Best boat for skiing and wakeboarding

[Rugglesworth]

I'm looking at a 94 ski nautique (closed bow) 5.8HO tbi and a 95 sea ray 180 signature bowrider with the 4.3l LX carbed engine. Both are in good shape and the nautique doesn't have wood stringers so I like that. Recently bought a boat that had a stinger rot and resold it as I don't have time to fix it before the lake vacation.

I have 2 boys, 14 (155lbs 5'11") and 16 (185lbs 5'11"). they both want to ski and tube but mostly wakeboard. As a bonus if possible learn to wakesurf. My question is: which will be the best overall boat for 2 weeks of watersports and why?

 

[alldodge]

Your not going to be able to wake surf with either of the boats. There will be some wake with the 180 but not enough to surf and, THE BIGGY, it would be dangerous to even try with exposed outdrive

 

[Rugglesworth]

Your not going to be able to wake surf with either of the boats. There will be some wake with the 180 but not enough to surf and, THE BIGGY, it would be dangerous to even try with exposed outdrive

Yes I know not to surf on a sterndrive. That's why it was a bonus. I've seen people wakeboard behind old ski boats. these are beginners so just want enough wave for a little pop. I could get some ballast sacs as well

 

[Scott Danforth]

You need ballast bags to get any wake from the ski boat

 

[Rugglesworth]

You need ballast bags to get any wake from the ski boat

that's what I was thinking. I'm looking at the boats tomorrow and we'll see what I get. Thanks for the insight

 

[southkogs]

Ski boat is designed to lay down an nice flat table to ski behind. It's got a great hole shot, but tries to run really flat. That's great for skiing. It's good for tubing (really almost anything works for that). But no good for wake board or surfing ...

... ballast bags would get you a better wake off the Nautique for wakeboarding, but I don't think it'd be great for wakeboarding. The boats for wakeboarding are almost a polar opposite to the boats for skiing. Not sure how the SeaRay would do with bags for wakeboarding. Maybe a little better than the Nautique; but hard to tell.

I don't think either boat will be great at surfing.

 

[Scott Danforth]

I'm going to say that the '95 SeaRay will most likely need a transom and stringers

 

[cyclops222]

Big heavy full cabin cruisers are best. They throw up huge wakes and even a good secondary wake. All while others in the boat are are eating drinking sunbathing and enjoying the same cruise. We always have designated level headed PWC with us when someone is being towed. He picks them up and delivers them back to the stopped cruiser safely. PWC drivers relieve each other from the boredom. There was no cost to set up the 2 boats.

 

[Rugglesworth]

I'm going to say that the '95 SeaRay will most likely need a transom and stringers

I will be checking that as well as I can. It only has 360 hours and has been garage kept it's whole life. The carpet and vinyl are original and mint. The boat looks like it just recently came out of the factory.

Just to be clear, if I get the sea ray we won't be surfing behind it as it's a sterndrive. I'll post back once I've seen them and made my decision

 

[Rugglesworth]

I got the sea ray. Beautiful boat. The prop has a spun hub I found out while taking her out yesterday.... It has a 21p prop on it with the 4.3lx. I'm thinking a 19p would be better? it came with a chewed up 19P prop as a spare.