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

[haknslash]

Yes they make a nice boat. I may have gone with them if dealer wasn't far and they had a larger presence here. The MB dealership here could be mistaken for a garage if you did not know any better. Really like the F series we looking at. Just didn't have a good feeling about the dealer so I walked. Nice boats for sure and the deep v should ride nice. I liked the quick fill as well. Just wished they had a little more freeboard. I'm still havent warmed up to the redesign and I think @OrangeTJ 's looks better.

 

[OrangeTJ]

I haven't warmed to the new design, either. Too much going on, in my opinion. However, different strokes and all that. Re. freeboard - there are other boats with more, for sure. However, we've been out in some pretty unpleasant conditions on Lake Tahoe and never had water come close to coming over the sides, even with 13 aboard, and have only ever had spray over the bow, never a roller. We surf run with over 5K ballast and have yet to take a roller over the bow. That said, there's certainly nothing wrong with even more freeboard!

 

[anmut]

I keep building these boats and it keeps pissing me off that I have to spend thousands more over base price for features that should (and do on Yamaha) come standard... Cleats (only four) are extra? Spare tire on trailer is extra? Depth finder is extra?! The prop that's made for wake surfing, being paired on a boat sold for wake surfing, is extra $$?! Come on...

That said, I hope the boat shows happen this year because I really want to go look at them all in person.

 

[haknslash]

I keep building these boats and it keeps pissing me off that I have to spend thousands more over base price for features that should (and do on Yamaha) come standard... Cleats (only four) are extra? Spare tire on trailer is extra? Depth finder is extra?! The prop that's made for wake surfing, being paired on a boat sold for wake surfing, is extra $$?! Come on...

That said, I hope the boat shows happen this year because I really want to go look at them all in person.

Yamaha does the same except they hide it in the models rather than each model. For instance the lower trim Yamaha's don't come with depth gauge. You had to move up into an AR192 in my case if you wanted depth gauge. Same with the pop-up cleats. Yea Yamaha comes with 6 cleats including the midship cleat. However the placement of them is not ideal. The stern clean is way too low for a lot of our docks it was practically useless, the bow cleat needs to be moved back away from where the bow tapers in, the middle cleat is the only one that was in a decent spot... however we always used the tower for hanging a fender and the cleat for the dock line. I don't have this placement issue with only 4 cleats in my Max as they are in the correct placement on the boat. There was no spare tire included with my Yamaha so maybe that is a larger boat thing idk. So while it seems like Yamaha includes these things at no cost it's only because they force buyers to get into the higher trim models if you want the bells and whistles. You're going to pay for it no matter how you slice the bread.

The reason for prop choices is because some people live at different elevations or they may not be into surfing but rather wakeboarding therefore the won't need a prop made to pull a crapload of weight.

In the end it's all about choices and customizing a boat exactly with what you want and how you want it to look. That is something you don't get with a jetboat and IMO it's awesome to be able to allow people to spec something out how they wish.

 

[2kwik4u]

@haknslash What kind of bumpers are you running there? I might have missed you calling them out earlier in the thread. I have some cheapo black cylinder style bumpers from WalMart, and need to add a little space between my boat and the dock from time to time. What you have there looks pretty nice.

Also, 100% agree on the model "upselling". Comparing my 190 to your old 192 I miss a lot of the "nice touches". Little things that make the boat "feel" more upscale. Chrome cupholder rings, aluminum grab handles, and pop up cleats are the biggest "upgrades" that really change the look and feel of the boat. Mine "feels" cheap in comparison, despite being just as functional. I'll be upgrading some of those little things this winter.

 

[haknslash]

@haknslash What kind of bumpers are you running there? I might have missed you calling them out earlier in the thread. I have some cheapo black cylinder style bumpers from WalMart, and need to add a little space between my boat and the dock from time to time. What you have there looks pretty nice.

Also, 100% agree on the model "upselling". Comparing my 190 to your old 192 I miss a lot of the "nice touches". Little things that make the boat "feel" more upscale. Chrome cupholder rings, aluminum grab handles, and pop up cleats are the biggest "upgrades" that really change the look and feel of the boat. Mine "feels" cheap in comparison, despite being just as functional. I'll be upgrading some of those little things this winter.

