Boat Gurus?

[kickinassrt-10]

-Not too much into skiing anymore but if you like anything besides skiing like fishing or diving then a center console outboard would work great. I used to ski off the back of a jetboat and it was fun because of the sharp turns but the flatter bottoms of ski boats will give you a rough ride in any kind of choppy water, which your family probably won't like.

-Also avoid older I/O drive boats. You can tell because the back basically looks like a lower unit of an outboard engine that trims and the motor sits inside the boat. My brother works at a marina and these boats go in for maintenance twice as much as jet boats or outboard engine boats, not to mention extremely costly when drive goes out.

-I have 2 center console boats now. 23' Proline w/ 225 4 stroke and 29' Seafox w/ twin 225's 4 strokes. These boats are awesome to ski behind if wake and jumps are your thing. They have nice wake. The 29' is my offshore fishing and diving boat bc it has a lot of room and you stay dry on it/ family boat and the 23' is my intercoastal cruiser, sandbar boat and tube/wake board pulling boat.

Best advice to you is to sea trial any boat before you buy it and make sure it is comfortable, rides how you like and is fast enough for you.

 

[505'sFastestViper.]

We surf a lot so anything other then a v drive is out of the question.

 

[zcoupe]

To narrow down my criteria I would say my top needs are...

1.) tubing/wake boarding

2.) 8-10 passengers

3.) reliability


As I said before I am new to the boat world and have a lot to learn so all opinions and advice is welcome. Below are a couple of boats I am interested in. Feel free to school me on why or why not these options would be a good fit considering my criteria.

2004 Warlock Demon Limited 206lx - New and Used Boats for Sale - Boats and Boat Accessories

2003 Yamaha AR 210 Wakeboard Boat w/ Wakeboard Tower & Twin Jets 2003 Yamaha AR 210 Wakeboard Boat w/ Wakeboard Tower & Twin Jets | eBay

2000 MALIBU WAKESETTER VLK WAKEBOARD AND SKI BOAT

Blue Water Mirage Ski Boat

Whats the average cost of adding a wake tower?

 

[eddie102870]

Couple of grand on this side of the country. 3 tops

 

[505'sFastestViper.]

Couple of grand on this side of the country. 3 tops

Agreed...didnt like to but i had too lol:chain:

 

[viperhauler]

To narrow down my criteria I would say my top needs are...

1.) tubing/wake boarding

2.) 8-10 passengers

3.) reliability


As I said before I am new to the boat world and have a lot to learn so all opinions and advice is welcome. Below are a couple of boats I am interested in. Feel free to school me on why or why not these options would be a good fit considering my criteria.

2004 Warlock Demon Limited 206lx - New and Used Boats for Sale*-*Boats and Boat Accessories this isn't a great ski boat... the design of the hull, lack of ballast system, and i bet you'd get tired of that layout...

2003 Yamaha AR 210 Wakeboard Boat w/ Wakeboard Tower & Twin Jets 2003 Yamaha AR 210 Wakeboard Boat w/ Wakeboard Tower & Twin Jets | eBay my buddy has an ar230, great boat, easy to maintain, jet drives are very nimble, doesn't throw a wake like a true ski boat, but is very nice and functional... perfect for tubing and riding a wakeboard, but not for the intermediate or advanced wakeboarder (no wake)...

2000 MALIBU WAKESETTER VLK WAKEBOARD AND SKI BOAT this actually looks like a decent deal... malibu makes great boats, their design is tried and true, very reliable, and i like the layout of this one (i don't prefer the mid mount motors)... 2000 you're still getting into an older boat, but as long as it's been properly cared for, i'd say you have years of life in her, and you could always sell and upgrade...

Blue Water Mirage Ski Boat i don't know anything about this model, but same as the first boat you posted, i don't think it's right for what you want, and i/o's can be STUPID expensive to repair...

Whats the average cost of adding a wake tower?about $2k around here... more if you want options... like speakers, racks, polished, etc...

^^^^^^^^^^^ that....

 

[Jigsaw89]

Your 1st and 2nd criteria are going to be difficult to pull off while boasting an ejoyable ride for <= $20k.

To narrow down my criteria I would say my top needs are...

1.) tubing/wake boarding

2.) 8-10 passengers

3.) reliability

 

[NightRunner248]

I have a sae doo challenger 1800 240hp jet drive v6, and I love it! I've had this boat since it was brand new, almost 11 years, with minimal problems. it seats 8, ive pulled a big bertha tube with 3 grown adults and and another smaller tube with 2 grown women. I've also pulled 3 people on the big bertha, and a wakeborder at the same time, with no power problems. The challenger turns on a dime!! I mean im doing 30 and i can turn the wheel all the way, and do a 360 just like on a small sea doo! I have plenty of storage for life jackets,both tubes,ski's,towels,it has a dry storage tool box, dry glove box, and another dry storage box for cell phones and other electronics, basically when i think about it, all the storages locks down and has water proof lids.