Atlanta Boat Show

[zegm]

Well it is Official! We ordered a New Moomba at the Atlanta Boat show!!!!
I want to thank Lisa and Tim of Atlanta Marine!!! It is so nice to meet dealers that really are geniune people that care about their customers!!!! If you are anywhere near Atlanta and are considering a new boat please go visit them!
I want to thank Rick Tinker for also being so helpful and informative!!!! It is nice to see the President of the company at a boat show enthusiastically helping with your choices.
After spending at least 2 hours sitting in an Outback V and a Mobius LS we ordered the LS!!!! Britinany Blue with the Moomba Block lettering. As we still do a fair amount of slalom skiing down the course we decided it was the best overall match for our needs. And while it does not have the cool open layout as the Outback V, like BamBam said there is ALOT of room in that LS! I would also suggest that if you get a chance to check out the z-cargo bimini!!! We had no intentions of getting this option but if you look at it and how well it is engineered we could not pass it up. We got a gelcoat upgrade, appearance package, wakeplate and Logo cover as our pick 4 options. We did not get wakeboard racks as the z-cargo bimini will take care of that for now. We visited all of the major inboard players and learned that my wife and I are old time skiers. What is important to us is a boat that is designed to pull people on a rope so they can have fun on whatever board/ski they wish. I could not help but think that that is NOT what the other manufactures are concerned about (maybe MasterCraft still does) but I never saw so much BLING BLING on a skiboat. Blue flashing lights, wild paint schemes, HUGE stereos, spinners on the trailer wheels. I would have to say Malibu was the worst, with Tige a close second. After visiting all the other boats we walked straight back to the Moomba site and said "order us a SKI BOAT please!!!!!
We also spent some time with a MasterCraft representative speaking to him about our old MasterCraft and his new boats. He finally asked if we were there to get a boat and we said yes! We just ordered a Moomba. We told him that we thought his boats were awesome but that we thought Moomba was the best value for the dollar he said something along the lines of "yes I don't blame you". He never tried to change our minds. Monday I will find out when the spray date is then 2 weeks after that I will have to drive another 5 hours back to Atlanta but this time it will really worth it!!!!!!
Finally I want to Thank everyone on this board for all your information, insights and help! Especially Sled491 and bambam true inboard guys! Thanks!!!!

[volfo]

Great experience, great boat. What color did you get? I agree that the direct drive configuration is being too easily discarded. the wrap around seating of the vs are nice, but I really don't like having basically a 5 foot sun lounge to walk over to get to the swim deck, which also turns my 21 foot boat into a 16 foot boat of space you can sit. Also, I primarily like to ski, as do most of the people that go to the lake with me.

I went to the Nashville boat show today and, although I like the dealer here, was disappointed in their show. They only had 3 moombas at the show, and 2 of them were both Mobius LSVs - one blue and one yellow and black. The other was a loaded Outback V. Their advertisement showed the boat show special price of $41,4XX - plus incentive (which I think means you forfeit the incentive to them?). That seemed awful high for an OB V, especially at the boat show. For example, it was 2 grand more than a Centurion Falcon V was being advertised, and only a grand or so less than a Malibu V-ride was being advertised by other deals.

I have an '01 Outback LS, which is the same boat as the current Outback V but in a direct drive configuration. I really like it. I went because I wanted to compare my LS to the newer Mobius LS, as well as the OB V, and get a feel for how a tower would look on mine if I were to add it instead of replace it for the Mobius LS. The booth was slow, and I spent 45 minutes to an hour going through the Outback V and the mob LSV, discussing it in detail with my Dad, who was with me. I was the only person I saw in that hour that took off their shoes and got in a boat. Not once did anyone even say Hello or ask what I was looking for. Finally, I walked up and asked if they had any boats elsewhere at the show, because I wanted to see a Mobius LS direct drive. They told me "Not to sound rude or whatever, but usually only old people ask for direct drives." I said "really?" and he said "yeah, we usually only sell 2 or 3 direct drives a year." (maybe that's because they don't have any to look at???)

Lucky for you they focused on Atlanta - I wasn't going to buy today anyway.

