How horribe is an I/O

I wish i had the money to go out and get a new boat, but I dont... Is it really awful to wake behind an I/O?

You have no idea, try wakeboarding behind a jetski.

It will work fine. If you want a great wake look into an older nautique or supra. I have a Nautique 2001 (model not year) and it has a great wake. I have heard that the older Supra's also produce a nice wake.

how do I see all these pics of people adding monster racks to their I/O's then?

I/o's aren't a bad starting point. You will probably outgrow it quick if you are serious about riding. The wakes can be nice, but you typically ride slower and with a shorter rope than a inboard. If you can pull off a inboard to start that would be the best. Otherwise pick up a used I/O and ride it for a couple of years then sell it to upgrade, you probably won't take a big finacial hit. I wouldn't buy a new one though. If you are going to spend that kind of money there are plenty of good used inboards to be had.

started boarding last year on my friends x2, but ive moved, and have the chance to buy a 19' wellcraft for dirt cheap...

Do it ! A boat or any boat for that matter is better then no boat ! Its all about being on the water

Just some information, I started with an I/O as many of us here have. It was not horrible, worked well for its purpose and then i got hooked boarding and wanted more so I sold it and moved to a VLX which i am now more happy with for many reasons. I could board and had a tower and racks and a sound system but wanted more room better wake and more storage which was gained with the current boat. I guess you need to figure out what you are looking for before making a decision. If wake is the first priority I saw a 84 nauti 2001 in the classified for 4K with tower and a few extras which is a smoking deal as they normally go for 8-10K. The trouble is limited passengers and storage but great wake. So if your price limits a I/o I say figure out what you want and need (even by asking questions here or elsewhere) and then get out on the water and enjoy it. Good luck in what ever you decide and be sure to share the pics with the rest of us.

IOs get the worst wrap ever. I have ridden behind plenty of IOs with great wakes, including my own Tracker Tahoe Q5, which we had since 2000. In that time, we bout a Monster Tower, 2 fat sacs (1200 lbs), and the wake was great. Sure, it was a tad bit of a hassle to get the sacks full, but the ride was good, the wake was decent, and I learned a lot on it. However, we recently upgraded to a 2004 Tige Switch V, but the fact is that you can ride (and have a ton of fun) on most anything, its all what you put into it!

Worst problem for me on my old I/O was speed control. My inboard maintains wake-speed much better. I thought the wake on the I/O was fairly decent, but I don't have much experience with other boats.

IO's suck for skiing, but actually work well for a decent wakeboard wake. With the boat going 20mph, it's as good as most inboards when they have no ballast. Drawbacks are lack of perfect pass to maintain speed, and lots of them don't have swim platform, which kills your vinyl on sundeck. Driver needs to be paying lots of attention on I/O, but for beginner/intermediate, it's not bad.

Like others have said... it's not bad if you have a good driver that pays attention to the speed. I don't really mind skiing behind my buddies V8 I/O, it's not great but I would say it sucks, the wake is just a bit sharp.

I installed perfect pass on my old I/O and it worked just fine.

It is not awful to board beind an I/O.

If you are new to boating an I/O has more steering control at slow speeds makig generally easier to dck and trailer etc.

KG said it best, get whatever you can afford to get out on the water

i agree with garret. i'm not going to sit here and justify my purchase or say how awesome my wake is, but the reality is there's just no way my wife was going to let me spend $40-60K on a new wakeboat without trying it out for a few seasons in something more economical first. besides, she wasn't very familiar with boats and also we have a 2.5 year old and another on the way. what she didn't know was i was going to put close to $7500 in after market accessories and options into it!

at any rate, just make sure you ride in the boat you're interested in first. get if surveyed if at all possible and like everybody else says, get out there! it's all what you make of it and just being on the water is half the fun! (if not more). you can always upgrade later. we can't all be big ballers. (and quite frankly, wouldn't it be pretty pathetic if we were)

when i was younger i kneeboarded and wakeboarded behind my stepfathers fourwinns horizon 210 i/o and it produced a nice wake

You will never outgrow an I/O unless you want to start doing raleys. I learned both hs and ts bs 180s behind an I/O. I was also able to do tantrums and backrolls no problem. The wakes are just big enough so you can charge it hard and pop straight up.

