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Hey everyone,
I'm hoping to get a few unbiased opinions...My wife and I are researching/prepping to buy a new "budget" wakeboard/surf boat at the boat show next year.
We initially targeted a new Moomba Craz only to discover that it won't fit under our 8' garage door (had salesman bring a 2019 Craz by our house and it was about 2-3" short). As a result, we've expanded our search to include the Axis T22 and MAYBE even a used (2017 or newer) MB B52 23.
We have 2 daughters, ages 5 and 7 and live in the Seattle area. We plan to use the boat for beginning-intermediate level surfing/wakeboarding, tubing for a few more years and cruising on our area lakes, including Lake Washington which is typically rough in the spring/summer afternoons. We will likely spend a lot of our time on Flowing Lake, a small lake outside of Seattle where our relatives live. We currently own a 2000 Epic X-22 that we absolutely love but want to upgrade to a V-drive with more seating capacity, better wave, etc.
The salesman we are working with says that the Moomba factory believes a custom trailer has the ability to solve our height problem. The concern we have if we go that route, is that we build a 2020 Craz with custom trailer only to get it home and find that it still won't quite fit. Not sure what we can do to protect against that, so I'll have to determine more as we get closer to making the decision. But that terrifying scenario is in the back of my head nonetheless.
What we like about the Craz is that it's a great all-around boat and would do marginally better on Lake Washington. We like the touch screen color display and what Autowake can do. We also like the interior on the Craz a bit better than the T22. As far as the engines, it sounds like the Raptor might have a slight edge because the torque curve is more aligned with surfing speeds than the 409 Monsoon on the T22. Is that true? Tough to find information on the 409.
What we dislike about the Craz is the tower, especially because it pivots so high, resulting in the boat not fitting in our garage on a non-custom lower profile trailer. The Craz also sounds like it needs more than the factory 3000# of ballast to surf well. Also, there is always a bit of concern about a boat that relies solely on a touch screen display for everything but that's nitpicky. That's about it for our concerns with the Craz.
What we like about the the Axis T22: it will fit in our garage without any issue and I believe it can even sit inside with the tower up once I get it through the door, which would be nice. It also sounds like the T22 throws a better wave for surfing and wake-boarding than the Craz does out of the box. We also like the look of the Axis slightly better than the Craz but mainly because we're not huge fans of how the tower looks on the Craz. We also like the thought of having Surf Gate and the Power Wedge 3 and Surf Band.
Our dislikes regarding the Axis: the negative things I've heard on here and from others about the quality control inconsistencies potentially affecting long term reliability (we will keep the boat for as long as possible), the Monsoon 409 concern I mentioned above about it being better suited for higher RPM's, the interior vinyl being too soft and not durable enough to stand the test of time, the marginally worst rough water performance compared to the Craz and the shallower cabin (less freeboard) compared to the Craz. I don't mind the analog gauges that so many complain about.
So, if the prices are somewhat close (and I think they will be when you add a custom trailer to the Craz build), what do you guys think? Not sure what will be new on the 2020 models but knowing what we know now, is the consensus a new T22 or a new Craz? We plan on a demo for both boats but want to gather as much information/feedback from as many people as possible. Especially folks who either have one of these boats or are very familiar with them.
Or, should we scrap the idea of a new Craz or T22 and pursue a newer but used B52 23? Not sure that would fit in under our 8' garage door, either, though.
Thanks in advance for any replies!
-BJ
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