hey guys looking at importing to australia and just wondering what the difference between an x9 and a 209 is? is it just the standard tower and fat sacks? and whether anyone's had any experience with either? <BR>thanks from australia <BR>Mitch

I have a prostar 209 with a factory tower and added sacks. Its a great boat and handles like a sports car. The wake is decent but have just recently been looking to upgrade.

The wakes on them are not that great. If it is not a done deal yet I would keep looking as chances are you will be ready to upgrade after about 6 months of use of that boat if you are looking to progress.

thanks guys any idea what sort of boat in that sort of price range would put out a decent wake but it has to be a direct drive since dad's all about skiing and such. thanks <BR>mitch

There may actually be better ski wakes out of a few vdrives than that boat. When I was selling MC people that were into skiing thought it had a terrible ski wake. What is the price range you are looking at? <BR> <BR>Boats to consider: <BR>Nautique 216 <BR>Nautique 211 vdrive but makes a pretty decent ski wake <BR>Malibu sunsetter Lxi-better for skiing than wakeboarding <BR>Malibu Sunsetter LX-better for wakeboarding than skiing. <BR>2001 Malibu sunsetter VLX-Diamond hull and ok for skiing. <BR>MAlibu Iride-same hull as the sunsetter LX <BR>MAstercraft 205-small inside and not much storage but would be good for both sports. <BR>Mastercraft 205V-desirable vdrive with awesome wakeboarding potential and still skiable. <BR>1998-2004 Air Nautique direct drive <BR>Sanger V210 maybe <BR>Sanger D215 if you can find one <BR>Supra Launch LS(I think it is that one) <BR>Tige 21v or 2100V-Has the TAPS plate may be skiable.

around about 22 or so maybe a little more depends what the aus dollar does. we had a look at a tige 20i a while back but didn't seem to really sort us

I had an X-9 and it worked very well. For slalom, it was a bit rough at slow speeds at longer line lengths. It needed a trim tab. However, at 28-off and beyond at 34 or 36, you would be hard pressed to tell it from most other dedicated slalom boats. For wakeboarding, with factory ballast, you could throw most all of the INT Advanced tricks. We typically added a 500-lbs sack in the rear and another up front for the Outlaw riders. They gave good feedback, but it was not an X-Star replacement. We did surf behind it without any issues. Very solid build, comfortable, good storage. No complaints for a crossover boat.

thanks karl, we've been looking at malibu's and stuff but its not really worth importing one when they are already made over here and pretty much everywhere down here. it'll pretty much be for about 80% wakeboarding and 20% skiing so i think an x-9 could potentially be the go

The 209/X9 is probably a good choice then. I would think the 205V hull would be just as good or close to as good as the 209 for Skiing and will blow the 209 out of the water for wakeboarding. It also has the Vdrive layout. You should be able to find a 99-2001 xstar or 205v for around 20k. In fact there is a nice looking 2000 xstar in Cali that is 19k. I would really say look for a Nautique 211 but you aren't really going to find one of those for much under 30k. I have not heard how it skis but the Sanger V210 is a smaller, lighter vdrive and may have a similar ski wake to the 209. It throws a great wakeboarding wake without a ton of weight. <BR> <BR><a href="http://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/boa/1554782908.html" target="_blank">http://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/boa/1554782908.html</a> <BR> <BR>(Message edited by polarbill on January 19, 2010)

i would love any of those boats but the only problem is dad's paying and for some reason is 100% against a v-drive so an old x-star, 211 or a sanger probably wouldn't fit his criteria thanks anyway though brett

Well in that case, I will quit mentioning Vdrives. Are the Malibu's that are made over there ridiculously expensive or something? Is that why you are looking in the States?

Mitch, The X9 is a fairly big an wide direct drive, atleast for its day. The X9 has a stock rear bag that is plumbed in that goes under the rear seat. The rear seat actually lifts up and creates a good sized sun deck across the back. You might be able to upgrade to a 750 or so to go in that location. Then, you should be able to fit a 500 or so in the rear storage locker. The boat also has a 350-500 pound sack plumbed in the ski locker where the walkway is. If you add a 500 or so to the walkway it should be pretty good. That would give you in the range of 1250 lbs in the rear and 800 in the front. You could actually plumb in the bag that would go in the rear ski locker so 3 of the 4 ballast bags would be plumbed in so you would only need to fill one bag manually. I am sure you could add a trim tab to the boat to if you wanted to help the ski wake. The X9 is a well built boat so I think from that standpoint you would be happy.

We have a sunsetter LXi. Pretty good ski boat. Decent wakeboat with wedge and sacs.

The sunsetter is a highly desirable crossover boat but probably is better on the skiing side as it has the diamond hull or whatever they call the ski hull for that boat. The Sunsetter LX is a very similar boat but has the wake hull so it will be a little better for wakeboarding. This is also the same hull as the I-Ride. If I was limited to getting a direct drive but really wanted the wakeboarding performance the Wakesetter direct drive, sunsetter LX and the I-Ride with the wedge would be right at the top of my list. That hull probably offers a better ski wake and definitely a better wakeboard wake than the X9.

Look at the MC 205DD, 1996 and up(stopped making them in 2000). Same hull as the old xstar(now x1), it puts out a fantastic wake when weighted. The Skiing is really good as well. Its a bit smaller than the 209/X9, but it will do both things better, and you shouldn't grow out of the wake.

Mitch, I know you said you could get malibu's but how about this boat that just popped up on the classifieds section. It looks really clean and it is a good price. It would give you some extra money to add perfect pass, stereo and some other things if you want as well. <BR> <BR><a href="http://www.wakeworld.com/MB/Discus/messages/8/769873.html?1264015419" target="_blank">http://www.wakeworld.com/MB/Discus/messages/8/769873.html?1264015419</a>

yeah that malibu looks really clean i'll show it to dad and see what he thinks. malibu are pretty much the most common sort of ski/wake boat down here their pretty much everywhere so i think that might have something to do with dad being keen on mastercraft's just to be a little different