New Kaiyen or Craz

[Schlanseay]

My wife and are planning to place an order for a 2022 Moomba Craz or Kaiyen and are having a hard time identifying pros, cons and differences between these two boats. Looking for your expertise!

Our crew is usually 7 adults and 4 small kids
60% floating
30% surfing
10% Zup boarding

Thanks in advance, we are in contact with our dealer but want owner input. We are looking tomorrow at a 2020 Craz that’s already sold just for reference. Also looking at MC NXT22.


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[clzipper]

That size of crew I’d upsize to the Makai, that’s really the only constructive comment I have. The Kaiyen and Makai are a lot alike, just seems like you get a lot more boat for the $8k price difference.


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[Schlanseay]

Thanks for the reply. The biggest differences I can see is the Kaiyen has 3700 lbs stock ballast versus the craz 3000lb and the Kaiyen has a standard 7” touchscreen and a bigger walk through.


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[996scott]

I think the biggest differences are that the Craz has a traditional bow shape and the Kaiyen is the squared shape. The Kaiyen has the walk through and extra ballast. I think the Craz comes with the 7in screen standard as well if i'm not mistaken. I don't think any your size of crew will make any difference as they will both handle 7 or so people easily. I don't think they are too different and you can't go wrong with either one. FWIW we picked up a 2021 Craz the end of last year and we love it.

[clzipper]

You might want to check out wake9.com. He did a great review and setup on the Kaiyen


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[Guppydriver]

Kaiyen is a more modern design..both are solid choices and amazing boats though.

I do think that you should at least take a gander at the Mojo or Makai. I think the Craz and Kaiyen would be just fine for an occasional party of 11, but you said 11 people is your normal crew when out boating. If I regularly had a crew of 11, I’d be looking for the biggest boat I could afford.

[Holdmybeer]

I'm with Guppy on this.

My crew and boat usage is the same as yours. I looked at smaller boats and more affordable used options. I was dead set on a Max, even had a dealer I was talking to in with 2021 order spots open. My crew of kids are all under 10 so I liked the deep freeboard to avoid anyone falling over board.

Budget got me into a used Mojo, and I am glad I went with something larger. The 21ft Malibu I was looking at would have been to small. It had the traditional bow also, and like the Craz, could limit sitting once everyone spreads out. Th Max is even a cheaper price point then either, so give it a look also. I don't think there is a bad choice.

[clzipper]

Guppie has stated my point on size much better than I did. But 11 on a 15-16 person boat is packed. The rule of thumb I use is take the capacity and delete 4. That gives room for space comfort and moving around, getting things out of bags and storage etc. Any of the Moomba models are spendy, regardless of how we like justifying it to build one out with flow 3 and a pro tower you are looking at $90-$110k and that’s expensive for a part time use item (not to mention COVID sellers market). In 3-5 years do you upgrade when the 4 kids are bigger kids or just get bigger now, Max, Mojo, Makai? In any event just my opinion, you’ll prob love whatever you choose b/c they are all very solid options!!!


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[Schlanseay]

Thank you all for the thoughts and insights. Our top end budget fall right in the middle of slightly optioned Craz or less optioned Kaiyen / Max. I think we would upgrade larger in a few years.


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[MadWakes]

2017 Craz Surf Max + 250# lead over here. Picked it up used last August. We love the boat. Great build quality and solid ride. The size suits us well. The largest crew we have put on the boat so far was 4 adults and 5 kids ranging from 7 to 14. Add another couple of adults and a kid or two and I would say we'd be getting into "he's touching me" territory but it could be done. With the filler pad the traditional bow shape does not hamper bow comfort for us. If we were able to be taking out full crews on the reg we would probably wish for bigger but I do not know if I would do it.

When it is just the 4 of us, about 50% of the time, I wonder if smaller (Kaiyen) would be better because of the additional stock subfloor ballast, better ratio of pounds of people and gear to boat, and hull shape for surfing and just accept being a little cramped sometimes. We have a hard time sticking pitch and roll while keeping ballast weight in the boat with just 4 of us even using a 675# sumo sack and moving the lead around. We are only 40 hours into it so we are still learning but the Craz seems to like a lot of weight in the boat before that wave really comes alive.

Not trying to change topics to surf wave just sharing my own Craz experiences and thoughts on choosing size.

[Ralphy]

Thank you all for the thoughts and insights. Our top end budget fall right in the middle of slightly optioned Craz or less optioned Kaiyen / Max. I think we would upgrade larger in a few years.


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I'm no pro, but here's some info I gathered from my research in the fall.

