Thoughts and demo rides of wake / towsports boats: Moomba Max, Axis A22, MB Sports

[OrangeTJ]

So I can’t spesk for the Max, but in my experience with my boat and several others I’ve been in and driven, the driver position is higher relative to the gunnels and windshield than it is in a Yamaha or other non-wake boat. Two reasons for this is thst these boats are often operated off plane when the bow is up and the stern is deep in the water (such as when surfing) so sitting higher allows better forward visibility. Also, you are often coming around to downed riders so the ability to see more clearly in front of the boat and over the sides at very close distances is a benefit.

 

[haknslash]

Odd question, but how is freeboard on the interior of the boat? It looks huge from the outside but in the video it looks like the interior is shallow if that makes any sense. The drivers seat seemed low and it still looked like the salesman was sitting up above the windshield. Does it feel like you are down in the boat when sitting/standing? For example in my boat it feels like the sides of the boat wrap around you when sitting. Hopefully this makes sense lol.

The salesman was 6'5" so he kind of dwarfs anything lol. The boat feels deep inside. I'm 5'10" and it felt deeper than my Yamaha or friends 242 boats. Sitting in the seats the side top bolsters and cushions are just above my arm pits so when I stretched out and rested them on top of the cushions my arms weren't angled down or up if that makes sense. It doesn't feel unsafe for kids or riders if that's what you're thinking. The captains chair I noticed sits pretty high. When I was driving I never felt like I needed the bolster unlike in my Yamaha which sits very low by comparison. The only time I flipped up the bolster was when we filled the ballast and did surf speeds. Even then the bolster wasn't really needed as the seat was set high but figured I'd see how the bolster felt.

Edit - I see @OrangeTJ posted the same time lol.

 

[OrangeTJ]

Great vid! Boat looks awesome. What engine was it running? Raptor 400?

 

[haknslash]

Great vid! Boat looks awesome. What engine was it running? Raptor 400?

Glad you enjoyed it! Sorry for the audio quality my GoPro has become super sensitive for some stupid reason. Yea it had the 400 in it and it never felt like it needed more power. It also had the high altitude prop which he said robs a little from top speed but helps with getting out of the hole and when ballasted up. The 400 felt like it wasn't even trying at 3,00o lbs ballast. The torque and sound that thing put out was really something!

 

[OrangeTJ]

Yes, it’s a stout power plant. That’s what mine has as well. I actually changed out to a less aggressive prop to reduce cruising rpm a bit and it still has more than enough grunt to wakeboard with 2800+ in ballast or surf woth 5600+. You are going to love that Max. Looks huge!

 

[96Pirate]

@haknslash What is making your decision to potentially go for the Max over the Craz? I know the price points are different, which you mentioned, but is there anything else that is swaying you? I know options are different ie. Tower, audio, non skid decking. Though I am not really sure of the differences in the tower other that the Craz having the option to have surf pockets on top of the Bimini.

When I was looking at the boat show I was also concerned with the realatively steep entry/exit to/from the swim platform on the Moomba’s. Some of the other brands seem to be shallower with some having the non skid Sun deck walkway, which is really nice.

Thanks for posting the video. Nice job and sweet boat.

 

[OrangeTJ]

Low walk through on these can be a liability if you stop quickly while drawing a big surf wave. At least if you don’t want water in your boat! They do make for easier ingress and egress when floating and chilling though.

 

[OrangeTJ]

But looking again at the pics of the boat, it does look like a BIG step up from the platform! Like twice as much as my MB. Man that MAx is really tall/deep!

 

[MattFX4]

The salesman was 6'5" so he kind of dwarfs anything lol. The boat feels deep inside. I'm 5'10" and it felt deeper than my Yamaha or friends 242 boats. Sitting in the seats the side top bolsters and cushions are just above my arm pits so when I stretched out and rested them on top of the cushions my arms weren't angled down or up if that makes sense. It doesn't feel unsafe for kids or riders if that's what you're thinking. The captains chair I noticed sits pretty high. When I was driving I never felt like I needed the bolster unlike in my Yamaha which sits very low by comparison. The only time I flipped up the bolster was when we filled the ballast and did surf speeds. Even then the bolster wasn't really needed as the seat was set high but figured I'd see how the bolster felt.

