Traded 2001 X-10 for 2006 X-30 today. Kinda wordy

My '01 X10 was so awesome, they traded even up. Dang alarm clock, I dont want to get up for work......

I did it though for real. The newness of the X10 had worn off, and sometimes it was feeling crowded. I traded it today and pick up the X30 Thursday. The old X10 was loaded with every decadent option available. The 06 x30 has only the required stuff. Great stereo, tower lights & speakers, ballast and speed control.

We demo'ed a similar new '06 X30 last weekend. The dealer bent the prop launching the thing, yet it still had a pretty decent holeshot. It had a MCX motor at 350 hp. Handling was a little sluggish compared to the X10 but not objectionably so. My wife drove more than I did (as usual) and after about the 50th time I quized her about the handling she satisfied me that she liked to drive it as well as the x10. We did not test WOT because of the bent prop.

We both agreed that the new MC speed control was WORSE than holding speed manually. It simply does not work, regardless of ballast or trimtab. Our dealer should have the perfect pass WBP installed in a couple weeks.

The Wake--- Here it gets interesting. I wish I could have had our X10 there at the same time to compare side by side. I had to settle for riding them both at different times of the day.

First the X10 wake. Its pretty big, but not very vertical. Its VERY clean even at 15-16 mph where my 9 year old daughter likes to ride. Its clean to 80 feet at 20 mph and better yet with another 600 lbs of ballast on the floor.

The X30 wake started REALLY mushy at 15-16. We dont fill tanks for my daughter yet. we were able to get one side or the other to clean up by minor tank filling and trim positions. Never could get both clean at slow speeds, but thats ok for now since my little girl only wakejumps heelside for now. As she improves, the ballast and speed increase.

At 18 mph the wake gets pretty clean to the end of a 60' line without much ballast, but turned to mush with the tanks full. also the wake was pretty wide at that speed. My thinking was an adult beginner on a short line without ballast should be fine. I was able to land in the flats at this speed without ballast by going out about 10 feet and still get a nice little pop.

At 20-21 mph stuff started happening. At first I almost gave up trying. Both sides were a bubble bath. We tried dumping the tanks and it got worse. I made sure the trim was down to push the bow down. It got worse. Then we discovered something (by dealer suggestion). Unlike the x10 which prefers NOT to be stern heavy, the X30 loved it at 20-21 mph. Trim up and fill all the tanks and you get nice vertical wake with a lip like a 90 degree angle clean to about 75 feet. I thought it looked a little wide but I ended up jumping high and into the flats several times on a 60 foot line. I was able to jump quite a bit higher than my average behind the X10 with possibly less effort.

In summary, our old x10's wake was very consistent and nice. This new X30 was finicky, but when dialed in is outstanding. The huge cockpit, tall (dry) freeboard and high drivers seat make it a pleasure to ride in or drive. I cant wait for the weekend to follow up on weather our first impressions led us to a good purchase.

Mark

(Message edited by lunker on August 16, 2005)

hey, congratulations on the new boat

I noticed you are from MN. I am to just wondering if you got your boat from midwestmastercraft and if they are going to be sellin your boat cus im lookin at x 10s

"the new MC speed control was WORSE"

have the dealer reset your system. Mine admitted that sometimes they have problems and need to be reset. Don't waste your money on perfect pass. The MC system works awesome. I'm very happy with mine. It actually works better than my perfect pass did.

I noticed the '06 X2 was having problems keeping speed as well. Alot of riders got to do their runs again due to it. I wonder if it's a serious problem in the '06 boats. I don't remember if it had Perfect Pass or the MC cruise control, however.

Nice review - don't forget to post some pics when you pick it up.

I was curious as to how the built in speed control would work

Matt,

Yes and yes. I can only say great things about Midwest Mastercraft. I've now purchased 3! Mastercrafts through them. And I can wholeheartedly recommend my old X10. Its blue and LOADED. Tower, racks, speakers, lights, retrofitted tower anchor light, ballast, Perfect Pass, binding blaster, SHOWER, HEATER< and on and on.

I usually ran 300lb fat sac in the walkway and another 150 under the observers seat if only 2 in the boat. For 4 or more, I ditched the walkway sac.

Hmm..interesting. Evan and I both have 05 X-2s and the MC speed control is flawless.

