YAMAHA WAKESURFERS - Looking for your honesty

[Five Faces]

TO ALL YAMAHA WAKESURFERS, IF YOU COULD DO IT OVER AGAIN WOULD YOU BUY ANOTHER YAMAHA OR BUY A WAKESURFING BOAT?

I'm torn and need your honesty...I'm downsizing from a Motor Yacht to a 23-24' boat.

I'm currently looking at two boats, a '16-'18 Yamaha 242X and a '15-'17 Malibu Wakesetter 23 LSV, I can get into a one (1) year older Malibu for about an extra $10K.

I would say our intended use will be about 60% watersports, primarily wakesurfing, 40% running around / floating around, etc. 95-100% freshwater use (might dable in salt with Yamaha, Malibu would be fresh only).

I love the lines, layout, swim platform of the Yamaha, but its seems fairly clear that it does not offer a surfable wake out of the box, and would require some work everytime you wish to do so. I like the idea of potentially using it in salt MAYBE 5% of the time, I like the cruisability of it, its the surfability that is giving me cause for concern.

AND YES...I realize this is primarily a Yamaha forum and answers will heavily sway in that direction, that said I'm looking for some honesty.

 

[Julian]

If your primary goal is wake surfing (60% of the time) then you want a wake boat.

If having a mixed use boat is important, then a Yamaha fits that bill.

 

[Five Faces]

I dream of having both, a mixed use boat that I can easily wake surf behind without mod's, does it exist?

 

[swatski]

If you are in the deep lake where you don’t have to worry about shallow water, and the boat stays on the lift, and you want to do 60% surfing, I wouldn’t even look at Yamaha’s.

If you want to keep only one boat and trailer to various places, personally - I would buy another Yamaha in a heartbeat.

I don’t see anything that competes right now. In the 24’ open bow Swiss Army Knife category. Lol.

Surfing is pretty good with minimal mods. A well tuned Yammie will surprise you with the wave quality, albeit it does not come from factory that way.

Especially if all your crew surfs the same side, set up can be almost as fast as in a dedicated wake boat.

My 0.02

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[swatski]

“YAMAHA WAKESURFERS - Looking for your honesty”
@Five Faces you have come to the right place brother!!

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[OrangeTJ]

Yamaha boats are great, but for your use case get the Malibu. There is nothing that says you can't cruise and float with it, either. In fact, lots and lots of people do just that. The interior layout and water level swim platform of most v-drive boats work great for just chilling.

 

[haknslash]

We use our Moomba with mixed use just as we did with our Yamaha. We love it! Seems to sip fuel less, much quieter, rides better and torque for days not having to worry with cavitation or jet wash. Loved our jet boat but once we got bit by the surf bug it became clear that we would be better off going vdrive. It's just easier to have fun, at least for us.

To answer your question if I could do it all over again I probably would have just gone wake boat IF I knew I was going to love surfing as much as I do. That being said we really enjoyed our time with our Yamaha and it was a great boat to dip our toes into boat ownership. We took it to the gulf a few times and that was great. We will just have to rent pontoons like we used to when going to the gulf now so at least we can still enjoy boating in salt and honestly not have to worry about hosing off the boat and trailer to prevent rust and let someone else deal with it on their rental lol. Knowing what I know now if you were to ask me would I ever go back to jet now that I've had both styles of boat, my answer would be no unless jets seriously come a long ways in surfing development and even then I just don't think it would be enough to make me want to give up on all the benefits we have from the vdrive. It just rides and handles so much better and the torque is addictive. I do not for one second miss any top speeds we used to hit in the Yamaha or the bouncy lightweight ride feeling.

 

[spatty99]

I recently went from Yamaha to Moomba, and there is no comparison for watersports. So given your usage, definitely v-drive.

 

[Stevenpigsooie]

Based on your use description, I'd buy the Malibu.

 

[J-RAD]

I'm driving and surfing my '16 AR240. I still feel like everytime I go out I got the right boat. It just does everything we want. I'm so glad I had the dealer install ballast in it prior to taking delivery too. We've done a few things to improve the surf-ability and performance over the past few years.

We do a lot of surfing with it. Setup can be a bit of a ordeal, but we're used to it now and it isn't much of a burden... we've got the procedure down pretty well. Thankfully we all surf on the same side for now, which makes it easy. There is a lot to be said for being able to just push a button or two and be set. Or push another button and change sides. I'm not sure how automated the Malibu is you're considering, if it has that much capability?

The quality of the wave is good enough I have been able to surf every Slingshot board and O'Brien board I've had in my inventory with ease (I'm a watersports dealer). It's good, but will never be like the waves of many of the modern wakeboats, although probably as good or better than many of the forward facing I/O Chapparals, Four Winns, Regals, etc...

