Brought home my new boat today....

Today I got to bring home my new 22SSV. Many thanks to Kevin and his sales staff at Gonnason Boats in Kent, WA. He gave me top notch service and a top notch boat.

.......you must be smiling all day....congrats...she's a beauty

and welcome to the board, that quite the entrance!

beautiful boat. Is that fossil and white?

Thats a good looking boat, I love that color.

Awesome man enjoy

Good Luck sleeping tonight and "sleeping in" in the morning... Nice looking boat. Congrats

Yep, can't stop grinning. Now all I have to do is find a lake with water that has a temp above 45 degrees. Or just a lake that has water.
The colors are fossil and sandrock base.

My wife and I are going to try wakeboarding and I am looking for any advice on beginner boards. I have been told the CWB Sol and Hyperlite State and Hyperlite Motive are good beginner boards. Any thoughts?

that is a really nice and classy color scheme congrats

.....thats the way.....first time trying and get the big boat..nice going.


well in that case dont hold back buy yourself the best equipment you can afford...buy pro level gear (you bought a pro level boat) ......better gear means you will be safer....landings will be softer and feet and legs will be protected by better supporting bindings. Bindings are also cushier and more compy alaround on the high end , like pillows....this will increase the joy of your riding experience.

For bindings I would recommend the liquidforce melissa for the wife with its complementary board.

for the man of the house....likewise liquid force watson shane or vantage. For boards just pick one of the many with a centre spine

i.e liquid force watson shane lyman or cwb marius or transcend....if your older the marius is aforgiving pro level board which is stable and has super soft landings (make sure you get all the basics down before jumping)

.....I cant stress enough getting good gear.......I got hurt several ways with my cheap beginner setup.......then have been fine the following 7 years.

(Message edited by absoluteboarder on March 07, 2008)

CWB Definitely. The Marius and transcend are great boards. The absolute is sweet too if you want something alittle looser. Check out their bindings too, YOu will love the hinge. It's so easy to get in and out of.

Awesome!

I agree with Michael, in that good quality equipment is more about safety than anything else. Especially when it comes to bindings.

great looking boat! congrats! the supra 21v was my 2nd choice. what's up with that small, super high bimini?? looks like it will really be effective at high noon. but you're in WA so ur not going to need it much

I appreciate the good gear comments. What constitutes "good gear". I am looking to spend $300-$400 for a board that I can learn on and have fun with for a couple seasons before I upgrade.
The bimini was courtesy of the Supra rep at the boat show. I won't complain. We got a good deal on the boat and the factory rep threw in the bimini after we had made the deal with the dealership. Nice touch. We will also carry an umbrella for those times when we just turn the motor off and jump in the lake. I have three young kids, so shade is important.

400 dollars will buy you some pro level stuff on ebay left over 2007 or 2006.

Good gear is pro level stuff.....a beginner board will give you a huge fin and flat bottom.........problem is you will out grow it in a very short time (weeks not years).....it will be difficult to slide because of the fins and more likely to slap the water hard (can be very uncomfortable...or as in my case break a bone)

bindings.....cheaper ones will not fit snug and may hurt your feet in certain places .....they are not as supportive......meaning you may twist an ankle or get a heal bruise. They dont keep you in the bindings as well meaning you can come out of one and not the other (bad news)....pro binding it isn't likely that will happpenor if it does not often...reducing your chance of injury.


so good gear= expensive gear (pro level gear)........but if you get 2006 or 07 you will save at least half.

Jeff, I would keep an eye on boardersbestbuy.com , have a tab at the top of this site. They offer very nice deals. You have to check it each day, but twice I have seen the CWB faction board, and the faction bindings for under 300. That is a very sweet deal. Great store to do business with. I just got the carbon handle with the 80ft A-line rope combo from them for $79. By the way awesome boat too. Your summer is going to be great.

dont be like me and think you can buy a beginner board to have fun with for a couple of years....because unless you are a kid....you may not be boarding for a couple if you get hurt. Not trying to scare you the sport is super fun but you have to use your head and do everything in your power to make the ride safest for you. (ITS NO FUN SITTING ON THE SIDE LINES)

chris is right or just go to the site (boardersmall.com) and look at the wake closeout stuff

I forgot to mention that I also got the 2007 CWB Transcend from them last September for $199. Michael is right about not wasting your money on entry level equipment. I did that and had to upgrade the next season. At least now I have boards that guest can use.

