So for someone thinking about posibly getting into the realm of personal watercraft where should I start? Anyone want to give me a quick run down of the basics so when I start looking I know what I am looking for?

Skidoos on the water, they can be a bit prone to breakage because of their hyper little engines.

I'll assume you'll be running it on a mid-size to large lake. It all comes down to what you want to do. A fun little runabout for one? For two? Pull a skier? Super speed? Maybe move to a mini-jetboat type? From what I've seen lately they all seem to offer pretty much identical models, so you'll get the same treatment from the major brands.

The most interesting ones I saw were the newest turbocharged ones. Perfect for shoehorning in a T-25 or 14b that you have lying around...

Usually small to mid sized lakes. I want to be able to pull a tube or water-skier behind at a decent rate. Is there a minimum hp I should be looking at or are they all pretty mch capable to do that?

Are motorized boats like cars... do you need insurance? What should that run me?

Is the used market fairly safe for these things or is it fairly easy to wreck the motors and then try to sell them off?

What are the more reliable brands? Which brands are known to be over priced?

Buy a brand name seadoo !! the "XP" series is a good start you could get a 95 XP or a 96 for about $2500 even with a trailer sometimes. They have about 70hp and are fun little machines. Perfect place to take a seadoo is Lake Simcoe. Go to Sibbald Point provincial park for about $15 you get a day pass to the park if you are not camping.

You'll also want to find out if the lake you plan on using this on plans to ban those machines due to noise. The administration (or whatever you want to call it) at my cottage have been thinking of doing just that.

Having said that, I believe some manufacturers have started building 4 stroke models which are much quieter.

Get a Sea-Doo GTX supercharged LoL. Over 200 hp and it pulls like my streetbike. Retarded.

I'm not sure about Ontario, but down here they are categorized like boats so you need some form of insurance, and I'm not sure about the operator's license. You should be able to check locally for that.

And yeah, the motors tend to go on them relatively quickly. But they can be easy to fix if you're mechanically inclined.

The smaller ones can't pull a skier or tube. You'd be looking at a 2-up model or one of the faster ones for that. I'm thinking...85hp and up?

All PWC's require an operator card at this point in time, they were the first to fall under the 100% requirement for the licencing program.
The only exception to this rule is rental companies, who give you a safety briefing, operation guidelines and require you to stay in an area that they define if you do not have an operator card.
One PWC by itself is boring, you really need people to go out with to make them enjoyable.
James made a good comment about the XP's, I had an XP Ltd and swapped it out for a GSX Ltd, and although it had lots of power(110). The problem with the XP's is they have a suspension seat that shortens it a bit and also add's weight to the machine but towing a tube was a bit of a tough chore with either. Pre 1997 XP's were smaller but decently quick but totally unsuitable for towing a tube. 800cc machines are 110 hp+ the minimum I would look at
For towing anything you will need a 3 seater really to do it safely especially if you are towing younger riders, also expect then to get tired out on the tube so you need to be able to bring them aboard the machine if need be, something you can't do on a 2 seater. The 4 stroke machines are quiter, heavier, and use more gas, they are technically more efficient but you are moving a heavier machine that carries more gas, therefor you consume more fuel. The balance of the machine is also off, being front heavy so if you get to the point of doing wave jumping etc they tend to nosedive.
Knowing your family situation what I would consider getting is one of the Sea-Doo jet boats, they have the ability to go places that a regular outboard/inboard boat cannot go, plus =you have the ability to go out in a group of 4, go tubing etc, and be able to pack up a cooler for drinks/lunches and you can also put a sunshade top on them if needs require.
They are still a little unsuitable for towing a strong water-skier as without the out-drive of a true motor they lack straight line stability and a skier pulling hard to the outside can pull the boat off line.

Good info guys. I have an operator card actually. I got it at the Toronto Grand Prix of all places. I never read a book or pamphlet or anything and took the test getting only 3 wrong.

Do the jet boats fit in the garage? What I really want is just something to fit in the garage and take out a half dozen times a year. Bonus if I could fit something else in the garage at the same time like a bike . I also don't want to break the bank.

I was definately thinking 3 seater for sure. If I got new all the new model sea-doos have 140hp min. it seems.

Guess I have enough to go on here... time to go to a dealer and check out the boat trader.

All the damn name changes sure the f#%k don't help. None of the model names I can look at now and see the features on the Sea-doo site (GTX, RXT, GTI etc) match the ones from a few years back (XP, GSX)

XP's were a small powerful maching up to 1996, in 97 they got the suspension seat making them larger and heavier.
Closest replacement to them were the GSX's even though they were larger.
When the 4-strokes started coming out they got new names.
The replacement for the GSX was the RX. If you happen to come across a RXX let me know (there are aparently about 50)