Sold my boat, need help on an upgrade - primary wakeboarding.

[Biggredd]

I just sold my 21' 1996 Marada open bow w/ 5.0 V8. I mainly used it for wakeboarding and tubing. Was time to go and sold it. I'm likely going to wait until Spring to purchase another one but want to start my research now and could use some help. I'm looking for around 2001 to 2007 range, I/O, swim platform, snap in carpet, open bow, good power, wakeboard tower (although I know that can be added aftermarket), fuel injected, and want to find a brand that comes with all the bells and whistles. Not sure my price range but probably somewhere between $10-$20k. I'd go a year or two older to get a fancier boat if necessary. I'm probably going to skip a V drive as much as I'd like one all the ones I want are out of my price range. Not really a fan of direct drive engine placement in the boat. But mainly I want a "luxury" type boat, not just a barebones boat. just want a place to start researching. thanks in advance.

 

[oldjeep]

Re: Sold my boat, need help on an upgrade - primary wakeboarding.

Honestly - I/O as wake board boat, they are all the same. Start out by figuring out how long a boat you want, and then look at the "fancy" brands. I'm not sure how "fancy" you are going to get considering that my 05 Bayliner with a 3.0 and tower is worth about 11K around here.

Also, in the 2001-2007 range consider that you may have to add your own tower since that was not really mainstream then.

 

[oldjeep]

Re: Sold my boat, need help on an upgrade - primary wakeboarding.

Might also want to look at deckboats since you are looking for a big ugly wake - unless you like to ski too

 

[Biggredd]

Re: Sold my boat, need help on an upgrade - primary wakeboarding.

probably 18-22' range is preferable. I'm not opposed to a deck boat if they put out a good wake. We don't ski at all, only wakeboard or tubing.

 

[tpenfield]

Re: Sold my boat, need help on an upgrade - primary wakeboarding.

If you go on http://www.boattraderonline.com and do a custom search with unlimited distance, and $10k-$20K for price and 2001 - 2007 for years, and single I/O for the engine, that will give you an assortment of boats that fall into that range. This will give you some targeted ideas.

It generally looks like you will go newer, but not too much bigger than the 21 footer that you had . . . maybe 24 feet.

 

[theBrownskull]

Re: Sold my boat, need help on an upgrade - primary wakeboarding.

Check out the Tahoe 216WT. I have that boat and it makes a great wake for an I/O. It seats 12 people, has five coolers (one is removable), 2 fishing chairs, a sink with a freshwater faucet/sprayer, spots for fishing poles, livewell, anchor storage and floor storage for skis or wakeboard.

See pics below

 

[theBrownskull]

Re: Sold my boat, need help on an upgrade - primary wakeboarding.

 

[H20Rat]

Re: Sold my boat, need help on an upgrade - primary wakeboarding.

If you are looking at I/O's, also look at their capacity. i'm not talking about people, but how much weight in ballast bladders can you add!

 

[jbach]

Re: Sold my boat, need help on an upgrade - primary wakeboarding.

Honestly - I/O as wake board boat, they are all the same.

^this. go pick out one in your favorite color in good shape. or spend 20K on a nice, early 2000s vdrive towboat. i'd go that route before ever considering an i/o for watersports. you will not regret going inboard for towing.

 

[haulnazz15]

Re: Sold my boat, need help on an upgrade - primary wakeboarding.

Honestly, it sounds like you are going to end up in the same boat you already had, but 4-5 years newer. Not much of an upgrade.

 

[oldjeep]

Re: Sold my boat, need help on an upgrade - primary wakeboarding.

^this. go pick out one in your favorite color in good shape. or spend 20K on a nice, early 2000s vdrive towboat. i'd go that route before ever considering an i/o for watersports. you will not regret going inboard for towing.

I'm not saying that an I/O doesn't make a good watersports boat, just that they are all pretty much the same from the perspective of the guy being towed. I'm in the same boat as the OP (ha) Planning on upgrading my current runabout for something with more power. I'd considered V-drives, but can't live with a couple of the tradeoffs

 

[H20Rat]

Re: Sold my boat, need help on an upgrade - primary wakeboarding.

View attachment 204978
View attachment 204979

And for comparison, this is what a dedicated wakeboat will do. OP, if you are truly serious about buying a wakeboat, don't look at I/O's. You won't be happy, and will be trading in a couple years.

 

[jbach]

Re: Sold my boat, need help on an upgrade - primary wakeboarding.

Planning on upgrading my current runabout for something with more power. I'd considered V-drives, but can't live with a couple of the tradeoffs

i can't think of any tradeoffs? i/o's may run a little smoother on rough water, that's about all i can think of.

 

[doyall]

Re: Sold my boat, need help on an upgrade - primary wakeboarding.