Take into consideration on how you will boat
- do you trailer or have a lake hose / slip? Space for gear and towability should be a factor.
Pros for each boat in my opinion-
Kayen will surf great stock (no lead) and is smaller, it's the only one with a walkthrough stern. That's the best feature IMHO. It also has the Flow 3.
Max is best bang for the buck but will require the most additional ballast. Once it's weighted, it has the potential for the biggest wave, but has Flow 2.0.(inferior)
Craz has Flow 3 surf system available. This would be my reason to pick Craz if I was mainly surfing and needed more space than Kayen, or if you like the traditional bow.
We are on a lake, with no need to carry gear and use a pontoon boat for cruising, so we went with a Mondo, but out of the three you are considering I would pick the Kayen.
If I was trailering and would be spending a full day on the water, than the Max would be it.
Either way, there's no bad choice, only what's your flavor.
Good luck

[Schlanseay]

I'm no pro, but here's some info I gathered from my research in the fall.

Take into consideration on how you will boat
- do you trailer or have a lake hose / slip? Space for gear and towability should be a factor.
Pros for each boat in my opinion-
Kayen will surf great stock (no lead) and is smaller, it's the only one with a walkthrough stern. That's the best feature IMHO. It also has the Flow 3.
Max is best bang for the buck but will require the most additional ballast. Once it's weighted, it has the potential for the biggest wave, but has Flow 2.0.(inferior)
Craz has Flow 3 surf system available. This would be my reason to pick Craz if I was mainly surfing and needed more space than Kayen, or if you like the traditional bow.
We are on a lake, with no need to carry gear and use a pontoon boat for cruising, so we went with a Mondo, but out of the three you are considering I would pick the Kayen.
If I was trailering and would be spending a full day on the water, than the Max would be it.
Either way, there's no bad choice, only what's your flavor.
Good luck

Thanks for the insights! We are actually leaning towards the KAiyen because of the walk through. The boat is lift kept where we come and go throughout the day so we don’t need to pack up for an entire day. I think I want flow 3.0 so that limits us to craz or Kaiyen for now.


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[xbrandloyal]

Just sold my Craz for a Kaiyen....LOVED the CRAZ...but wanted Flow 3, walk through, and with pro tower it fits in garage better. Fit/Finish is a much nicer on Kaiyen. Only real downside for me is smaller bow...but most don't like being stuck up front and 2 people fit perfect. We are on a lake as well...so no need for a bunch of gear for the day so losing 6 inches wasn't that big of deal. The stock wave on Kaiyen when I did the demo was much better than my CRAZ with upgraded 1100 pound rear bags. Not "bigger" but clean lip and easier to get a clean wave... Both are fantastic boats. MOJO would be ideal but too big for my smaller lake. MAX is best value but interior was to bland....

[Schlanseay]

Just sold my Craz for a Kaiyen....LOVED the CRAZ...but wanted Flow 3, walk through, and with pro tower it fits in garage better. Fit/Finish is a much nicer on Kaiyen. Only real downside for me is smaller bow...but most don't like being stuck up front and 2 people fit perfect. We are on a lake as well...so no need for a bunch of gear for the day so losing 6 inches wasn't that big of deal. The stock wave on Kaiyen when I did the demo was much better than my CRAZ with upgraded 1100 pound rear bags. Not "bigger" but clean lip and easier to get a clean wave... Both are fantastic boats. MOJO would be ideal but too big for my smaller lake. MAX is best value but interior was to bland....

How does the size of the main cabin feel on your Kaiyen versus the Craz? I’m also wondering what I’d have to do (additional ballast bags etc) to get a clean wake on a Max since it does not offer flow 3.0. Any thoughts?


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[xbrandloyal]

Main cabin feels the same if not bigger with walk through (optically more than actually I think). It's just 6 inches out of the front. No experience with Max

[HFarr]

What lake are you on?

[Schlanseay]

What lake are you on?

Im in Minnesota on the Mississippi River


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[eder10986]

Im in Minnesota on the Mississippi River


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You’re brave for getting in the Mississippi! Only river I ever went to was the St. Croix. Are there many boaters in the Mississippi other than shipping and such? Haven’t lived there in 11 years.


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[Schlanseay]

You’re brave for getting in the Mississippi! Only river I ever went to was the St. Croix. Are there many boaters in the Mississippi other than shipping and such? Haven’t lived there in 11 years.


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Where did you live back then? We are 20 miles north of Minneapolis on a 6-8 mile stretch of recreation pool area on the River so it’s great! Just need to figure out Kaiyen, Max, Craz or Mojo. Also still thinking about an NXT22


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