Cobalt R5 WSS Surf Vs. Yammie

[CDENsomnia]

Hey All, My wife and I have been talking more and more about potentially getting something a tad bigger than our AR240 we have today. I have been doing a lot of research lately and it sure seems like the Cobalt R5 with forward drive is the most appealing. What I can't get over though is the price tag!

Has anyone else compared the Yamaha's with the Cobalts, specifically the WSS Surf editions? I have heard once you go drive one its over and you will HAVE to have a Cobalt. We are getting more and more in to surfing and the Yamaha does just fine but the cobalt would too. I wont go to a surf boat because we want to cruise and cove out as well...that 38mph top speed is a killer on the tow boats. Our primary purpose is to get a larger boat and maybe something does better in rougher water conditions. Anyone looked at the Cobalts? I would be glad to hear any feedback everyone has.

I am a die-hard yamaha fan having had a few skis and two boats, we just might wanted a little higher quality and the larger boat.

 

[Bill D]

@Andy S has an R5. They are sure sharp looking boats. But you're right, they don't give them away...

 

[jcyamaharider]

The wife and I got on one last year at the boat show and we both agreed if we ever moved up that boat would be in the running.

 

[Andy S]

As @Bill D mentioned, I have a 2016 Cobalt R5 not the surf addition. We love our R5, layout, fit and finish, and over all design is just outstanding but at times I do miss having jets. I looked at the WSS models but since neither the wife or I are in to surfing I didn't see it a something we needed. Now that I have owned my boat for a little over a year and have already have had the rear prop straightened 3 times (forward prop never seem to get damaged), I can only image how much damage I would have done to a forward facing prop.

As for price, the Cobalt dealer will negotiate on the price. When I ordered mine I got it at 25% off the MSRP.

Edit: As for trim tabs the ones on the WSS are massive.

 

[GoVols01]

Cobalt makes a beautiful, albeit expensive, boat. I heard they negotiate on the price a good bit though.

Considering that Malibu Boats (king of surf boats) just bought Cobalt a month or so ago, you might want to consider waiting a year or 2 to see what this new relationship breeds. Consider too that SeaRay and Regal make fine wakesurf boats as well, which will likely be easier on your wallet!

I considered the forward drive I/Os for a second, but I decided I don't want to be part of the learning curve for the new technology. My Regal dealer told me a customer screwed up his forward drive while just loading the boat onto the trailer!

 

[CDENsomnia]

@Andy S What kind of lakes do you boat in? Hows does it handle chop? We are primarily in deep water so I hope we wouldn't have too much trouble on the prop but that is certainly good information to have. I have been watching every video and doing as much reading as possible and sure seems like a perfect fit for us. I think the R3 is probably too small and the R7 is probably too big. They all are just gorgeous boats! I might try and go over to the dealer at Table Rock where we boat and see if I can look at one and maybe test drive one. I LOVE my jetboat but in some ways especially on the quality and fit and finish the Yamaha is starting to annoy me. I am VERY meticulous and just seems no matter what I do I can't keep the boat as nice as I would like. Since we have started boating at Table Rock pretty much full time the mid afternoon water conditions have really gotten to us, so it would be nice to have a boat thats more "seated" in the water rather than bobbing around.

Besides the prop, any things you hate or don't like? Which engine did you get? What upgrades did you get? Anything and everything you can tell me would be great as we are just now going through the motions of figuring out if this is even feasible.

@jcyamaharider If we both upgrade we could start a spin-off board called forwarddriveboaters.net and link it to our favorite board here! I would certainly have to figure out how I mount my grill on that boat. lol

 

[CDENsomnia]

Cobalt makes a beautiful, albeit expensive, boat. I heard they negotiate on the price a good bit though.

Considering that Malibu Boats (king of surf boats) just bought Cobalt a month or so ago, you might want to consider waiting a year or 2 to see what this new relationship breeds. Consider too that SeaRay and Regal make fine wakesurf boats as well, which will likely be easier on your wallet!

