Should I get a Wake Series Yamaha

[AceKicker]

My main question is should I spring for a Yamaha Wake Series boat, or will I be wasting my money?

My wife and I are looking for our first boat. Originally, she wanted a pontoon boat, but she has now turned the corner and wants a boat where we can do more water activities. I've only wakeboarded once, but had a blast and would like to start doing that. I'm 45, so I am not looking at becoming a professional or doing flips or anything crazy. Just getting pulled and doing some turns will be fun enough. I'd probably like to wake surf, too.
Our primary use will be to hang out with friends inside a barrier island in some ski canal areas and possibly explore islands near the ICW. Secondary use, but I would like to do a lot of it, will be water sports. From other posts, I think I do want to get at least an E or D (for the electronic throttles), but maybe being new to small boats I wouldn't know what I am missing without it.

Monetarily, I don't want to waste money, but I also don't want to regret spending a lot on a boat and wish I had saved a bit longer to get a Wake series 6 months down the road.

We are looking at the 22 footers as a nice middle-ground of more space but not too big.

We really like the Yamaha dealership near our house and we like what we've heard about maintenance and reliability with Yamahas, so we're pretty set on going with a Yamaha.
So...should we get a Wake Series boat or will one of the normal models suffice for our case?

Question 2, should we spend the extra $5k for electronic throttles?

Thanks for any thoughts or suggestions.

 

[Neutron]

My main question is should I spring for a Yamaha Wake Series boat, or will I be wasting my money?

My wife and I are looking for our first boat. Originally, she wanted a pontoon boat, but she has now turned the corner and wants a boat where we can do more water activities. I've only wakeboarded once, but had a blast and would like to start doing that. I'm 45, so I am not looking at becoming a professional or doing flips or anything crazy. Just getting pulled and doing some turns will be fun enough. I'd probably like to wake surf, too.
Our primary use will be to hang out with friends inside a barrier island in some ski canal areas and possibly explore islands near the ICW. Secondary use, but I would like to do a lot of it, will be water sports. From other posts, I think I do want to get at least an E or D (for the electronic throttles), but maybe being new to small boats I wouldn't know what I am missing without it.

Monetarily, I don't want to waste money, but I also don't want to regret spending a lot on a boat and wish I had saved a bit longer to get a Wake series 6 months down the road.

We are looking at the 22 footers as a nice middle-ground of more space but not too big.

We really like the Yamaha dealership near our house and we like what we've heard about maintenance and reliability with Yamahas, so we're pretty set on going with a Yamaha.
So...should we get a Wake Series boat or will one of the normal models suffice for our case?

Question 2, should we spend the extra $5k for electronic throttles?

Thanks for any thoughts or suggestions.

Will your boat be trailered or kept on a lift or in the water?
These boats are not ideal for extended stays in salt water. Not a lot of mechanical maintenance but proper flushing and cleaning is necessary

 

[AceKicker]

Will your boat be trailered or kept on a lift or in the water?
These boats are not ideal for extended stays in salt water. Not a lot of mechanical maintenance but proper flushing and cleaning is necessary

It will be trailered and I plan to wash and rinse the engines every time it comes out.

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

Well done on your post! That lets us know several things about how and where you’re going to use the boat. Also glad to see your wife made the turn from a pontoon..

Where are you going to keep the boat when not in use?
Will you have the ability to plug in a battery charger to keep the boats batteries fully charged?
How many people do you think will be coming out on the boat with you?

The reason I ask about being able to keep the boat plugged in is that the electronic drive systems need to have fully charged batteries to keep from having annoying faults. These boats don’t have very powerful charging systems in the first place, about 14 amps per engine above 3500 rpm, and, lead acid batteries take quite a few hours to properly charge, 8-12 hours. Even boats without the electric steering should be kept on a charger to have fully charged batteries before heading out for the day which extends battery life and assures the house battery has its full capacity for a day on the water. If you’re running around in the boat or doing water sports the boats alternators will definitely put charge back in the batteries, the battery switch and DVSR will make sure the start battery gets charged up first then charge the house battery when running, and when floating or beached will keep the start battery isolated from house loads so it’s ready to start engines and take off.

Having the ability to thoroughly rinse the engines and use salt away on them to keep salt from building up in the engines is crucial for years of trouble free use. If I’m not mistaken the procedure for using salt away is to flush the engines thoroughly with fresh water then introduce salt away and flush until it is seen coming out then stop the flush and engine and leave the product in the engines to break down the salt.

Salt away is also very helpful in cleaning the boat inside and out.

Here’s something else to consider. The 25’ models come with a head compartment, not big but plenty big enough to put a porta potty in and do your business in. That’s a nice convenience to have for those long days on the water. My boat usage is different from what you’re planning on doing with yours, but I spend long days on the water, I wouldn’t own a boat that didn’t have a head compartment or some way to have a porta potty on it. It’s a large storage for all of your gear and accessories for a day on the water as well.

As many have said…buy your second boat first.

 

[gthorson]

That's a question for the ages, and there is no answer. You're doing the right thing and thinking about it, next step after your research is to decide and don't look back, be happy in your decision.

I erred on the side of buy your next boat now. I got the 252XE, it's convenient to have the wake controls and E drive. No real problems yet. I don't have the auto wake shaper gates, that's what I wish I had. The ballast tanks are convenient but they use up storage space that I wish I had on non ski trips. The wave isn't great, so X or not, you will still wish you had more. I'm not a big music guy so the sound system isn't worth it. I think I would be equally happy with the non X boats, just with a different list of plusses and minuses. Maybe more minuses but I'd have $20k in my pocket.