jet boat vs inboard

right now im trying to convince my dad to buy a wakeboard boat for me and my family to use. he wants to know what are the pros and cons for wakeboarding on the yamaha jet boat.
Are there any other cheap options for wakeboats other than a jet boat or i/o? my problem is that i ride in saltwater so many of ther older cheaper boats wouldnt be good in the salt. Is there any inboard thats under 40k that would be good to use in saltwater, mostly in choppy waters?

There aren't any pros for wakeboarding on a jetboat, it has other pros, but for wakeboarding i'd say its all cons. I have an inboard used exclusively in saltwater with 200 hrs and it has never had a real problem, and still looks brand new. Try to find an inboard with a deeper V, and look for one that seems to use mostly stainless steal components. Jet boats aren't any better for salt than a wakeboarding boat

A jet boat will eat way, way more gas than any inboard of similar size!!

I originally looked at the Jet Boats because of their low draft, high freeboard, big V, twin engines and large swim platform.

Cons: They don't displace water to make big wakes, reverse just as useless as an inboard, fit & finish (gaps, quality of vinyl, cheapy trailer).

I would disagree about the fuel consumption, they should be fairly close. I think bocheus was thinking about the Big Block flat bottom jet boats, not the recreational jet ski motor driven boats from Yamaha and Sea Doo I think you were referring to. I grabbed these from boattest.com. I don't pay to get the archives so the best I could come up with for the Inboard was an RZ2 with the 5.7L 360HP Marine Power vs. the dual 160HP Yamaha.

RZ2
SX230 HO

If you look at the 0-30 and time to plane they are pretty competitive.

evilOne,
By the time you weight the jet drive down to get a similar wake that it takes to get same wake in an direct drive or v-drive I will bet my left arm that you will be out of gas much sooner than a similar inboard.

I had an sx 230 HO. I loved it! Email me for more specific questions.

Why don't you buy my boat, proabably a good price range for you, amazing condition, plus almost every part on the boat has been swaped for brand new stuff.
http://www.miamiskinautiques.com/cgi-local/display.cgi?categ=1&id=110&img=7

That's a great idea Colin. Nice boat too!

Con: If you talk your Dad into a jet boat and one of the screamin motocycle engines need repair or one of the jets need work!$$$$$
Who do you think he's gonna blame???
Inboards or I.O boat repair shops and parts can be had everywhere and not just at a Yamaha dealer. Not that any boat part is cheap but there are just way more expensive stuff to go in the Yamaha.

thanks for the offer colin but my dad says prices need to be under 30k to even be considered

if anyone else has offers for any decent boats that can ship nation wide or to the northeast lmk or post a link