New to the site, boat help?
 

My wife and I will be upgrading to a v drive in the near future and was Hoping to hear some advice and opinions. We currently have a 99 ski centurion which we love however want a boat that will "do it all". We both wakeboard, wake skate, and even kneeboard. My wife still loves to slolom and wants to still be able to get a decent pull. Our ratio of use is probably 90/10 the majority being the board sports. Would love some advice on boats we are looking for something that we can surf behind as well, something with automatic ballast. I have no problem buying used and want to stay under 50k. I hope I gave all the necessary info please help.

It will be hard to find a boat that does all that well. The Tige RZR or a R20 would be very versatile.With the Taps plate you can have a very small wake at 25 to 35mph. It won't be competition level but it will be very ski friendly. They make a nice wakeboard and wake skate wake as well as a very good surf wave on both sides.I would recommend the Pro Ballast option and if you get a R20 get the adjustable Taps plate.You should be able to get as new as a 2012 or 2013

Thanks for the input! My wife loves the tige. We don't really need a competition ski wake since the majority of our time is spent with board sports. Does the rz2 produce a bigger wake?

Can you pretty much flatten out any boats wake as long as you have a wake plate of some kind?

Check out a wakesetter with the diamond hull, not the wake hull. The chines on the diamond hull are meant to make a flatter ski wake, but when weighted, especially if you get one with the wedge, they put out a great wakeboard and surf wake as well.

Which wake setter has the diamond hull?

^^ I belive the VTX is the most commonly built with the diamond hull. I doubt you can find one new for under 50k and if you go used check out that boat as well as the Sport Nautique 200 (very similar boats, just different brands). With the Tige, Moomba, and some of the other price point brands you should be very close to getting into a new boat. The Moomba Mondo is a great all around 20ft boat with huge bow space, trim tab to flatten out wakes, and typically come with roughly 1800lbs of ballast stock which is more than most. At the end of the day, visit your local dealers, feel out some boats, and drive them. Dealer support and finding the right boat for your needs is key. Good luck and welcome to WW

Thanks for the welcome! There are tige, mastercraft, and a Malibu dealer in town so I will begin checking them out. I don't really like how most of the nautiques are set up as far as the seating. I think I want a walk through bow. Are moombas good?

The RZ2 will put out a bigger wake because it's heavier. It's a bigger boat 22' whereas the RZR and R20 are 20' boats. The Moomba Mojo is also a good all around boat. The best thing to do is pick the ones you like and demo all the wakes to see for yourself. Also make sure you drive each one when weighted and make hard turns while fully weighted.It's a good test for how well the boat handles and how the motor responds.Good Luck!

The VTX is the most common with the diamond hull. You don't have to look for a new one though. i can guarantee you won't find a new one under $50k, maybe under $65-70k. You can look used and find them well within your budget though.

Thank you everyone for the input! I have found a couple used rz2's that I like. Anybody with a rz2 know if you can set the taps to have a halfway respectable ski wake. Like I said we don't do it much but cans lose it all together. Is the only difference between the vtx and the vlx just bigger? Is there other boats as well that I shouldn't overlook?

The main difference is the size of them, the VTX being a foot shorter. They do offer a diamond hull in other models, but it is more common on the VTX, that being said, it is also an uncommon option that not that many were ordered with in comparison to the wake hulls. It's just the way the market is.
From what I have heard on them, the VTX/diamond has an excellent slalom wake and a good recreational wakeboard wake. With the right ballast setup, you can surf it.
The RZ2 is supposed to be flip flopped a bit, an excellent wakeboard and surf wake, and a good recreational slalom wake. They are probably going to be easier to find than a diamond hull VTX, so that might be a better option to look into.

I mean really, if you are mainly using it for boarding and occasionally break out the slalom ski, then just about any v-drive would work well for you. Just make sure to put the wakeplate all the way down to flatten out the wake more and possibly fill some front ballast to get the stern out of the water a bit.
I would probably recommend trying to find someone with a boat similar to what you're looking for to give you a pull and see how the slalom wake is with the plate down and ballast empty. See if that'd be something your wife would go for. If so, you may very well have a whole world of options out there that will work for you.

I have a RZ2 and it has a decent Slalom wake for recreational skiing. It's in no way a competition wake,but it is a usable slalom wake.You would want to set Taps on 1 to slalom.

