200 booked thru December!!

[2gofaster]

I absolutely think the mfr's need an economy ski boat. Something that retails in the $32-35k range with a base single axle trailer and ZO. Something without a rear seat, no coming pads, analog gauges, etc. Just a drivers seat, observer's seat, and ZO.

Uhh..
CC 176 - failed
MC Sportstar - no longer made - failed
Malibu Sportster - no longer made
Original Malibu response - Upgraded to Echeclon and old shell dropped

And all the other low cost boats... TigerTrax, Sugar Sands, Aztec etc.

And in modern times, how many Axis WB boats do you see?

Different economic times. How many $70k wakeboard boats are going out the door now at the dealers?

[wtrskii3156]

Did I hear somewhere that at 34 mph the engine is running at 4000rpm?

[2gofaster]

Yes, it is.

[oldslalomskier]

With a gear reduction tranny that sounds about right although I suspect differnt propping should bring that down substantially.

[oldslalomskier]

I absolutely think the mfr's need an economy ski boat. Something that retails in the $32-35k range with a base single axle trailer and ZO. Something without a rear seat, no coming pads, analog gauges, etc. Just a drivers seat, observer's seat, and ZO.

Uhh..
CC 176 - failed
MC Sportstar - no longer made - failed
Malibu Sportster - no longer made
Original Malibu response - Upgraded to Echeclon and old shell dropped

And all the other low cost boats... TigerTrax, Sugar Sands, Aztec etc.

And in modern times, how many Axis WB boats do you see?

Different economic times. How many $70k wakeboard boats are going out the door now at the dealers?

Malibu dealers in my area all sold out. dozens and dozens of boats.

[j2nh]

With a gear reduction tranny that sounds about right although I suspect differnt propping should bring that down substantially.

Wouldn't that be at the expense of already mediocre acceleration?

[oldslalomskier]

I duno - what is the 0-36 time? If the thing passed the AWSA tests it couldn't be that bad, could it?

[DanielC]

The gear reduction transmission does not effect the top speed of the boat. Here is why. The propeller has a higher pitch, it moves farther forward for each revolution, but turns slower. If you take the pitch of a propeller on a Ski Nautique (16) and divide it by the gear ratio, (1.23) you end up with 13.008. A lot of ski boats with 1 to 1 transmissions are running a 13 pitch prop.
The gear reduction transmission does gain two things, A right hand propeller, with a clockwise turning engine, and you gain a little efficiency. The propeller pushes the boat farther forward with each revolution, and does not spend as much time spinning.
Top speed of a boat is about 80% hull design, and about 20% motor.
I have driven a 1999 Ski Nautique, with the 502 Python motor. The boat was new, so I did not hold WOT very long, but it went right up to 53 MPH, indicated on the speedos. Not much faster than my 1997 Ski Nautique, about 45. But it was a whole lot quicker. About a third more horsepower, for 8 MPH.

[MikeC]

I absolutely think the mfr's need an economy ski boat. Something that retails in the $32-35k range with a base single axle trailer and ZO. Something without a rear seat, no coming pads, analog gauges, etc. Just a drivers seat, observer's seat, and ZO.

Uhh..
CC 176 - failed
MC Sportstar - no longer made - failed
Malibu Sportster - no longer made
Original Malibu response - Upgraded to Echeclon and old shell dropped

And all the other low cost boats... TigerTrax, Sugar Sands, Aztec etc.

And in modern times, how many Axis WB boats do you see?

Different economic times. How many $70k wakeboard boats are going out the door now at the dealers?

Malibu dealers in my area all sold out. dozens and dozens of boats.

This intrigued me, so I went by my local Mastercraft and Malibu dealers just to find out how many boats the have sitting around. The Malibu dealer has 12 '09 models and a couple of '10 models all wakeboard boats. Now the Mastercraft dealer lends some confirmation of a previous post that the factory is dumping their inventory, the Mastercraft dealer has 24 wakeboard boats sitting there, most are X45's with a few X30's and X80's. That's a lot of inventory even for this area. Just for comparison I went by the Nautique dealer and they only had one used 210, they're waiting for the '10 models to be delivered. Oldslalomskier, I don't know where you're located but it looks like your dealers are pretty lucky.

[2gofaster]

MikeC, My local dealers have almost identical numbers to you. There are no less than 25 wakeboard boats sitting on the MC lot, all with price tags starting in the high 50s up to high 70s. I'm guessing with that floorplan nut to carry, he's wishing the boats were cheaper now.

[oldslalomskier]

Actually, I lied - the one large dealer has a single 09 Malibu 247 (that's the 24 ft boat) still available. As for MC, yeah, there are lots of them; spec ordering did not work out this year. CC's strategy of underbuilding as usual worked out.

[MikeC]

Underbuilding, or managing inventory....I guess it depends on the perspective.

[oldslalomskier]

With the limitations imposed by the old factory, I'm not sure it could be called active management. Of course in the new facorty they still had layoffs (wasn't it about a hundred in July?) which is bad, but not as bad a some other builders.

[Hollywood]

Why build a larger facility if you don't need it?

A basic assumption would be they didn't build the new factory until they were interested in building more XXX.

[oldslalomskier]

One reason for the new factory was to get around having to wet sand each and every boat due to air quailty issues. The fact CC was able to product great boats out of the old place was amazing.