The Boat Fanatic Thread

[Goofyboy 3314]

Depends.  Good boaters?  No issue at all.  But that’s getting more and more scarce.  Part of the blame for that goes to these rental companies.
When I’m on Canyon Lake and see a shit-ton of Axis Wake Boats out there with the exact same color scheme, I know to keep my head on a swivel.  That’s what the big marina out there rents.  The good thing about that lake is those fuckers don’t know the little hideaways and there are those aplenty.  The Sea Doo fucksticks are really bad too.  They have zero idea what “No wake zone” means.  Saw two of them get nailed by the sheriff just this weekend.  They were running full speed up and down the cove with ramps 5 & 6, 30 yards away while people were launching.  That sheriff must have been watching with optics somewhere because he came busting in from the other side of the lake to nail their sorry asses.  
It was so enjoyable watching them get handed ciatations while the water heroes lectured them in front of the boat ramp crowd to everyone’s delight.

They rent an Axis to the general public?? No “professional” driver??

[Cajun 11764]

12 minutes ago, Goofyboy said:

They rent an Axis to the general public?? No “professional” driver??

Clarification/correction - It’s a boat club.  My dipshittery observations still stand, however…

[Brew 3049]

4 hours ago, Atxracer said:

Looking like it’s that time to get back in the boating game.  I have been out of it since the early 2000’s but I borrowed my brothers X24 yesterday to take my son out and looks like the bug bit.

I am pretty partial to Nautiques and that’s what I have always had but looks like Mastercraft has a dealership that can do maintenance/service on HSB which is a huge plus so leaning that way.

Anybody with experience with the X24 or X26?  Are their other Mastercraft models I should consider or reasons to do the Nautique over the Mastercraft? Mainly going to be used for a family of 3 plus friends for wakeboarding, wakesurfing, tubing, cruising, etc. Any thoughts are appreciated as I am back to a newbie at this.

It all depends on how much money you want to spend and how many people you are planning on carrying around. All the big brands have entry level boats all the way up to loaded out $300k+ boats. The 24/26 are big boats especially if you are towing and storing, I’ve always been partial to the 21/22 foot boats because of ease of transport and you can still carry 8-10. They also better represent the old MC 205 and SANTE 210 which throw the best wakeboarding wakes of all time for my preference, steep transitions and narrow wake. The big boats are too wide. I’ve owned 10 or so Nautiques and Mastercrafts over the last 20+ years and it’s like the Ford/Chevy debate. They both do everything well, but they each have followings that think their brand preference is the best. If you’re going to be pulling tubes, I would look for a model without a back deck walk through that has a tow bar. They just don’t pull that well from the back tow hooks on a wake boat because of the wake size.

Just listed my SAN 210 if you are looking at Nautiques and want a mint, low hour Nautique.

[Brew 3049]

24 minutes ago, Goofyboy said:

They rent an Axis to the general public?? No “professional” driver??

I have seen several rental places that rent wakeboard boats. Between them and the boat clubs, keep your head on a swivel out there.

[Atxracer 798]

Great info.  Thanks.  I used to have the SAN 210 and whatever one before that that wasn’t a V-drive and loved them.  But, I was a wakeboarder back then and I think those days are over.  Or, at least limited.  

I don’t really intend to tow it and plan on keeping it at a slip or maybe house in HSB or that area. 

Looking for an all around kinda boat that can carry me and some friends comfortably, handle the chop, good to great at surfing and good at wakeboarding for little man when the time comes. I also only intend to do this once for the next while.  So, with what you said, you think the 24 would be better than the 26 for wakeboarding?  I don’t see me going to 21 just for comfort reasons.  

[Atxracer 798]

44 minutes ago, Cajun said:

Good old LBJ, the prop destroyer.

I am new to boating in this area.  Is this a West Lake/Lake Travis type thing or is HSB more known for stumps, etc?  I was at LBJ yesterday and it seemed pretty easy to navigate besides the millions of other boaters and jet skis.  Lake Travis is actually closer to my home but was picking HSB due to the resort activities for kids, golf courses and constant level.  