Edit - I see @OrangeTJ posted the same time lol.

Gotcha. Think part of it is the lens on your camera.

 

[96Pirate]

Low walk through on these can be a liability if you stop quickly while drawing a big surf wave. At least if you don’t want water in your boat! They do make for easier ingress and egress when floating and chilling though.

Yeah, the Moombas just seem to be higher than most of the others I looked at. I have not put a tape to them yet so it could just be appearance.

 

[haknslash]

@haknslash What is making your decision to potentially go for the Max over the Craz? I know the price points are different, which you mentioned, but is there anything else that is swaying you? I know options are different ie. Tower, audio, non skid decking. Though I am not really sure of the differences in the tower other that the Craz having the option to have surf pockets on top of the Bimini.

When I was looking at the boat show I was also concerned with the realatively steep entry/exit to/from the swim platform on the Moomba’s. Some of the other brands seem to be shallower with some having the non skid Sun deck walkway, which is really nice.

Thanks for posting the video. Nice job and sweet boat.

For my thoughts on Craz vs Max:

• I love the traditional look and clean, sleek lines of the Craz and gelcoat options are wider for color schemes....but... the Craz doesn't have an offset dash which seems weird at first to be picky over but man once you get these boats bow in the air you will really appreciate having a straight shot through the windshield. I'm still not 100% a big fan of digital dashes (yet) over conventional analog gauges .....but... the Moomba's leave the more important and redundant functions like blower, ballast fill, nav lights, acc, etc all as manual switches and not locked in a digital dash (a plus IMO). So if you go Craz you get two big analog gauges plus the digital dash but its in the center of your viewing like a traditional boat. The Max having it's offset dash just seems to really open up that area when you're driving the boat. There's a power outlet and cubby area made into the top of the dash for your wallet or phone and just feels more 'modern" than the Craz IMO
• Since the Max is the newest in their lineup it also has new features I suspect will trickle into next years' Moomba across the lineup of older models. Things like the side glove box access door and padded walk thru. The Craz and other Moombas do not have padding and upholstery in the walk thru and it seems like a small thing but to me this 1) protects your body from bruises and gelcoat from scratches while going to and from the bow 2) accessing the deep glove box from the side is really nice and conveinant 3) looks much nicer/higher end than standard gelcoat
• Aside from all the extra (massive) storage of the Max compared to any of the other Moombas, what I liked the most over the Craz was the wide bow. On the Craz it's a more traditional tapered bow, which looks sexy and sleek from the outside but it cuts into leg room and width on the inside (where it counts most). So I'll take a tradeoff of sexier and sleeker looks to have a wider and more functional bow. Also with the Max the subfloor ballast allows for DEEP storage under the bow cushions unlike the Craz.
• Taller freeboard on the Max.

I didn't find it too difficult going from the swim platform to the transom lounge. It is a steep step through if you don't use little semi platform area to get surer footing. It is a tall boat! Some of the other boats out there have a hard SeaDek/Gator Step walk through but to me that's not totally necessary unless you just don't want to deal with climbing over the cushions for wear and tear. This was my concern as well but after looking at the stitching, super thick padding and quality feeling materials I don't think wear and tear is as big of a concern as say it is with our boats. I guess time would tell. The other thing I don't like about the hard walk through on some other boats is that it effectively cuts almost a 1/3 into your lounge and chill area which otherwise would be nicely padded and very comfy to sit on or lay across and sun bathe.

I will say there is one point in the demo (at 13:00 mark in the video) I was coming off throttle to idle fully ballasted and the massive wall of water from the wave came rushing to us. I was about to give throttle thinking "oh shit I'm about to swamp us and get everything wet" but Greg assured me it wouldn't come over the back. The water hit the stern and made a massive water fountain as it crashed into us but it never came over! It was kind of scary seeing all that water but also cool as hell seeing it not come over!! I wished I had turned the camera around to show you the wall of water but I was too concerned/scared to keep the boat from getting drenched

 

[96Pirate]

Yeah, I forgot to mention the bow and dash differences. I have been tending to look at the more open pickle fork type bows so that was one thing I wasn’t sure about with the Craz. Analog vs Digital dash I am still up in the air I guess. I didn’t realize the storage was that much deeper with the Max. Thanks for that info. I guess I need to go look at them again.

