Upgrade Dilemma

[North Woody]

Gents,

I’m looking for some collective wisdom from the crowd here .... We bought our LSV new back in 2014 when we bought our lake home up in Northern Wisconsin (Eagle River area), and it’s been an absolutely awesome family boat. With three boys and a wife who loves the boat, we surf and ski as a family, and occasionally do some tubing when we have friends up. It’s been our primary cocktail cruiser as well, so it’s really served us well over the last 6 years. We keep our LSV on a covered lift from Memorial Day though October-ish, and service and store it indoors at the dealer for winter.

However, with our twin boys now graduated from college and working far away, they are only getting up to the lake once a year, leaving the bulk of our time at the lake with my wife, our youngest son (a Junior in high school), and me. Since we love to surf, we’ve had to upgrade all our bags and still fill 2 additional 650’s with a Tsunami pump under the surf side rear seats. Even then, with only 3 in the boat the wave is good but not great and it’s frankly a pain with the extra bags. And since we also ski, lead isn’t an option. The bottom line is that with 300 hours on our LSV, getting tired of constantly filling and emptying the extra bags for just a decent wave, and the lack of technology on a 6-year old boat, I’m ready to upgrade our boat and drop some coin doing it.

But here’s my dilemma: With only 2 inboard dealerships in the area, the dealer who sold us our LSV now only sells MasterCraft and no longer sells Moombas while the other dealer only sells Natiques. Since I really don’t want to buy a boat with the dealer 5+ hours away, I’m faced with a boat upgrade that won’t be a Supra or another Moomba. I want to stick with a 21’-22’ boat and want an easy/efficient ballast system that will produce a great wave, but I want to be able to ski as well as we’re not wake boarders.

So here’s my question for you guys: Faced with considering moving from our 2014 LSV to a new Natique GS22 or a MasterCraft X22, what are your thoughts? I have no experience with either boat and I plan to demo both this summer, but I’m doing my due diligence now and would really appreciate anyone’s experience who has surfed behind these boats and generally what you guys know and have heard about Master Craft and Natique from a quality and service perspective. Thanks for any help and guidance on this!

[Isaguel]

You have a valid question, I don't mean this in a bad way, we are all happy to help regardless. We're IB boat lovers first and foremost, but, have you tried asking this in a MC or G22 forum? Just because you will find far more people with experience with those boats there.
That said, try this thread:
https://forum.moomba.com/showthread....VS-Mastercraft

There are some opinions on Fit/finish on both those boats, also on price to features value. Many don't like MC's tower. I happen to like it, I think its a sturdy, well built tower. Good luck with the next purchase.

[Shoebox]

Gents,

I’m looking for some collective wisdom from the crowd here .... We bought our LSV new back in 2014 when we bought our lake home up in Northern Wisconsin (Eagle River area), and it’s been an absolutely awesome family boat. With three boys and a wife who loves the boat, we surf and ski as a family, and occasionally do some tubing when we have friends up. It’s been our primary cocktail cruiser as well, so it’s really served us well over the last 6 years. We keep our LSV on a covered lift from Memorial Day though October-ish, and service and store it indoors at the dealer for winter.

However, with our twin boys now graduated from college and working far away, they are only getting up to the lake once a year, leaving the bulk of our time at the lake with my wife, our youngest son (a Junior in high school), and me. Since we love to surf, we’ve had to upgrade all our bags and still fill 2 additional 650’s with a Tsunami pump under the surf side rear seats. Even then, with only 3 in the boat the wave is good but not great and it’s frankly a pain with the extra bags. And since we also ski, lead isn’t an option. The bottom line is that with 300 hours on our LSV, getting tired of constantly filling and emptying the extra bags for just a decent wave, and the lack of technology on a 6-year old boat, I’m ready to upgrade our boat and drop some coin doing it.

But here’s my dilemma: With only 2 inboard dealerships in the area, the dealer who sold us our LSV now only sells MasterCraft and no longer sells Moombas while the other dealer only sells Natiques. Since I really don’t want to buy a boat with the dealer 5+ hours away, I’m faced with a boat upgrade that won’t be a Supra or another Moomba. I want to stick with a 21’-22’ boat and want an easy/efficient ballast system that will produce a great wave, but I want to be able to ski as well as we’re not wake boarders.

So here’s my question for you guys: Faced with considering moving from our 2014 LSV to a new Natique GS22 or a MasterCraft X22, what are your thoughts? I have no experience with either boat and I plan to demo both this summer, but I’m doing my due diligence now and would really appreciate anyone’s experience who has surfed behind these boats and generally what you guys know and have heard about Master Craft and Natique from a quality and service perspective. Thanks for any help and guidance on this!

