hey wakeboat snobs...

Just kidding...

what is the next best thing? where i live a typical v drive wakeboat would not work well...all salt, choppy waters, sandbars, etc...Im on the carolina coast.

what would be the next best thing other than a typical wakeboat for cruising and boarding?

a new tige would be sweet but i dont think it would like the water out here. I have new bayliner175 but we are outgrowing it quick.

You on a budget?

95+ Mastercraft Prostar 190 or 205. Same hull as X-2. Awsome wake!

80's Ski Nautique 2001. Awsome wake

Both of those are DD. Do you not want an inboard? Or do you just have something about the awsome seating and storage you get with a v drive?

(Message edited by wickedwake on July 19, 2005)

Clay, the 190 is not the same hull as the X2. and it is 96+, not '95.

Eric, I don't know about Tige, but MC makes a closed unit for salt water. An X30, X80 would be alot better than your BL.

Doh! My bad...So only 205? What hull does the 190 have?

190 = X5 or it did at least

Yea only the 205DD & 205v. The 190 has the 190 hull(competition slalom boat).

Wasn't the X5 the sportster hull? The 190 will have the same wake as the 197, or x7 I believe. I think the 197 is just the open bow version.

The X-5 has the 195 slalom hull...and the sportster also shares this same hull. X-5 came in both open bow and closed bow versions. Decent entry level DD boats, you just have to weight the hell out of them to get the wake up. I run about 2100 lbs in my X-5 and its an open bow.

Yes, the 197 is the X7 and the 209 is the X-9 I beleive. I think the 190 will have a similar wake to the current X7, but will probably be a tad smaller due to it being a little bit smaller boat.

I would scratch all of these and go for a 205 DD...they throw a sick wake when sacked out.

and there you have it. I was just looking at a sportster hull and I was thinking you were correct.

Eric, I think you are saying that you need an I/O because of rough water conditions, sandbars, etc. No inboard, v-drive or d-drive will have the trim capabilities you might need for coastal waters. There is a boat mfg called Blue Water

http://www.bluewater-boats.com/

I've never even seen one, but I remember some good comments on this site. Search the archives too.

Paul and clay. The prostar 190 got the new hull for the 1995 to 1997 model year I know I have a 95 190. The hull is the same as a x-2 just a little smaller. Geometry is the same though. That is why the X-5 was so popular with barefooters and slalam skiers who also wanted to wakeboard with a good wake. The sportstar of 19 skier as it was later called was the rebirth of the PS190 hull from the 95 to 97 years, Many people liked that hull greatly and MC brought it back in 99 as the sportstar, a stripped out price point boat and that was also the year that the 195 and X-5 were introduced. now you know

Find an Sanger ZX driver. Same hull as the v210, with an I/O. Sweet allround boat, that skis and boards very nice. Finding one could be a problem, but there was one on boattrader about a month ago.

All you guy's besides Rich G are clueless.He's looking for a boat that can handle rough water and adverse condition's not a debate about older model DD's.
Eric look at some higher end I/O's in the 20-22' range.Test drive for wakes,you can be amazed with what you find.

CLUELESS ehh? Ever drive, or even see, a Sanger ZX? Like I said, I/O!, and built on Sangers smooth riding v210 hull. These boats also rate very well on all ski events, and will do 65+. This boat would eat your "High end" I/O's all day long, and you can't even mention in the same breath as Bluewater. Please do some research, or atleast know what you're talking about before you call me clueless.

This one could be a screaming deal
http://adcache.boattraderonline.com/6/7/7/78998877.htm

(Message edited by jeff359 on July 24, 2005)

I dont think anything short of the new monster X star will handle chop as well as an I/O. Eric check out Monterey (heavy boat to begin with so you wont quite need as much ballast), sea ray, cobalt (if you have the money), just remember that the bigger you go the more weight youll need to add to get the right size wake. If youve got questions about the monterey just ask, ive got mine set-up ok for boarding.

Just because a boat is an I/O doesn't mean it is automatically great for rough water. Yes, the Sanger is an I/O, but is the hull designed to handle rough water... I don't know, maybe you can enlighten us on that jeff. Looking at the pics on that website I'd say that boat would not work well for rough water, look how low the gunwales are, and it still sits on a ski boat hull. I've never driven one in rough water, so maybe I'm wrong.
If you are going to be riding in the ocean you might as well invest in one of the larger I/O or center console boats. These boats have the deep V which cuts through chop MUCH better than any wakeboard/slalom boat out there. I had a Sunsport, which had a deeper hull and more V than most ski boats and even it didn't handle chop very well.
Another thing, wakeboard/slalom boats are built to be on lakes, which don't get really rough, they are not built for ocean going, at least some of the older ones aren't. I know this from speaking to a boat builder/ fiberglass guru who did some extensive hull/stringer repairs on a boat after it struck a log. He said that taking that boat in the ocean would be a death wish for it. Newer boats are probably much more solidly built, but again, most are not built with ocean going in mind.
I'm not one for I/O's or center consoles, but in this case, you will probably want to look into that. By no means should you get a closed bow ski boat like the 190 or SN 2001. You will be taking water over the bow and beating yourself to death. There is a reason you don't see MC, Nautique, Malibu, Supra, Centurion etc boats cruising in the ocean.
Depending on your budget, check out larger Bayliners all the way up to Cobalt and Sea Ray for I/O's and Sea Hunt up to Proline for Center Console boats. Those boats have high gunwales, and tough deep V hulls that are needed in the ocean.
I live close to the MS Gulf coast, and see LOADS of Bayliners out at the islands, but have never seen a wakeboard/ski boat out there.
Ok, I've rambled enough. I have experience with boats from I/O, center console, wakeboard and ski, and have been in the ocean, rivers and lakes, so this advice comes from experience.
Bye
Tiff

