shallow water, slightly rocky - wake boat advice ?

buying a wakeboat this season and alot of my friends are telling me that i might have to (sadly) go with a jet boat because they don't need alot of draw, and no prop.

can anyone could suggest some good boats to check out for my sitch?

theres really no jet boats that are gonna give you a good clean wake, it will always be small, always be jet spray, weight will not improve size, and the rider can pull the boat from side to side, they really are not good for boarding.

I liked my yamaha sx230 when I put ballast in it... Great hole shot and could go up river past any other boat. Plus, theyre a lot less expensive.

If you're always, for sure, going to be boating in rocky shallow water, I'd consider not even doing wakeboarding and skiing. If you smash into those rocks, it's gonna get messy...

You cant go anywhere else to be on the water that isnt shallow and rocky?

And if the water conditions are to the point when a wakeboat cant get in there... i dont think i would want to be riding in water like that...

You can't make a decent wake in shallow water

true dat dan...

+1 - find another place to ride.

Lauren-
I just got rid of my jet boat and picked up a wake boat this year. I am not sure where you ride but even in Blythe on the Colorado river where it has some of the worst sandbars and low areas there are wakeboats. The draft on a V-Drive or DD is not that much different than the jet. My Jet I still needed about 12-18 inches of water and the V-Drive is 24" inches on my new ride. I have had to be a bit more careful in looking ahead to where some sandbars are but overall I have had no problems. We have been wakeboarding behind jets for years but like was said above you will find the wake to be very limited by the boat. I put a kid behind my boat this weekend in our group that has only been behind jets and he got the biggest air of his life and nearly pulled a 360 on his first attempt, something he wasn't even close to behind the jet. If you were to go the jet route the Yahama 23 ft boat looks like the way to go.

I won't always be in shallow water of course - i can get out and get deep water. Where my dock is though, and for about 15-20ft out is shallow.. thats what i'm worried.

and rocky wise, it' not bad, just to get out from my cottage there are some huge ones.

what else should i be looking at ?

If you're at slow speeds inboards need only 22" to 30" of water under them. Don't load ballast until you're in deeper water.
Generally the flatter the hull design, the less draft is needed. Like a ski boat rather than a rough water boat.
If you can walk from you dock to the drop-off without getting your knees wet maybe you want a longer dock.
An inboard needs 8-12" less water than a sterndrive.

My dock is in about 28 inchs of water and I have to drive about 100 yards before I reach deeper water. I'm on my second inboard and it has been great and it acctually handles better than the I/O we had before because when you tilt the I/O up you lose alot of control. I'd say if you have atleast 28 inchs get inboard you'll be much happier.

anyone elseeeee?