Session Boat - Transon Seating

I was checking out the Session boats that the boat show and thought that their transom seating was a pretty cool idea. The salesman said that it was legal to sit there and it'd be fun to be in that position to watch the rider (except for having to watch for the rope upside the head when coming around after a fall w/ the rider).

I was thinking though....you could actually add something similar to any Vdrive...you'd just have to redo the storage decks on the back w/ some creative upholstery.

Here's the website to check em out. www.sessionboats.com

Has anyone ridden behind one yet? The salesperson hadn't even driven one yet they were so new.

I rode behind last years model and it was great. I have not taken a ride behind this years boat and basically everyone on this website has not either (check previous topics). I spent a long time with the Session rep. at my boat show and talked to Thomas Horrell for over an hour about the boat. The boat is solid. Its worth way more than its price tag...not like other boats that are cheaply built and sold for way too much money (i.e. Centurian, Supra, and the interior's on Mastercrafts). People are excited about the new Sessions. Thomas Horrell was honest with me about the boat and he knows the industry very well. He supports it all the way. This comming from a guy who was one of the first guys on the scene back in the day and basically invented wakeskating. He even took his wakeskates away from Liquid Force because he didn't trust them to ruin what wakeskating is...like going out of business. The boat has incredible features, warranty, and water ski magazine ranked its wake performance as good as the SAN and the Mastercraft. They even designed the storage compartments so that you can add your own fat sacks and they would be evenly spread and parallel with each other. The Xi pumps in 920 pounds of ballast between four tanks (20 lbs more than the SAN) plus room for your own tanks. For $50,000, I would buy this boat over anything else...with the exception of the $96,000 X-80, which I can't afford. Peace.

I saw the boat when Regal was making them and they were a real P.O.S.

hmm just checked out the web page ,at least they are getting the right start..great informative website ,backed with knowledgable riders giving input,and teaming up with Cassette etc..

ive never seen one of these boats ,skipped the boat shows this year but out of curiosity how much is one of these 22xis going for??

Loaded Xi - under $60,000. Thats with four ballast tanks (920 lbs. fills and drains in three minutes). DVD system, premium sound system, tower lights and speakers, fill cushions, heater, Perfect Pass, and covers. Basic Si runs for $45,000.

wow thats a bit much for an unproven boat breaking into the market IMO..im sure they may be nice but for that scratch i will stick with a VLX,Super air ,X2,or SSV and have enough left over for 3 new board/binding setups and storage fees for a year

interesting boat though but even the new Xstar is too expensive but i can see MC being able to pull that off and would get my money first..

thatnks for the info

Brian,

You call Centurion, Supra, and Mastercraft overpriced and cheap when you have this piece of crap on the market at over $50,000???? Come on, you can be in a Centurion, which is a proven tournament boat builder for over $10,000 less. I saw one last year and the quality wasn't even close to any of the boats you mentioned above.

I think it's laughable that you put this boat ahead of any other inboard unless they made drastic improvements over last year. This boat will go the direction of the Bayliner, Toyota, and Cobalt attempts at the market, about 2 years and gone.

I smell a salesman

Why not buy a 2000-2002 X-2 and pimp it out.. for less than $35,000 and then take the $25,000 you save and buy yourself some theatre seating.... plasma tv.... surround sound system.... and install it in your house...

That way you can have a nice wakeboard boat and a nice home theatre system... instead of a...

POS boat and a tiny theatre system?

I think I peed myself.
Very funny Kyle.

Maybe the session needs a popcorn popper to go along with the theatre seating,

Just because those seats are legal doesn't mean they are a good idea. Crossing the wake for a double up, in a turn, with wet trunks means someone's going over. Do they have seat belts?? That would be way cool.

Tom... Maybe we should start a new thred.

Looking for 12v popcorn popper for my new Session's boat.

Who knows.. that will be their next option. Boat companies are great at using people's ideas. You may want to submit that and you never know... you maybe riding behind the boat that they rewarded you with...

It would probably get the JD Power innovation of the year award!!!

hey guys, i've seen the boat (when it was a regal) and i've talked to the "factory rep" while i think a lot of things are pretty crappy on this boat, you need to do some research and see who makes it, because there ain't no session factory. The guy wouldn't tell me who manufactured the boat, but he assured me that the company was present at the boat show, and they were located in TN, and they are still owned by regal, as they have the same address.
I agree that i wouldn't pay that kinda cheddar for a "no name" boat, i'd take one if you gave it to me.

(Message edited by h2oskeefreek on February 13, 2004)

(Message edited by h2oskeefreek on February 13, 2004)

I do definitely see the possibility of someone falling off the transom seating, but is the back of the boat really that much of an unstable ride? I know the bow will go up and down a lot, but it would seem to me that the back should remain pretty constant. They do have the hand rails to hold onto also..but that doesn't help if you're not holding onto them! They just seem like a fun way to watch your friends ride....

Wow..and I didn't know they were that expesive. I would have a hard time shelling out the same amount of cash for a first year boat as for one of the other very established brands. I see that it will probably appeal more the the family type consumer and maybe not so much to the serious wakeboarders. I guess time will tell how well they do........ In relation to their first year boat, there is another company (Hydroswift) out of Utah that is entering the inboard market w/ a new v-drive and I think they're starting it out at $35k or so. That seems to be a much better entry point price, but will still have to overcome many of the other boats out there at the price point. They will have the purevert ballast system from calabria so that will be cool.... The boat model is an "EOS" I believe.........