Of those 2, I think the GS22 would be the better fit for you, since you want to ski. BoardCo has a pretty good video comparing a GS with a Centurion (they're Centurion dealers, so of course they prefer the Centurion). But it shows that it's a pretty good all-around boat that's probably the best to ski behind.

https://youtu.be/uONkS2qHZTk

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[zabooda]

You need to consider your age. I started when I was 6 years old but when I hit 61 I could no longer hold onto the handle. Knee surgeries and a back issue interrupted my summer ski schedule at times. The last four years of skiing was behind my friends Mastercraft anyway so I put very few hours on my boat and eventually sold it.

The other option is keep your boat, save some coin and get with someone with a direct drive and get a top notch ski ride. Things change a lot when the kids move out and change again when getting old. It sucks but it is reality.

[North Woody]

You need to consider your age. I started when I was 6 years old but when I hit 61 I could no longer hold onto the handle. Knee surgeries and a back issue interrupted my summer ski schedule at times. The last four years of skiing was behind my friends Mastercraft anyway so I put very few hours on my boat and eventually sold it.

The other option is keep your boat, save some coin and get with someone with a direct drive and get a top notch ski ride. Things change a lot when the kids move out and change again when getting old. It sucks but it is reality.

Yeah, that’s a great point. I’ve already seen my skiing to surfing ratio steadily drop over the last few years. I probably surf 75% of the time versus 50% 2 years ago. So my preference is for a great surfing boat with an easy to set up wave that is also a decent boat to ski behind. But at 52, I still feel like I’ve a decent amount of skiing still in me

[North Woody]

You have a valid question, I don't mean this in a bad way, we are all happy to help regardless. We're IB boat lovers first and foremost, but, have you tried asking this in a MC or G22 forum? Just because you will find far more people with experience with those boats there.
That said, try this thread:
https://forum.moomba.com/showthread....VS-Mastercraft

There are some opinions on Fit/finish on both those boats, also on price to features value. Many don't like MC's tower. I happen to like it, I think its a sturdy, well built tower. Good luck with the next purchase.

Yup, that’s a great suggestion and I’ve already dropped some enquiries into a few other places. But over the last 6 years of owning our LSV, I have learned to seek advice from this group and it’s never steered me wrong! I figured that the guys here likely have had some experience with one of both of these boats, so this was my first stop. I checked out an NXT in the dealer’s showroom when dropped of our boat for winterization last Fall and it looked and felt cheap, but the X looks really good. I’m gonna swing by the Natique dealer next time we’re up and I’m just doing my homework.

Thanks for your thoughts, and let you guys know where I land - or if I bail out, keep my LSV and find some other way to spend that money

[North Woody]

Of those 2, I think the GS22 would be the better fit for you, since you want to ski. BoardCo has a pretty good video comparing a GS with a Centurion (they're Centurion dealers, so of course they prefer the Centurion). But it shows that it's a pretty good all-around boat that's probably the best to ski behind.

https://youtu.be/uONkS2qHZTk

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Cool, thanks for that. I’ve got a lot of work to do on this but I appreciate your input (and I’m leaning Natique anyway...)

[sandm]

my cousin went thru 2 'bu's and settled on a gs22 2 years ago. they love it. fit and finish was well above the 'bu. wakes are solid. he and one of their kids still waterski regularly and he has said the wake- or lack of- is much better on the gs than the old 'bu's and surf wave is solid for a family of recreational surfers. they never really liked the surf wave on the 'bu's. stated they were soft and not a ton of push. nautty he stated has more push and seems firmer.

if I was in the market the gs22 would be my lean due to my cousin's great experience with them. he's not one to keep toys long but he has made no mention of doing anything with the gs so I suspect they have found a winner for a longer period of time. he picked gs over the g series due to still loving to slalom. said the gs is a great crossover.

good luck....

[North Woody]

Well, after a brief but intense search, I’m making a move to the dark side ... I just closed a deal for a 2020 Natique GS22 in Admiral Blue Metal Flake with Mojave Brown and Admiral Blue interior. This thing is a beast, and I got a terrific deal done with Ryan at WaterCraft Sales in Three Lakes, WI. He was super flexible on my needs, gave me a great trade in value for our 2014 Moomba LSV, and did what it took to win my business. We will be servicing and storing our new GS with them every winter, so this long term relationship is on to a strong start!

Thanks for everyone’s help on this thread as well as all the others that I have pored over for the last 6 years as a happy Moomba owner. I’m sad to be leaving the Moomba family, but I look forward to many more happy skiing and surfing years to come in our new ride. Here are a few pics of our new GS22:

[North Woody]

And a few interior shots:








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