Jeff - as long as you are getting unsolicited advice I guess I will put in my 2 cents. (kidding, it is good advice not to waste your money on something you will want to quickly upgrade from)
The first thing you should know about boards is that the way a board jumps, for lack of a better term, is based primarily on the rocker. Rocker simplified is the curvature of a board from tip to tail. There are two kinds of rocker: continuous (no flat spot) and 3 stage (flat spot in the middle of the board). Generally speaking continuous rocker will provide a little less "up" off the wake but will come off a more consistently and 3 stage will provide more "up" but will not always come off the wake the same every time, especially for a beginner. Recently there have been some new variations wherein continous rocker boards have become more agressive and some 3 stage boards have become more mellow but generally speaking the above will hold true. There is some great info on the homepage here that will help you with some research into boards.

My recommendation would be to get a board with continuous rocker or a very mellow 3 stage board. You will want a predictable takeoff as you are learning.

My recommendation on bindings would be only to get bindings that are easy to get into. You won't want to be wasting all of your energy getting into your bindings. I hope I am not breaking the news to you that you will faceplant a couple of times as you learn from catching an edge and you will probably come out of your bindings. I think it is a pain to not be able to get them back on in the water. All bindings have become easier in recent years to get into but some are easier than others. My opinion is to look hard at CWB bindings with the hinge. They are a breeze to get into and out of which will decrease your frustration level as you learn and progress. The other option I would look at is Liquid Force bindings with lycra inside them, you can slide right into these without much problem. Don't go too advanced on your bindings, amongst other things you will probably have boat guests using them and you will need them to fit a pretty wide range of sizes within reason. The CWB Torq is the best value for the quality out there in my opinion and it has the hinge entry.

Check out Grizzly Sports. They have a huge online presence but also have a store up north of Seattle near where I5 & 405 come together (Mill Creek maybe?). They are highly recommended on this board usually. I recommend buying in person for this since you are kind of a newbie but don't let them sell you any "beginner" stuff. Demo if you can. Lots of shops should be having demo days this spring so keep your ears open and you will be able to try out many different kinds of boards/bindings. Some shops will let you self demo too where you pay a deposit and a charge and then if you buy from them the money you paid will come off your new gear. The sticker price is not always the price you will have to pay on wake gear. Shops will knock some off if you ask, especially if you are buying more than one thing.

As long as I'm going, if you are still reading at this point, check out Lake Mayfield down southeast of Centrailia. The park there used to be owned by Tacoma Power and the easiest way to find it is on their website under recreation. Great park with full bathroom facilities and reservable sites at reasonable prices. Plus there is a kids play area and boat launch right next to the campground so you can keep your boat on the trailer at night where you can keep an eye on it. Great camping spot and if you get up early or stay out late, you will find great water to ride in down towards the dam.

Sorry for the long-winded post, I am stalling on getting going with work today and you seemed like you may not know too terribly much about buying gear. Too much info is never a bad thing when you are talking about dropping a few hundred bucks. Beautiful boat, enjoy our short warm season.

Thanks for the great advice and posts. I will check out the sites and review the boards.
I am very familiar with Mayfield. My family have cabins by Ike Kinswa park. We will be taking our boat down there from time to time. Not sure what they do with the water level, but I assume its the same as every dam controlled reservoir, low in the winter. Tacoma Power still owns the lake and surrounding land, but they also own my lake (Lake Cushman). A necessary evil.

Jeff nice ride! Also it's hard to tell in the pic, are you pulling with a Tacoma or Tundra? If Tacoma how well does it pull the boat?

jeff you didn't grow up in wenatchee did you?

nice boat!

I haven't grown up yet, but did high school in Wenatchee.

Pulling the boat with a Tundra. No problems. Also pulled my Crownline CCR 230. Boat and trailer was close to 6500 lbs.

ha ha i knew it. i graduated your class!

shot you an email.

Nice looking boat, have fun!

sharp boat... kevin at gonnason is a good guy... Congrats!