Best boat for low 20s???
 

Hi.
I'm wanting to get your opinion on what boat I should be looking for or what to stay away from. I'm wanting to stay in the low 20s or lower would even be easier to sell my wife on :D

Am wanting an "all around" boat. Ski,board,tube. I'm the skier. Kids like to tube and board. I'm not a fussy skier though - some wake to go over would be fine. So leaning more on the board side would likely work - kids have a lot more boat days ahead of them than me. Something that would seat 8+, I just north of Calgary where decent lakes are hard to find. Often we go to shallow "ponds" so something with a shallow draft would be nice.

I've looked. A bit at the tige 21i. Seems to be a good fit with some older ones in my budget. If this is a good choice are there some better years than others?

Malibu's system to make wakes also sounds interesting. Any comments?

Any others? I guess I would need/want a boat that can create wake without using its mass.

Thanks much for your time.

A good "all around" boat is like getting a good "all around" bike as opposed to one mountain bike and one road bike. You end up with a hybrid that doesn't do either well. In the price range you're looking at you can find a lot of good ski boats and most of the hybrid boats are really only good ski boats. The problem is that this is a wakeboarding forum and we know which boats are good wake boats. My last boat was the old Tige 21i that you're thinking about and I sold my 2000 in June for 16K. It may have been a good ski boat but I never skied behind it. It was a really poor wake boat. TAPS doesn't make up for a hull shape that was designed for skiing only. Granted when I first bought the boat I thought the wake was huge because I was coming from a Ski Brendella. The newer Tige boats that actually make a good wake are much more than 20K and I don't know what kind of ski wake they make. The good part is that the ski boats you're looking for are much cheaper than wake boats and much easier to find for sale.

News flash, a boats mass and hull shape is what creates its wake. Bigger displacement, bigger wake!

I just sold my 21i after having it for 2 years. I never skied behind it but its definitely a ski boat. The wake was decent coming from an I/O. Decent, until I rode behind an axis A22 with not even stock ballast full. The wake was a different monster! If the kids want to board, I'd look into a v drive or else you'll b upgrading in a few years as they advance. At least that's what I did... If your budget doesn't allow that, the 21i isn't terrible. It gets small quick with the engine in the middle, and storage runs out fast.

sanger v215 fits your pricepoint for options and features (ballast, perfect pass, etc). not sure about the ski wake tho.

An original X-Star sometimes found in that price range or Older Moomba LSV would probably work too, lots of those in your price range. Seating 8 would be tight if you had to haul a days worth of stuff around.

I had the same need a couple years ago. I bought a 2003 MB Sports 220V. It was billed as a "crossover boat" (decent ski wake but also able to throw a big wake for surf or wakeboard.) At 34 mph it has a very low soft wake. We absolutely love it. You should be able to find one in the low $20K range. Also, I think the MB Sports B52 has the same hull but more stock ballast capability.

Just do like the guy who called me this morning...offer 25K for a nearly brand new 50K boat. His reasoning...its used and has no warranty!! Last I checked used boats from private sellers include no warranty!!

Thanks much for the time. So if I change my question to what is the best wakeboard boat that would have a shallow draft (do any?) for low 20s? What would you suggest?

They all draft about the same as all the running gear is on the bottom of the boat. Most draft right around 28-30 inches. But keep in mind they do squat some as they accelerate. Anything less than 4 feet of water on the shallow side is going to be problems. Plus anything under 10-12 feet crushes the wake.

Thanks. Is it crazy to even think about beaching a dd or a V drive? Often I go with too many friends to fit so I beach my old outboard ski boat to pick up drop off. No docks around.
Does an old ski dd boat draft much less?

Even less.

Thanks for suggesting the moomba. This looks nice. http://www.boattrader.com/listing/20...ius-LSV-362135. So is this a wakeboard boat that u can ski behind thanks to the plate? Downsides?

Nearly all V-drives are biased towards the sport of the wakeboarding. Ski boats have the engine in the middle for a reason? Right? Is it nice? Downsides is it is a v-drive for wakeboarding, but that is what we like here. Do you like wakeboard?

You don't really want to beach a inboard(direct or Vdrive) unless its a quick drop off. If the bow is on shore the tracking fins are only 10 feet back and the running gear maybe 17-18 feet. Your going to run into problems if that stuff contacts the bottom especially if you have anything harder than soft sand/mud bottom. Most of the underwater gear is brass and nibral and it doesn't take much to bend it.

To me the best crossover would be a mid 90s Super Sport Nautique or if you are a hardcore skier then a sport nautique.

I have owned 2 sports and they ski awesome and the running surface is the same as the super air until 06. Which means drop some ballast in it and go!

By the way... I live in Saskatchewan and will be selling my low hour 1997 Sport Nautique right away. With 2007 tandem trailer, tower, perfect pass for less than 20k. Let me know if that interests you at all

I'll recommend a Mastercraft 205, it should do everything your after and fit your price range. If you shop in Canada you'll likely find direct drive 205's around 20k and V-drive versions in the mid to upper 20's. If you shop in the U.S. they're a bit less.. I also happen to have a 1999 i would like to sell. And i'm only 3.5 hours from Calgary.

The Sunsetter LXI of that era is a great all around boat. It's almost 22 feet long, built on the diamond hull, you can ski all lengths in the course, and when loaded it throws a decent wake for boarding.