Best and cheapest to maintain?

New to wakesurfing, and looking to buy a boat (in the 25 to 40k range) by next summer. Just wondering which boats are good for wakesurfing, but still affordable to maintain. Asking this because I was leaning towards a Tige, but this Fri when I went out on the lake, the driver of the boat we rented didn't have very nice things to say about working on Tige's. In fact he said he charge's $30 more per hour to work on them. It was my first time wakesurfing, and we went out on a Mastercraft X-2 late 2000's model. It had 4 factory ballast's on it. I Liked the driver a lot but as far as wakesurfing goes he wasn't very knowledgeable. I'm new to wakesurfing but even I know that because I ride goofy the starboard ballast should be filled! He had the port side filled, and I had to ask him to empty it and fill port. Also had to direct the people on the boat to the surf side. Anyway, just wondering people's opinion on the subject.

It's not just Tige that are expensive to maintain.All boats are expensive to maintain if you pay a dealer or shop to do the work.It's why a lot of people on here learn how to do maintenance themselves.

Check the owners forums for each boat, I know with the Tiges, there were issues with say the 6.0 L MP engine around the 2007 year when we got our Ve. We have the 24Ve with almost 600 hours on it. We have only done regular service and changed the steering cable once. Zero problems, it has the 340HP MP engine. Our 2010 Tige RZ2 has over 150 hours on it and has only had some intermittent issues with the front ballast losing prime. It has the 343 PCM engine. I have heard of other tige owners with rough issues, but not the norm.

I have heard from many that Malibus are great, reliable boats, but I have a cousin that had tons of engine problems. Point being, there are bad stories with all, but check the owners forums and make sure you have a good dealer you can trust.

You have probably already heard that in general the centurions, tiges, supremes, and sangers are rated the best surf boats, but everyone has different preferences and so I have heard people say "Boat X" has the best wakesurf wave for every boat manufacturer.

As for Tige', we have one and beat on it and have had no real issues except steering cable. The way the older tige's were designed, it is pretty much a given that you will have to replace it.

My advice is to test drive as many boats as you can and pick a dealer that will stand behind the boat.

Boats break, they all use mostly the same parts, IE rudders, stearing cable, pumps, engines etc..