Anybody know the last inboard start up or new entry into the market that made it more than say 5 years???

I think it is probably Tige in 1991, but back then it was more of a ski only market, not as many big time players, Malibu was very small compared to their current size and MC and Nautique pretty much ran the market. Now there is so much established competition from top to bottom.

Well lets see Nick,
A quick research says Calabria started under Bob Jessen's leadership in 1994. I'm guessing they might build around 400? boats a year. Not sure if they built before 1994 under another owner though.
Gekko was formed in 1994 by Mark Overbye who had conceived and founded Moomba Sports in 1989. My guess is that Gekko sells fewer boats than Calabria.
Infinity started in 1998, they build the ZX-1 slalom boat and I believe they are still making a v-drive.
MB sports name came about in 1993, of course Mike Brendel had built under numerous names before 1993.
And one of the newest I can think of although in Canada is Svfara started in 2001 or 2002? Only time will tell if they make 5 years.

The interesting thing would be who was the last startup to use their own hull that made it.

The Tige hull came from the Centurion, as did the Gekko I think. Infinity did have it's own hull as far as I know, but I don't know if they still make a boat or not. Calabria was a spawn of Ski Brendella and Svfara uses an old MC hull as far as I know, at least from the looks of it.

I thought i heard somewhere that MB sports and Calabria(wich used to be ski brendella) were or are brothers.But then they split and started their own companies.......Is this True?

Jeff Hill no. Ski Brendella was run by Mike Brendel. He was let go and went on to start up MB Sports. He then tried to sue Ski Brendella for wrongful termanation. Ski Brendella simple closed there doors and reopened as Calabria.

Oh ok thanks for the correction. By the way how is your new boat? I saw one awhile back and those things are huge...

regal and session share the same orlando address. also session boat is on regal's website.

considering the same size I/O boats they sell are around $40k new it makes sense for them to add the obligitory $5-15k by calling it a wakeboard boat.

IMO the industry competition lately is great. Wasn't the first wakeboard tower actually a camera mount for a fishing video? More competition can result in overall better products and lower prices (optimistically anyway). I love CCs and MCs but I'm glad they aren't the only options for watersports. "Boat Theater" as a factory option? Not for me but I welcome the creativity.

Infinity does still make a boat, but I believe its a by order type deal... I don't think they make too many a year? Maybe 20-40 boats. Rob Shirley pretty much runs that company with a few other people... If you call there number he usually answers the phone. Problem with Infinity is they have no dealer support, but the boat is AWESOME! Not as nice of a fit and finish but performance wise they are great!

Nick,

Svfara have their own hull design. I have one, and asked the head of sales guy (no dealer here, so he's at corporate head office in Calgary) about the 'obvious' look of an older Mastercraft PS190 hull. He told me that they have original molds, and any similarity is purely coincidental.

Take it for what it's worth, but considering he's a high up guy in the business, I wouldn't imagine he'd be lying to his customers.

Trash

Trash,

Good to know.

I wonder is Lucas Films will endorse the Session boat line... maybe install THX throughout the boat... and have a plasma screen for the people sitting in the Tragic seating... oops... I mean Transom seating...

Svfara Hull.... I am 1 hour fromthe assembly plant... they say similar to MC... but never got the ideas or molds from them... coincidence.... same story Trash got...

we here at spicoli corp are getting ready to launch our new boat line the spicolair series, the are all aluminum construction, with a full o/o 225 horse drive system for a large open party seating layout, in grand stand style seating, they feature a fighter jet style horizontil steering system, unlimited ballast arrangement floorplan, also all rows of seating can face backwards to watch the fun. we have two sizes available, a 5 passenger 14 footer, and a 7 passenger 17 footer, prices for these full comp unproven wakeboats are as follows, 68k for the 14compsuper v and 82k for our 17 foot ultramac double air 17v. inquiries welcome!(towers, windhields, trolling gear,and padded bench planks extra)

I am sold... Can I get two of them... One in blue.. one in Red... Do they also come with the Lifetime Warranty?

fucia and mauve only, we do have a nice avacado tribal graffic for 1200 extra though...... and as for the warranty, lemme check with or parent company, harbor freight.

Hey guys, i just found out some interesting info. I may have remembered wrong on who was building the session. in 1978 CC built a 21' cuddy cabin as a joint venture with REGAL they built 50 or less boats.

Being that they are in the same town, CC is probably building that boat if it is a major manufacturer if they have a history of JV's.

There is not way CC is building that boat. If they are it's sabotage They quality is not even close to that of CC.

(Message edited by kstateskier on February 19, 2004)

All i know is, the factory rep told me that one of the major ski boat manufacturers was making the boat. I thought i remembered that it was in TN, but it could have been FL. They are in the same town, and have a history (maybe more than that one boat, i dunno).

I agree that the quality sucks compared to a CC, but I don't correct craft would risk thier spot and i don't think Session is really trying to take over that market, b/c it ain't gonna happen....not for a while anyway....not until....well, not gonna give away my plans mwhhahahaahhaha.