I'll be torn when it comes time to search for a new boat because I have had such a great experience with my Yamaha. I'm holding out hope they continue to improve the surf-ability, and that the next iteration of the 24ft boats will include some more surf inspired enhancements. (That may be overly optimistic...?)

Still an amazing value for a 24ft boat.

 

[Neutron]

If you boat in a lot of skinny water, yamaha 100%. If shallow water isn't an issue then go with the Malibu

 

[suke]

For your use I'm torn. I'd LOVE to have a v-drive boat, BUT our lakes can get shallow without much of a warning and have trees in them(underwater forest). I know the lake really well, but every friend I have that's ever run that lake with any form of a prop has lost one due to a tree they didn't know was there. So for me it makes sense to go with a jet. Second I use mine in the salt from time to time. Not terribly often but a couple times a year. Grew up on those waters, but got bit by a sandbar. No biggie in the jet boat, anything else but maybe an outboard and it would have been ugly. Honestly I think you'd be happy with either purchase.

FYI 100% stock boat, using stock ballasts, and you can see the slack in the rope. Still learning, but I feel I'm not far away from being able to go ropeless. Granted I'm not 20ft behind the boat riding a really long deep/tall wave, BUT it does the trick.

 

[swatski]

With effort and extra expense you can get this behind a Yamaha, BUT - it is not a push button, definitely involved.
We have a lot of friends with wake boats and not many throw anything hugely better, if better at all, but theirs are factory setups that just work. Yamaha factory setup with Booster etc. is about half as good if that.


The Wakesetter will also give you a more cushy and more quiet ride in most situations on a lake. As everyone said, if no worries about depth and no offshoring adventures - Malibu is a no brainer.

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[buckbuck]

I am part of the same choir. If the water is shallow go Yamaha. Lots of water -get a purpose built surf tractor.

 

[2kwik4u]

The only benefit of the Yamaha I've not seen mentioned is the maintenance, or rather, lack there of.

I've never owned a V-Drive, buy have had an I/O before. The Yamaha driveline is significantly simpler and easier to work on than most all other drive configurations. Couple of bearings, couple of cables, and engine oil. No other drive or gearbox to worry about.

Might or might not be an issue for you. I love the simplicity myself.

 

[BigAbe75]

Another thought could be the ability to “mod” your boat. Having drilled a few holes in my Yamaha, I’m not sure I’d have the guts to drill holes in one of those fancy metal flake colored surfaces on the new wake boats. It’s bad enough drilling in to white, but maybe that’s just me.

I still say one of my favorite mods is my installed air inflator for blowing up tubes or the inflatable island/mat.

 

[haknslash]

This is what the maintenance schedule chart looks like for an Indmar Raptor engine....



For the winter storage you pull drain plugs....








In the spring you basically re-install drain plugs, check or add fluids....

 

[2kwik4u]

@haknslash I'm curious to see how it works out for winterizing your new boat. My old I/O all I ever did was pull the plugs, so it wasn't terribly bad to deal with.

The maintenance I hated was changing the drive lube, and Impeller on the outdrive. Followed closely with plugs/wires/cap/rotor. However that was also on a DECADES old design of an engine.

Perhaps the maintenance isn't bad on the new Vdrives, however they're still significantly complicated compared to a jet.

 

[Neutron]

@haknslash I'm curious to see how it works out for winterizing your new boat. My old I/O all I ever did was pull the plugs, so it wasn't terribly bad to deal with.

The maintenance I hated was changing the drive lube, and Impeller on the outdrive. Followed closely with plugs/wires/cap/rotor. However that was also on a DECADES old design of an engine.

Perhaps the maintenance isn't bad on the new Vdrives, however they're still significantly complicated compared to a jet.

I am sure modern boats no matter the drive configuration is much easier to maintain or winterize than older generations. But none easier than a Yamaha jet boat.
But lets not forget the true Wake boat will have just one engine and vdrive.
The Yamaha has 2 engines, 2 pumps, etc...

 

[haknslash]

@haknslash I'm curious to see how it works out for winterizing your new boat. My old I/O all I ever did was pull the plugs, so it wasn't terribly bad to deal with.

The maintenance I hated was changing the drive lube, and Impeller on the outdrive. Followed closely with plugs/wires/cap/rotor. However that was also on a DECADES old design of an engine.

Perhaps the maintenance isn't bad on the new Vdrives, however they're still significantly complicated compared to a jet.

I won't have to do anything for another 2 years.

When it does come time for me to do my own work it doesn't seem overly complicated. Accessing everything is pretty easy since there are large access panels for engine and vdrive. Couple of beers worth for when it's time I guess.