I considered the forward drive I/Os for a second, but I decided I don't want to be part of the learning curve for the new technology. My Regal dealer told me a customer screwed up his forward drive while just loading the boat onto the trailer!

Yikes! What did they do slide the boat sideways and hit the prop on the trailer?!

 

[Andy S]

@Andy S What kind of lakes do you boat in? Hows does it handle chop? We are primarily in deep water so I hope we wouldn't have too much trouble on the prop but that is certainly good information to have. I have been watching every video and doing as much reading as possible and sure seems like a perfect fit for us. I think the R3 is probably too small and the R7 is probably too big. They all are just gorgeous boats! I might try and go over to the dealer at Table Rock where we boat and see if I can look at one and maybe test drive one. I LOVE my jetboat but in some ways especially on the quality and fit and finish the Yamaha is starting to annoy me. I am VERY meticulous and just seems no matter what I do I can't keep the boat as nice as I would like. Since we have started boating at Table Rock pretty much full time the mid afternoon water conditions have really gotten to us, so it would be nice to have a boat thats more "seated" in the water rather than bobbing around.

Besides the prop, any things you hate or don't like? Which engine did you get? What upgrades did you get? Anything and everything you can tell me would be great as we are just now going through the motions of figuring out if this is even feasible.

@jcyamaharider If we both upgrade we could start a spin-off board called forwarddriveboaters.net and link it to our favorite board here! I would certainly have to figure out how I mount my grill on that boat. lol

I primarily boat on Lake Murray, SC which is a the 65th largest lake in the US, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_lakes_of_the_United_States_by_area and through most of the lake very deep, up to 200', but back in some coves it can get shallow. Besides the lake I have taken the Cobalt to Exuma, Bahamas with a stop in Bimini, Bahamas and this year we went to Abaco, Bahamas and the boat easily handled the open water conditions. Before adding trim tabs, the boat handled the chop better than the Yamaha, in my option it is due to the weight and being able to trim the outdrive, now that I have added trim tabs the ride is fantastic, very smooth.

As for size, with the R series you have to consider the length of the boat includes approximately 2' of swim deck, so my R5 with is rated at 25' 8" is on a 23' 8" hull.

I went with the smallest engine offered, Volvo-Penta 300hp (I think it is a 350 block). To me it was more about fuel economy than top speed with my boat will hit 50 with a full tank and the wife and I, I get exactly the same fuel mileage as a 2015 ar240. I have noticed that when I do have about 6 more people on boat the performance is down but it is rare I have that many people or need to go wide open, unless I'm running with @1948Isaac .

As for upgrades I limited them because of price. I did go with the factory shower, seadek on the swim platform, a tower, sea grass floor covering, mooring cover, and bow cover. The boat comes wired for ever options they offer so when I added trim tabs, swim deck lighting and under water lights it was plug and play. I also added 2 flag poles (same as the factory offers but I bought mine from a supplier at 2 for the price of one from Cobalt), 2 fender anchor location, and table with 2 mounts.

You need to sit in one and ride in one, you will immediately see the difference. I'm still a big fan of the Yamaha boats but comparing a Yamaha to a Cobalt is like comparing a Buick to high end Mercedes, both are very functional but way different in ride and quality.

 

[Andy S]

Here is my truck and boat.


Just before our test drive after arriving from the factory.

 

[jcyamaharider]

Very nice!!

 

[Port0222]

My Mother in Law has an R7 and it is a really nice boat. There are some thing in the layout that I do not like, but 1 thing is sure -- they are a solid boat. it handles Chop, waves, wind -- really anything that deters other boaters from taking their boat out. She even has weighted pillows which is a nice touch. $$$$ -- for the money -- it is hard to beat a cobalt.

