Best all purpose Nautique - to include barefoot?

[Go85CJ7]

I am looking to get back into water skiing. I previously had a '93 Nautique Excel bought new and used it almost extensively for barefoot skiing for over 10 years. I loved that boat and have great memories with it. After being away from skiing for a while, I now have a young family and would like to introduce them to watersports as well as to be able to do some recreational footing. I would like something that would be good for recreational skiing, wake boarding, wake surfing, (and tubing), as well as can support recreational barefooting. I don't need an advanced wakeboard wake or a slalom course capable wake. I am not expecting a perfect barefoot boat as that would lead me to a Sanger or Flightcraft OB. I would like a boat that has a good boom solution out of the chine spray and adjustable heights to be able to teach young kids to ski as well as adjust for adults. The more top speed the better for pulling a barefooter on the long line. Ideally the boat can maintain at least 43 pulling a footer longline. I prefer the v-drive configuraiton as it is a more social layout for entertaining other families on the water. Also, I prefer the smaller boats and are considering a SAN 210 or SV211. I'm not looking at something 2008 or older. If I need to go direct drive, I would go with a 216 for the more room. Questions:

Does anyone here have a boom on a v-drive? What boat/what boom (pylon, v-drive, tower)/how is it?

Does anyone foot behind a SAN 210 or SV211? What line length? How is the curl? How is the table for wake crossings?

Does the Excalibur 330 provide enough power in these boats? The ZR6 boats are harder to find and I understand they are much louder.

Thanks in advance for your insights.

[MTRBTR]

I have an SV 211. I love it. I use a boom on it. I haven’t longline barefooted with it yet but with a 644 prop at your elevation I think you would be happy. The only boat I would rather have is the Sport 200 but they didn’t make them until 2010. The 210 will have a little more comfortable seating arrangement and bit more advantage to the wake sports but not much. Can’t really go wrong with either. I think the 330 Excalibur has plenty of power.

[Go85CJ7]

Thank you MTRBTR. What kind of boom do you have? Is it mounted to the tower or pylon? Do you use it driver or passenger side?

[Coreyp]

Don’t have personal experience with the Sport 200 but have always read great things about its all around performance. The link below is a video I found of individuals barefooting both from a tower boom and long line.

[Yeaitsslo]

Don’t have personal experience with the Sport 200 but have always read great things about its all around performance. The link below is a video I found of individuals barefooting both from a tower boom and long line.

https://youtu.be/3ADnSyxGC4A

Soooo. I have a sport 200 and although mine has the small motor, I CAN barefoot behind it. I’m 180lbs and running the 381 prop i can just about get 40mph with me out there.


Getting the upgraded motor will help with speed. What it won’t help is the terrible terrible TERRIBLE wake crossing. It’s gotta be the worst. Feels like going across a gravel road.

if you wanna go off a tower boom it’ll be good. But long line it isn’t enjoyable. At all. Just my input haha

[SkiTower]

I have a 2007 211 and love it. It’s jack of all trades but master of none. I bought it new as a V-drive ski boat (family friendly). I’ve never footed but do have a tower boom for training purposes, personally have it mounted to the port side to offset my weight effect. For the vintage you’re looking for, another key selling point for the 211 is the walk-thru. Very key with keeping kids off the vinyl. And LOVE the huge platform.

[MTRBTR]

I have a Barefoot International tower mounted boom. I mount it on the port side.

[Shawn Henderson]

I have an 06 SV211 and with the ZR4 motor and a acme 644 prop you can barefoot behind it and even goto the other extreme and surf.. It would be best if you had a different prop for surfing but you can do it with the 644.

[David3707]

09 216v amazing boat.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[swatkinz]

I had a 2011 Sport/air 200 with the 330 for a couple of years and used it similarly to how you describe you'd like to use your next boat. I used a BI Tower mounted boom mounted on the starboard side. The functionality of the tower boom was fine, but setting it up initially, putting it on and taking it off was a PITA. It also wasn't very height adjustable on the fly. I was 200lbs most of the time I owned the boat and found that it had enough speed to pull me 2 foot barefoot, but it struggled to pull a comfortable 1 foot speed. I can't offer much on the wake crossings. The family comfort of that boat was great and I found it to be pretty universal for most sports. I was NOT able to get a good surf wake out of it, but did not have a surfgate which I'm told makes all the difference with that hull. I can't understate how much of a pain the tower boom is to put on and take off as well as storing it in the boat when you're not using it.

[Go85CJ7]

Thank you everyone for your responses. The 200 Sport looks like an awesome boat and it can definitely get up and go with the 6.0 Liter. I'm not surprised in the video that I didn't see them cross the wake barefoot. Most 3 event hulls have hard turbulence from a footing perspective. However I can give up barefoot wake crossings for an all purpose boat. Shoe ski wake crossings are fun and good exercise. At this time I will be looking at older models on a smaller budget given lake time will compete with kids soccer, ballet, karate, etc. The SV-211 is very appealing as well as a SAN 210.

Question - Has anyone used the BI V-Drive boom off the rear pylon? If so, how do you like it?

https://tinyurl.com/ybhmt5tf

[MTRBTR]

I have used it on a 91 Barefooter. It’s probably easier to use than a tower boom but would be a little awkward on the port side of an SV211 due to the walk through. Also you would be farther back along side the boat and more likely to be in the chine spray.