Supra SE, new to brand, opinions welcome

[DDD123]

I have a 2020 SE. Your price is good. The stern thruster option is new for 2021 so we don't have it. I would have to think really hard if it is worth the money. We put about 60 hours on our boat so far this summer and I can think of 2 situations where I wish I had a stern thruster and about 5 more where it would have been nice to have. Is that worth 8500? The SE is a big boat and I had a couple windy days where I had issues. With the wind blowing directly at the side of the boat, I was unable to turn into the wind at idol speed. My options were to turn the other way or apply more throttle. Neither were great options at the time because the wind was blowing me into shore so I was unable to turn toward the shore (too shallow). There were also a few windy days where docking would likely have been easier with a thruster. I purchased some bumpers and attached them to our pier at rubrail height to protect the boat should I rub the pier on a windy day. That solved the docking problem though I assume a thruster would make it easier on those few super windy days. If it were a $1,500 option, it would be a no brainer. For $8500, it is a tough one. The SE is fantastic. We love it. The 450 motor is more than enough power. We picked the optional 16x15 prop which does not seem to be an option for 2021 though they do have a 16x13.9. Like you, we have most options with the exception of tower speakers. I always hit my head on tower speakers and we rarely use them in prior boats so I chose to forgo them in our new boat. For me, this was a great decision since I have not hit my head once this year. The clamping board racks are worth every penny. I can put a wakeboard and a thick surf board into the same rack. The held our board well all summer and did not put a scratch on any board.

Yeah it’s such a hard decision. They don’t seem like they do much but to your point in those funky situations is where it really counts. I had the exact scenario you described above except I was in a crowded area with a lot of boats around, a floating dock, wicked chop and wind and panicked a bit and made the same maneuver it sounds like you did and thrusters may or may not have helped but letting you point the nose without adding speed which gives you a little more time to bail in the direction you feel comfortable. They are delayed though and you need to be ahead of them just like the throttle.

How much difference do you guys notice between SL and SE when loaded up with people? 10k for an extra ft is a tough sell but I’m leaning that direction.

[tre]

Somehow that extra foot of length in the SE translates to a lot more usable space. We love the long storage compartments under the seats of the SE. We ski, wakeboard, and surf and all the extra storage allows us to load up the boat with equipment. The long compartments under the seats are perfect for skis. I put 2 slalom skis under the port seats and a smaller pair of beginner skis under the starboard seats. I throw surfboards in the racks and in the tower bimini plus throw some more into the rear storage compartments and the "trunk". The extra weight and bow height of the SE makes for a much better experience in the chop IMO. We also liked the SE surf wake better than the SL but we found we had to add about 200 pounds of lead to the rear in order to get to the 8.5 degree pitch that makes the perfect wake for us. The SL is no slouch. It is a great boat but the SE is the boat that my family gravitated toward for all those reasons. Even when we have a load of people, it is nice not to crawl over and around everyone. That extra foot somehow provides a lot more space and the SE just seems like a much larger and deeper boat. We love the larger bow too. Loads of storage up there as well as seating. My wife has always been nonchalant about every prior boat we've owned but even she really likes the SE.

[DDD123]

Somehow that extra foot of length in the SE translates to a lot more usable space. We love the long storage compartments under the seats of the SE. We ski, wakeboard, and surf and all the extra storage allows us to load up the boat with equipment. The long compartments under the seats are perfect for skis. I put 2 slalom skis under the port seats and a smaller pair of beginner skis under the starboard seats. I throw surfboards in the racks and in the tower bimini plus throw some more into the rear storage compartments and the "trunk". The extra weight and bow height of the SE makes for a much better experience in the chop IMO. We also liked the SE surf wake better than the SL but we found we had to add about 200 pounds of lead to the rear in order to get to the 8.5 degree pitch that makes the perfect wake for us. The SL is no slouch. It is a great boat but the SE is the boat that my family gravitated toward for all those reasons. Even when we have a load of people, it is nice not to crawl over and around everyone. That extra foot somehow provides a lot more space and the SE just seems like a much larger and deeper boat. We love the larger bow too. Loads of storage up there as well as seating. My wife has always been nonchalant about every prior boat we've owned but even she really likes the SE.

Really great feedback, thank you. I figured this to be the case but good to have confirmation from an experienced owner. How does it feel in chop? I drove a friends M240 on our big, choppy lake and got completely beat up all day but the Malibu doesn’t have trim tabs. The Centurions I hear have a better ride in chop but I hear people tell me bow rise is pretty bad so I’m going to test that out in person. I drove the Supra on a calmer day but it did seem better than Malibu.

[tre]

No inboard is as good as an I/O once the lake is rough simply because the hulls are shaped differently. That said, I've been in inboards now since 2001 and every time I buy a new one, the ride is better. This SE is significantly better and has very little bow rise compared to our old Supras and prior inboards. The ride is very good in rough water to a point. I'll elaborate on that. If the water is super rough, I set the speed to 16.5MPH on the dash (I have that programmed as "cruise" in the Autowake screen). At that speed, the ride is completely smooth. I can cruise at about 20-24 without getting too beat up but you do bounce over the larger boat wakes at those speeds. Any faster and you will get pounded over the large boat wakes. You don't get pounded or bounce at all at the 16.5 I have set. If things get really rough, I've filled up the ballast and it really helps the boat cut through the water but I only had to do this once or twice this year. We took a number of sunset cruises when the lake was super rough and we had no issues. I'm extremely impressed with the rough water ride and the lack of bow rise. Our lake gets rough. It is about 8 miles long and 1 mile wide. Of course you can also control bow rise with the center plate and can even program the position of it into your Autowake settings. BTW, I always use autowake even when cruising because the outside surf tabs are automatically used to keep the boat from leaning at speed. I find this handy when people favor sitting on one side of the boat over the other. The benefits of that are clear when surfing, skiing, and wakeboarding but I find it really helps as well when cruising. The handling of the boat is better when it is not leaning side to side. The pitch is easily controlled by the center plate when cruising in rough water but the side to side lean is not so I let autowake handle that.