I just sold my 21' 1996 Marada open bow w/ 5.0 V8. I mainly used it for wakeboarding and tubing. Was time to go and sold it. I'm likely going to wait until Spring to purchase another one but want to start my research now and could use some help. I'm looking for around 2001 to 2007 range, I/O, swim platform, snap in carpet, open bow, good power, wakeboard tower (although I know that can be added aftermarket), fuel injected, and want to find a brand that comes with all the bells and whistles. Not sure my price range but probably somewhere between $10-$20k. I'd go a year or two older to get a fancier boat if necessary. I'm probably going to skip a V drive as much as I'd like one all the ones I want are out of my price range. Not really a fan of direct drive engine placement in the boat. But mainly I want a "luxury" type boat, not just a barebones boat. just want a place to start researching. thanks in advance.

A tall order indeed. Anyway, I have a 2007 Azure AZ220 Sportdeck that would probably be as close to what you seek as you are going to find. (They were made by Bennington from 2005 to 2009. Bennington no longer makes the Azure line so that may affect the market value in favor of the buyer.) Probably could find one in the high end of your range, although a lot of folks trying to sell think more of them. They put factory waketowers on a lot of them too. It appears to be essentially the same boat as the Crownline 220EX model. (Former Crownline guys teamed up with Bennington to manufacture.) Some experienced wakeboarders who rode behind mine said it made as good of a wake as they could have hoped for. One fellow even did a wake to wake flip behind it. It weighs ~4,400# dry, has a 55 gal. gas tank and a 20 gal. fresh water tank so it comes in pretty heavy with people, gear and provisions. My personal opinion is that it is underpowered with the 270HP Volvo 5.0L MPI engine and DuoProp drive, but it is what it is.

 

[doyall]

Re: Sold my boat, need help on an upgrade - primary wakeboarding.

And for comparison, this is what a dedicated wakeboat will do. OP, if you are truly serious about buying a wakeboat, don't look at I/O's. You won't be happy, and will be trading in a couple years.
...

Yea, the chick magnet thing may be great but what else is there?

 

[Vankaye]

Re: Sold my boat, need help on an upgrade - primary wakeboarding.

IF wakeboarding and Tubing is what you mostly do than you definitely want a Tow Boat. Since you're not looking to pull a trigger until spring, why not go demo a few wake boats? Wake boats tow very very well. And they have specific hull shapes for creating premium wakeboard wakes. Anything else is sub-par if towing is your primary activity in the boat. BTW, they are great for running about, partying, cruising as well. Mastercraft, Malibu and Nautique are the masters in this category. I have owned a few ski/wake boats so I speak from my own experience. And be sure to note that a boat with a wake tower is not necessarily a wake board boat.
Checkout wakeworld.com and wakeboarder.com forums for your research!

 

[Biggredd]

Re: Sold my boat, need help on an upgrade - primary wakeboarding.

I guess I could check a Vdrive, they all just seem so expensive...especially ones with the ballast system that I prefer. My neighbor was doing monster wake to wake jumps and back flips off my wake with no tower but I think he downplayed how good he really is in general. I do like the wakesurfing a V drive can provide. Was mainly cost and cool features why I was considering an I/O but I'll keep my options open. The wife is from Minnesota (10,000 lakes) and loves having a boat so I know its just a matter of finding the right price and right boat. I'll check some of the suggestions above. its just fun having a boat with a lot of cool features so want to find what brands and models specifically are "feature rich" than spending hours scouring all the boats available. All the help is appreciated.

 

[oldjeep]

Re: Sold my boat, need help on an upgrade - primary wakeboarding.

i can't think of any tradeoffs? i/o's may run a little smoother on rough water, that's about all i can think of.

The fact that you can't operate in 2.5 feet of water is a big one for me since some of the lakes we use have very shallow channels. I can go a lot of places that my FIL's Malibu response can't.
Unless you can get one of the very few ski hull V-drives, that your standard wakeboard boat really sucks to ski behind. And once you get to that style boat, they are no good in big choppy water - too easy to take water over the bow.

The other huge tradeoff is the price.

 

[dan02gt]

Re: Sold my boat, need help on an upgrade - primary wakeboarding.

Two years ago a friend of mine picked up a loaded 2004 Moomba Mobius LSV with the 320HP EFI 350 and 200 hours for around $24K. For wakeboarding it's much better than a I/O. So look around and you might be able to find a dedicated V drive water sports boat in your price range.

 

[oldjeep]

Re: Sold my boat, need help on an upgrade - primary wakeboarding.

Two years ago a friend of mine picked up a loaded 2004 Moomba Mobius LSV with the 320HP EFI 350 and 200 hours for around $24K. For wakeboarding it's much better than a I/O. So look around and you might be able to find a dedicated V drive water sports boat in your price range.

Only problem is that a Moomba doesn't fit the "fancy" description They are the Bayliner of V drives