mastercraft

is the Mastercraft 190 prostar a reliable boat? And when weighted down, how is the wake?

What year? what options? If your talking the older ones, the wake won't be as good as a prostar 205 or Natique 2001 wake but it will be better than a lot of boats.

a '97

The hulls on the 190 haven't changed much over the years. The wake has a nice combo of ramp and vert, but you really need to weight it heavily to get an advanced wake. A better question is how well was the engine maintained...

They are very reliable for the most part, but the more you know about how the previous owner took care of it the better. How many hours are on it and was it used on a regular basis? I would rather buy a boat with high hours that was used on a regular basis than an older boat with low hours that sat.

i believe it only has 98 hours on it with a 350 engine

Hi Jeff-

My family had a Prostar 190 from 1989 until we upgraded in 2001. It was a very reliable boat for us. It had about 700 hours on it when we sold it and was running flawlessly. We sold it to a family friend and he still has it and has not had any issues. On the wake...this is a ski boat, not a wakeboarding boat. Don't tear up the transmission trying to make it into a wakeboarding boat by adding ridiculous amounts of weight. This wake is a good beginner to intermediate wake to learn on and nothing more.

My two cents

Holy crap. I would be skeptical of those 98 hours. Have you seen the boat? Is it a dealer or an individual selling it?

individual, yeah i'm a little skeptical as well. The guy said 98 hours since new, so who knows.

It is possible, just rare. Go look at the boat and test drive it. If the hour meter is working and the boat looks mint and runs solid that's a good sign, but I would still check the oil dip stick and see if it's clean (no burnt oil on the stick, etc.). Maybe, some gear heads (pardon the expression) on here can give you some more specific things to look for with regards to engine wear and tear.

As for what Barefooter said with regards to weighting and the wake, I have an '02 X5 which is basically a 190 hull and we weight it down pretty good. My tranny is fine after 400 hours (I also barefoot occasionally ). The wake is nice enough to where I've had guys do Mobes, Petes, Raleys, Whirlys and the list goes on. Your not going to get a "pro-size" wake, but it's good enough for what I use it for and most likely for what you will be using it for.

Good luck.

thanks for the input, i look forward to using this machine

When buying a new boat always get the compression checked on the motor. Offer to pay for a boat check from the MC dealer. I almost bought a 81 nautique but paid 200 for the boat check and found that the trans was almost shot and the engine needed a rebuild even though the boat test drove fine. I obviously did not buy the boat. The guy said there was nothing wrong with it but there was. Never trust the seller, no offense to those selling boats. Just have a mechanic do an inspection before you buy. Things like checking the oil can be good but if he changed the oil just before you got there then it wont be burned. If you are not a mechnic yourself I would pay the 200 bucks to have an MC dealer check the boat out. It is just good sense for that little expense so you dont get out on the lake and find that you have a dud.

As far as prostar 190 goes I had a 94 for a while with a fly high. It was great when I was starting out but now that I have my 99 xstar I would not go back. I know that you are on a budget and the 97 190 is a fantastic boat. Chevy 350 cant be beat. I figure if you but a fat seat and side sacs with maybe a little weight upfront would throw a nice wake. Not going to be a pro style wake but it will be really nice.

hope that helps
Preston