 

[swatski]

Thank you, @haknslash and the Moomba Dealership, for taking the time to give us this very informative write-up!
Much appreciated!

EDIT: Going back to page 1 - got to love those massive trim/surf tabs. I suppose those make all the wave adjustment/attitude manipulation possible.

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[haknslash]

Thank you, @haknslash and the Moomba Dealership, for taking the time to give us this very informative write-up!
Much appreciated!

EDIT: Going back to page 1 - got to love those massive trim/surf tabs. I suppose those make all the wave adjustment/attitude manipulation possible.

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I enjoy taking and posting the videos for everyone. There is not a lot out on the Internet with this boat so i figured surely I wasn't the only one out there wishing for more footage of it on the water

There are videos I took on page 2 that I uploaded yesterday. Be sure to check those out if you haven't already. The boat is pretty legit! We manipulated those surf tabs and center smart plate while underway and it's a little harder to tell from the footage but in person it's amazing how much you can tailor the wave! It was nuts! From steep and poppy for airs to long and mellow for surfing way back and coming forward. Both looked to offer tons of power and push. When we went long the curl got real wide making it seem like you had enough push way out side form the back of the boat. I can't wait to go back for another demo in the summer and get a chance to surf behind it!

 

[BigN8]

Anyone notice how they hung the fenders on the dock lines when the boat was tied to the dock? I've never thought to do it that way, and after seeing that I'm thinking.....why did I never think of that? Pretty slick way to do it. Normally I always tied 2 fenders to something then used 2 seperate dock lines. They essentially eliminated 2 lines. Slick......

 

[haknslash]

@BigN8 Yup I caught onto him doing that as well. I feel like a retard never thinking of it before as I use the same bungee lines

 

[swatski]

Anyone notice how they hung the fenders on the dock lines when the boat was tied to the dock? I've never thought to do it that way, and after seeing that I'm thinking.....why did I never think of that? Pretty slick way to do it. Normally I always tied 2 fenders to something then used 2 seperate dock lines. They essentially eliminated 2 lines. Slick......

Good catch - that is pretty slick indeed.
The only trouble with Yamahas is - those cleats are all over the place and not really lined up/leveled.
I had some fender locks installed for that reason. But the Moomba dealer trick could still be useful with those bungee lines, when launching alone. So - thanks!

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[haknslash]

Today I drove to the local Malibu and Axis dealer to check out some boats. I wasn't that interested in Axis until I started checking into their stowing dimensions. Both the 2018 A20 and 2017 A22 I looked at would clear my garage opening. We cranked them down lowest on the jack with tower folded and got them down to 82"! My garage is only 21' deep but it's a two car garage and wider than it is deep so I could angle a longer boat in and should be able to make it fit. The dealer also offered to bring the boat to myself to make sure it will fit after we do a demo ride next weekend. My garage is a mess right now so I won't have it cleaned by then to try that lol so I'll likely just make a crude PVC layout to see what would fit.

So garage wise an Axis boat may work for me. However once I crawled inside I wasn't too impressed by all the plastic in the helm and cockpit. A lot of the plastic panels you can push them and there is some space behind so it just felt a little cheap for the price these things go far. Obviously Axis is Malibu's budget brand and there will be cost cuts in materials and features to make the Axis cheaper but man it is a big difference from a Malibu to an Axis. Moomba is Supra's budget brand but to be honest I couldn't tell as big of a difference in quality between the two unlike the Axis to Malibu. It also didn't help the Axis quality concerns either when the salesman was showing me the soft touch panel for the controls only to have it fall off the dash. He said looks like someone robbed some parts from it to help a customer but honestly it just looked like the soft touch panel was glued onto the dash. You can see it tilted in the images below, it's the small gray panel on the dash to the left of the steering wheel. It's just hanging there now lol. Also the "Chillax" seat that swings up on the port bench side so people can face backwards with back support looked like it needed to be adjusted or something as it didn't swing up easily and also seemed to be binding when he attempted to stow it back down. Just some things that kind of left me feeling meh compared to the Moomba.