[Goofyboy 3314]

I have seen several rental places that rent wakeboard boats. Between them and the boat clubs, keep your head on a swivel out there.

Clubs are just a step above the rental folks.

Best wake boat I ever road behind was a SANTE. I was early 2000’s model. Bright yellow with a black cage. One of the first with Wet Sounds. Owner put 1000 pounds of lead in it, plus the internal ballast. Perfect wake that would boot you up and let you come down on the down slope pretty easy. Good times.

Oh, I miss those old boats and their prices.

[Brew 3049]

50 minutes ago, Atxracer said:

Great info.  Thanks.  I used to have the SAN 210 and whatever one before that that wasn’t a V-drive and loved them.  But, I was a wakeboarder back then and I think those days are over.  Or, at least limited.  

I don’t really intend to tow it and plan on keeping it at a slip or maybe house in HSB or that area. 

Looking for an all around kinda boat that can carry me and some friends comfortably, handle the chop, good to great at surfing and good at wakeboarding for little man when the time comes. I also only intend to do this once for the next while.  So, with what you said, you think the 24 would be better than the 26 for wakeboarding?  I don’t see me going to 21 just for comfort reasons.  

It's all personal preference, there is no way in hell I would own a 26 foot wake boat or even a 24 for that matter. I prefer the more narrow width, the lower freeboard of the smaller boats, and the maneuverability of the smaller boats. If I was deadset on getting a 24/26, personally I would just buy a Cobalt R5/R7 Surf so I could just cruise around comfortably. If chop is a significant concern, the Cobalt will eat it up. For a wakeboard boat, Centurion's have always been the best for choppier conditions in my view at least in the little older hulls. Their deadrises and hull shape are great for chop. 

[Brew 3049]

40 minutes ago, Goofyboy said:

Clubs are just a step above the rental folks.

Best wake boat I ever road behind was a SANTE. I was early 2000’s model. Bright yellow with a black cage. One of the first with Wet Sounds. Owner put 1000 pounds of lead in it, plus the internal ballast. Perfect wake that would boot you up and let you come down on the down slope pretty easy. Good times.

Oh, I miss those old boats and their prices.

For me, it was my mid/late 90's 205's with bags on either side of the motor, in the bow, and under the back seats. Tight, steep wake that was easy to clear and would absolutely launch you. No electronics, easy to work on, and you could buy them for next to nothing. Kids could eat cheetos, drink koolaid, dogs could jump all over the seats, I never cared what happened with them. I've had multiple mid 90's and never spent more than $15k or so on one. Buddy of mine just bought my X1 I had before buying this Nautique. I told him if he ever got rid of it I got first dibs. That was a great boat that used the early 2000's Xstar hull and did everything great, except surfing which is why I moved up. You had to just about sink it to get the back corner low enough to get a decent curl.

[Brew 3049]

I need to stay out of this thread, I'm going to end up changing my mind on moving on to some other boat type and just add to the boat stable instead. I could talk wakeboard boats all day. I've had one in the garage for all but a year or so since I turned 20ish. I really screwed my back up last time I got on a skate, so I think I'm officially done with the board sports (I can't get into surfing) which kind of sucks to admit. I thought I could still ride it and not get hurt like on the wakeboard, but I couldn't help myself and got stupid on it. I'm back hunting a bay boat again, so we'll see what's next assuming I can sell this one.

[Sbbruin 21912]

3 hours ago, fattyflattie said:

Drug my sled to the hill country Friday to take the kids tubing.  Had a fantastic time. Something about running in that clear cool water just feels good for a boat that’s lived it’s entire life in saltwater.  Thanks again, @Cajun

 

Glad to see you you are feeling up to it.  Has to be absolutely therapeutic. 

It was probably a bad call.  Kept getting super lightheaded and dizzy with the slightest exertion.  Ended up heading back to the slip, washing her down, and heading home.  Not yet.  Hopefully soon.

