Supra, Mastercraft, Nautique or?

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Originally Posted By: DuckRyder
They generally have a bit more v in the hull and ride better and are faster all things being equal. It is the best of both worlds if you aren't after the finest slalom wake to be had.


And exactly why I bought my Nautique. Plus I had a stroked small block on the shelf and it was a marriage made in heaven with a water damaged motor.

Overkill, you will have wonderful experiences with these boats and your family. Get started, skiing and wakeboarding, etc., is the most wholesome family fun you can have IMO.
 
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I thoroughly enjoyed it as a kid that's for sure, and am trying to get my kids into it
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upstate new york is loaded with used inboard Ski boats for sale... especially the adirondacks... Lotta project boats...
drive along RT 31 below Oneida lake and at least 4 by the side of the road... Guy I know just picked up a 80's mastercraft for $1500... needed mucho engine work though...
My Tuffy/ Merc 150 Optimax a beast for pulling... got a 17" rev 4 (4 blade) that will flat throw the boat right outa the water... And is real good on the gas... Not the fancy ski boats you guys like though...
 
Originally Posted By: Tuffy1760
upstate new york is loaded with used inboard Ski boats for sale... especially the adirondacks... Lotta project boats...
drive along RT 31 below Oneida lake and at least 4 by the side of the road... Guy I know just picked up a 80's mastercraft for $1500... needed mucho engine work though...
My Tuffy/ Merc 150 Optimax a beast for pulling... got a 17" rev 4 (4 blade) that will flat throw the boat right outa the water... And is real good on the gas... Not the fancy ski boats you guys like though...


Hey, my first boat was a 45 hp Elgin on a Sears 14 footer. We managed to ski behind that!

One of the best I ever owned was an old Cobia bow rider, 17'6" with a 115 merc w/tilt and trim. Ran 50 + mph when new, but with my ski prop it only went 38 but could plane a small house behind it! Nearly trouble free for 6 years, quite a boat for us.
 
Merc used to offer a Ski motor, I believe it was a low geared 175... Ski school around here uses some type of outboard mastercraft or ski nautique... Alotta boats can be ski ready, with Ski stuff and a low pitch prop...
 
Originally Posted By: Tuffy1760
Merc used to offer a Ski motor, I believe it was a low geared 175... Ski school around here uses some type of outboard mastercraft or ski nautique... Alotta boats can be ski ready, with Ski stuff and a low pitch prop...


Yup, my buddy's family used to ski behind a J-Craft with a 200 Merc Black Max on it before they bought the Supra. It certainly got the job done but the Supra was definitely a better tow boat and made a better wake for wakeboard, kneeboarding, tubing....etc. And the inboard was actually cheaper to operate.

We have some guys down the bay from us who ski their kids with a Charger with a 150 Yamaha on it. Very similar to the J-Craft setup, it appears to work well, but the wake just isn't as nice as what a dedicated inboard puts down. Not as important for skiing, but definitely relevant with wakeboarding and tubing, at least IMHO.
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Detour: Probably the best boat we ever used for tubing was my dad's 1974 Century Coronado with a 300HP 440 Chrysler in it. It made like 4ft waves and literally cut a trench with its hull because of how deep the vee was. Going off its wake in a tube during a whip was absolutely INSANE. I swear I was airborn for 20ft once before smashing my face into the tube and then doing some crazy cartwheel/roll/flip thing
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We used to flood the Cobia with water and tilt the motor way out for hyper big wake we could actually SURF on!

People on the Indian and Banana rivers probably thought we were nuts!
 
Originally Posted By: Tuffy1760
My Tuffy 1760,(deep V walleye, muskie boat) can produce a beast wake... interesting info on not just towing but better waves to ski... didn't think of that...


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Here's a similar Century to ours, showing the deep vee of the hull:

digi47818024_l.jpg


A MasterCraft ProStar 190 in comparison:
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A Ski Nautique:
74434d1158621494-sale-04-ski-nautique-196-mvc-025s.jpg


And a Tuffy 1760:
11080223_102_040920090234_4.jpg


I can definitely see why you say your boat casts a nice wake
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You will be happy with either a Mastercraft, or a Nautique, and the advice given here has been mostly good: I would also add Malibu to your list, these are great handling ski boats....likely the best if you are doing ski-arounds for waterski shows.

Both Mastercraft and Nautiques have used fiberglass stringers for many years. Do not consider older models unless you like huge bills when your old wooden stringers turn to cardboard. The old "Classic Nautiques" that someone recommended have very poor ski wakes, and hull failure is common....my buddy is currently rebuilding one. The repair quote to re-stringer the hull was so huge that the previous owner.....who paid a lot of money for it since it looked nice....was going to junk it.

V drives: Skip them unless you are a wakeboarder and like huge wakes.

Another mentioned the Mastercraft Outboards: Only built for a few years, mostly for barefooters. Nonetheless, stunning acceleration and a top speed of around 70 mph with a 225 hp Evinrude ETEC. We have two of them around here....since I slalom at 32-34 mph I do not need that crazy speed but.....wow. DO NOT race one if you buy the inboard!!!!

I have skied a lot behind every brand.....and drive a Hydrodyne 4 days a week for our show team
www.5sst.com.......and am sure you would be happy with any of the above brands.

fsskier
 
Originally Posted By: fsskier
You will be happy with either a Mastercraft, or a Nautique, and the advice given here has been mostly good: I would also add Malibu to your list, these are great handling ski boats....likely the best if you are doing ski-arounds for waterski shows.

