tower or no tower on a new boat.....

Well, I pretty much have decided to buy a Mastercraft this fall. Each of the other manufactures had something to offer, but the biggest Mastercraft dealer in the area is right up the street and the owner of it lives a few homes up so it seems to make sense from a maintenance standpoint.

Here is my question. I have a lift with a canopy. Each and every time I put the boat on the lift….I have to screw around with raising and lowering the tower. I am getting little scratches from it on the gelcoat, and it’s kind of a pain because we use the boat for much more than towing.

Anyone have any great ideas on this subject? Is there an easy way to take care of this? Most of the people on the lake that have a tower don’t have canopies…but I really refuse to snap a cover on every day.

Any ideas??

Next question, they don’t allow ballast systems on my lake. I know…it sucks…but its part of the game. So, if I buy an X7, I will have to take the ballast tanks out before they will allow it on the lake. Based on that….how much cheaper would it be to simply get a 197 with the options I want.

One more question…while trying to figure out what I want to do, I would love to have a price list or an invoice sheet like you can get for cars. Is there anything like that for comp boats?

Thanks in advance everyone….I really appreciate it.

By the way….since some of you may not understand why I am set on a certain boat…here is why.

The lake I am on is very strict on what boats are allowed. It has to be USA Waterski approved, and less than 20’9”, less than 3000 lbs, etc. The X2 is not an official USA Waterski approved boat…and its too heavy.

The biggest baddest thing I can get is the 197 (or X7).

Anyone else live here in Lake St. Louis, MO????

I hope to say goodbye to my I/O this fall.

raise your canopy with some after-market, or fabricated extensions. and if you are required to physically remove the ballast tanks from your boat to operate well, then you are living on the wrong lake. get the stock 197 and just fill her up with carpeted lead blocks...

Just curios, how would they now if you have a ballast, do thye literally have someone check each boat on the ramp, why dont they allow other boats, why only ski USA waterski approved. Iam kinda new to the whole watersports thing so just wondering why some lakes have these restrictions.. Thanx..

Great ideas. I just found that I can buy a canopy skirt that will make a little room out of my lift and eliminate all my problems. I can raise my canopy way up, then my boat will fit with the tower on.

Very cool!

Does anyone know where I can get canopy riser extensions? My boat lift dealer is a wanker that I will not work with…any ideas everyone?

How can you have a I/O boat if the boat has to be US water ski approved? I'm pretty sure your I/O boat isn't approved.

Sorry, I guess I was not clear.

Lake limit is 20' long, 4.3l max engine size, no jet boats. Outboard HP limit is 115.

Thats it.

However, because there are so many skiers here, they have made an exception. They do allow comp ski boats for the skiers. Because they do allow larger engines and longer boats for the skiers, they want to keep them limited to USA water ski approved boats..because it is an exception.

so no, none of the I/O's need to be water ski approved....but they also cant have anything larger than a 4.3 or longer than 20'.

Comp boats can be up to 20'9" and have no horsepower limitiations. The just cant be over 3000lbs.

To keep people from putting some weird crap on the lake, they wisely said that to be a comp ski boat that it has to be an inboard and must be USA water ski appproved.

Anyway, long story here...but thats the deal. Like I said, its not a bummer for us, we all live work and sleep a few feet from the lake so I dont mind limitations.

This morning, there have already been two barefooters cruise by my window...its a cool place to live.

Hewitt canopy riser extensions???? Any ideas? Other places to buy canopy skirts?

Oh yea...no they dont check for ballast tanks. Its just considered bad form to throw a huge wake against a mans backyard. If I was in the middle of the lake I might use them I guess.

Robert, if you like the X-2 and want an approved towboat, get a 205V and option it out like an x-2. I am almost 100% positive that the 205V is approved. It's just like my 205 but a v-drive. Crap I just double checked the MC site specs. I know the boat is 50 lbs over the limit, but unless the association has it on a not allowed list I would just tell them it's 3000lb. The otherthing to consider is all the newer boats have the ballast tanks built under the floor, no way they can make you rip the floor up to take them out. I'm sure there are a few loop holes you can work through.

The 205 is not approved. Here is the link to the approved boat list...

http://www.lslca.com/docs/approved_ski_boats.pdf

To get something added takes a little time, and they want the weight documented.

No worries on the ballast tanks. They dont check it...like I said its just bad form to throw a huge wake against somebodies dock. Its officially illegal..but nobody is there to check boats.

