What to buy. 212x, NXT20, Supreme S21

[Sheboat]

I know that the Chaparral also offers a boat with this type of drive.

 

[Chris Oneslager]

and four winns

 

[d_coyne1984]

I am not a fan for the money. I had the oportunity to compare the forward drive on a Monterey (really nice boat though) to a Centurion and while the forward drive is better/safer than an I/O, I think the price point they are selling at is too close to the more budget friendly inboards and the inboard still have a better wake/wave. The build quality on both boats seemed to be pretty equal though. I cannot vouch for other brands on that though. I do believe the forward drive boats are supposed to be better on fuel economy than the inboards and have a higher top end.

 

[Bill D]

We saw the Regal boats last year at a boat show. They are really nice. I especially liked the 24 FasDeck RX. Scratches a lot of the same itches as the Yamaha with the extended swim platform overall look, and interior setup. The head compartment was amazing. If I used it as an actual head and not a closet, the Regal would win hands down. My wife really liked the "Ultra Lounge" at the stern, but decided she would rather sprawl out in the bow. Also, at the time the FasDeck didn't offer the forward drive. I'm not sure if they do yet.

For us, the 242 won because of ease of maintenance, overall cost, and last but not least, this forum. The Regal forum can't compare to the knowledge base here. But, that's not to say that I won't have a Regal at some point in the future.

 

[swatski]

The other question, from a guy who has had major collision damage on the river, is "am I more likely to tear the prop up with it in front?". Again, I don't know but my gut is that makes the boat a little more vulnerable to underwater objects and beaching wear and tear.

I think that would be the key consideration for me. Maybe @Andy S can chime in?

 

[Andy S]

I think that would be the key consideration for me. Maybe @Andy S can chime in?

My Cobalt has the prop facing the rear and I have damaged it twice in the 5 months I've had my boat. I do agree that a forward facing prop would be more likely to be damaged than a rear facing prop. At least on my rear facing prop I have the leading edge of the foot to provide some amount of protection from debris or at least minimize the damage.

 

[swatski]

My Cobalt has the prop facing the rear and I have damaged it twice in the 5 months I've had my boat. I do agree that a forward facing prop would be more likely to be damaged than a rear facing prop. At least on my rear facing prop I have the leading edge of the foot to provide some amount of protection from debris or at least minimize the damage.

That is exactly what I was thinking. I also think about trimming the i/o up for shallow water, which could be semi-effective with a traditional prop, but I don't see how it would help with the reverse drive...

 

[jpass]

A friend of mine had one. Nice boat, but I think you'd be better off with a jet or inboard/V-drive. Those regals aren't cheap and for the money, I think there are better choices.

Just my $0.02

 

[Chris Oneslager]

I know I am asking a lot of non jet questions, but it helps me compare. Doing some research in the Dallas area and ran across GEKKO boats. Smaller maker, but darn good prices, it appears. Anyone been in one?

 

[luckie_529]

at the boat shows I always ask what happens to the props on the forward facing drives when they hit a log in the river. I have never received an answer but a couple reps told me that never thought of that happening. I know a normal out drive would be damaged too but i feel that it will take a large log. That is why we went with the jet but know I am scared of twigs and bark.

 

[Chris Oneslager]

Good point for people who run in rivers. Jets are the obvious choice in shallow or areas like rivers.

 

[JHC212X]

I had a 212x and used it for surfing and lounging. We got tired of filling ballast bags on the floor, seats and back swim deck.

Bought a Moomba Mondo and love it. Flip a switch and wait for the bags to be filled. Pretty good wave and is still great for lounging.

I think some one asked if the wake plate can be used as a trim and the answer is yes. At speed i have the plate down to keep the bow down and it works great.

If you're looking to surf buy a v drive with Surf tabs and integrated ballast!

 

[OrangeTJ]

I guess I'll chime in, since I've owned both a Yamaha jet and a V-drive. We owned our 2011 Yamaha SX210 for 4 years and bought an MB Sports F22 this year. From the outset, I recognize that a 2011 SX210 is not the same thing as a new 212X. We had a lot of great times on our SX210 and, for the money, I can't imagine having had more fun on anything else that I could have bought new at that same time.

Our Yamaha was 100% reliable, performed quite well, was perfect for anchoring in a cove or backing in right next to the beach, had lots of storage for its size, and had a dry and mostly comfortable ride. In terms of power, the 2 110s were really plenty at our low altitude lake. I say the ride was "mostly comfortable" because while the boat cut through chop as well as I'd expect any boat of that size and the ride was always dry, it also got pushed around laterally by anything other than nearly straight on chop or rollers. Crossing any kind of chop or wakes at obtuse angles could require quite a bit of helm input to keep pointed in the right direction. It was never dangerous but it was enough to make my wife want no part of driving it on anything other than smooth days. On the flip side, the boat had very fun and playful handling characteristics and the ability to just pivot on its axis at idle speeds was definitely cool. I can't imagine a more maneuverable boat. We liked the swim platform and the bow boarding ladders. My chief two gripes about this boat were the noise level at cruising speeds and that it really wanted to be either at forward idle or on plane. Trying take a leisurely 7 - 10 mph cruise was pointless since it still required about 4.5K - 5 K rpm to do that. In terms of noise, shouting was required in order to be heard over the engine noise at anything over about 25 mph. Rather than talk, we took to just playing our music loud to drown out the noise.

