Boating over the 4th has cost me a bunch of $$$$

[gotmyboat]

I am back from a great vacation last week. I towed my OB 900 miles up to Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. What a beautiful lake and area. We had a house in a cove with a nice slip (took me a while to get used to the depth finder reading 3ft.) The lake was pretty deep in the middle, but the coves were pretty shallow. Coming into our cove, I ended up taking a Cobalt's wake over the bow. While pumping out, the bilge pump got a piece of debris in it and fried. I replaced it the next day for $50. This was not the expense that I was talking about.
The lake had a lot of boat chop and my 2 year old DD Outback was just not made for that kind of water. Our lakes back home blow out almost every afternoon which ends our boating. My wife has decided that we need a bigger boat so that we can still enjoy boating in rougher waters. This means an LSV or XLV is in my near future. My Outback is pristine with 100 hours, and so hopefully we are only looking at $5-15K difference to move to an '06 LSV or XLV. The other issue is that my 29' motorhome is at it's towing capacity with the Outback. I will need to upgrade my motorhome (for about $15K) before I can upgrade the boat. So I am looking at about $30K for the upgrade. I need to start a "Dave Fund".
Please understand that my tongue is firmly stuck to my cheek as I type this. These are certainly the kinds of problems that we like to have.
I would like some feedback from owners of the larger v-drives about rough water. Do you SLAP the wake if you are careful, or do you cut right through is. I saw lots of 21-23' SeaRay or Cobalts doing 40mph across the lake while I was doing 15 mph and trying to dodge the big ones.

Sorry I kind of rambled.

Dave

[bradcraig78]

I have a 07 xlv and ruff water is an issue for me. However I have never owned a smaller ski boat but compared to my 19' bayliner I used to have it is a major improvement. Hope that helps any.

[rbc_racing]

I went from an 04 LS to an 07 LSV and chop still gets the best of my boat, not as bad, but the sweet spot in rough water is between 17 and 20 mph any faster and it will beat you to death. I do like the LSV better for the fact that it's taller and it doesn't take as many rollers over the front, which is good because I guess they havn't figured out removable carpet yet. On another note I was driving one of my friends X-star a cpl of weeks ago and it's alot heavier and it has the picklefork bow, but we could still only ride at about 21-22mph without it getting to rough. This is a normal thing with any of these inboard style ski boats, I've heard the centurions are better in rough water but the wake isn't as good by comparison, so theres alot of give and take there. My conditions are on a weekends in the ocean that is Lake Lanier, There's alot of money on the northside of Atlanta and most of those ppl buy the biggest cabin cruisers they can find to pull there kids across the middle of the lake on a tube with.

[tann4ever]

I have an XLV and it's a great boat for what we do. You'll still feel the chop and in the afternoons with the wind and other boats you probably like to sit and relax.
It's a big boat and lots of room inside. Not very good if you skiing pylons but great for the family and for pulling a wakeboarder or tuber.
If I had it to do over again, I would have them leave the tower off. We use it mostly for hanging up life jackets.
Either one you pick you'll be happy with.
Good luck

[AZHeet]

I went from and 05 LSV to and 06 LSV with the deeper hull design and I could tell a pretty big difference with that so I'm assuming the difference between yours and and 06 XLV would be fairly noticable.

Test Drive!!

[gotmyboat]

I definitely will test drive. My dealer also sells Rinker i/o sport boats that come with a wakeboarding package. I'm just not sure i can go to an i/o after owning an inboard. I'm not wild about the bow pointing at the sky until I hit 15 mph. I might have to give it a spin to try it out.
The hull on my outback is pretty flat. it has a V in the front that flares out and gets flat pretty quick. Driving in big water takes a lot of finesse, You have to adjust your speed and direction almost constantly. When you hit one wrong it slaps the hull and makes you wonder what is going to fall off first.
I'm sure the difference would be huge with any of the wakeboard boats.

Thanks for the input, and keep it coming. Who has experience with towing waterports behind an i/o?

Dave

[ATLOUTBACKV]

My conditions are on a weekends in the ocean that is Lake Lanier, There's alot of money on the northside of Atlanta and most of those ppl buy the biggest cabin cruisers they can find to pull there kids across the middle of the lake on a tube with.

where on lanier are you...i am on the southend... i keep mine usually at a dock on old shadburn, or over by lanier harbor... i board typiucally on the north end and party at , well cocktail cove...


but back to topic.... i was in your shoes on memorial day weekend.. i had a Donzi sweet 16 with a 350 in it.. a pocket rocket that was a beautiful boat but my fiance insisted on a larger boat.. so I "settled" on my outback v.. a good upgrade in my opinion i just switch up to an outback v... you will have more room and a better ride... but 18-23 is what i ride across my washing machine lake on the weekends...big change from my deep V Donzi... 40-50mph in all conditions.... if you want a ski/wakeboard boat it comes with the inherent ride of one...

[NateDog]

the reason those cobalts just cut through it at 40 mph is because they are made to cut through the wakes. when designed they think about the comfort of ride aspect.
all designers of wake boats think about it how to throw the biggest wake
the desingers also assume most riding will be done on glass therfore dont usually worry about how to get the smoothest ride in teh chop

[Sled491]

Yeah I guess I wish I was in your so troubled position. But to the point of the rough ride. DD ski boats are not designed to get up on plane. We had a Nitro fish and ski before our Outback, and there's a big difference between 40 and flat and 55 and on top. You get flat, incredible acceleration and awsum flat corners due to design. You give up the ability to get up and on it due to design. It won't matter if you buy the biggest 80K wakeboard boat or stick it out with the Outback, by design our boats have a harsh ride in the rough stuff. Maybe you just need to increase the size of your fleet

[AZHeet]

Just make everyone stand up and use their legs as "shock absorbers". That's how we do it at lake Mead.