[fattyflattie 4639]

1 hour ago, Sbbruin said:

It was probably a bad call.  Kept getting super lightheaded and dizzy with the slightest exertion.  Ended up heading back to the slip, washing her down, and heading home.  Not yet.  Hopefully soon.

Well, it will come soon.  Glad you got to get some sea breeze, anyhow. 

[Cajun 11764]

9 hours ago, Atxracer said:

I am new to boating in this area.  Is this a West Lake/Lake Travis type thing or is HSB more known for stumps, etc?  I was at LBJ yesterday and it seemed pretty easy to navigate besides the millions of other boaters and jet skis.  Lake Travis is actually closer to my home but was picking HSB due to the resort activities for kids, golf courses and constant level.  

LBJ has shallow, water clarity is non existent, and many places are not marked well.  It’s not a Travis/Westlake thing, it’s a just a reality.  Go to Boat Town and tell the manager you’re hitting LBJ for the first time and he’ll immediately respond, “Watch your prop!”   Hit Nettles prop repair in ATX and ask if they get many props from LBJ and they just laugh.

[Atxracer 798]

Now the question has popped up on which lake since I am not that committed.  I intend to keep the boat where I am going no matter what and just go meet it for the day or rent or buy a place to stay.

What I am after is a place with either a waterfront or water view town house or small house to rent randomly or buy, a marina with slips, a kids area at that marina would be nice, decent restaurants and constant level would be nice that is less than an hour from Bee Cave.  The HSB resort checks all those boxes but are there other places in that distance as well?

So far, we have Canyon Lake, LBJ and Travis but I don't know if Travis and Canyon have those options.

[Atxracer 798]

Nm, the above. Thanks for the advice. Pretty sure I decided on the place and lake which kinda dictates the boat. Now just need to decide on the size of boat but will drive them both Friday. I am impulsive.  

[utee94 15883]

1 minute ago, Atxracer said:

Nm, the above. Thanks for the advice. Pretty sure I decided on the place and lake which kinda dictates the boat. Now just need to decide on the size of boat but will drive them both Friday. I am impulsive.  

A boat salesman's dream.

Be sure to tell them you want to haggle, though...

[Atxracer 798]

6 minutes ago, utee94 said:

Be sure to tell them you want to haggle, though...

 

lol, haven't done the boat yet. I guess that's another question.  Do they haggle on a boat you order or on a slightly used boat?  It will either be the X24 or X26.  

[utee94 15883]

3 minutes ago, Atxracer said:

 

lol, haven't done the boat yet. I guess that's another question.  Do they haggle on a boat you order or on a slightly used boat?  It will either be the X24 or X26.  

I've always haggled on boats, but in this market, who knows?  

[Brew 3049]

1 hour ago, Atxracer said:

 

lol, haven't done the boat yet. I guess that's another question.  Do they haggle on a boat you order or on a slightly used boat?  It will either be the X24 or X26.  

When I bought mine, it was take it or leave it. They didn’t care either way. It had also been on the lot for a little while and they still didn’t come off $1.

Edited August 1, 2022 by Brew

[crash_davis 23159]

1 hour ago, utee94 said:

I've always haggled on boats, but in this market, who knows?  

Good news, there's finally inventory, albeit low inventory. Bad news, the dealerships aren't haggling. If you are building a boat, the dealership may even call you after you agree to a price to tell you that X manufacturer is raising the price by $20k.

Everyone complains about the a mythical boogeyman for inflation. That boogeyman is named Maximizingprofits or Maximizingcommissions.

[Armybrat 41005]

Making up for lost sales during the Covid crap.

[sidis 9844]

From Saturday evening on a G23.  Wild sky.

 

[Armybrat 41005]

I can see my son’s office in the first pic. 
He prefers working from home though.

[Cajun 11764]

21 hours ago, utee94 said:

I've always haggled on boats, but in this market, who knows?  