We've only had our MB since June, in which time we've put about 55 hours on it. So far, 100% reliability as well but obviously its too early to render a verdict on that front. Now, this boat cost about 2.1X what our Yamaha did (but much closer to what a new 212X is listing for), so it obviously isn't apples-to-apples, but the apparent build quality, materials, fit/finish of the MB is quite noticeably higher than our Yamaha. To be clear, nothing ever broke on our Yammie, so maybe it doesn't matter, but it's obvious that the MB is built more solidly and out of higher quality stuff - all graphics are in the gelcoat, stainless steel hardware and through-bolts, machined aluminum dash panels, rock solid fiberglass, thick vinyl, heavy and plush carpet, etc.). The MB rides better in all conditions - it is smoother in chop and tracks straight as an arrow at all speeds and in every condition we've had it in. The center tab works as very effective trim - when full up the boat has a pretty nose-high attitude, through tab adjustment you can get all the way to pushing the bow down tight to the water. Due to the windshield design, though, you can get some spray in the back when in chop with a side wind and the bow trimmed down low. The ride quality shouldn't be surprising since it is actually a deeper v than our Yamaha and the boat weighs quite a bit more. Steering is light and precise at all speeds. The boat won't turn quite as tightly at creeping-forward speeds but it still turns plenty well. Reverse is tricky because it really wants to pull starboard in reverse. Full lock steering to port results in pretty much going pretty much straight backward. Forget about steering to port in reverse. I haven't found that to be a real problem, but it is there. There's no comparison in the noise department. With the 6.2 V8, the boat just burbles softly at idle and even at cruising speeds, while the engine is clearly audible, normal talking voices work for conversations. Mine is propped for pulling power, so top speed is about 36 or 37 mph (as opposed to 45 or so in the Yamaha). At first I thought that would bug me but in practice it doesn't. Everybody seems most comfortable cruising between 23 - 28 mph and the boat is quite happy to do that with TONS of acceleration power in reserve for fun. Speaking of pulling power, our boat has 5,000 lbs of factory ballast and it can haul all of that up to wakeboarding speed(although I can't imagine ever wanting to try to hit THAT wake!). The factory surf system lets us switch surf sides instantly with the push of a button and no need to adjust ballast. The surf wave itself is awesome and can be tuned pretty significantly through the settings of the surf system hardware and interface. GPS speed control is spot-on perfect. Our MB has more interior space than our 210 did, which shouldn't be surprising given the fact that it is larger and a picklefork design to boot. Other than having a prop to think about with water depth (not really an issue on our deep lake), I see no downside for cruising/coving/hanging out.

 

[djetok]

H & H in OKC is the place that has the Yamahas and the Supreme I am looking at , and the NXT is at Grand.

H&H is a great dealer. Rick is a good dude and I would have bought mine from him but it sold before I convinced my wife on the Yammie.

 

[PMChapVortex]

Price out a Chaparral 223 VRX w/ the Aerial Surf Platform

 

[octavio3311]

Let me start off by saying - every style of boat is a compromise of sorts. There is no 100% perfect boat.
That said - My lake is dominated by wake boats, especially Nautiques and MC's - G23's and X's everywhere. I've crawled all over them - and friends have a x25 and a Bu MXZ. Absolutely gorgeous boats. Stunning.
However - the x25 was/is riddled with problems and electrical gremlins. And that Bu rides like a Sherman tank - brutal ride.

I've strongly considered moving up,but I just can't justify the cost. I've looked at Supremes, MC's and Centurions. I just haven't been able to justify - convincing the wife is out of the question.

And our styles have changed over the years. I started out boating with in 02' with a 02' Crownline. Sold it 12' for my 1st Yamaha - a 12' AR190. Then sold it in 13' for my current 13' 212x.
We've been super happy. It does everything we ask of it. We tube, wakeboard and surf. Does it specialize in any of those - no. But it does it just fine. We've even gone ropeless with enough people/cooler ballast. My 15 yo twins use to wakeboard a lot, then they surfed a lot - now they wanna chill in the cove with their buddies and then tube. I find myself taking the boards less and less every time we go out. So a dedicated wake boat is no longer in our sight.

2 more years and the twins will be off to college - so now we have our sights on a Cobalt. I see a Cobalt in our near future.

 

[octavio3311]

As for the price - yeah - Yamaha's are getting up there. If you're gonna offer a wake boat, and you're gonna price it almost in their range - then you better bring it. You need to make a real wake boat - with under deck hard tank ballast, wake shaping devices, swivel racks, etc.

At the time I bought my 212x, with all my upgrades, I was out the door for $58k. Back then, that price surpassed Moomba's, Axis' and was right on par with Supreme S21. Now the base price is $58k