New Volvo Forward Drive - runabout's can wakesurf now?
 

Just saw this pop up on Facebook. New Volvo Forward drive places the prop at the front of the stern drive. I guess with a swim platform, this would probably be plenty safe enough. The blurb also says something about Super Surf'R surf tabs...
http://www.volvopenta.com/VOLVOPENTA...rd_facing.aspx

Queue the anti-wakesurf crowd...:D

Yeah this was supposed to be on the Bryant 233x at the Boston boat show next week, but I guess they couldn't get the drive there in time.

This is premiering at the Miami boat show this weekend on multiple brands. Will be interesting to see how well these boats can actually surf now that the safety issue may have been resolved.

The main problem I see with that segment is that most runabouts are designed to get on top of the water and plane out. You start ballasting and sinking them down and who knows what kind of wake that hull will produce.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/xAsyaQ_cxZY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Surf wave is pretty small!!

Pretty intereting concepts. I am sure all of us w/ comp boats have had days on the water where we wished we had a nice deep v and a 60mph cruising speed.

So many Power turns in this video lol... Boat doesn't look that bad..but MAN is that wave tiny! My 96 DD had a bigger surf lol

This is great. I love that people have another platform to do water sports behind the boat. I am honestly a little scared that every I/O guy is going to call Wakemakers asking for ballast bags for surfing because "you can do it now". Who is responsible for consumer education?

The salesman that they bought the boat from

dang, thats quite the liability for the sales person to take on. Ultimately I would think it falls back on the manufacturer.

Be interesting to see if this catches on, I wonder what would happen if you put this drive on a current wake hull?? Would people buy it or will the purists never accept a drive system other than V drive/direct drive even if it legitimately performs as good or better.

New Volvo Forward Drive - runabout's can wakesurf now?
 

If it truly performs better then people will buy them. They'll also catch on for professional's use as well as tournament pulling both of which definitely sells boats.

Basically, if Harley Clifford is riding behind one and vouching for it, then it will sell.

I have my doubts on this system really being beneficial though.

Not really much of a liability. All manufacturers state what the purpose of each boat is. If they had to list everything you can't do with a boat, the list would be a mile long.

But it is the sales persons job to educate a buyer on what a certain boat is used for. No honest sales person would tell someone they can surf safely behind a standard i/o.

It's a tough call. There are a lot of families who are more into cruising with occasional watersports for recreation.
I bet these i/o surf edition boats come in at around 60k - a very good option for those who don't need a pro size wake or don't want to spend Nautique or MC money.

Look into the Bryant thread - these boats are pricy. And that drive system is brand new and frankly, I will bite, state of the art. That's a nice drive system and I guarantee it isn't cheap.

I am not talking about a new boat off of the show room floor. That is easy. I am talking about a used Bryant, Four Winns or Sea Ray boat from a private party. Who's going to tell that owner not to surf besides the person that sells them ballast directly in the shop or over the phone? That is if they hint that they are surfing behind an I/O.

I would say Harley is a bad example. HAHA. He rides behind the newest generation of the flag ship X-Star but I do not see that boat flying out of the lot right now. (Side note: I personally love the new star but the delay in production left room for the G to dominate the wake space. IMO)

I understand what you are saying. If a talented big name pro wakeboarder started riding behind an I/O the industry would take note. That will not happen in the immediate future unless $$$ starts flying.

If someone purchases a vehicle and has no clue what it's supposed to be used for, chalk it up to Darwinism!

Unfortunately the Bryant 233x is Msrp'd at around 85k

The jump in wakeboat prices has also allowed the I/O market to keep pace.

Considering you can buy quite a few nice Vdrives for that I'm doubting they will be selling a ton of them.

http://look-marketing.com/four-winns...-launch-video/

Found this on Chase Heavener's/ Fiction facebook page. Looks like Four Winns is getting in the surf market as well

That Four Winns isn't going to be cheap either! Too many problems with I/O's, hope nobody here buys one.

I was referring to the Regal 21' posted above. Sorry for not clarifying.

But still, with an 85k msrp, that should be a sale price between 60-70. No clue what bryants margins are though.

I work at a dealership that sells Bryant, and we just brought in a loaded up 233x (No forward drive though), and we have it listed at 82k (MSRP is right about 100k). Now, you can certainly get one with less options and save a bunch, this one just has about every option you could opt for. It already has a deposit on it.

Being from the tournament boat side of things my whole life, I wasn't sold on it at all, especially for the money. But as I learned more about Bryant, their build quality, and saw that there is a large market for people who don't want a V-Drive boat (crazy, I know), I've come around quite a bit. It's definitely a good looking boat. I haven't gotten to ride behind it yet, but hopefully in the next couple of months, we'll have another one that we can take out.

it's the first boat with that technology. look back at the first wakeboard boats and their ability to surf. not stellar compared to today's boats. as some of the i/o brands start building new hulls that are more surf-specific, could be interesting to see some competition.

could make it easier for more families to get into the sport.

could also raise the awareness of the family that now only tubes and destroys the water to one that surfs and gains an appreciation to respecting where others are recreating...... well, probably not but a guy can dream :)

That's the wave with 1,300lbs of ballast? :rolleyes:

:confused: I never had any problems with my I/O but I wasn't surfing behind it either.

I'll be an inboard guy till I die, but I'm happy to see the I/O market is doing something to compete. Rising tide lifts all boats.

Over a year and no more discussion on the forward drive? That or the search on here is the worst! As a middle aged overweight guy who's only wake experience was one cable lesson, this boat did interest me. However, now that they're on the street, I feel the price will be the stopper, at least for me. The boat show discounted price on the Regal 2300 with the forward drive and surf package was over $90K. But to have one boat that can perhaps "do it all" is appealing.

What are the "do it all" things you're looking for?

Good ride in choppy water. Maybe a head but that's not a deal breaker as all of last season we did without one. Good fuel economy. Good value. Asking one boat to do it all is unrealistic and I know that. I might just get two used boats - a pontoon and a wake boat would be a good combo. My neighbor has that. I hope I don't get into fishing!!

The Cobalt Wss Surf might be a good choice for you. Its not going to be a wakeboat, but it doesn't sound like you need a comp boat.

One positive on the four winns is it has built in surf tabs into the hull and I'm sure they have a patent on that. But I use to own a four winns and every year I had to take off the out drive to get to a grease fitting. Don't know anyone who would go back to I/O after having an inboard motor.

I have both, and they are two different animals. For people that are more into recreational boating there are not many positives of an inboard over an IO. I have never had to remove drives to grease anything on our Cobalt. That just sounds like poor design.