According to my cousin at Boat Town there is zero haggling right now.  They have people lined up for boats who will gladly pay what you (the Royal “you”) won’t.

[Cajun 11764]

Yesterday out on Canyon…

[Sbbruin 21912]

Alabama. Please just fall in and become chum.

[Brew 3049]

Ballast, they are working on dialing in their wake surfing wake.

[Cajun 11764]

Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck…

 

[ChiTownDoc 21229]

scene boat party.  Should be 1500 boats.  We will not have the biggest boat - we will 100% have the most ass.  

Edited August 6, 2022 by ChiTownDoc

[blacklab 11998]

When you anchor in a party cove type place with water depth of about 10 feet and a muddy bottom that is easy for an anchor to catch, should you use a 50 foot anchor line or a 15 foot anchor line?

[fattyflattie 4639]

2 hours ago, blacklab said:

When you anchor in a party cove type place with water depth of about 10 feet and a muddy bottom that is easy for an anchor to catch, should you use a 50 foot anchor line or a 15 foot anchor line?

7x depth.  You can cheat from there a bit, but 15’ is cutting it short if using a danforth or flipper type. 

[Brew 3049]

If I’m in a cove with low traffic and no waves, I go shorter than normal. 15 is probably cutting it too close with a 10 foot depth, but 20/25 would work fine. I don’t want a lot of extra rope in situations like that.

[blacklab 11998]

Reason I'm asking is we went to bull creek near the bridge on Lake Austin and parked between two boats that were about 60 feet apart, leaving about 20-30 feet between us and each boat.  Turned out one of the boats had >50 feet of anchor line so we dropped right on top of his. He had a complete shit fit telling us we didn't know what we are doing and don't understand how anchors work when our boats got close. Mine didn't move more than a few feet, his drifted 20-30 feet. 

[Sbbruin 21912]

When you anchor in a party cove type place with water depth of about 10 feet and a muddy bottom that is easy for an anchor to catch, should you use a 50 foot anchor line or a 15 foot anchor line?

25

[Sbbruin 21912]

Getting back on my feet. Prepping the boat for a run to cat on Thursday. This summer has been pretty shitty. Looking forward to a little non-shitty time.

[Cajun 11764]

On 8/6/2022 at 3:48 PM, blacklab said:

Reason I'm asking is we went to bull creek near the bridge on Lake Austin and parked between two boats that were about 60 feet apart, leaving about 20-30 feet between us and each boat.  Turned out one of the boats had >50 feet of anchor line so we dropped right on top of his. He had a complete shit fit telling us we didn't know what we are doing and don't understand how anchors work when our boats got close. Mine didn't move more than a few feet, his drifted 20-30 feet. 

I've anchored in Bull Creek, oh, maybe less than 9 million times and you need maybe 15 feet of rope out (20 max) IF you've got a good heavy anchor.  I use a big ass (25lbs-ish) box anchor and never had an issue.  Not once.  

50 foot douche is a moron and had zero business lecturing you.

Now, if he was in the deeper channel agains the north shore coming in then, yeah, maybe he needed a little more rope, but then he'd still be a douche because that's a pass-through and only douches anchor there.

[Cajun 11764]

Had another great weekend on Canyon and an unexped bonus ~ The marina now carries these, which I'd never had.  I'll admit, I was a bit intimidated on the first one but gotdamn if they didn't just take over the VooDoo flavor of the same brand for my #1 chip.  Highly recommend...

Edited August 8, 2022 by Cajun

[Cajun 11764]

Oh, and Slidell boat candy didn't hurt the weekend either...

 

Edited August 8, 2022 by Cajun

[smuggs 9354]

On 8/6/2022 at 9:24 PM, Sbbruin said:

25

...3 tons of him.

[Sbbruin 21912]

1 hour ago, Cajun said:

Had another great weekend on Canyon and an unexped bonus ~ The marina now carries these, which I'd never had.  I'll admit, I was a bit intimidated on the first one but gotdamn if they didn't just take over the VooDoo flavor of the same brand for my #1 chip.  Highly recommend...

