MB Boats, any pro/con

Looking at boats at the boat show. MB B-52 looks well built and finished nice but do not know any one with one. Any previous or current owners out there.

We have one we use for our store demo, it is an 04 and has been a great boat. Solid built, great wake. Both surf and boarding. Two speed is great also, you see the advantage at the gas pump.

The B52 I recently saw at the Austin Boat Show looked equal to a Moomba to me in fit and finish. The flame gel coat design looked painted by a 6th grader. This is not a bash on the Moomba -- the B52 cost about $20k more.

I was pretty disappointed, since I had read they were up there with the "big 3." No way.

IMHO the B-52 is a really nice boat and well built. The wake is nice too. If I had to say something negative it would be the boat has a lot of bow rise and is slow to plane and the ballast tanks fill and drain slowly.

Yea don't buy one their junk. A 6th grader could build a better boat.

Paul if your interested in buying a MB contact monk MONK (jmo52).

Paul you will not find a higher quality boat. When you look at all of the others, make sure you get into the "guts" of the boat. Look under the dash, back in the motor compartment & under the gunnels. It is easy to make a boat look good on the outside but it is what is hidden that tells the real story. Check out the wiring difference too. I think you will be surprised @what you find in comparison between MB & the others. All inboards are going to be great boats, it just depends if you are looking for great quality or just something to get the job done.

I have an 05 B52 V3 team edition. The boat is unreal. I get a killer wake for surfing as well as for wakeboarding. The two speed tranny saves on fuel consumption and motor wear. Fit and finish of the boat is excellent. I have been over the boat with a fine tooth comb. EVERYTHING is nicely done and thought out well. It does take a few minutes to dump the ballast tanks but there is a lot of water to dump. I have been on other boats that aren't that much quicker.
BOARD MORE/WORK LESS.
J$

A friend of mine has one and I think it's a very nice boat. I've probably spent 60 hours on the boat and driving it too maybe 1/3 of the time. I think the fit and finish are very good. The vinyl is really nice. The boat is very solid (no rattles), and the motor is very quiet compared to my Malibu. I didn't think it was any quicker or slower than my BU out of the hole and we run 2 600lb bags plus the internal ballast. The boat feels like a cross between a Nautique and a Malibu to me.

no offense but as far as the fit and finish compared to the Moomba there is no comparison.

They only make 300 boats a year not 3000. Maybe that is why you don't see them.

I had one and did not have one problem in 2 years.

Someone else must have built the one I saw at the boat show then. It was not in the top-tier compared to the others there.

Another nice thing about the B-52 is the graphics are in the gel coat and not some cheesy sticker that will look bad after a few years.

I just looked at a B52 at the boat show and I agree with zboomer about the flame gel coat. I would rather have a "cheesy sticker" that looks good and you can change than a sloppy gel coat flame that you're stuck with.

Other than that I thought that it was a sweet boat

I don't like this graphic much:



but this graphic is siiiiiiiiick:

Where is Robyn Valdez to post about this boat?

Team Valdez just got a brand new B52, I wonder how they like it?

Thanks Thane, for the update. I have ridden in, driven or watched my kids ride behind every boat around. All boats have good and bad qualities. My boys are what turned us on to the MB.
They rode behind one at the Wet Thursday comp up at the Delta with the Conways.They were super impressed with the boat overall and felt the wake was by far superior to what is out there right now. We took a look at the boat and spoke with the owners of the new dealership going into Elsinore. The boat is awesome, the two speed transmission is sic, the ballast is uncomparable, the interior and the attention to comfort inside the unsurpassed. We are like minded with the owners and like the way they want to give back to God and to the sport of wakeboarding. As far as graphics, to each his own, our boat is awesome and if you want to come out and try out the B52, we will be giving demos out at Lake Elsinore this weekend. MB will also be pulling one of the
Canyon Lake Contests as well as one at Spring Valley. Any other questions please feel free to email me. thanks, robyn valdez

(Message edited by teamvaldez on February 10, 2005)

There is no rule that says you have to pick either of the two graphic options. If you want you can order a solid boat and put your own graphics on it. Check my profile for another option. As for quality of the boat, I think it is an incredible boat inside and out. With as much stereo equipment as I put it, you get to look behind all of the panels and under dashes. The MB is first rate all the way through and the two speed is slick as can be.

Fortunately, I haven't seen the sloppy gel coat.

The gel coat graphics that I have seen have all been very clean.

Thane ~ that is the only MB graffic and color I like. Every other one is a little much for my liking.

Some guy, does that have some kind of tape around the edges of the flame area, the outline?

The one I saw at the boat show wasn't even close to that. It had no outline around the flame, and many areas looked hand painted, but a shaky hand.

That looks great, the one I saw did not.

The outline actually isn't tape, it's part of the gel coat.

Zboomer,

Which boat are you referring to from the austin boat show?

Really a great boat inside and out for us. I personally feel it clearly compares to the the top three throughout. The wake has been easy to work with and I have been able to find a setup for all riders having that much balast. I will leave it to the veteran riders to compare size and shape with other boats. I agree about the time it take to fill (but it's alot of water). We pull the rear balast plugs to fill and helps quite a bit. Drive it and ride it for yourself.

if i grow a mullett, wear an ac/dc tank top with some stone washed jeans and promise to bring my def leopard cassette will somebody please let me ride on their b-52??

