I know all you hardcore boarders will laugh at this. I want a boat with these options: <BR> <BR>22-24' long <BR>a hull that doesnt pound through the chop <BR>big block with large gas tank <BR>I/O drive so I can minimize poss. damage expenses on the river and reach 60+mph <BR>auto ballast tanks <BR>titan tower <BR>fit and finish of an upper end wakeboard boat such as x-30 or lsv including guages (pefect pass) and upholstery <BR>a decent swim step <BR> <BR>I know centurion makes the tsunami, but that mutha is way too big! <BR> <BR>Ive been lookin at the supra ssv, malibu vlx,lsv mastercraft x-30 <BR>correct me if im wrong but all these will top out at 40-50 mph and ride rough in choppy water. And if I happen to hit rocks on the river(never have yet) I'd be lookin at some serious repair$$$$

Sounds like a Cobalt to me!

check into Sangers, I think they still make an I/O

Crownline ought to fit the bill for just about all of your pre-requisites &amp; you can have a Titan custom built to fit just about any boat. Not sure about the ballast, but that's any easy one to add after the fact.

Check out either an X-30 or the new X-Star with the 8.1. You would have to change the prop but I bet you could get close to your desired speed.

Brett, We have an X-30, the times that I have had it in rough water I think it rides great, and stays dry. As for the inboard vs i/o and hitting something, I could be mistaken, but unless you have the out drive almost totally level with the water, you would not be gaining much. In fact, if the out drive is all the way down, it would probably stick further done into the water than even an inboard prop.

Sounds like a Sanger ZX driver to Me

Check out the cobalt wakeboard boat, it has everything you need and from what I have heard, cobalt is the best made i/o out there.

For I/O's the leaders in the market are Regal, SeaRay, Cobalt and all the others I left out. Go for what you can get the best deal on. <BR> <BR>Bill

FYI, you can alwasys add the Titan to any boat you buy. <BR> <BR>Your post asked about I/O's but your looking at V-drives??? I'm in the same position now, really wanting a V-Drive but many "minor incedences" have happened in shallow water with my outboard that I have the same "rip the shaft out" fears about the chang to a V-Drive? <BR> <BR>We are getting more and more into wakesurfing so the V-drive is becoming something we really need to do. <BR> <BR>Bill

Plus you have insurance that will cover those incidents, if they happen. My lake here is deep everywhere, so I am lucky in that respect. The shore is all weeds and it is 15-25 feet deep. In fact if we boat hop we just drive into the weeds and it will hold your boat right there while you hop on someone elses boat. Plus the weeds absorb your wake so there is 0 bounce back. <BR><img src="http://www.wakeworld.com/MB/Discus/messages/65921/78814.jpg" alt="">

Bill, do you really think Sea Ray is that good? I think they are nice boats but not in the category of Cobalt. They are very popular, have a great resale because of the name, but all of the Brunswick companies are not what they used to be before Brunswick bought them out. (Sea Ray, MAxum, Bayliner, Boston Whaler etc). And Regals are way expensive for what you get. My friend has a 2001 23' deck boat that was about 50 grand, it has about 50 hours on it, been through a new engine, now has fuel pump problems, have of the options (fresh water tank) don't work, I am really not impressed with it. He does live right on the ocean so it is exposed to salt air all the time, but he keeps it in his driveway, not in the water.

<b>Brett</b>, <BR>The only item on your list that a big v-drive can't do is reach 60mph. <BR> <BR>As far as the depth deal, if you are talking about minimizing damage while you're skiing or boarding, you are actually more apt to do damage to an I/O, than an inboard. It is true that the underwater gear on an inboard is stationary, but when you are driving around the lake in an I/O, you have the outdrive down anyways. When sitting still, the average I/O requires 32" - 36" of depth w/ the outdrive down. If you are in idle, you can tilt the outdrive up a little bit and get it into the low to mid 20"'s for depth. You can tilt the outdrive all the way up when in shallow water and get the draft into the teen's of inches, but if you've ever driven an I/O w/ the drive all the way up, you know that you loose most of your steering because the outdrive is not below the bottom of the hull (so it doesn't track) and the prop is just shooting water straight up, not back (not steering). <BR> <BR>The bigger v-drives should all require around 24" of draft. So if you are running an I/O across the lake w/ the outdrive down vs. an inboard, you should have about 8" - 12" of additional clearance w/ the inboard. And depth should be about similar when you are in idle and have the outdrive trimmed up, except with the inboard, you still have full steering capabilities. <BR> <BR>If you get to the point at which you would do major underwater damage on an inboard, you would have also done major damage to the outdrive of an I/O, if not ripped it off the back of the boat all together. <BR> <BR>Just my .02.

I have a Rinker 232 with a 6.2mx mercruiser. You can check out my profile for a pic. It's 23.6ft and measures a little over 25 with the swim platform. Factory tower which is really a zero flex. Mine is a cuddy but they make an open bow called the Rx package that comes with the tower, perfect pass, 5 blade prop and some other stuff. No complaints about my boat. It will run about 60mph. Oh yea get the Corsa performance exhaust, it makes sound like a nascar

thanks for all your help, <BR>in regards to the i/o verses v-drive damage: <BR>its not so much an issue of how deep it is, just that I know a I/O will usually sustain damage to the fin and prop which is designed to absorb damage and not too pricey to fix. Also if you drift into shallow water you can raise it up <BR> <BR>V-drives look very rigid and expensive to fix <BR> <BR>But the bottom line is that I want to have all the extras of a nice wakeboard boat. So right now Im lookin at x-30's <BR>

Tige's 24V might work for you, I am not sure if they offer a big block as an option, I am pretty sure they do though. But I know from my experience with the 22I, the Taps helps a lot in rought water. You can bring up the bow when it get's rough, opening up the sharper vee in the hull and it rides much smoother than when you have it down, but in glassy water you can trim it down and it is so smooth across the water. I think the late 2003s and the 2004s can be ordered with auto balast as an option on the 24V. <BR> <BR>In my opinion, an inboard boat's features far exceed the minuses that you mention. especailly when comparing them to a I/O.

The other point, gas tank, my 22I has a 47 gallon tank, I would have to believe the 24V is the same or larger. It is nice on trips where you are covering a lot of teritory. We are heading to the Delta over Labor Day and I know the large tank will come in handy there, where we usually spend all day and many miles on the water. Plus the extra weight is never a bad thing!

Check this out..... <BR> <BR> <BR><a href="http://www.extremeskiboats.com/models.htm" target="_blank">http://www.extremeskiboats.com/models.htm</a>

I think that "extreme ski boat" driver seat has a cup holder that would be between the drivers legs. That gets my vote for best new invention.

That IS quite an innovation... <BR>I can't seem to find the performance stats on that extreme ski boat, but I read an article about them a few years back. It's an inboard style hull, with an aluminum block I/O. Performance numbers were unbelievable! 0 to 36 for most ski boats (MC, Nautique, Malibu, etc.) was about 5.5 to 6 seconds. That ski extreme was at 2.8! Also, it had a top speed of 66!

Hallett in So Cal. will make excatlay what you want, They have built quite a few. My buddy has negotiated for almost everything youmentioned and then some options and the written quote is 65K. <BR>includes Extreme trailer, ballast, teak platform, Captains Call switchable exhaust and a 377 Scorpian with Alpha 1 outdrive.

oh yeah INXS if there still in business also makes one.