How good of a skier is your wife? How fast does she ski? You can ski behind any of these boats, but some will be noticeably better than others. If she's a good skier, there's no substitute for a comp level wake. If she's a recreational skier, she should be fine with any of these. I would recommend getting one with a wake plate/trim tab of some sort. It will help the wake flatten out, and will also help with porpoising. Something else to ask any seller may be how fast the boat will go. I ski at 34-36, depending on the boat. Some wakeboats are propped such that 34 would be pushing some serious RPM's.

I would not rule out a Sport Nautique 200v. Very good all around boat with almost compitition ski wake and decent wakeboard wake when loaded. As you can see in the attached pic, there is a walk through bow as well. You can get a used one in your range.

All good boats though...try them all out.

Look at a V215.. Can get one in your budget, and they definitely have the top speed for slalom, some of the guys in barefoot behind them and say its a good wake for footing.... And if you look on here theres some pics of them slumpin that throw great wakes for surfing and wakeboarding...

That Sport Nautique is dead sexy. I would take that in a heartbeat.

If you want new and a full warranty then I would look at the Moomba Outback V. It's a "do it all" boat and can be had for under 50K. That full warranty is also something to think about.

I doubt I will buy new I have many more options at 50k if I go used and there seems to be a lot of low hour boats out there to be had.

SS my wife is not a competitive skier by any means however she love it. She skis at about 33 to 35 mph behind our DD.

Adam what year is that sport nautique you posted? I saw one that had the full wrap around seating that was the same boat but it might have been newer.

I think that was a 2012. Just a pic I found at Buxton marine. There were a few 200v's for sale on Planetnautique.com last I checked right around that $50k mark.

Check the weights of the boats you want to look at. If you are going to ride a slalom ski at any level you need to write off anything 23' or bigger. Those can produce nice surf wakes an wakeboard wakes but are just too big to be comfortable on a ski. Less weight is less wake. That means it's harder to get a good surf wake on a smaller boat like your current one but it can be done. Test drive and ride the boat you considering because each owners opinion may be valid but they are not you. There are big differences in how they each perform. One persons idea of rough water might be much different than another's and a skiable wake might be quite different also.
Look for an adjustable plate of some sort to change the wake shape. This goes a long way to making any boat good for a wide variety of activities. Tige has that with it's Taps system but they are a bit heavier than some boats. Lots of Supras have it and some Centurion and Sanger boats. A Bennett plate can be added to most boats so the brand is not really critical for that. Good luck and enjoy test driving them.

I would jump at this. Sounds like you could probably make a pretty good deal on this '12.
http://www.planetnautique.com/vb3/sh...Sport-200-v-TE

Does she ski the course? How does she handle skiing other boats besides your direct drive? The vtx very well could be a better slalom wake than that older centurion.

I know this will sound biased since I'm a Tige owner, but I'd probably go with the RZ2 if you're wanting a bit more since it has a picklefork front. If the extra bow space isn't a concern, then the Z1 would be my next choice, followed by the RZR and then the R20 depending on what you are actually comfortable spending out of that $50k budget. Just make sure whichever you go with has the VX system and the additional PNP ballast already on it, as this will make it much more versatile, allowing it to "do it all" better.

With the design of Tige's Convex V hull, you can get a slightly flatter wake since it has less "hook" in the rear of the hull, which will pull the nose up a bit and create less displacement. Generally you will have the Taps set on a 2 for this, higher than that and you will be more prone to porpoising in rough water and also begin to create a larger wake for boarding (even without ballast). Putting it all the way down to a 1 will smooth the ride back out by getting the nose back down in the water more to reduce the porpoising, but create a bit more ramp than what you would want to ski on.

The VX system will allow the boat to throw a longer and smoother wake like that of a larger boat for surfing and boarding, while using less fuel than the boats that use gates and wedges.

The PNP factory ballast can be upgraded by contacting WakeMakers. They have bags that go all the way up to 1100 lbs for the rear lockers that are an easy swap with the correct fittings, and will piggyback off your factory controls and pumps with no extra work, meaning that you can get a massive wake if desired all out of the same boat.

I own an RZ4 (24'), and would no recommend going quite as big as mine (or the Z3 for that matter) if you still want to be able to ski it regularly. We have gotten up behind ours a couple times to ski, and while it's fun, it definitely isn't a great ski wake due to the weight of the boat, but throws an awesome surf and board wake, and is only going to get better as soon as I upgrade to the 930 lb bags from WakeMakers. If you go down to one of the slightly smaller boats in Tige's lineup, I think it'll hit all of your needs quite well, especially if you upgrade the bags. You'll be able to flatten it out and ski as much as you want, and then turn right around and add 2000# of additional ballast on top of the built-in tanks and throw a pretty massive wake, and have the ability to dial it in as needed with the TAPS system.