Maristar 280 Wake

Went out last Friday with a couple of friends to demo a '03 Maristar 280. No, it is not for me. Yes, it is a huge boat. No, the wake is really not bad. This has a lot of potential if you want to spend big money on a big boat. It defenately will handle rough water well and has a ton (or more) of storage. Let me put it another way- I could hide my family of 6 in the storage space of this boat.

The boat does really have some interesting features. The wake is fairly small at ski speeds. The 8.1L makes it get up and go. The tower is the most solid that I have ever felt or seen (must be 3" dia). It has separate trim tabs for the left and right side. And while we didn't have any sacks and only 4 in the boat, shifting people around really made a difference in the wake. A ballast system would really make a difference. I thought you may be interested in a few pictures

I'll try another couple of pictures that didn't make it in the first try.

That wake looks monsterous! Great colors on that 280! What was the price they quoted your friends?

The amount that had been thrown out was $85k, and that was pretty much loaded, 8.1L, triple axle trailer, PP, a fairly long bimini, etc. I'm not sure if tower speakers are incl. It does have two amps mounted on the wall next to the porta-potty.

The guy on the wakeboard is probably about 5'7", which makes the wake look a little larger. Weight placement seemed to be critical as one person moving to one side could really clean up the wake. We needed more time to dial it in with the trim and tryout ballast.

interesting that the wake is that finicky on a boat that size. was it more side-side issues? (wash on one wake, other side clean?) does it have the same gigantic spray pockets like the new Xstar? narrower wetted surface on plane would make a boat more sensitive to lateral balancing, esp if the beam's a lot wider than the wetted sfc. my guess is that's what they're fixing on the Xstar wake before it hits the market, if that's what's going on.

It was a more side to side/ clean up one while washing out the other. The trim made a noticeable difference while just cruising, but the driver seemed to be mixed up wether trim down meant bow down or just bow up, so I'm not sure how it was set while we were boarding. I wish that I had taken a better look at the bottom when I saw it at the boat show. I do remember that about 60% back the hull was notched up like you see on the bigger go-fast boats like Sleekcraft, etc.

Paul, thanks for the report and pictures!
Trace, your guess at the new xstar issues match mine.

The wake above looks super rampy (a big boat trait). However, it is always hard to know exactly from pictures.