I use the Exile Audio inflatable fenders and they are AWESOME! I will never go back to a traditional fender or really anything else out these since large inflatable fenders provide the most protection currently possible from a fender. LetsTieUp also have even larger sizes balls fenders. You can also use the kids hippity hop balls from Academy or some place but these are made of a stronger and more durable material than a kids ball.

Here are some pics of the fender deflated and it inflated to around 18” IIRC.

 

[OrangeTJ]

I keep building these boats and it keeps pissing me off that I have to spend thousands more over base price for features that should (and do on Yamaha) come standard... Cleats (only four) are extra? Spare tire on trailer is extra? Depth finder is extra?! The prop that's made for wake surfing, being paired on a boat sold for wake surfing, is extra $$?! Come on...

That said, I hope the boat shows happen this year because I really want to go look at them all in person.

Keep in mind that the actual pricing of these boats varys GREATLY from what you'll see in a "builder" on the manufacturer's website. Paying 15-20% less than "msrp" is pretty much the norm. I know in my own case, my sales price was about 78% of list and it didn't take a bunch of haggling to get there. Boat show pricing is usally not actually as good as you'll do just siting down at the dealership to do an order. Regarding props, in my experience most dealerships will let you specify whatever prop you want for $0 if you're having the boat custom built. Also, don't forget to ask for vinyl samples when you really get down to designing your own boat - when we did our MB, the dealership gave us a stack of samples that was literally 2" thick so we could decide for ourselves exactly which of the available materials we wanted for each part of the seating surfaces. The level of customizability possible on these boats simply can't be matched in the Yamaha lineup.

 

[OrangeTJ]

I use the Exile Audio inflatable fenders and they are AWESOME! I will never go back to a traditional fender or really anything else out these since large inflatable fenders provide the most protection currently possible from a fender. LetsTieUp also have even larger sizes balls fenders. You can also use the kids hippity hop balls from Academy or some place but these are made of a stronger and more durable material than a kids ball.

Here are some pics of the fender deflated and it inflated to around 18” IIRC.

View attachment 133052

View attachment 133051

Agree on the Exile fenders! I have 4 of them and absolutely love them. Soooooo much more effective (and easy to store) than traditional fenders.

 

[2kwik4u]

I use the Exile Audio inflatable fenders and they are AWESOME! I will never go back to a traditional fender or really anything else out these since large inflatable fenders provide the most protection currently possible from a fender. LetsTieUp also have even larger sizes balls fenders. You can also use the kids hippity hop balls from Academy or some place but these are made of a stronger and more durable material than a kids ball.

Here are some pics of the fender deflated and it inflated to around 18” IIRC.

View attachment 133052

View attachment 133051

Awesome. Thanks for the info.

Do you inflate them by lung power, or an electric device? Whats the "deploy time" compared to a set of regular fenders?

 

[Chevyguy2021]

We still love our Moomba Craz. I wish it was all white but it was the first 2021 that our local dealer had.
It does have the peanut butter interior which was a must.
We looked at a Max but didnt love the front of it, like a more traditional bow, so we bought the Craz

 

[OrangeTJ]

Awesome. Thanks for the info.

Do you inflate them by lung power, or an electric device? Whats the "deploy time" compared to a set of regular fenders?

We inflate them by lung power. Takes maybe 20 seconds. They are low pressure, high volume so not hard to inflate and nice and soft against the boat. When we know we're going to be tying up to other boats or a dock on an outing, we just blow them up and hang them from the outside of the tower so they are ready to go.

 

[Brad460]

We still love our Moomba Craz. I wish it was all white but it was the first 2021 that our local dealer had.
It does have the peanut butter interior which was a must.
We looked at a Max but didnt love the front of it, like a more traditional bow, so we bought the Craz

Do you have any interior pics? Really having a hard time deciding if we want to go tan in our interior.

Also, the one thing holding me back a little on the Max is that I am not in love with the looks (front too stout)..

 

[haknslash]

Awesome. Thanks for the info.

Do you inflate them by lung power, or an electric device? Whats the "deploy time" compared to a set of regular fenders?

I inflate them via electric pump at the beginning of the season and leave them inflated. I stow them in my rear locker so the deploy time is maybe 20-30 seconds if even that. My wife knows this is her role as we pull up to docks and such. As @OrangeTJ mentiomed you could inflate them by mouth fairly easy too.

 

[MGoMike]

Fun stuff! We love our MB and I'm always happy to talk about them. I'm not a "fanboy" and won't pretend it is some magic perfect boat and better than everything out there. If you don't want/need the latest touchscreen tech, I think they are a very solid choice overall. Happy to answer any questions that I can.