Maybe one of the Sanger guys will back me up on this. Sanger has always made the best rough water ski boat, add the I/O and this holds it own in the rough. Say what you want about Sangers, but they always blow past me in rough water, and those are the DD and Vdrives. They cruise 35 or more back to the ramp, while the rest of us cruise much slower.

The guy did say he liked the Tige, so he might be interested in a ski boat and maybe my idea, that's why I brought it up. And if he is in a 175 Bayliner now, I'd venture to say that a Sanger ZX would handle rough water just as good, if not better. Not to mention the huge upgrade in build quality, and ski/wake performance.

While I have no experience on the gulf coast, living were I do I can experience just about any water condition within an hours drive. I have owned 4 boats in my lifetime(21 Ultra I/O, 70's Sanger bubble deck, a 97 DD Malibu, and my current V drive.) Between my father and brother, my family has owned atleast a dozen boats ranging from go fast flats and jets, bass boats, I/O runabouts, and a 38" cruiser. While this doesn't make me an expert, I do have a few good ideas to share. That's all I was trying to do.

Jeff it's the hull shape not the drive that dictates how it handles in rough water and as you said the Sanger is built on a ski boat hull.I take my I/O out on the open ocean all the time and let me tell you I wouldn't be caught dead out there in a ski boat.Everything is built with a purpose and ski/wake boats are built for smooth water and towing.Great at what they do but they just aren't made for rough water's.

It was just a suggestion. Like I said, he mentioned a Tige, I gave the suggestion of the Sanger as a possible alternative. Like I also said, if he is in a 175 Bayliner now how rough of water can he be in? Nothing that the Sanger could not handle. My suggestion seems pretty viable. The Sanger is s ski boat, but look at the bottom, it's quite diffrent from most.
I'll shut up now, I was only trying to give a suggestion, and I'm getting tired of defending myself, as i was just trying to help out. I have no interest in what type of boat he buys, I do not sell boats, or even own a Sanger. If he wants to wakeboard behind a tug boat, cargo ship, or bass boat, I simply don't care.

thanks for all the input. i think my next boat will be a 20-22 ft I/O bowrider...very similiar to my 175 but larger and more stable to venture out further. I have to have the ability to raise the drive since we do alot of beaching and at low tide its pretty common to run aground or atleast have to raise up the drive a bit and creep through in some places. suprisingly the 175 handles the water pretty good, i do play it safe though and try to avoid the real choppy areas in the harbor, those tug boats, huge cruisers, container ships, etc can thow a HUGE wake...often have to cruise at 35+ to get out of their path. Some of those ships are pretty freakin scary!
we like the 175 alot for what it is, i just think we will need more room to add a few more people/gear. the 175 is great boat to get your feet wet, it is my first. Just getting into wakeboarding now has been fun. My next ride will have a tower for sure too. I did see the first wakeboat in the river this weekend though, empty rack, some old folks, this is the first one I have actually seen in the water here. center console w/outboard seem to be the most common type of vessel out here, my wife just doesnt like the layout of most of them, they tend to be more setup for fishing than comfort and watersports.

i dont know about the hull, but if i was running my boat in salt water i would put a closed cooling system in it. This way, it uses coolant in the engine like a car does, however instead of a radiator it has a heat exchanger, which is water-water instead of air-water like in a car. I know you cna buy heat exchange kits for most boats form the factory, however they are expensive, i believe they are worth it. It keps the salt form getting inside the motor, and so you dont really have to worry about that so much, but jsut hosing out the hoses and inside of the heat exchange (which is aluminum or copper). i had one on a jet boat i built, however took it off when i realized that it was for a 4cyl and not the chevy 350 i mated it too. OOps

shamrock boats!

inboard fishing boats with a hull just like a wakeboard boat.

throw insane wakes and you can fish in them!

I'd say get a nice walkaround ~30' contender with twin outboards. it inherently throws a big wake cause it ia a big boat, and you can weight it down if you want, but then you can also take advantage and go fishing out in the ocean if you want! I'd never take a ski boat out in the ocean, and if you are on the coast I am sure you'd want that option.

comfort is just a matter of adding some extra padding here and there.