Upgrading from an outboard boat

[DaveD]

Originally Posted by dogpoo

I presume that rash statement excludes the 2001 Nautique. The hull that inspired the Super Air. Plus you can buy three of them for 15k and still have change.

of course it does

the bloke is lookin to spend up to 15 k not 3 k and if you look at the nautis he mentioned in his thread you will see wot i was talkin about

[ally606]

I love all the subjective comments, even better when you go to the US wakeboard sites...

Anyway, not wanting to get into any slagging matches with which boat is better than others, which dealer gives best service etc, I would say add the '93 to '97 Sport Nautique to your list. It has EXACTLY the same hull as the super air nautique and when weighted correctly ie a couple of fat sacs at the stern and a sac in the ski locker you will get a collosal wake. The only difference being that the engine is in the middle, better for all round handling and ease of servicing of the engine but not so good when it comes to the erganomics of the boat ie seating lots of people and hiding fat sacs.

Mastercraft do have the market cornered in the UK, in my view the prices of secondhand Mastercrafts are artificially higher than other comparible brands but MC UK do offer extremely good service, have a well stocked parts department so you are buying not just a boat but the backup also.

I bought my sport Nautique last yr after having owned a mastercraft for about 9 years. I've added a tower, perfect pass and auto ballast system and couldn't be happier. The service from TV Ski has been comparible to that received from Mastercraft so fingers crossed I don't expect anything different in the future.

Good luck with whatever you buy, any questions I am sure people will be very happy to help.

[ally606]

just clicked the link to the Prostar 205. For £15750, that is a damn good deal. Perfect pass can be imported for £600, you can fit it in an evening, Towerboy will sort you out with a tower and a ballast system for say a further £600 depending how complex you want to make it.

[rossl]

Originally Posted by Brad_K

I have had a nautique for the past 3 years and have just sold it. It was an old one and a great boat but i will NEVER EVER buy a nautique again due to the rubbish dealer. It was a 1980 boat and a few months after i brought it the engine went bang. I didn't buy it from the dealer but after ringing around decided to get it rebuilt by the main dealer who was much more expensive than others but i wanted it doing properly. long story short, it was in the dealers for 2.5 years and still not running.

My next boat will be a mastercraft.

There are 3 nautique dealers in the UK. i have dealt with 2 of them and they have always been top notch. 2.5 Years? Dropping in a new engine would take 2.5 Days ...

Rossl

[nelson1j]

Just to clear up the 205, we went to look at it, and it has been used on salt, the engine would not fire (rusted battery terminals, I ended up having to bypass it using a bolt), the dash wasn't working, upholstery has mil-dew stains, the cover is f*cked, evidence of corrosion around the engine mounts (1 new, 1 rusted), trailer wheel hubs rusted, manifolds don't look great (not sure if they have been regularly flushed), propshaft/prop/rudder replaced due to grouding on rocky bay (raises questions about damage caused to engine), could not verify the hours (due to dash problem), the brokerage guy selling it was giving us a different story to the owner about service history (he has offered the owner 10K) etc etc.

All in all it just did not inspire confidence, and by the time we added a MC tower (2K), p-pass (1K), LPG (2K+Vat as is EFI), it got very close to an X star 2001 for sale on boatsnoutboards for £20K (which has all te toys plus ballast etc etc). Don't get me wrong it could be a great boat, if the use on salt and lack of care hasn't caused damage. It was just too much of a risk for us.

On a side note the economy is failing, fuel is going up, and the number of heavy duty MC's going out near us is decreasing as they are to expensive to run (an X2 chap uses £120 per day). All told this means the price of them will come down as they are a lux item.

I apprec that 2001 Nauties are good, and have the wake, but we are still considering the 196 for 10K, as it is cheap, and has PPass, Tower, reasonable hours, and with a fat sac may be good enuff, as we are never going to be pros. Anyone boarded behind a 196? or should we just buy a 2001?

[Tower_boy]

I'd be tempted to say, that on a practicality side, the 196 may be the boat to go with. No it won't be as epic to ride behind as an X2, and no it won't be quite a great as a 2001. However it will do you fine for the estuary I'd reckon so it could be worth a stab.

Whatever happens its going to be a major step up from what you are riding behind now.. maybe you can think about changing again in 3-5 years... can't see you losing much cash on a £10k boat unless something goes bang...