Awesome - appreciate it! A few questions to get me started .

1. I’m curious your thoughts on the drawbacks of MB Boats. You mentioned not a focus on touchscreens. In terms of actual functionality compared to something like a Moomba, are they missing features or just not as slick? It looks like they don’t have anything like the Moomba autowake system and no extra tab actuator like in Moomba’s Flow 3.0.

2. Info on their website it pretty sparse. Can you explain the difference between the “Classic” and “Alpha” models?

3. For MB, I’m focusing in on the B52 23 and the Tomcat F22. Are there significant differences between the two models beyond the bow (picklefork vs traditional) and a foot of length?

 

[Chevyguy2021]

Do you have any interior pics? Really having a hard time deciding if we want to go tan in our interior.

Also, the one thing holding me back a little on the Max is that I am not in love with the looks (front too stout)..

 

[Chevyguy2021]

Do you have any interior pics? Really having a hard time deciding if we want to go tan in our interior.

Also, the one thing holding me back a little on the Max is that I am not in love with the looks (front too stout)..

What about looking at a craz? It's got a normal front end lol

 

[Brad460]

What about looking at a craz? It's got a normal front end lol

The tan looks nice! We are hoping to be at $75k out the door...Which we can with the Max. I will be checking prices on the Craz too..

 

[Chevyguy2021]

The tan looks nice! We are hoping to be at $75k out the door...Which we can with the Max. I will be checking prices on the Craz too..

Ohhh gotcha. Yea the Craz will run about $85k OTD. Our build did. Its moderately equipped. Not loaded and not basic

 

[OrangeTJ]

Awesome - appreciate it! A few questions to get me started .

1. I’m curious your thoughts on the drawbacks of MB Boats. You mentioned not a focus on touchscreens. In terms of actual functionality compared to something like a Moomba, are they missing features or just not as slick? It looks like they don’t have anything like the Moomba autowake system and no extra tab actuator like in Moomba’s Flow 3.0.

2. Info on their website it pretty sparse. Can you explain the difference between the “Classic” and “Alpha” models?

3. For MB, I’m focusing in on the B52 23 and the Tomcat F22. Are there significant differences between the two models beyond the bow (picklefork vs traditional) and a foot of length?

1 - MB does not have the same type of automation represented by autowake. The still have an automatically deploying surf system that can be instantly switched between sides. MB waves are stout. I've ridden behind a number of very good surf boats, including Malibu 23 LSV and Nautique G23. Neither throws a wave as powerful and long as my own MB. The surf system is comprised of three tabs - one on each side and a center tab. The center tab also doubles as an overall trim tab to adjust ride attidude underway. I highly doubt you'd be disappointed by the surf characteristics and adjustability offered by the MB but it isn't as slick as Autowake.

The boats themselves are very well built and solid. Ours just finished its 5th season and turned over 300 hours and it has no rattles anywhere under virtually any conditions. Vinyl is high quality and has held up extremely well. It looks new, really.

2 - "Classic" is essentially the outgoing style that has been on the market for the past several years (with refinements & detail improvements each year). It has more conservative lines. "Alpha" is what's next for MB. It is overall a swoopier and more stylized boat design. To me some of the design features are reminiscent of Mastercrafts recent designs. Personally, I haven't warmed to the looks of the Alpha models yet but I will say their interior layouts look very nice, with aft seating, a big walk-through, etc..

3 - The B52 23 is just bigger. It is noticeable when you climb in. The F22 is still quite roomy, but the B52 is even moreso. As an aside the Moomba Max is next level in that regard! Between the MBs, the boats ride and handle very similarly but the 23 has more seating space behind the windshield. Both are deep v boats and handle sloppy conditions quite well. B52 is a bit more universally popular and therefore probably has better resale value retention, if that is important to you. Both will throw great wakes and waves, though some say the newest B52 makes an even better wave than the F22. I have an F22 and I have absolutely zero complaints about the wave and wake. For me, the F22 represented the right combination of size and style (I love the picklefork style). The marina where we slip the boat during the summer has a nominal length limit of 22 feet, so the F22 represents as big as we could go and still use our slip. Despite being a "22", the boat is actually just a hair under 24 feet long overall.

 

[haknslash]

New wake9 video of the Kaiyen and how they dialed it in to their liking.