Boat shopping
 

We are in Lake of the Ozark, MO for the week so the kids can spend the week with my ex-wife and their grandma. So the wifey(new) and me are on our own at a hotel with nothing but time so since we have been boat shopping we decided to hit the dealers here. We have went from a $20,000 then to $30,000 and it seems to be moving up. Say a couple boats yesterday I don't know well so curious if anyone has any knowledge.

First off let me say the Mastercraft Dealer here was a complete D-bag. The sales guy turned his nose up at us as soon as we drove up in our VW van. If you don't have $100K to drop they didn't want to talk. His barebones cheapest boat as he put it was a new Epic for $60K. He told me how Moomba's were cheap junk and Supra's we just overpriced blinged Moomba's. A true boat snob. My wife who is a nurse and the nicest person you could meet looked at me and said lets go. Then in the car told me I would never buy a boat there.

Boat we found that we really liked was a new Tige R20. Pretty bear bones but we aren't looking for anything fancy. We liked the boat and the size. We don't need huge and it had a ton of space for a 20 footer. I haven't looked at new Tige and seems they have come a long way!! The offer they made was $48K. Looking online it appeared to be a good price. Had only a few options. Dual batteries, snap in carpet, cover, 1 set of racks, spare tire, 900 ballast, basic stereo, Dealer offered right away to take us out and ride it.

Other boat was a 2010 Malibu VLX with every factory option and 18 hours. $49.999. Beautiful boat. Draw back was it was consigned(we are trading) and it had no trailer. But again the price looks good.

Inputs? I know the pedigree of the VLX. Just don't know much about the Tige R20, anyone have one?

I came really close to buying an R20 a year or so ago. Nice entry level boat. My biggest gripe was lack of a reasonable arm rest for the driver, and the hatch that ran through the middle of the boat to access mechanical items was extremely flimsy. I decided I didn't want the extra payment at the time, so I passed. Great little boat, pretty good board and surf wake too.

Alright first of all sucks that the mastercraft sales guy was a d-bag, that is how the CC dealer is where I am at. I will pass on the opinion from the head of service at my Mastercraft dealer, yes I said Mastercraft. Him and I were drinking some beers and he told me in his opinion he thought that MB was a pretty damn good boat, not a lot of frills but if you want a well built wakeboard boat with what he termed some of the best gel coat in the market it was a great boat. He also likes Axis,said it was his second favorite boat behind Mastercraft. However he still maintains that the best boat you can buy is a 2011 Mastercraft, 4 point tower with a classic dash and an Indmar engine. What do you expect he is a little bias.

I don't know much about Malibu, see a lot of them on my lake and the owners seem very happy.

The reason I passed on his opinion is because I think it says a lot for the brands he mentioned since it does not behoove him to talk those boats up.

That's a tough choice. Both boats make a good wakeboard wake. I would give the edge to the Tige on the surf wake. You really can't go wrong with either. Sounds like the Malibu has the edge on options,but the Tige is new.Demo both and make a pro's and con's list and if the Tige is a 2012 you might as well call it used as the 2013's are already hitting dealers.Good luck and enjoy whichever one you choose.

Assuming you need a trailer expect to spend about 5 grand on a trailer for the VLX unless they can throw one in for you or cheaper or you can find a used one. So after trailer you are closer to 55k for the VLX. That said I would choose the VLX over the R20 10 out of 10 times if I didn't mind spending the money. Here are the main reasons why

The VLX is a much, much nicer/plusher boat.
The VLX has one of the best and most proven wake(especially with the 4 tank ballast and power wedge)
The VLX will have much, much better resale. I don't mean in general if both were new but that BU was probably a 75k boat or more new 2 or 3 years ago. It has already taken a major, major hit of depriciation. My best guess is that in 2 years that 48k R20 will be worth 40k tops and that VLX will be worth 50k. In 5 years the R20 will probably be worth 30-35k, the VLX 45kish.
The VLX being used might already have the little add ons that add up. fenders, lines plus since it was a malibu most people ordered with better options like bimini, swivel racks, nice cover, tower speakers, etc...