I guess the question is...if all the options are the same, how much of an upcharge is the X7 vs a 197 with the same options? Same boat except the ballast tanks and graphics right?

Thats really absurd they have a list of allowed boats, next they will be telling you what kind of cars and trucks you have to drive too, freaking wacky liberals on a power trip. I don't know how much you want to argue with them since you have to live with them, but I would print out the list here:
http://www.usawaterski.org/downloads/ApprovedHistory83-05.pdf

The only year of the 205 not on the list is '99 and the only year the 209 didn't make the list is '02. IMO with a large investment like a boat, you will really want the full size bow of the 205/209 hull and it would be worth fighting for it. You could always order and 205V with options like an X2 and get 197 graphics for it. Thinking back I would do that just to spite them. I understand about the whole large wake dock thing. Most people will respect other people and not throw 3 ft wakes at each others shore. It's all a game of give and take.

They dont care if its called an X2 or an X7, as long as it is based on an approved boat...which is why there are tons of X7's around the lake but they are not specifically listed. Its really just an 197.

They are strict, but you have to draw the line somewhere and they have. Its a pretty small lake really.

The thing is that most of us (me included) have a big pontoon boat to haul around the masses...so there is really no need to have a huge wakeboard boat. We will never have more than a few people in it.

Is there a place to get "invoice" pricing or dealer pricing on the web? If not, how about list pricing?

The dealer has a yellow X7, 2004, every option that is available including PP, 40 hours (demo two weekends) they are letting go for 40k and will store the trailer for free.

Just trying to see how good of a deal that is.

I would rather have a nice clean black and white boat but the yellow is pretty dang cool too.

I lived on Lake St. Louis for years and my parents still live there. As far as lift options, go by my dad's shop on I-70 in O'Fallon - Tiger BOAT DOCKS. (www.tigerboatdocks.com) I think he has some that may work ok with tower, but it is tough b/c towers are so tall. And on LSL ducks are a problem a lot too even if you have a lift.

When I lived there they were just starting to ban the ballast systems but there is a way around it. A trash can full or water or a bunch of coolers is not considered "ballast." It is not as good, but it is better than nothing. I had (have) a prostar 190 and it rolled around the lake with two large rubbermaids in the back.

I would roll with the 197. My mom's neighbor has one. My 190 weighted down has a sick wake. It didn't look like the x-7 was on the list?

Your dad has the best lift/dock shop around. I really wish I would have went with him and his lift and canopy.

I found a company called www.canopyskirts.com who is going to make a 40" skirt to go around the canopy...so I will raise the canopy way up and dont have to fold my tower. I am very happy about that.

The X7 is not on the list, but since its just a 197 with options its allowed. Its the hull that gets approved, not the other crap...as you know.

I hate those friggin ducks. They are not around my place, but I do see them everywhere. I am down in the ski team area...I live just down from the skijump.

You can have a ballast system....you just cant use it. They no longer want you to tear your boat apart...they just want you to pull a fuse or something so it cant be readily used.

Yep...a few coolers or four big guys does a pretty good job too.

I think the deal on the 197 is decent. I'm sure you can maybe find a little bit better deal but not sure it's worth the headache to search for. If you want to use the ballast, you could always rerun the outlets so the drain the water under your swim platform. That way no one will know you are using it. The factory ballast doesn't make the wake overly huge on the X-7. And most people would not even know the diffence looking from afar. If you really don't want to use the ballast, you can order the 197 with all the wakeboarding things without the ballast. Its around 1800 to order a ballast system from MC so I would suspect it would be that much cheaper to order it without

Too all those that are upset that there can be a place that tells you what boats are approved, welcome to living in a community.

My grandparents had a place that sound almost exactly like LSL. It was a small private lake where there were many restrictions on what you could put on the lake. And guess what, it was tose restrictions that kept the lake half way acceptable for weekend recreation.

And, most of these restrictions are created my midle age conservatives (gasp, it is not the darned liberals). The restrictions are there to keep the enjoyment factor up for all people, and not just the few that have the exotic toys that ruin it for the rest.

And if you think the restrictions for LSL are unreasonable, you shoud see the restrictions for the waterski lake communities. They make LSL look like a public lake.

Robert,
It sounds like you found the solution you had your mind set on all along. Good luck with the purchase.

The X series boats work out to be the same price as their Prostar, Maristar counterparts optioned up. With that said, you could order a 197 with all options except the ballast and it would be cheaper (a little tougher on the resale side though).