opinions on Air 206 and pricing

[rstevenson]

I currently own a 93 Ski Nautique. I am looking to get something newer and a little bigger with a tower and some ballast. My 93 does'nt have much of a wake (nor was it designed to have one) and I am wondering how much wake does an air 206 with full ballast put up? I know it's not going to be a super air, but is it decent? Will it keep a good intermediate boarder happy? Is the wake big enough to throw basic inverts off of? Also how much can I expect to pay for one? Thanks for the feedback............

[Air206]

We have an Air 206 w/o a Ballast tank..........We did that since:

1- In 2004, CC went to 1 stock tank which is only 200# - not enough weight.
2 - Our family slaloms a lot (the trunk w/o hard tanks installed holds many skis -even big ones).

The trunk will hold a 600# fat sac - so now we have much more weight when we need it and much more space when we need that.

The wake is good for boarding loaded and awesome for slalom unweighted. We went from a V-drive Excel to a 206 and find the boarding wakes almost as good as our old Excel.

Demo a SV-211 too, many on this site sure love theirs (you can't beat their stoarge too). Our Air is perfect for us!!! - a beautiful performer........

http://www.planetnautique.com/index....pic&pic_id=331

[Christopher-W.-Becker]

Consider a 216. They have 450 lbs of ballast when flooded. The slomn wake is good till about 25 off (going from memory here). I can get five skis in the trunk with the tanks (but tower ski racks are on the Xmass list for next year to keep the water out of the trunk). I have a family of five kids and we can spend all day on the lake in that boat. Wake boarding, knee boarding, and the required daddy slalomn runs (they hate sitting in the front for those). In the five year waranty, CC is going to see how many hours the LCS pumps can take cause I flood and pump all day long.

That one foot of lenght and a few inches of width makes for a good cross-sport boat.

My 2 cents. Pretty sure the dealers will tell you the same. Believe the '04 reviews agreed.

[Air206]

The desire for a better slalom wake pushed us toward the 206. The interest in wakeboarding had us demoing 216s also. I would agree w/ Chris that if you need people space, the 206 would be a tight fit (esp. w. full ski racks at the gunnels and all storage used). The handling and performance of the 206 will be better than and closer to what you are used to with your old Ski vs the 216........ certainly better than our 1992 boat......

Bottomline: drive and ski them. We were on the lookout for a 216 until we skied and drove a 206. All the Nautiques are great - just need to find one that fits your style. Have fun looking!!

[aquasox]

Just bought the 216 today. The wake is great for slalom to about 28 off. I like the the little extra room and the back seat vs. the 206. The 206 will give you a pure slalom competition boat.