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Another concern for me is my dealer network for MC is a bit stronger around me than Nautique.
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Sorry, I should have thought to ask this when I asked for approximate budget range. How comfortable are you working on engines and electrical things yourself, or will you be having all maintenance and repair work done by a dealer or independent boat mechanic. I think this matter when deciding on what kind of used boats someone should consider. Most dealers won't work on boats over 10 years old for example. And I wouldn't want to recommend a "fix it upper" type of boats for someone that's not interested in working on it themselves.Comment
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Fairly handy. But my issue these days is time. I don’t have much of it with a handful of kids running around.Comment
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As far as speed control goes.. if the ZeroOff on the 210 is having the issue sthat most early ZeroOff systems had that year and the 07 can be updated to PErfectPass no issues at all.Comment
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What’s been on my radar around me or seems to pop up on occasion for 50ish or under are
-2008/09 SANTE 210 (low 40s)
-2008/09 SANTE 230 (50ish / maybe high 40s)
-2011 MC x15 (50ish)Comment
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To summarize what I understand you're looking for. You'd like a boat that can provide a reasonable surf wave for your wife, and I'll say likely your kids as they get older. Because I find that surfing is a great activity for fairly young kids. And it sounds like you wakeboard some. And those go together pretty well anyway. Wakeboarding is also something that young kids can do pretty early as well. But you also don't have a lot of time, so you want a boat that doesn't need a lot of fixing up. I'll also mention that recently I've realized due to becoming a grandfather, the negative aspects of how large boats have become. So many boats these days have wakes that simply intimidating for young kids. Since you're going to have young kids I think going with as small of boat that'll met your needs is a good goal.
Given all that, and assuming it's not off base, I feel like it'll be a little challenging, but probably not impossible, to find a boat that'll fulfill your wish list in your price range. But here are some general recommendations. First, I'd wait a few more months before buying or putting a ton of time into looking for a boat. The market is soft right now and getting softer. I'd also expand your search to a fairly large area. I think it's a very worthwhile time investment to be willing to go get a boat that's maybe up to 8-10 hour drive. My approach is to pick a distance I'm willing to drive and make that my search area. Then I do a lot of remote "due diligence" to make sure I weed out boats as much as possible before taking any longer trips. If the seller isn't willing to work with you remotely to answer questions, send pictures, and other things, then I just move on. Also, I think posting what you're looking for on as many forums as you can is always good.
Personally, I'd be looking for a boat in the 2010 - 2015 timeframe. That's because engine in that timeframe and newer are generally all pretty well perfected to a consistent level of reliability and a similar design that is still pretty similar to the engines going into boats today with the exception of direct injection. And even direct injections engines are still very similar with the exception of the injections system. That means you'll still have a lot of years where these engine designs and parts will be familiar to almost any place that works on boats. Also boat electronics settled to more consistency in these timeframes IMO. There is one very notable exception. Don't even under any circumstance buy a 2012 MasterCraft. 2012 MasterCraft's have a single year Medallion electronic system that is already nearly impossible to get fixed.
I find that a very high percentage of used boats often have a ton of little issues that the previous owner hasn't fixed, unless you can find an OCD previous owner. In your situation where you don't have a lot of time, it would be very beneficial to find a boat from an OCD owner. The problem is, unless you have a lot of experience with the brand of boat, it can be pretty hard to spot all these issues on a simple test drive. But all these little issues can be a big time and money suck after you get the boat. For some people, this kind of boat can be exactly what you're looking for. But only if you can spot all the little annoying issues and successfully negotiate the price to account for them. And you're willing to fix them mostly all yourself. But I don't think that's the situation that fits what you want.
When you do go look at a boat, plan to spend quite a bit of time and pay attention to everything and try out literally everything. If you don't have a lot of experience with the boat brand or boats in general. It's a huge advantage to take someone with a lot of experience along.
Personally, I stick to MasterCraft, Nautique, and Malibu. But that's mostly because I know all three of those pretty well. But I'm also not married to any one of the three which gives me a larger field to work with.
I'll make some specific models I'd look at in the MasterCraft line. I'll let others make suggestions for Nautique, because I just don't have as much first-hand experience with this type of boat for Nautique's. My experience with Nautique's is very skewed toward 3-event boats.
I'd look at MasterCraft X2, X10, and X15s. Maybe X25, but that is probably out of your price range.
This may push out of your price range, or maybe not depending on how soft the market gets, but a 2014 or newer with Gen 2 surf system would be a very big upgrade. Otherwise, what could be good approach would be to buy a very clean 2010 or 2011 and go ahead and pay the money to have the GSA surf system installed.
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jpwhit well you certainly summed up my expectations 100%. Those are all really good suggestions. One of the boats I’ve been looking at is a 2011 SAN 210 as well as the X15. What does everyone think the markets going to do this fall/winter? Do prices tank ?Comment
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The dealer said the X15 had the zft2 tower? Do you have any pictures? You can tell the tower because it has 2 mounting points, not 4.That tower didn't come out until 2012. If it's a 2012 MC, pass on it. No one wants that year because it had a horrible medallion control system that was so bad it was only in production one year. Parts are very expensive and hard to come by. That year was also very difficult to add extra ballast due to non adjustable timers.
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08/09 Nautique 210 or 230 is a great year for a proven boat but they are 2 different boats in relation to size and wake. The 2009 is the last year of traditional gauges which on an older boat is a big plus.Comment
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How do people feel about the 220 ? I know it was discontinued but it might bridge the gap for me.Comment
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