What to buy?

[CAL]

I have been trying to decide which boat to buy for more then four months. I love the look and design of the Moomba XLV but have spoken to several friends who have strongly advised against Moomba. The word is that Moomba has a poor maintenance record and that they use inferior materials compared to Malibu and Mastercraft.

Anouther concern is that the XLV's 320 HP engine is underpowered, any feedback?

I am sure that several current Moomba owners have gone thru the same process that i am going thru, i would be very interested in your perpective.

[Catdog1]

What are the prices for each?

[TheBeeZ]

I have a friend who has a Mastercraft X-Star. He paid $60,000.00. It has been in the shop for transmission problems, fuel injection problems, and a trailer problem. All this summer, the boat is one year old. I have another friend who owns the Mastercraft prostar. He also has had engine problems.

I have a 2002 Outback LS. I paid much less than they did and I have had no problems to date. They have spent more time in my boat this summer than in there own.

[jburnside]

CAL,
Have your "friends" owned a Moomba product or have they just heard rumors? From what I can gather there were some concerns with the quality of the boats before 1999. However, since then, the quality has been going nowhere but up. The knock I always see about Moomba these days is that their interiors are not as plush and don't hold up as well as the other major manufacturers. I own a 2003 Outback LS and the interior may not be as "plush" as a Malibu Response LX but it certainly is holding up very well. We regularly have 6 people on our boat and our 75lb chocolate lab. If the interior will hold up to my dogs paws and my kids all over it, then I say the quality is on par with the rest of the industry. As for the quality of the equipment Moomba uses, it is in many cases the same equipment that Mastercraft and Malibu use (Indmar engines, CCP Armor Flex, Teleflex, Beede, Perfect Pass...). Go over to www.wakeboarder.com and do a search for "Moomba XLV". I remember reading some posts that indicated that the 320HP engine is plenty for that boat. But if you end up still being skeptical on the 320, you should just upgrade and option the boat with the larger Indmar motor.

You should ask yourself if $10,000.00 is resonable for thicker cushions and a little more sound deadener. That's what we found when we looked. Our Moomba has been great thus far (2nd full season) and our dealer is very good.

What you really need to do is schedule a test ride with each manufacturer to see if you can feel a difference between the boats. Then look at each of the dealerships service departments, this is certainly one of the biggest factors to owning a boat. If you have to drop off your new boat for service, and you get treated like crap, or they keep your boat for weeks before looking at it. Then it won't matter how much you liked the boat when you bought it, or how much you paid for it. Make sure you have a good dealer available to you, regardless of what manufacturer you end up going with. Good luck.

[Wake Master]

I bought a 2004 Mobius LSV and took delivery late April. I have 109 hours on the boat just from this summer and have had no problems. The only issue I have is a small defect in the gelcoat under one of the seats and the dealer and I agreed to have that fixed in the off season. I also looked at Correct Craft and Mastercraft before buying when I compared the boats I decided Moomba was the best overall value. I very happy with the boat.

[waterboy]

I own a 2001 Outback LS. I'm completeley satisfied with the quality, performance and dealer service. The price was unbeatable, I could never have afforded a Malibu or Mastercraft with all the options I got with my Moomba. Never had any problems with my boat....it still looks new.

Brian

[Shoemaker Mobius]

Before we bought our 2004 Mobius LSV, I researched other manufacturers pretty extensively. We went with the Moomba, primarily because as the others have said, I couldn't even get close to the price with the options we wanted. Granted, the Malibu XLV and the Mastercraft X-2 are much plusher. However, the mechanicals on all three are pretty much the same equipment. We have approx. 60 hours on our boat so far and it has been to the dealer three times for repairs. However, all three problems were the PerfectPass, not the boat. It is the exact same PerfectPass that is on the Malibus and Mastercrafts, so I don't fault Moomba on these problems. I found the price discrepancy to be in the $15,000 range comparing the Moomba with options to the Malibus and X-2. I know several people with the Mobius XLV and they love it. However, in order to compare apples to apples, you would compare the Mobius XLV to the Malibu LSV and I think the Mastercraft X-10 - that way you are comparing 23ft boats to 23ft boats.

[J-Lawv]

When i bought my XLV the spring of this year..i was concerned about the same thing... So i talked to a dealer about it, he said that a while ago, moomba was getting lots of complaints and so on that there boats did not have good quality.... So they decided to step it up i guess and make them better since (i forget the year)...but ne ways... my point is that the quality of moomba now is as good as mastercraft and malibu in my opinion. You never know though... you could buy a moomba that outlasts a mastercraft or you could buy a mastercraft that outlasts a moomba...its all really a luck thing

[carsondoc]

Cal,

I went through the same thing last year. I researched Skier's Choice and the other companies. If you take a close look at the components of Mastercraft boats and Moomba you will find remarkable similarities. Coincidence? No. Look at the top brass from Skier's Choice. They came from Mastercraft about 6 years ago and bought the company and have made the changes that you see today.

Same engines, same windshields, same vinyl, same carpet, same controls, etc., etc., etc. Moombas don't have the "fluff" that the Supra's, MC's, Malibu's have. i.e., crome knobs and leather wrapped dash and stuff like that but you can get most everything as an option if you desire. However, all the important stuff is there--all glass boats, great power plants, tournament controls, great trailers, great customer support, high performance, good gauges, all the options.

As far as performance goes, I have absolutely nothing bad to say about my Moomba. It's great. Comes down to bucks and ego gratification really.

Tough decision. Good luck.

[waterboy]

Very well put.

Brian