need new (to me) boat for wakeboarding

[black79ta]

I have a crown line bow rider 20' and want to step up to something with a tower. I wake boarded behind a supra and was impressed with the way it pulled. Looking for something around 30 - 35. Did see a 14 rinker for 40k. Just wondering what you all thought about brands are good etc. I understand if I wave surf I would have to get an inboard drive. What do you think?

 

[rallyart]

If you are thinking of wake surfing then you really want an inboard. You can do it behind a jet drive but it's tougher. Anything else is simply dangerous.
As far as inboard brands, you'll find that Malibu, Mastercraft, and Nautique are a bit more money used for the same level boat but in your price range almost all inboards will be of good quality with decent wakes. Sufing is better with a bit deeper V so Centruion and Sanger, or a Supreme V226 might be a better choice than others. You can get a good surf wake with most though. Many people selling a tow boat will let you test drive it and test ride it.
You could also just add a tower to your Crownline or find another bowrider with a tower already. I have not driven a new Rinker but I drove two new ones with high power engines in '06 that had trouble getting themselves out of the water, so wakeboarding might not be the best use for those.
Just test drive what you find. They are quite different. I much prefer my inboard and would not go back to an I/O for my family boat use.

 

[oldjeep]

If you just want a tower, buy a tower and install it on the Crownline.

If you want to replace the boat with a DD or V drive, just remember that a DD is not usually optimized for wake boarding - they are for skiing. Now you can "fix" that with ballast or things like the Wedge that Malibu puts on most of its boats. A DD is going to be much harder to use for wake surfing than a V-drive because of where the weight is in a DD and how much you will have to add to counteract it.

30-35K will get you into some older V-drives and plenty of direct drives. I'd take a look at things like Moomba, Malibu v-ride series, maybe Axis - but they have not been around as long so you may not find one old enough to be in your price range. Those will get you the most bang for the buck, they just won't be as fancy as a Mastercraft, newer Supra or non v-ride Malibu.

 

[haulnazz15]

I hear a decent amount of good things about the Tige Wake/Surf wakes. Never been behind one though.