2011 Ls - Rip

[zegm]

I heard it coming and it is true, there is no more LS!
I guess when we decided to get a new boat (and it will be a long time before that happens) we will have to look for a MasterCraft X-14. Sorry Jody (local inboard dealer and seller of Ski Natique) we are MasterCraft people, sort of like the Chevy vs. Ford thing here.
I want to thank Atlanta Marine for having an LS for us to look at on their lot. Had we not actually ever seen that boat I doubt that we would have ever considered purchasing it as we were about to get an Outback V. I think the biggest reason this boat didn't sell was because only a very few dealers ever stocked one so people really didn't see how much room this boat actually has, much less get a chance to test drive one.

[sandm]

have seen one. not on the lot but on the road..

I certainly can understand the decision to axe one of their direct drive boats, as that seems to be a market that is dying. one in the lineup is probably more than sufficient and betting if you look at the overall percentage of dd sales in skiers lineup, it makes sense.. probably also a good decision to keep the one direct drive that is able to fit on length-restricted waterways.

still sucks as it's nice to have choices, like you stated with the roominess of the larger platform, but hard times require hard choices..

[moombadaze]

only seen one LS--yours

[kaneboats]

It's gone for one reason-- nobody bought them. Skiers want a smaller hull, not a bigger one. Boarders want to be able to add ballast without tripping over it all day. It was a neat idea but the market for it just isn't there.

[zabooda]

DD's were meant to be water ski boats so I would think they would eliminate the heavier boat. By keeping the Mobius and not the lighter LS, Moomba is basically getting out of the water ski boat business. Even the LS is too heavy for my liking but I see my favorite the MC Prostar 190 is only 120 lbs less than the LS and doesn't have an open bow either. I would never think of the Mobius LS as a water ski boat at another 500 lbs. it would be like my boat pulling skiers with ballast bags filled.

[zegm]

DD's were meant to be water ski boats so I would think they would eliminate the heavier boat. By keeping the Mobius and not the lighter LS, Moomba is basically getting out of the water ski boat business. Even the LS is too heavy for my liking but I see my favorite the MC Prostar 190 is only 120 lbs less than the LS and doesn't have an open bow either. I would never think of the Mobius LS as a water ski boat at another 500 lbs. it would be like my boat pulling skiers with ballast bags filled.

Not quite as you do have more surface area to support that extra 500lbs. No our wake is not as good on the course as our old MasterCraft but I couldn't surf behind it either.
We thought of buying the Outback but with our 2 kids and their friends we liked the idea of having a roomier ski boat. But you are correct, Moomba is getting out of the water ski business. So in the future we have 2 options if we need to replace this boat. Buy an Outback for the course and a MC X-14 for all the other things we like to do.

[zegm]

It's gone for one reason-- nobody bought them. Skiers want a smaller hull, not a bigger one. Boarders want to be able to add ballast without tripping over it all day. It was a neat idea but the market for it just isn't there.

Not sure I agree because I can go and buy a boat just like it today at a MasterCraft dealer (X-14). Basically if you have a product but you don't advertise it and nobody knows of it then why would anyone buy one. I have heard on here several times that the dealers never had one in the lots so how do you sell a car that you don't have? Again I would not have bought one but Atlanta Marine did have one. We were pretty set on the Outback V but after looking at the LS we changed our minds and did it pretty quick. It also had a very good selling point, you got the room and you got the crossover features at about 4k less than the LSV. That too would have helped sell them if they were on the lots when people were looking at the price tags. When we bought ours it was almost the same price as the Outback V but you got much more boat.

[Kidder]

We love our 08 LS. What a great crossover boat, IMO.

[skiyaker]

Zegm your point is well taken. I think a year and a half ago I was the type of buyer you're talking about. Came from and I/O family and basically the big decision was whether to get an I/O like a tahoe from Bass Pro or change to an inboard. I has skied recreationally and never attempted wakeboarding and thought I would be doing mostly family boating. An LS never occurred to us because- as you said- the dealer didn't have any and plus the layout of the V drive seemed better. It didn't hurt that I found a OBV holdover for a good price. Now that I'm skiing a lot more and trying to work on technique and the course I see your point that the LS would fit my needs well- except as I wrote before I have wife that says "yeah but that boat has an engine right in the middle" and if she saw one maybe it would be apparent that it's not so bad gathering around your indmar friend.

[zegm]

Probably one of the best selling point for us was how deep the bow section is on the LSV/LS hull. I thought the salesman was going to dump my kids in the lake when he cranked the wheel over hard at 40mph during a test drive in an 2007 Outback V. Besides while being another seat while under way the engine being in the middle greatly helps the kids putting the rope on the tower and checking on what is on the Z5.

I have sat here thinking about my lake in my area of the world (Deer Point Lake, Panama City, FL). We have 3 slalom courses on our little lake. I sat here and have taken inventory of the inboards I see all the time on the lake and realized that there are:
4 MasterCraft DDs (one is an pretty yellow X boat)
1 Centurian DD
2 Outback DDs
1 LS DD (ours)
2 Ski Natique DDs
This is not counting the DD's that Jody at Florida Inboards is working on at his shop, and not sure I ever saw a VD there either.
Of Course MaxPower has a DD a couple hours away too!
and get this!!!! The only VD was an Outback V and we haven't seen him in the last couple of years. The few wakeboarders we see are all behind Outboards or I/O's.
I guess Deerpoint Lake is a DD Lake, so to say skiing is dead is not really true where we live!
Go Skiboats (ie DD) Go!!!