Pre season fun - favorite ‘classic’ wake/ski boat

[bergermaister]

My uncle had this old, geez maybe 1968? Tom Sawyer tri-hull ever since I was a kid. I guess you could call it a classic... Learned to ski behind it, tube, kneeboard, skurfer (remember those?), you name it. Went fishing, crabbing, all of it. It was ugly as hell but hey - it was available and free! In my late teens to early 20's he decided he was done with it and asked if I would sell it for him and we'd split the proceeds. Of course I could use it as much as I wanted -which we did A LOT of- and then get rid of it when I was done.

Funny thing, it took me a good 3 years to finally sell it. During that time we ended up blowing the little 120hp mercruiser it was born with. In went I want to say it was a 168ci, 140hp long block. That tired old boat (kind of looked like a car on the water) came back to life in a big way. Since I was a poor college kid my uncle actually bought the motor and I swapped it in.

We probably would have tried to barefoot behind it but it wasn't fast enough. LOL We would pull up on the beach next to these sweet drag boats and daycruisers and get 'the look'. I always thought I wanted a drag boat but it was kinda dumb because they would literally just sit there all day and look cool. We'd be going nonstop burning a full tank of gas every outing. Loved that old tri-hull.

[sandm]

no pics but funnest old school boat I have been on was a friend in boise that had a 90's boomerang. that boat flat out moved and could spin on a dime.... great times on it...
afaik, he still has it and uses it. last time I was on it was summer 2012.

berg, my family used to have a place on payette lake in McCall back in the 70's. had an old orange and white tri-hull with a 65horse evinrude outboard on the back that looked almost identical to the one you posted up. I still remember many summer saturdays watching my old man use very "colorful" language to work on that thing... fun but it spent more time dead than running... as a kid we would sleep on the fold down seats at night under the stars..

[Dukabor]

That tri hull is amazing….

It is wild when you look back at how manufacturers were ‘plentiful’ and stylists were pushing boundaries…. I was having the same thoughts looking back to the two dozen or so snowmobile manufacturers in the 60-70’s, and how that has whittled down…. And look at how (somewhat) similar our wake boat designs have become, well maybe except for the WT-2 lol…. But I applaud all of those who stray from the norm !!

Almost makes a guy want to dive back a couple generations of boat, and maybe worry less about cheetos being brought onboard !!

[zabooda]

My first ski boat was a 1979 Glastron Carlson with a 350 I/ O (brochure picture - not me). It had the optional tow hook behind the back seat which a good ski boat at the time. I had a 1998 Mobius which was open bow ski boat that was OK. The boat to ski behind was the Mastercraft Prostar 190. It wasn't practical for families but the wake was almost nonexistent.