 

[CDENsomnia]

@Andy S That's a gorgeous boat! Yeah I realized the length measurements...considering the yamaha is total length at 23' 6" or so in my model year, and thats with the integrated swim platform this will be an upgrade on the size. Do you feel you need the power of the superduty for the cobalt? The wife has an F-150 that we tow the boat with now...So did you end up selling your yamaha outright or did you trade it in? I am thinking I could sell my Yamaha pretty quickly with all the upgrades I have done over the years.

Hows the size of the bimini shade wise? I haven't been able to get a definitive answer on the length from the two dealers I have been talking with. Did yours come standard with the dual batteries? I would definitely go with with cockpit and bow covers vs. the mooring cover. Do you find that the sea grass carpet stuff gets in the way on the ski locker? I see in the videos you have to pull the carpet up just to access it. What I would really want is seadek throughout but heck who knows! Its all about the budget at this point! How about the head compartment size...thats one thing a lot of people don't use on the Yamahas and with a young kiddo we use it all the time! I live in kansas and thought about just driving down to take a factory tour. It would be pretty neat to time it when they were building my boat (well I should say IF i decide to pull the trigger).

 

[GoVols01]

Yikes! What did they do slide the boat sideways and hit the prop on the trailer?!

Bow missed the bow stop as he was going across the trailer a little crooked, due to wind. He hit the props on the submerged trailer frame, bending both props.

 

[RiverRat]

I'll be keeping an eye on your potential upgrade Bob. If you wait a year or two I'll drive down to KC and buy your 240.

 

[Andy S]

@Andy S That's a gorgeous boat! Yeah I realized the length measurements...considering the yamaha is total length at 23' 6" or so in my model year, and thats with the integrated swim platform this will be an upgrade on the size. Do you feel you need the power of the superduty for the cobalt? The wife has an F-150 that we tow the boat with now...So did you end up selling your yamaha outright or did you trade it in? I am thinking I could sell my Yamaha pretty quickly with all the upgrades I have done over the years.

Hows the size of the bimini shade wise? I haven't been able to get a definitive answer on the length from the two dealers I have been talking with. Did yours come standard with the dual batteries? I would definitely go with with cockpit and bow covers vs. the mooring cover. Do you find that the sea grass carpet stuff gets in the way on the ski locker? I see in the videos you have to pull the carpet up just to access it. What I would really want is seadek throughout but heck who knows! Its all about the budget at this point! How about the head compartment size...thats one thing a lot of people don't use on the Yamahas and with a young kiddo we use it all the time! I live in kansas and thought about just driving down to take a factory tour. It would be pretty neat to time it when they were building my boat (well I should say IF i decide to pull the trigger).

Before buying the Cobalt I sold an '05 F150 with 5.4l and bought the F250 diesel because the wife wanted a truck camper and the amount of choices for an F150 are very few. Unplanned a couple of weeks later at the boat show we bought the Cobalt, I still haven't bought a truck camper but it is still in our plans. I fully believe my F150 would have pulled the Cobalt just fine, the boat is 4880# dry and the aluminum trailer is 1k#.

I had an '07 SX230 that I traded in, it was paid for and the deposit on the new boat. They gave me a decent price, I probably could have gotten 2 or 3k more if I sold it myself but I would have had to come up with the cash for the down payment until I sold the boat, something I did really want to do.

The large size of the bimini with a tower is why I added the tower. I have always liked boats with towers but never like the small bimini's that typically come with them, so with the big bimini is why I went with the tower. Dual batteries are an option that I didn't added but might be adding this off season depending if I add more accessories. I'm not in my ski locker a lot but if you are you might get annoyed by always having to unsnap the carpet/sea grass to get in there. There was sea grass on the engine step over that this past off season I replaced with 2 pieces of seadek, I'm in the engine compartment enough (for storage) that the 1 piece carpet got on my nerves. The head compartment is very spacious, easy for me at 5' 11" & 210# to get in and out of it, a lot easier than on my SX230.

I really like the look of the sea grass but the down side is in the sun it gets pretty darn hot. I can see in my future going with seadek on the interior of the boat, probably in a year or so.