[volfo]

see your color now - brittany blue - which is what I would order assuming my wife won't agree with the Tn orange color they offer.

By the way, looked at Centurion, Nautique, Malibu, MC and Moomba/supra at the Nashville boat show and only saw one direct drive on the whole convention center floor. It was the new Mastercraft 214 - which had a really interesting layout but was SIXTY SEVEN THOUSAND DOLLARS and I spent 5 minutes looking at it and still have no idea in the world where you are supposed to put your sticks. Maybe the in-floor locker is big enough to hold a couple of them, I didnt' get in and open it, but I sure doubt it. Usually those things are good for about one slalom ski with double high wraps.

[zegm]

Besides the Moomba outback and the LS the only other DD I saw was the MasterCraft 197 and it was 15k more and I didn't see where the money was and it didn't have as much storage as the LS either nor was it as roomy. The mastercraft rep was very nice and didn't say a negative thing about our decision to abandon MasterCraft. We spoke to Rick Tinker and he stated that he worked at MasterCraft for something like 15 years. It was his goal to make a boat for the masses. Thanks Rick!!!!
My wife and I both love the color blue so we had no arguments and we leave our boat in the water so the blue doesn't show the greenish water stain as bad either. But now that we will have a new boat we might actually take it out of the water and wash it more often then we do our old MC.

[bambam26]

LOL, well Z you sound just like my wife and I a month ago!!!! We were all set, red and white outback V, nothing else will do! Well like you we orderd the LS, and Black and white (another color we never considered) The LS just had so much more room then the Standard Outback that once we sat in it and compared the 2 it was what we really wanted. I am very happy for you, I hope you got all you wanted for the price you wanted. Congrats on the purchase, By the way I had a call 2 days ago mine will be in by the end of the month!!!!!!! Congrats Z!!!!!!! Bambam

PS- What was your final price before Tax?

[volfo]

you made the same choice I think I would have - Mobius LS in brittany blue. I agree on the MC. I saw the regular OB at the '06 boat show and it is very similar in size to the MC 214. They told me at the '06 boat show, when they were actually apparently trying to sell boats, they could get me into one, fuel injected (option back then) for under $25k. You could almost buy 3 of them for the MC 214 - you could definitely buy 2 -and I'm not really sure which one I'd rather have.

By the way, you mentioned you leave it in the water. I think you mean on a lift. If not, you should consider a lift for that boat to keep it in good shape. I talked to the guys from Hydro Hoist and a lift for that boat, brand new and installed, will run about $6k if you get a hydro-hoist. Take delivery by Feb. 28 and save 10%. I have the number you can call in my "boat show bag" if you want it. let me know. It would be a great investment.

[zegm]

The MasterCraft was very nice! The tower is Way overbuilt! I am an engineer and I was trying to figure out why you would mount an almost 1" thick aluminum block to a fiberglass deck that is nowhere near that thick or strong. I told the rep that the tower was overkill! My wife liked the weird lightning bolt tower because it had swivel board racks but I feel that this tower like many of the ones on the other brands are too thick and take away your feild of view. Or had sharp edges where the kids head will meet the steel! When we returned to the Moomba boat area we both agreed that their towers are beautiful and simple, I guess I would say elegant not gawdy! Like I said earlier it was to us a show of who had the most blingbling and we want a ski boat instead.

[bambam26]

Okay Z so what did you end up paying???????

[04OUTBACK]

CONGRATS..she sounds beautiful! I think that will make a great boat for you guys! Can't wait for photos!
Since you have such a long drive, you should plan to put a few hours on it in Atlanta before driving home in case you have any bugs. doubt you will though...My 04 Outback was brittany blue... love the color...
You'll enjoy the DD for maintenance too! That is one thing I miss from my Outback.. oil changes and impellers were a little easier.

Welcome to the Family

[Laz]

Interesting what you say about poor interest in direct drives.

I was at the Toronto boat show yesterday and will be going back tomorrow. Both of Ontario's Moomba dealers have told me that the Outback is the most popular model.

On Saturday afternoon the Muskoka Marina's area was very busy.

Laz