Garret, Where did you put the fat sacs in the Q5? Any pictures would be welcomed!

Chad,

We actually had a 680 lb. Launch Cooler sack right in front of the back seat. As far as weight is concerned, the engine is putting a lot of the distrobution in the very back, so we needed some towards the rear-center of the boat. Next, we added a 600 lb "locker" sac in the center of the boat, in the ski-locker. It took a bit of fitting, but in the end it worked really well, as we could get the sac 4/5 of the way full, and still be able to close those doors (I had a 98 btw). Then, usually we would tell 3 people to sit in the bow, or if they couldnt be there, we would just used some clean 50gal gas cans we had bought (about 4) and bungee them into the walkway leading to the bow.

Then pump we used (just in case you wanted to do this) was a simple "Atwood" 750 GPH pump from Wally-world, fitted on one side with some clear reinforced quarter inch (i think?) tubing. We had 2 lead wires coming from a switch that was wired to our battery through the gunwale, with female connectors on the ends, to which we would place the two lead wires coming from the atwood pump when we were using it. This way, you dont have to have battery access, just flip the switch!

Also, the gas containers were full of water...just trying to be safe!! haha

Not everyone wants to plunk down a bundle on an inboard which you will unless you go used. A new I/O is 1/2 to 2/3 the cost (or even less) than an inboard. Even without a tower I was W2W and spinning 180s and 3s. (Heck, people ride behind a jet ski!) Trim up a little and the wake is just fine. (air is in the technique!)
Jeff, get a boat and enjoy! (P.S. the money you save getting an I/O you can get a sweet tower and maybe enough gas for the season!)

I bougt my baliner for $9500, learned how to drive a boat, how to trailer a boat, and how to maintain a boat. Also learned how to get up on a board, how to go wake to wake and how to do 180's and stuff. I added a monster tower for 995 and a couple of tower speakers for 799, owned it for two years and then sold it for $9500. If you can find a good used deal I would go for it if you are new to boating. If you can't find a killer deal look for an older direct drive. Just my .02

Jeff, KG said it best. Being on the water, no matter what you ride (unless its a canoe) is worth it. I bought a Sea Ray for cheap put a tower on it and added a few fat sacs. Its not the best thing on the water, but at least I am out there having fun and learning. Sure I would like an X2 or something else but we all got to start somewhere. An I/O will work just fine!

Something is always better than nothing. I know some snobs out there will dissagree, but what the h#!!, they are going to dissagree no matter what the topic is. The old school pros were killing it on worse gear than an I/O. Get good on the best gear you can afford and have a blast...

Leo I have landed a couple raleys behind my I/O

My experience with IOs:

1) no surf.
2) no swim platform.
3) difficult to drive at speed.
4) boat roll from rider pull.
5) wake crud from deeper v.

But, yes, anything is better than nothing.

"The Book" DVD says you can ride behind anything with enough power to pull you.....even a Jon Boat! I learned to ride and spent a lot of weekends behind my old 1988 Sea Ray Seville with an OUTBOARD before I bought my Tige. Whatever it takes.....it's all about the fun anyway, unless you're training for the PWT!

In response to GD:
1. Very true. NO SURFING!

2. Depends on the boat. I have a swim platform on my I/O. And I do mean platform as in the kind that stretches completely accross the back. Sea Ray started this trend from what I can tell around 89 or 90. They're usually fiberglass and are molded into the hull but I've seen some full width teak platforms on I/Os. The fiberglass variety are pretty common on newer I/Os nowadays.

3. Depends on the boat but pretty good assessment.

4. Huh? If you mean how the boat rocks a bit to one side when the rider cuts hard, an I/O usually isn't any worse than an inboard in this department. You may be talking about something else though.

5. Depends on the hull but also pretty good assessment.

I think that I/O's can provide just as much fun as an inboard. But you sacrifice some. Inboards are designed to tow riders and they excel at everything that is associated with that.

Before I switched to my current dingy, I had a Cobalt w/ tower and we had a ton of fun behind it. My wife wishes we still had that boat & really doesn't notice a bit of positive differences besides constant speed with our current ride. I know there is a world of difference and notice every one of them when I ride.

So I guess what I am saying is, there are many positives that come with an inboard, but there are riders that wouldn't notice many of them. You can get Perfect Pass on a I/O now, so that takes care of speed. There is a HUGE numbers of riders that could care less about a clean, firm, well shaped wake.....let alone notice one.

