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

[spatty99]

We made the switch to v-drive a couple years ago and it was perfect for us. The best option really depends on your usage. You would certainly increase your watersports usage after switching though.

I will note that Yamaha boats are no longer the cheaper option. There are extremely impressive wake boats available for the same or less (actual sale price, not MSRP) than a Yamaha wake version, e.g. the Moomba Helix (21') or Max (23'). Wake boats have a higher price ceiling though ($300k!). Most wake boats also have a higher freeboard than a Yamaha, simply a byproduct of designing the boats to accommodate tons (literally) of ballast.

 

[haknslash]

Beaching boats I'll never understand. You either risk scratching or damaging the gel coat or hard parts or you put in an ugly keel guard. And for what? So you can walk off the front of your bow? Just makes no sense for a fiberglass boat to me. I can understand if it were a pontoon and you didn't care about running it up the land but even then it just doesn't appeal to me at all. Any time I see someone selling a boat and they post a pic of it beached it's an instant NO from me and many people see it this way.

 

[haknslash]

I have to admit that, after getting into wake boarding and surfing (something I had never done on any previous boats of ours, and wasn't a thought when we bought the new 212S this spring), I'm flipping back and forth between buying a purpose-built tow boat.

On one hand the engines are quieter, I wouldn't have to setup three ballast bags and could switch between goofy foot (me) and regular (everyone else) easier and wake boarding would be way more enjoyable without the jet spray. On the other hand, they're more expensive, more maintenance, hang low in the water (big deal for us boating on a river that ranges from 5-15' in depth) and overall slower on the high end.

I also like that you can get more people in a tow boat - however the bow seating seems limited and that's where the majority of our friends and family like to sit.

15-20 minutes to setup the boat for surfing, and then another 15 minutes to swap sides. Worth paying another 40k?

If your river is only 15 ft it won't matter if it's a jet boat or a wake boat the wave will be greatly diminished.

As far as draft goes we take our wake boat 95% of the places I took my jet. You don't boat with a jet in less than 3' of water or at least you're not supposed to unless you like clogging the cooling system with silt and sediment. Can you drive a jet boat in less than 3' of water absolutely but is it advised not really. Most wake boats have a draft of around 3' ...so what is the difference? That is why to me it has't affected where we drive our boat compared to the Yamaha we had.

There is A LOT to be said about your time on the water if you want to do watersports. Setup and ease of use is a HUGE factor. With a wake boat there is minimal effort involved with getting it ready to surf or do any watersports. With a jet boat even if you incorporate integrated ballast pumps there is still a good bit of setup and hassle having to go to the stern or get bags out and you can forget it if you have friends that surf on goofy AND regular. We tried to deal with it on the Yamaha but it got old real fast and just was frustrating sweating your ass off setting up the boat all for a mediocre wave. Not slamming against jets, just being honest since I had both and dealt with setting up a jet boat to try and make a wave. I had a 19' and my buddy had a 242 Limited and it was the same process, in the end a lot of labor and effort in the summer heat. One thing I will say is that it does take time and understanding a surf tab wake boat versus something like a surf gate boat on a Malibu or Axis. With a tabbed system it may take you several hours to grasp what the boat likes to do but to me that is part of the fun in it and that you truly have endless customization to how you want to setup a wave. It can be frustrating at first but rewarding once you understand what the boat likes.

In the end we are glad we switched and really we use our boat about the same as we did with our Yamaha in terms of cruising and lounging in the cove. The main difference is we do more watersports because there is minimal fuss and setup so it just makes life much easier which makes the boating experience far more enjoyable. Add in the fact you can customize the wake boat to how you like it in terms of options, colors, graphics, interior design whatever so it truly doesn't look like every other boat out there... even of the same brand, make or model. You can't really do that with a jet boat because they only come in one or two cookie cutter design layouts. If you like being able to make something your own it's awesome and something that truly feels like you created it rather than just buy something everyone else has.

 

[anmut]

If you're river is only 15 ft it won't matter if it's a jet boat or a wake boat the wave will be greatly diminished.

As far as draft goes we take our wake boat 95% of the places I took my jet. You don't boat with a jet in less than 3' of water or at least you're not supposed to unless you like clogging the cooling system with silt and sediment. Can you drive a jet boat in less than 3' of water absolutely but is it advised not really. Most wake boats have a draft of around 3' ...so what is the difference? That is why to me it has t affected where we drive our boat compared to the Yamaha we had.