Both Mastercraft and Nautiques have used fiberglass stringers for many years. Do not consider older models unless you like huge bills when your old wooden stringers turn to cardboard. The old "Classic Nautiques" that someone recommended have very poor ski wakes, and hull failure is common....my buddy is currently rebuilding one. The repair quote to re-stringer the hull was so huge that the previous owner.....who paid a lot of money for it since it looked nice....was going to junk it.

V drives: Skip them unless you are a wakeboarder and like huge wakes.

Another mentioned the Mastercraft Outboards: Only built for a few years, mostly for barefooters. Nonetheless, stunning acceleration and a top speed of around 70 mph with a 225 hp Evinrude ETEC. We have two of them around here....since I slalom at 32-34 mph I do not need that crazy speed but.....wow. DO NOT race one if you buy the inboard!!!!

I have skied a lot behind every brand.....and drive a Hydrodyne 4 days a week for our show team
www.5sst.com.......and am sure you would be happy with any of the above brands.

fsskier


What are your thoughts on the Supra boats?
 
Funny, based on the tag that MasterCraft is not far from me.

The pictured Nautique is the same hull design as mine although based on the gel coat I think it is a year newer. It is definitely not a masters edition.

There was much ado about the single exhaust...

You'll want to verify, but I do believe that Nautique of that era have "fully encapsulated wooden stringers". I recall much discussion of the relative merits between MC and CC and CC's position was that their design minimized vibration.

I agree Malibu is worth consideration, I nearly traded my Nautique on a Response. I also looked at Tige, Moomba (a divison of Supra) and Ski Centurion. (no HydroDyne or Sanger dealers near.)

Clarification on what I said about Rotation, between CC (PCM) and MC (Indmar) the engine rotation is of course the same, but the transmission causes the prop rotation to be reversed. The result is that the boats back differently, it takes a little getting used to...

I have never tried to tube behind a 1931 Chris Craft, although I did once when I was very young try (unsuccessfully) to ski behind a 31' Scarab.

OH, you may find this of interest:

http://www.mastercraft.com/teamtalk/showthread.php?t=29236

Looking for similar for Nautique.
 
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Originally Posted By: DuckRyder
Funny, based on the tag that MasterCraft is not far from me.

The pictured Nautique is the same hull design as mine although based on the gel coat I think it is a year newer. It is definitely not a masters edition.

There was much ado about the single exhaust...

You'll want to verify, but I do believe that Nautique of that era have "fully encapsulated wooden stringers". I recall much discussion of the relative merits between MC and CC and CC's position was that their design minimized vibration.

I agree Malibu is worth consideration, I nearly traded my Nautique on a Response. I also looked at Tige, Moomba (a divison of Supra) and Ski Centurion. (no HydroDyne or Sanger dealers near.)

Clarification on what I said about Rotation, between CC (PCM) and MC (Indmar) the engine rotation is of course the same, but the transmission causes the prop rotation to be reversed. The result is that the boats back differently, it takes a little getting used to...

I have never tried to tube behind a 1931 Chris Craft, although I did once when I was very young try (unsuccessfully) to ski behind a 31' Scarab.

OH, you may find this of interest:

http://www.mastercraft.com/teamtalk/showthread.php?t=29236

Looking for similar for Nautique.


Lots of good information, thank you! BTW, with respect to the final drive thing, that's not uncommon. We had a plethora of antique boat drive units kicking around the cottage and there were number of them that were reverse-rotation.

I always found it fun going between a particular boat that pulled to the left on reverse to one that pulled to the right. Of course some pulled a lot harder than others, which made docking them fun
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Got any pictures of that Scarab adventure? That would have been hilarious!!! That's a big freakin' boat!!!!
 
Originally Posted By: DuckRyder


OH, you may find this of interest:

http://www.mastercraft.com/teamtalk/showthread.php?t=29236

Looking for similar for Nautique.


From that article:

Quote:
In 1983 the standard engine was upgraded to a 351 cubic inch 240 hp Ford V-8 (marinised by Pleasure Craft Marine (PCM)). Fibreglass stringers were also introduced (to increase strength, eliminate deterioration and reduces vibration), resulting in an all-fibreglass “uni-frame” hull construction (see more detail below).


VERY helpful!!!
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Originally Posted By: OVERKILL
Got any pictures of that Scarab adventure? That would have been hilarious!!! That's a big freakin' boat!!!!


I wish, I was about 10 or 12 and it was a friend of a friend of a friend of my step dad at the time. I was in a family of sail boaters but being as I was a kid I usually had to content myself with a 13 foot boston whaler... I frankly think the whole thing might have been an alcohol induced "pick on the sailboaters kid" thing, but hey I lived through it and the accompanying ingestion of salt water... It is probably why I couldn't ski when I got the Nautique too... not having had much inclination to try since that time...
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I could actually have been larger than 31 feet too, It was in the VI and was named "Ballet Dancer" I recall being told it was triple BB MerCruiser K Drive powered. There was a running battle for who is fastest between "Ballet Dancer" and a Cigarette named "Virgin Star".

Anyway...

Here is a corresponding page from the 1997 Nautique Brochure at:

http://www.correctcraftfan.com/reference/1997_brochure/?page=06#prevnext

page06.jpg
 
Thanks Robert!

From my research on this topic, it looks like Supra went fiberglass stringers in 1992.
 
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