[utee94 15883]

I too have anchored in Bull Creek at least eleventy billion times in my lifetime, and I wouldn't toss more than 25-30 feet of line, there.  

 

 

[fattyflattie 4639]

1 hour ago, utee94 said:

I too have anchored in Bull Creek at least eleventy billion times in my lifetime, and I wouldn't toss more than 25-30 feet of line, there.  

 

 

@Cajun nailed it with the anchor though.  If you’ve got weight, it’s easier to cheat the length.  If you can get a danforth or delta flipper set (set set) you can cheat that too. But scope (and length of rode) plays a huge part it.  If it’s 10’ and muddy I’d just dive down and set tf out of mine with my feet. Same thing I do on shallow sandy flats where you cant get a good set.  Always feels better the step it in a few times before you wade off a thousand yards.  

[utee94 15883]

1 minute ago, fattyflattie said:

@Cajun nailed it with the anchor though.  If you’ve got weight, it’s easier to cheat the length.  If you can get a danforth or delta flipper set (set set) you can cheat that too. But scope (and length of rode) plays a huge part it.  If it’s 10’ and muddy I’d just dive down and set tf out of mine with my feet. Same thing I do on shallow sandy flats where you cant get a good set.  Always feels better the step it in a few times before you wade off a thousand yards.  

I tend to throw two anchors, one off the bow, and one off the stern, and this is what I use, which is heavy enough to work well on muddy bottoms but also has very strong flukes for catching into rocky bottoms.  The flukes release with a yank on the line.

 

 

 

 

[utee94 15883]

3 hours ago, Cajun said:

 

Now, if he was in the deeper channel agains the north shore coming in then, yeah, maybe he needed a little more rope, but then he'd still be a douche because that's a pass-through and only douches anchor there.

The cops and firemen used to clear out douchenozzles that anchored over there, but in recent years I've seen plenty of aholes do it and not get called out.

Of course, some of them end up moving for fear of their own lives, when the big party boats come barreling down that channel with zero capability of avoiding running them down...

[Cajun 11764]

2 hours ago, utee94 said:

I tend to throw two anchors, one off the bow, and one off the stern, and this is what I use, which is heavy enough to work well on muddy bottoms but also has very strong flukes for catching into rocky bottoms.  The flukes release with a yank on the line.

 

 

 

 

What are those called.  I’m trying to remember but can’t for the life of me.  Driving me nuts

[utee94 15883]

54 minutes ago, Cajun said:

What are those called.  I’m trying to remember but can’t for the life of me.  Driving me nuts

Extreme Max anchor. 

[ChickenSandwich 9856]

2 hours ago, Cajun said:

What are those called.  I’m trying to remember but can’t for the life of me.  Driving me nuts

 

Bruce?

[Brew 3049]

Boat went under contract today, looks like the end is here for my 20+ year run of wakeboats. Kind of sucks the more I have thought about it. Been researching what stupid purchase I’m going to make to fill the empty garage slot, leaning towards a 22-24 foot bay boat I can also use at the home lakes but I can’t decide. May just sell the truck too and buy a Blackwing or something else dumb instead.

[fattyflattie 4639]

46 minutes ago, Brew said:

Boat went under contract today, looks like the end is here for my 20+ year run of wakeboats. Kind of sucks the more I have thought about it. Been researching what stupid purchase I’m going to make to fill the empty garage slot, leaning towards a 22-24 foot bay boat I can also use at the home lakes but I can’t decide. May just sell the truck too and buy a Blackwing or something else dumb instead.

An Islamorada would fit the bill nicely... 

[Brew 3049]

13 hours ago, fattyflattie said:

An Islamorada would fit the bill nicely... 

Bonefish Malvaldo 26 or a Barker 26 Bay are my first two choices if I can get past the size or maybe even the Conch 25. Think I really need to go 22-24 if I go that direction though.