Buying a new boat
 

I'm looking at 2012's and I've narrowed my boat search to 3 models. MB 21TWB, Tige RZR and SAN 210. I would rather not spend the extra money on the SAN, but it's the only dealer close to me (1 hour away). The closest MB or Tige dealer is more than 12 hours away. How important is a local dealer??

I'm sure I can't go wrong with any of these 3 boats, but would 1 stand out from the others as far as performance with only factory ballast (surf and wakeboard wakes). I don't have the option of test drives. Thanks.

I'm not too familiar with MB but I believe it has the largest factory ballast of the three you listed. For what it's worth (and it's not worth much), if I had to pick between those three I would go with the Tige RZR. I love the styling and I think they're building a good looking boat right now, surf wake is great and the wakeboard wake is decent (as long as you get the full ballast option). As I said, I'm not too familiar with MB and I'd be afraid that when time for selling it came around neither would a lot other people. There's just none in our area, so this may be a geographic thing, around east TN Supra, Malibu, Mastercraft and Axis are king, plus they're all built here. As far as SAN's, I've always thought they were a bit over-priced for what you got but I have a friend who owns one and it throws a sick wake and a decent surf wake.

All three boats have PCM power plants. Have you asked the nautique dealer whether they'll do warranty work on the other boats' motors?

At 24 hours round trip I think your "warranty" is not worth nearly as much on the mb or tige. You aren't going to haul the boat down one weekend and go get it the next for minor inconveniences, like you might with the nautique. It's basically going to be catastrophic only. Shoot I kinda feel that way with my MB and my dealer is only 120 miles away. I can't imagine a 600+ mile haul to take care of something minor.

If your Natique dealer will do warranty work on the MB - buy the MB. If not - skip the MB and the Tige and go with the Nauti.

I can't see why the dealer wouldn't do the work on the MB though. The $30k you save on the MB vs. the 210 will go a long ways towards gas.

Would be interesting to know the cost difference between them all. If I were buying a brand new boat it would be tuff to have a dealer that far if the CC dealer can't do the warranty work. Tuff choices man. I would probably lean CC. Then again who am I just some DB on wakeworld ha.

Dealer support is very important when you need it. Nautique dealers seem to stay Nautique dealers, atleast in my area. I'd hate to see you buy one of the others and the closest dealer drop the line and your dealer is now twice as far. How long has the Nautique dealer been a dealer compaired to the other 2?

Having a good local dealer is very important. Even if the Nautique dealer would work on your MB for you they will put your boat at the back of the service line. The dealer will take care of the customers who purchased a boat through them first. So I'm sure bringing them a different brand boat purchased at a different dealer will have you waiting half a summer for any serious repairs, making the warranty essentially useless.

There is quite a big difference on prices and options between MB and Nautique that would leave a lot of room to consider other brands as well such as Malibu, Mastercraft and Axis. Are there any other dealers local to you?

warranty work pays the same regardless of what brand the boat is.. it's not like at any given time - there are 30 Natiques that were sold from that particular dealership with the type of owner who is sweating the timeline waiting for work..

FWIW I would go with the MB, it has the gravity feed ballast system and throws a good surf wake and a great wakeboard wake. The pickle fork also sits fairly high in the water (even with weight) so it wont be too easy to sub. All of these are great boats and you cannot go wrong with any of them, but personally the MB would be my boat of choice.

12 hours away may as well be on the far side of the moon on a nice summer weekend when you blow a cooling line. Go with the SAN. Even if the dealer there will service another brand's PCM, as was mentioned before, your boat will be at the back of the line, as it should be. That being said, with the cash you save going with a MB, you can pay out of pocket at any repair place to get the fixes done.

Nautique. Look into the 200 if price is an option. 12 hours is too far to go for a dealer. Especially considering if you buy a TIGE you get free service and a
Strong warranty

Are there any other PCM certified shops in your area? As long as a shop is certified for PCM warranty repairs they can do it. It doesn't have to be a dealer. For instance Liquid Power Sports in (shop north of Denver) can do all Indmar and PCM warranty repairs and they dont sell any boats. Might be worth looking into.

