Owner's and potential buyers beware! Operate at your own risk.
This is the true story of a Yamaha LS2000 Jet Boat purchased in the spring of 2000. The story begins on May 25 (Memorial Day weekend.) If anyone has any suggestions as to what happened on that day and may know how to prevent others from getting hurt, please feel free to contact me.
My Dad and I took turns driving the boat. Neither one of us noticed anything out of the ordinary, except, that the throttles had been altered to hold the forward position. The two years prior, they would automatically fall back down to the idle position once you took your hands off the throttles. I had to wonder why they had been altered? After about an hour of boating, we decided to go back to the campsite to have lunch and pick up my wife.
It was about 2:30pm and we decided to call it a day since Dad had to get back to the house to change for a wedding reception. We came in the cove where the campsite was located. We were about 50 - 60 yards from the shore when I noticed something really weird with the throttles—they wouldn't pull back! In fact, it was jammed in the full throttle position. My Dad immediately noticed something wrong as well and said, "Son, you're going too fast!" In a panic alarm I said, "I know, I know! I can't slow the boat down!" As my hand frantically pulled back on the throttles, they still would not pull back. They would not respond.
I was able to move the throttles probably 1/8 of an inch backward and the boat sped up. I quickly grabbed the gearshift and tried pulling it back, but to no avail. The whole time yelling to my Dad, "It won't slow down! I can't pull the throttles back!" My Dad made a mad dash for the gearshift and throttles, but couldn't reach it due to the speed of the boat and the force pulling him backward. We were heading right for the shoreline and I knew I had to do something quick.
The steering wheel was non-responsive as well. Every time I tried pulling the steering wheel to the left, it wouldn't go anywhere. I finally was able to pull the steering wheel ever so slightly to the left to avoid a head on collision with the bank and trees. We did go into some low over hanging branches. After clearing the branches we quickly picked up speed. The boat made a half crescent moon shape around the cove and on the edge of the bank. All the way I desperately tried pulling the steering wheel to the left and pull the throttles back.
We finally ran out of water, we hit a log, the bank, and then a large 3-4 foot in diameter pine tree. I remember my wife and nephew flying out from the left side of the boat into the water. After we hit the tree, the boat bounced back in the water. My immediate reaction was the boat landed on top of them. Luckily that didn't happen. I knew something was not right with my arm and my finger and just lay in the boat holding my broken left arm. My Dad managed to get off the boat. My wife and nephew managed to climb out of the water and onto the shore.
This was perhaps the most terrifying and scary feeling of being out of control I've ever experienced. I just couldn't believe the boat would not respond to my touch. I was in a lot of pain.
Next writing will be titled, "Unsafe Design and Construction on Yamaha LS 2000 Jetboat."
Steve
Woodstock, Georgia
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