Overall it's a more advanced system. The MC systems is are electronic. No servo motor.

A good friend just got his X30, having the same problems with the speed control. It just got out of the shop, so we will see this week if the problem was fixed, and what the problem was. I'll keep ya posted. Buy the way, those are bueatiful boats. I have to say the X30 is my favorite of the MC line

Got the new X-30 home. It's dark. Here's a night picture. It IS black on white. And the basketball hoop was an upcharge.

Here's a shot from the dealers inventory picture. It's identical down to every shown option. I never noticed the tinted glass until getting home tonite.

Here's a shot from the dealers inventory picture. It's identical down to every shown option. I never noticed the tinted glass until getting home tonite.

That is a sick looking boat..I dig the colors

Very nice boat i saw it on the dealers sight and i really like the color scheme you got going on there. Im going to midwest mastercraft on saturday so i will look for your X 10. Does the new boat still fit in your garage?

When is the first ride going to be?

Enjoy your new ride

peace

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quote:

That is a sick looking boat..I dig the colors

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me too! nice.

Matt,

Fit in the garage? It barely fits on my street. Seriously, I haven't measured yet but I think its about 6 inches too tall with the tower down. She'll spend 80% of her life on the lift under the canope.

I hope to get enough break in hours to take a couple easy rides by Sunday. We like the color scheme too. Thank you.

I thought I'd post an update on the new '06 X-30. We now have enough hours on it that anything goes. Until now my 9year old daughter had the most riding time.

For her, at 16 mph with the ballast empty only one wake can be made clean. Thats fine though as she only jumps heelside and even at a 55 foot line, the wake is rediculously wide. She says she's ready to speed up a bit so that will help.

For my prefs it goes like this:
First the wake you see from in the boat with noone riding is NOT what you get when you ride. Its pretty hard to get a clean wake on both sides below 23 mph IF NOONE is riding. As soon as you get back there, stuff happens.

The wakeplate (trimtab) makes a huge difference in wake shape. Want a rounder top? Lower the plate. Want really vert with a sharp lip? Raise the plate. All this can be doe in the 19-21 mph range. Lowering the plate makes the wake seem a little smaller too. I'd say if you like the X10 shape, lower the tab. Raise it too much at too slow a speed and the wake may start rolling over. Either speed up a little or trim down a quarter to clean it up.

Also this tweeking needs adjustment for the load in the boat as well. The more weight in the boat, the more tab you need. Just add tab (with a rider between the wakes) until the wake stops rolling over for clean and vert. Add more tab to round the wake.

I'm finding the new X30 wake to be way more adjustable on the fly than the old X10 could ever be. Beginner just crossing the wakes? Full tab to make the wake mushy.

For a while I found landings to be alot harder. I couldn't figure out why until I realized I was consistantly looking down at the top of the tower. The handle is almost always 1-3 feet higher than the attachment point. That didn't happen as often on the X10. Either the tower is lower or I'm jumping higher. Duh, higher jumps = harder landings. I hope I'm discribing this right. Its the only way I can sense height from in the air.

Other notes:

-The Mastercraft cruise still sucks, perfect pass should be here soon.
-Top speed by gps is about 46-47 in a light chop, 43-45 on glass.
-The ratchet cover is hard to put on while docked.
-The stereo kicks both punk rock and disco.
-She's really thirsty.
-The teak platform needs to be 3-4 inches higher. It sits well underwater with tanks full.

I guess thats all for now.

Another quick follow up. So far I have been unable to improve on the wake over stock ballast with people or fatsacks. I have had better luck with stock ballast and 1-2 people in the boat than anything else. Maybe thats from getting used to that setup more than anything else.

Right now, I'm riding 65-70 foot line plus handle and have to really EASE into the wake to not land in the flats. We're in Minnesota, so there's lots of 60 degree days and the water is only about 70 so its hard to get anyone to ride in the bow.

Next weekend, we'll have the perfect pass so hopefully we can load down the boat and have SOME semblence of speed control.

Finally, sometimes I get way more height than expected. I havent figured out why exactly, so I'm a little intimidated by inverted tricks until I get some consistancy.

i saw a boat EXACTLY like that one this weekend at the river. not a mc guy but a slick lookin boat.