There is A LOT to be said about your time on the water if you want to do watersports. Setup and ease of use is a HUGE factor. With a wake boat there is minimal effort involved with getting it ready to surf or do any watersports. With a jet boat even if you incorporate integrated ballast pumps there is still a good bit of setup and hassle having to go to the stern or get bags out and you can forget it if you have friends that surf on goofy AND regular. We tried to deal with it on the Yamaha but it got old real fast and just was frustrating feet sweating your ass off setting up the boat all for a mediocre wave. Not slamming against jets, just being honest since I had both and dealt with setting up a jet boat to try and make a wave. One thing I will say is that it does take time and understanding a surf tab wake boat versus something like a surf gate boat, with a tabbed system it may take you several hours to grasp what the boat likes to do but to me that is part of the fun in it and that you truly have endless customization to how you want to setup a wave. It can be frustrating at first but rewarding once you understand what the boat likes.

In the end we are glad we switched and really we use our boat about the same as we did with our Yamaha in terms of crushing and lounging in the cove. The main difference is we do more watersports because there is minimal fuss and setup so it just makes life much easier which makes the boating experience far more enjoyable. Add in the fact you can customize the wake boat to how you like it in terms of options, colors, graphics, interior design whatever so it truly doesn't look like every other boat out there. You can do that with a jet boat because they only come in cookie cutter design layouts. If you like being able to make something your own it's awesome and something that truly feels like you created it rather than just buy something everyone else has.

Good read, thank you. Do you have any recent wave pics from your boat, boarding or surfing?

 

[haknslash]

Good read, thank you. Do you have any recent wave pics from your boat, boarding or surfing?

Nothing too recent since I haven't been able to get to the lake the past few weekend due to work .We are leaving today for a vacation on the lake and will be there until Sunday so I'm sure I'll have footage. Weather looks crap for our trips but I don't care. Just ready to get out of the house and office and onto the lake rain or shine lol.

Here's some pics I've posted before I think. These are after I upgraded ballast to the Wakemakers kit so now I have around 4,770 lbs of ballast. 18-19 Max came with only 3k lbs of ballast and my big boat and light crew needed more weight. The 2020 Max had optional 4k ballast and now the 2021 Max comes with 4k lbs stock. I'm 5'10" and the wave is about waist high at its highest point. The fisheye lens of the GoPro makes it looks smaller but in reality it's larger of course.

 

[haknslash]

To give you an idea of how much difference having more ballast adds, you can see below my stock wave with 3,000 lbs wasn't ideal with my 230 lb butt and only wife and kiddo onboard. If you have a larger crew this may have been fine but we always have a light crew so needed more weight. Then look below and see how much of a difference adding 1,770 lbs makes!

 

[anmut]

To give you an idea of how much difference having more ballast adds, you can see below my stock wave with 3,000 lbs wasn't ideal with my 230 lb butt and only wife and kiddo onboard. If you have a larger crew this may have been fine but we always have a light crew so needed more weight. Then look below and see how much of a difference adding 1,770 lbs makes!

Wow, that's an incredible wave! I noticed you switched boards between the above post and this post - both skim style still w/ three fins?

 

[Lynkage]

To give you an idea of how much difference having more ballast adds, you can see below my stock wave with 3,000 lbs wasn't ideal with my 230 lb butt and only wife and kiddo onboard. If you have a larger crew this may have been fine but we always have a light crew so needed more weight. Then look below and see how much of a difference adding 1,770 lbs makes!

Okay.... now you're just showing off!! Excellent!!

Have fun this weekend! We are headed back to Powell Friday for week as well!

 

[anmut]

Btw I will say one thing - after I joined all the Facebook groups for the different tow boat manufactures, I noticed one thing immediately: Yamaha people seem to be way beyond nice compared to people that own brand new tow boats. Especially in the groups for Nautique, Centurian, and Supra, wow there are are some real high-level d*ck bags that troll around those groups.

 

[d_coyne1984]

Btw I will say one thing - after I joined all the Facebook groups for the different tow boat manufactures, I noticed one thing immediately: Yamaha people seem to be way beyond nice compared to people that own brand new tow boats. Especially in the groups for Nautique, Centurian, and Supra, wow there are are some real high-level d*ck bags that troll around those groups.

