Opinion of a 1996 Mastercraft Maristar 225 VRS LT1

What do you guys think about this boat to turn into a wakeboard boat. Ie 3k lb ballast, custom tower, system. How would the wake compare? What would fair prices to pay for each step be? Any other advice?

I had a 98 225V maristar.. put a tower ($1500, speakers $400, amp 200 and a ballast system..2000$ (I got robbed on the ballast system.. I would go with the fly high system if I had a second chance.) If you throw 3K in ballast, it will be big wake as it is the same hull as the old X-star. I loved the boat for the family.
The other thing is when I sold it (2 years ago..upgraded to and 05 X-star) it held it's value really well.

Good luck

the 225v is not the same hull as the old X-Star, that is the 205v

Definitely not the same hull. I had the same boat, t-bag. We added a Boss tower and 1000lbs of sacs in the rear and ski locker.
The wake was still small.
Pros: Tons of room and power as well as held its value
Cons: ROUGH ride in chop

I already have the boat so at this point its just a matter of going all out on the tower and whatnot or just keeping it realistic. I got a smokin deal on the boat and picked it up for $17k with only 172 hrs on it so either way I'm gonna hold onto it for a bit. Anybody have an idea what I could expect to sell it for with all of the upgrades on it?

"Anybody have an idea what I could expect to sell it for with all of the upgrades on it?"

Less that the price of the boat plus the cost of the upgrades. Sorry, that's just how these thing work.

Not so, inboards hold their value very well. With it being a MC you could easily get your money back out of it at the right time of the year. However, just because you add 5k worth of speakers and a tower doesn't mean that your boat value will rise 5k.

usually a tower, PP, ballast will add additional value although it may not be dollar for dollar.

"However, just because you add 5k worth of speakers and a tower doesn't mean that your boat value will rise 5k."

And that's my point. He's not going to get his money back out of the upgrades. The boat itself might hold it's value or even go up a bit in value but if he puts $5K of upgrades in his $17K boat, it's still not going to sell for $22K later.

The best item to put on the boat for resale purposes is probably the tower. That usually gets you about $600-$800. The worst items are all stereo-related. My cousin is painfully learning that lesson now that he's selling his Sport Nautique. Nobody cares about his amps, subwoofers, or tower speakers. They make his boat attractive but don't make it worth more than a boat without those things.