There are also MANY positives that come with an I/O.

No ability to surf does suck....

I learned 180's, Tantrums, & 3's behind a ‘78 Sylvan w/ a 70 horse outboard on it with no tower and no ballast (riding a flight 69 no less). Getting air and doing tricks has a lot more to do with skill than it does with the boat. I would have liked to buy a full blown wake boat but it's not practical were I live... So I bought an IO and I love it. Unless you really intend on progressing, an IO will do you just fine...

Jeff, I was in the same situation you are in right now.... Looking for a wakeboard boat - but unable to spend a lot of money. I researched all kinds of boats...and looked for what seemed like forever. My best advice is shop around - and give it time (if that is possible - considering it is spring now)
But - I waited from the end of last summer until about 2 months ago before I found the boat I bought. I got real lucky and was able to find 2000 Moomba Kamberra inboard with under 300 hrs for less than 15G...(dealer sort of made a mistake-long story) but be it his loss or lucky that I waited..I got an awesome boat.

I would have happily taken anything, and was seriously looking into an I/O. Had a tower, great speaker set up, low hours....around 9G - called the Cherry Ride even....lol... and would be thrilled to ride behind it now...if thats the way it worked out.

Like everyone has said here - get a boat. as long as it runs well (definetly get the survey done!) and build your wake. Attilla's boat above is sweet and it sounds like Garrett was able to dial in a wake that worked well.
I can promise you this.....when you are getting pulled by your boat...if the wake isnt as good as your old buddies X2- you will soon forget. Losing a foot of air off the wake - but being able to ride whenever you want is worth it for sure!
when you get your boat- post pics!

thanks guys so much for the words... definately not what i was expecting, most boards on other topics id get slammed, must say the nicest bunch of people i have come across thus far... Going out on it tomorrow morning, well see!

Jeff,

Almost every trick can be accomplished behind an I/O.
Make sure that it has enough power.
Prop the boat for wakeboarding.
(Very key for speed control)
Get a hydrofoil for the lower unit.

Truthfully very few people except for the top pros really need a $40-60K boat.

Jeff, I run a Chaparral 230 ssi. No cheap toy, but I wanted to mention I bought my boat with about 3 main things absolutely necessary. My lakes have about 3 good hours of water in the morning and 1 to 2 good hours in the evening, the middle of the day on every single weekend regardless of rain or shine is chopped to hell. Due to over population mostly. I also like to entertain sometimes, and hot rod around in the choppy water that we all hate. I did water test 6 other boats before deciding. 5 inboards an 1 other i/o.

That being said I went with a fairly expensive I/O even though I could have had any number of inboards out there. I want you to know I do not regret my decision. With roughly 1500 lbs of ballast there is plenty of wake for me. Throw a few more fat friends in and I feel it becomes great.

I have a 20 foot Glastron and as previously stated, with it trimmed up and weighted properly it has more then enough wake for my needs. Being that it is a deep V it handles chop very well. The lakes we go to can see 2 or more feet of chop.

i ride behind an old i/o and it works just fine for me. we put 2500lbs of ballast in it and it looks like the 05 x-30 wake. i also work at a mastercraft dealership and ride behind those boats honestly the i/o work just fine with a tower and some ballast but if you have the means to get an old inboard i'd go for that.

Dante, regarding...

4) boat roll from rider pull

Yes, boats with deeper Vs roll more from rider pull on the tower. Just like a LOG vs a PLANK in the water, a boat with a deeper V rotates more easily than a boat with a flat bottom.

BTW, I have noticed this in my BU compared to my friends CC too. My BU (2000 VLX) rotates much more than my friends CC (1995 SPORT). I would have never noticed this if it was not for the fact that the same crew would go on either boat from week to week. The added boat ROLL adds a bit of driver stress on my BU. The wake is less stable too.

well i got my boat this weekend. Now the add ons begin...

Can anyone recommend fat sacks that take up the least amount of space?

Get High Sports on Ebay

great prices..

Lead.

It's expensive, unless you know a shooting range or tire shop. I have 400#'s in my boat, and I don't use any of my storage. I can hide it in spots that are too small for anything else.

For an I/O keeping what little space you do have is important.