I don' spend a lot of time on other brand forums, but the Centurion/Supreme FB page I think is really good and most people are very helpful. The only time I see some trolling going on is when people are to lazy to do a quick search before asking a question that has been asked 100 times before, like, "I just bought my <insert boat model>, what are the best ballast settings for surfing?" Unfortunately for me, the Centurion/Supreme forum is pretty dead and the FB page is the primary source of owner communication so it is far less organized than in a forum format. You are totally right though that none of them are as good as this forum. I think that is why us converts still really like coming here and still enjoy helping out when we can. I love that this thread has kind of morphed into the general wake boat convert place to get and leave good info for those of us that have decided to make the switch.

In my experience, if you want to meet some REAL dick bags, start following some of the truck forums. Holy hell you can't ask a single legitimate question without getting, "If you have to ask you should just sell your truck now," from at least a couple people.

 

[suke]

Beaching boats I'll never understand. You either risk scratching or damaging the gel coat or hard parts or you put in an ugly keel guard. And for what? So you can walk off the front of your bow? Just makes no sense for a fiberglass boat to me. I can understand if it were a pontoon and you didn't care about running it up the land but even then it just doesn't appeal to me at all. Any time I see someone selling a boat and they post a pic of it beached it's an instant NO from me and many people see it this way.

I do it long enough to get everyone off the boat, then float it out and anchor it. I've put on a keelguard on everything I'd own and would do so on a wake boat, not cause of beaching, but other random things in the lake. Also the beaching is A LOT more popular if you've spend any time in salt, which we do. Tons of sand bars and you'll end up beached whether you want to or not. LOL!

 

[anmut]

In my experience, if you want to meet some REAL dick bags, start following some of the truck forums. Holy hell you can't ask a single legitimate question without getting, "If you have to ask you should just sell your truck now," from at least a couple people.

100% that - anything auto related... wow.

 

[OrangeTJ]

Awesome pics haknslash! Wave is looking goooood! Glad you're enjoying the wakeboat experience. Just for fun, here are a few pics from the Lake Tahoe trip we just came back from. Running a bit lighter than normal but still somewhere north of 4,400 lbs of ballast (about 600 less than we run at low elevation). Fun fun!

 

[haknslash]

Got to our rental lake house today and the views are amazing, even from inside the house!!

 

[OrangeTJ]

Wow! I hope you get to have a good long stay! That dock setup is beyond awesome.

 

[haknslash]

Wow, that's an incredible wave! I noticed you switched boards between the above post and this post - both skim style still w/ three fins?

The Doomswell Nubstep is the all white board. It’s a little small for my weight so I don’t ride it much and will be selling it or swapping it out with my dealer for a 5’ board. The other is a Hyperlite Broadcast that gives me enough surface area to surf ropeless. I love the Doomswell but just a little too small for my weight.

 

[haknslash]

Wow! I hope you get to have a good long stay! That dock setup is beyond awesome.

Yea house is legit! I’m not going to use the lift though because the frame looks too close and would likely screw up my shaft or prop. Going to get the boat in the morning. Weather will start to clear out tomorrow hopefully

 

[Lynkage]

Yea house is legit! I’m not going to use the lift though because the frame looks too close and would likely screw up my shaft or prop. Going to get the boat in the morning. Weather will start to clear out tomorrow hopefully

Wow!! Sweet setup! Enjoy your weekend!!

 

[haknslash]

I do it long enough to get everyone off the boat, then float it out and anchor it. I've put on a keelguard on everything I'd own and would do so on a wake boat, not cause of beaching, but other random things in the lake. Also the beaching is A LOT more popular if you've spend any time in salt, which we do. Tons of sand bars and you'll end up beached whether you want to or not. LOL!

We went to the gulf several times with the Yamaha and also with POS pontoon rentals when we didn’t take the jet boat and still did not beach. The sand is basically finely ground shells mixed with sand and I’m just anal about my gel getting scratched. I know some people don’t mind beaching but just not for me. On our lake it can get rough and the thought of a big wake coming by pounding the boat just isn’t for me and my ocd lol.

 

[haknslash]

We are on a peninsula so I had to walk across the street to see the sun setting. We should have some killer sunrises though since we face east.