Having a local dealer to do warranty work is nice but not an additional 20k or so. That being said if you decide to sell your boat in a few years it will still be worth more then the MB or Tige. Maybe not 20k more but 10 or 15k at least. If you really like the MB, and there are a lot of reasons to like them, I would check into seeing if there are any independent shops that are certified PCM warranty shops. If you can find one then go that route. Service will be cheaper, better with quicker turn around times probably then a dealer. This isn't the case all the time but I feel like independent shops are better for non warranty work. As for stuff that actually goes wrong with the boat that aren't related to teh engine just keep a list of the things that are wrong that you can't fix yourself and take the boat at the end or beginning of every season to get warranty work done. Setup an appointment a fair amount ahead of time and tell the dealer everything that is wrong so they can attempt to have the parts in stock and ready for you. Just do your homework so you know what you are up against if you do buy the MB or tige. Something to consider is a lot of these boats will have little finnicky stuff that goes wrong in the first few hours. You may have to run the boat back to the dealer to get this stuff done when they do the break in service. If nothign goes wrong you can probably just take it to a local repair shop for the break in service.

unless its not engine related. Then you drag it 12 hours oneway.

It's really a 48 hour trip every time. 24 to drop it off and 24 to pick it up. Don't know how eager I'd be to tow it in for some loose upholstery stitching or some other minor issue. I Probably wouldn't at all. Which means that there really isn't much of a new boat warranty.

And if all you ever tow to "your dealer" for is an annual warranty punchlist, I don't think you move up on his list either (i.e. spend no money just get free work done).

Thanks for all the replies.

Now I'm starting to wonder if I should just try and find a boat that's a couple years old. The little "finicky" things should be worked out and I can just use my local boat repair shop. In reality, the warranty for non related engine problems on the mb or tire is useless. I couldn't ever see myself hauling the boat 24hr round trip.

There is a local dealer for Malibu, Axis, and Mastercraft. I've heard not so good things about the BU/Axis dealer. And I know nothing about the Mastercraft dealer.

This is also a concern I guess, the Nautique dealer only started with CC this year.

Service is such a pain. Tow the boat. Leave it. Pick it up. See what they fixed and messed up.

When I got my BU from Ultimate Water Sports in 2000, I celebrated the day my waranty expired because the service was so bad.

With my MB from Larsons in 2011, I took it back for 20 hr service to get some minor "new boat" issues resolved and they did a great job.

Going forward, my plan is to do my own routine service and take the boat back to the dealer for waranty issues and major issues only.

Solid, local dealer support is everything. I would never buy a brand with the nearest support 12 hours away. Boats typically have unresolved issues, just ask GD. Imagine how pissed you'll be when you have to jump back in the truck and drive your boat another 24 hours. Pissed!

Why was Malibu ruled out? They're number one in sales for a good reason.

Also, I haven't been in any of the newer Tige's, but I've been in a few that have a few hundred hours on them and it was not good. Although I still can't justify the cost of the leading brands myself, there is some truth in "you get what you pay for."

Local Mastercraft or Malibu dealer? If you were gonna drop the cash on a SAN either of these manufacturers will have comparable entries in the 21-foot category.

The main reason I wasn't looking at Malibu is because I've heard bad things about the dealership that sells them. They're basically you're best friend until you buy the boat and then they don't give a rats *ss about you. I guess I can always look into the Mastercraft route as well.

I guess the other thing I'd like to know, is if a good mechanic at a random boat shop will be able to fix and get parts for these unresolved issues with say the MB or Tige. If I'm saving 20K on the boat it's no big deal if I have to shell out a few dollars for repairs. But on the other hand I could also be the unlucky guy who gets a lemon and have a few serious issues as well. Hmmm I may have to go back to the ole drawing board and start my boat search all over again.

Just so you know Indmar, PCM ,etc... don't make parts. Or at least not most of the parts. Almost all the parts that could go wrong can be found in the aftermarket with enough research. Alternators, starters, plugs, wires, fuel pumps, etc... are made by other companies and labeled PCM, Indmar, etc... The only thing I am not sure of know is if the computers can be had in the aftermarket. I am not sure how those items have changed the game.

I have a couple local dealers that service PCM engines, I was wondering about non-engine related problems.

I've owned a Nautique and 2 Tiges.I put over 500 troublefree hours on the Nautique and 425 troublefree on the first Tige.I only have 105 hours on my current Tige but have had nothing to speak of to deal with on it either.I have friends with Supras,Moombas,MB's,Malibu's and Mastercraft.All of the above have been reliable boats when regular maintainence has been done.It's a must to find a good marine mechanic if you don't do your own maintainence.PCM makes a very reliable engine.

Apparently I'm terrible at doing research, there's a Tige dealer 3 hours from me. That's definately doable. I guess the RZR will be the front runner or maybe an RZ2 if I can swing a good deal. Thanks for all the replies.

That certainly makes things easier!