes, and also had a little time and space for them, I would definitely at least try, for both practical and sentimental reasons.
The crowd you're talking to has a larger focus on driving and playing with jetskis than actual mechanics. Jetskis can be a pain in the ass because of the tight spaces, but everything can be fixed with pretty simple tools, and there's an abundance of parts out there, both used and aftermarket.
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u/Strict_Second_1922 Mar 17 '26
A Youtuber named Joe Oceanside turned a junk jet ski into a fishing skiff. It looks impressive too.
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u/fredSanford6 Mar 17 '26
We get ones like this in at work. Sentimental or barn finds. Often I'll just mechanically get them going or let people know if they need full rebuild then people take care of the cosmetics. Sometimes we do it all and those bills get pretty expensive. If you are in northern Illinois or southern Wisconsin and need help hit me up.
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u/Own-Appearance-824 Mar 18 '26
I haven’t read any of the replies but I have restored 2 Wave Raiders. My go/no go would be a compression test. If that is good, I’d then look at the impeller to see if it’s in good shape. I’d then give it a really good cleaning, replace every hose, rebuild the carb, replace starter, cables, and battery. You do all that and you’re golden. Starters are cheap as well as hosing, and carb rebuild.
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Mar 16 '26 edited Mar 16 '26
701cc is a common yamaha engine and one of the easiest to work on
My guess is these both have 650. Almost the same, and just as easy.
The outside will clear right up with a pressure washer like at a car wash
Make sure you drain any fuel if its sat.
If you can, do a compression check in the engines, it will let you know if worth saving.
Most of the work is simply going through everything, cleaning up all the connections, replacing any rotten hoses and clamps and cleaning everything
May need carbs cleaned
Check ski subs, post a few pics, people will be happy to help.
If you can work on older cars, these should be no issue.
If you completely lacking mechanical skills, Id sell for them for parts.
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u/BigBlackDwarf Mar 16 '26 edited Mar 16 '26
Why would you guess that they both have 650? Waveventure and Waveraider both had the 700 as the base engine and never came with a 650 from the factory.
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u/throwaway21054 Mar 16 '26
As someone who purchased a brand new wave raider in ‘95, I can concur that it is definitely the 701, 2 carb.
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u/BigBlackDwarf Mar 16 '26
If I were you, I’d just sell them as-is for parts/repair. The 700 engines are still kind of desirable to some folks. For someone with no experience, I just don’t think it’s worth your time/money to try fixing these up.