That's the most ignorant post I've read in a long time.

Keep up the good work Brian.

There is always one in every post.I don't have a mullet but you can check one out here www.mulletsgalore.com
Board More/Work Less
J$

I own a 2005 22' B52 and love it. I shopped all the brands and could not find any other boat that had the quality, crafsmanshp and options that the MB had stock. There are a lot of nice boats out there but for me the only choice was the MB. As far as the quality of the wake, you will not find a better one! Good luck in your search.

Right on Brian. I'd love to see your other 3 posts.

My B-52 has been a great boat. I love the two-speed and the fit and finish is excellent. I don't think anyone would be disappointed with an MB.

I looked at the B52 at the Austin Boat Show and I agree with Zboomer on it. However, I was also surprised how small the interior room was as compared to other similar external sized boats. The interior felt very cramped as compared to a Mobius LSV for example. Just my impression.

The LSV is a 23' boat. Check out the new 23' MB and you will be suprised at how much of a difference one foot makes on the interior.

I heard the mb is a very nice boat, unfortunately for me it really doesnt appeal to me in the style category. Maybe one day they will start to offer more gelcoats and patterns. Not a bash just an opinion. Nice wake though.

Jared, I believe you can get a MB in any color you want. With or without flames.

hyperryd,
I would be very surprised if a 23' boat didn't have a larger interior than a 21' boat. That's not the point I was making. I did not look at the 23' MB boat, but if it is like the 21' B52 I did look at, I'm guessing most other 23' boats would blow away the MB 23' LSV for interior space.

23' interior, FWIW.

Walt is right you can get whatever color or design you want. You don't have to have flames.

Here is the 220V by MB...you can get this design on any of the boats if you like the tamed down look better. You can also get less color stripes, as simple as your little heart desires!

just some guy, that looks nice *drool*

Zboomer, what boat did you see at the Austin Boat Show what you dont think looks very good? I am really intrested to know.....

ok, if you keep insisting...

I didn't think the orange one looked very good, gel-coat or interior. I thought many of the flame lines on the exterior looked jagged, and the interior with so many vertical piping lines looks very old-school to me, reminds me of a 70's jet boat I had years ago, a "tucked and rolled" look. This is plainly obvious in the image above of the "23' interior." Aside from the driver's seat, that interior looks horrible to me.

I don't want to dwell on negatives and bash it, so I really don't want to elaborate much more. Obviously many owners love them.

I bought something else, and I don't want to get into a comparison battle yet again on this board.

I'm a Tx-Ex, so I really wanted to like it too!

I heard that the two speed really won't save you much gas if any at all. The dealer at the boat show actually told us that the tranny is really heavy and thats why there isnt that much ballast stock. Maybe he was an idiot though. Someone shed some light on this...What's the point of the two speed if this is true...

yeah, 1600 or 2100 lbs in a 22 foot isn't much stock ballast. The tranny is an aluminum tranny that doesn't weigh much more than a single speed. I would say your boat show guy is a bit lost. The two speed uses a "granny" low gear to get the boat up on plane quicker and without bogging and then you shift into high gear. The high gear is the same ratio as a single speed, so the gain is the out of the hole acceleration, less time dragging to get on plane and better low speed performance from a heavily weighted wakeboard boat. Once you have driven a two-speed boat with full ballast you won't want to go back.

Ryan, I believe you have the weight thing backwards. MB has more than any other boat.

Our shop boat (04 B52) is great on gas. 2 speed is great.

Mr. Micah if you state something on these forums make sure you know what you are talking about. You stated that the orange boat does not have any pinstripping. well, sorry to tell you but it has a black pin strip. So i guess you really didnt pay very much attention to detail. I do understand that everyone has there own opinion, but please when you do on the web state facts........

What the hell are you talking about? You act like I didn't see the boat at all? Was that what you were trying to prove, in asking me over and over what boat I was talking about? Now that I do, you mention that I missed a small detail?

Give me a break. I walked by it, noticed the flame (black on orange) looked pretty jagged in places, and that the interior looked like a Moomba to me, or like my 1970's jet boat.

No, I didn't pay any further attention because I was turned off already. Next time I'll bring a microscope and have a little harder look, ok? I looked at hundreds of boats that day, and if I remembered it looked like hell, it made an impression on me.

My wife backed me up, she though it looked like hell.

If it DID have pinstriping around the flame, it looked like crap in places. My sincerest apologies for not noting this freaking detail.

I was trying to not bash your boat further, but if you insist, whatever.

Geez. Way to sell a boat dude.

CB the boat Micah saw may very well have not had the pinstriping. You can order these boats anyway you want. Some guys don't get the pinstriping and some guys get only the pinstiping with no flame color, it's up to you. Don't get me wrong I respectfully disagree with Micah on the fit and finish of MB sports boats but he might have seen what he say's.

Hmmmm...CB is an Austin Texas MB dealer.

Hmmm...perhaps he's very familiar with the boat in question because he's the one that had it on disply.

Maybe that's why he asked the questions of "micah." The old, "give them enough rope and they'll hang themselves." Regardless, Micah was less than impressed, although he obviously didn't get the details quite right.

Just an educated guess...

( http://www.autorevolution.com/inv/vehicle.cfm?vid=55933&refby=dealersite )

(Message edited by justsomeguy on March 04, 2005)

Thank you Mr Holmes.