They are little nitpick things but something to be aware of if you go check out these boats. I plan to take the camera with me next weekend and will post a new thread on the Axis. Those cons being said I still liked the boat and would likely own one for a good deal as it would fit in my garage which is near my highest priority for a boat, so that does go a long ways for me. The A22 came with soundpak2, two 850 bags in the rear, a 750 bag under the seats in the bow, manual wedge, surf wrist strap that you can change surf side tower speaker volume and boat speed control. When you include the ballast bags plus integrated hard tanks and the wedge it's over 4500 lbs of ballast! The seat swivel was also nice and machined aluminum that you adjust from the side of the seat unlike the Moomba and my Yamaha where it's a plastic paddle handle under the seat which is a PITA to get to. Unfortunately Axis changed from a side seat adjuster in the 2018's and went to an adjuster under the front of the seat which is stupid imo and he salesman agreed. So I liked the older seat adjuster in the 2017 by far to the newer one in the 2018's I looked at in the Axis T22 and Axis A20. I also really liked the gel coat colors and scheme on this leftover A22 they wanted me to look at....

 

[96Pirate]

When I talked to my local Axis dealer here they did confirm with me that the Axis brand would fit under a standard garage header. At least the 23 and 22 footers. I have not tried it yet but they will bring it by to test in my garage.

Axis was one of the boats that I was originally looking at. Big reason was that it would fit in the garage. Not really sure if I want to do that, too many tools, so it might not be that big of a deal for me.

And there are things that just seem lower grade to me with the Axis brand. That make sense based on the pricing. The biggest thing I do not like is the dash though.

@haknslash Please let us know how the boat and wake compares to the Moomba. The Axis is supposed to throw out a nice wave.

I have also opened up my search to the Tige R series. Real nice looking boats.

 

[haknslash]

@96Pirate yea the plastic dash and side panels for the helm and speaker cockpit areas were by far my biggest dislike on the boat. It just reminded me of a 80's GM product with lots of cheap plastic and exposed screws holding it together. They should have just kept the sides bare gel coat and added in padded pockets and areas like Moomba does. It comes away much nicer and higher end with a more finished appearance. I reckon that is why so many are on the used market. I do believe they are the most sold budget brand boat though so that also explains the market saturation.

The tower also was not counterbalanced unlike the Moomba Max. Folding it down requires you to slide the captains chair forward and turn it to its side. The tower is not light and when you add speakers it gets heavy.

That being said Axis are supposed to throw a nice wave. I just don't know if that is enough to look past all the other things. The amounts of plastic is the biggest issue I have and it's not something you can easily modify or change so you're likely stuck with looking at it and feeling it every time you go out. Biggest positive it has going for it is that it could likely fit in my garage which is huge for me. The A20 and A22 appeared to be about the same height on the trailer. With trailer level the A20 measured around 86" to about where the tower sits once folded. Then we cranked down the trailer jack and it dropped to around 82" so this would for sure fit under my header. Axis is probably the lowest height wakeboat Ive found in my searching so far. The Moomba sit much taller because of the taller freeboard and tower.

The Tige R series are really nice looking boats. I love the sleek lines of their boats especially the side of the hull. But they are smaller boats compared to others and they aren't really in my budget. The R20 would fit in my garage I think but it looks almost like a 19' they look so small by comparison to other 20' boats. Their Convex surf system thing under the swim platform isn't the nicest thing to look at but it clearly works well.

I will for sure let you know how it compares to the Moomba. Price wise I was able to load out the Max with nice options and still come out cheaper than the leftover Axis A22 I looked at and they quoted me on. Hell they wanted $68k for the stripped down 2018 A20 which had zero options. No carpet and base speaker package (which means more plastic since there is no sun under your feet but rather a big plastic filler piece in its place). For that kind of money I could get a 22 or 23 foot Moomba nicely optioned out.