Whats the diff? As far as wake and drive?

V-Drive will generally have a better wakeboard wake due to the extra weight in the back. <BR> <BR>V-Drive will have more space for people and most prefer the comfortable seating arrangement. <BR> <BR>D-Drive will throw a better ski wake due to the engine in the middle balancing out the weight; take more sacs to throw a nice wakeboard wake. <BR> <BR>D-Drive will handle better that a V.

couldn't of said any better. Just V-Drive it baby ! <BR> <BR>(Message edited by iagainsti on July 26, 2006)

I am pretty sure there is a pretty big difference between the V drive and D drive, not sure what that is but more than a little. <BR> <BR>Also, with a D-Drive you have that motor cover to stand on when you need to remove or swap ropes from the tower. Not a big deal, but when you swap ropes like I do, it makes a difference! <BR> <BR>Sean

The industry has shifted very heavily towards v-drive over direct-drive. One dealer told me 80% v-drive to 20% direct drive, another said 90/10. As a result, in general it's a lot easier to re-sell a v-drive as a result than d-drive.

Sean, most of the times the DD and v-drive models have identical hulls, the motor is just in a different spot. V-drives are harder to work on IMO. The motor is in there "backwards". ie. the front of the motor is facing the stern, thus the v-drive configuration. the drive train(?) forms a "V".

Don't forget storage space. Most V's have a huge amount of storage space.

On the Supra's, the widths of the wakes are different between the vdrive 22 and the ddrive 22. The ddrive is much wider.

in addition, V-drive boats tend to have a deeper draft in the transom than direct drive boats as well as a higher freeboard. both advantages in my opinion! <BR> <BR>(Message edited by anodyne on July 31, 2006)

Direct drives are multi purpose, in the sense that they are primarily designed for zero wake. There are still a few die hard skiers out there, and they would rather die than ski behind a Vdrive (although I have heard that even an Xstar does not have a bad slalom wake at 33mph). <BR> <BR>Vdrives are better for family use, and certainly MUCH better for wakeboarding and similar activities, but are more one dimensional as far as water sports go. <BR> <BR>Direct drives are going to be faster, and handle like a Ferrari, while the Vdrive cousin is a bit more sluggish. The speed has more to do with weight than anything else. DD are typically smaller with a lot less free board (again, less weight = smaller wake). <BR> <BR>There are hybrids out there where they take a direct drive and outfit it for wakeboarding. some are better than others, but make no mistake you cannot make an X1 wake out of a DD ski boat. I know....I have one. <BR> <BR>If they allowed Vdrives on my lake, I would own one. Many lakes around the country are "ski" lakes, like mine. Any competition ski boat on my lake has to be USA Waterski approved for 3 events. That pretty much means that the boat has to be capable of a world class slalom wake and have incredible power and handling. An Xstar is never going to get that, due to its design. <BR> <BR>If you are a die hard slalom skier that wakeboards now and then, get a DD. Opposite, get the Vdrive. <BR> <BR>Some of the older DD boats can throw an incredible wake, like the 2001. My X7 can throw a decent wake properly weighted, but not like a 23' Vdrive. Its not a problem for me, I suck anyway. <BR> <BR>I have seen just about every trick thrown behind my boat, so my days of blaming the boat are over.

I didn't know an X-Star could go 33 mph.

Robert I bet you could get a very similar wake out of a MC 205 as an X1 because they have the exact same hull. It would just have to be weighted differently.

Yes, same hull, and if you got the weight distribution perfect I would assume that you could get an exact same wake out of the DD 205 vs old school X2/current X1. <BR> <BR>However, I am not aware of any other manufacturer that would work for, and I am pretty sure it was only the 205 that they kept the hull on. <BR> <BR>I could be/probably am wrong. Still, I stand by my statement that if you buy a DD boat you are buying a boat designed first and foremost for skiing and wakeboarding comes second. <BR> <BR>I love my X7. I love how it drives and turns on a dime. I love driving it....when I get in the drivers seat of an Xstar I feel like I am driving a car with no air in the tires.

is shaft angle the same for a D-drive and a V-drive?

thats defintly interesting to learn about the handling, i ride behind a mastercraft x-7 weekly and it has the standard sac in the back and 2 350 sacs on the sides, it throws a pretty mean wake in my opinion.. <BR> <BR>but my biggets love for th eboat is how it handles, and i thought all true inboards v or dd handled that well, as for im looking to buy a boat this spring and was looking towards v-drive for the better wake, but if i wont get the same handling i think i will lean towards the dd