Torn... next Yamaha vs an actual Surf boat

[Tayhadasuperjet]

I just sold my AR195 and get my 2022 Mastercraft NXT22 this week. Curious about the above claims on reliability with Mastercraft - I have 6 neighbors on the lake all with Mastercraft's that have been flawless.

I loved my Yamaha, but needed more room. I never thought I would care too much about watersports, then I got the surfing itch.

In short, if financially you can afford the surf boat and the sport aspect is important, make the jump.

 

[ripler]

I just sold my AR195 and get my 2022 Mastercraft NXT22 this week. Curious about the above claims on reliability with Mastercraft - I have 6 neighbors on the lake all with Mastercraft's that have been flawless.

I loved my Yamaha, but needed more room. I never thought I would care too much about watersports, then I got the surfing itch.

In short, if financially you can afford the surf boat and the sport aspect is important, make the jump.

I haven't heard about reliability issues either, I belong to MC team talk and there aren't many threads about quality or issues. MC stands behind their boats with a 5 year bow to stern warranty and 7 year or 1000 hours engine warranty, this is the factory warranty, not an extended warranty.
This is my first year owning the MC and had 2 issues, I had one tire fail at about 500 miles and a ballast pump fail. The pump was replaced under warranty with a phone call to my dealer who sent a new pump within a few days. I already had a replacement with me, so it wasn't a big deal to replace. I replaced both tires with Carlisle tires because I didn't read good things about the tires that came on the trailer from the factory, the failure just sped up that process. My fender got damaged with the tire failure, I haven't discussed a replacement with my dealer yet, I'm going to wait until the offseason.


Will you post a picture of the boat already.

Here's my NXT20

 

[Tayhadasuperjet]

I haven't heard about reliability issues either, I belong to MC team talk and there aren't many threads about quality or issues. MC stands behind their boats with a 5 year bow to stern warranty and 7 year or 1000 hours engine warranty, this is the factory warranty, not an extended warranty.
This is my first year owning the MC and had 2 issues, I had one tire fail at about 500 miles and a ballast pump fail. The pump was replaced under warranty with a phone call to my dealer who sent a new pump within a few days. I already had a replacement with me, so it wasn't a big deal to replace. I replaced both tires with Carlisle tires because I didn't read good things about the tires that came on the trailer from the factory, the failure just sped up that process. My fender got damaged with the tire failure, I haven't discussed a replacement with my dealer yet, I'm going to wait until the offseason.


Will you post a picture of the boat already.

Here's my NXT20
View attachment 161669View attachment 161670

View attachment 161671

I will! It is still on the transport truck and hits my dealer tomorrow. They are going to prep for a delivery on Saturday.

 

[HangOutdoors]

MC stands behind their boats with a 5 year bow to stern warranty and 7 year or 1000 hours engine warranty, this is the factory warranty, not an extended warranty.

Wow, that is fantastic!!!! For the price of boats all MFG's should be stepping up like this.

 

[suke]

Wow, that is fantastic!!!! For the price of boats all MFG's should be stepping up like this.

You'd be surprised at how many do. Heyday just announced an 8 year warranty, pretty sure Axis and Malibu are 5 years. Tige and Moomba are 5 years. At least on the powertrain for all of those.

 

[HangOutdoors]

Yamaha needs to up their Warranty commitment. In this market they could just increase their pricing by $2,500 more a boat and give everyone 5 years bumper to bumper.

 

[OrangeTJ]

Take "reliability" issue rumors with a grain of salt. They are essentially all anecdotal (not saying untrue) and such things seem to almost always be overrepresented on forums. Mastercraft does a great job with build quality and most of the subsystems are made by other companies (the same ones that make them for a bunch of other boat builders) so it would stand to reason that their overall reliability should be pretty much like everybody elses. Perhaps even better just due to the level of attention they pay to detail when building the boats. Any of these boats can have problems, to be sure, but I'd not worry about it with an established high end maker like MC, Nautique, etc..

 

[haknslash]

You'd be surprised at how many do. Heyday just announced an 8 year warranty, pretty sure Axis and Malibu are 5 years. Tige and Moomba are 5 years. At least on the powertrain for all of those.

I got a 7 year Indmar warranty, 5 years on parts and lifetime hull with my Moomba when we bought during the boat show. During “summer incentives” and boat show deals Skiers Choice typically throws in 2 extra years of Indmar warranty and a surf system or something compared to their standard 5 year power train warranty during those sales events.

 

[Brad460]

Here is my two cents- Wakesurfing isn’t the be-all to end- all thing out there..I personally didnt buy our Moomba just because we wanted to surf. I love the V-8 power with V-drive, the handling and maneuverability, layout and looks of a wakeboard boat. To be honest we don’t really surf all that much- It’s just not all that exciting anymore (started surfing back in ~2009).

My point is- Don’t just base your boat buying decision on its ability to just wakesurf. Yamaha might still be the right boat for you..

 

[OrangeTJ]

Here is my two cents- Wakesurfing isn’t the be-all to end- all thing out there..I personally didnt buy our Moomba just because we wanted to surf. I love the V-8 power with V-drive, the handling and maneuverability, layout and looks of a wakeboard boat. To be honest we don’t really surf all that much- It’s just not all that exciting anymore (started surfing back in ~2009).

My point is- Don’t just base your boat buying decision on its ability to just wakesurf. Yamaha might still be the right boat for you..

You make a good point. Surfing is just one activty. While I really do love surfing with my friends and pulling our younger folks on wakeboards, iIn my case I find our MB to be more enjoyable for every single boating use than I did our Yamaha. Not that the Yamaha was bad, and the MB was definitely more expensive, but for our use it is just a better overall experience - quieter, more comfortable underway, more storage, more powerful (not faster - better capable of carrying and pulling a load), easier handling, and yes much better designed for towed watesports. As a qualifier, I don't spend much time boating in skinny water and was never comfortable operating our Yamaha in less than the 3 feet I require for our MB anyway.

 

[haknslash]

^^yup same for us. We don’t surf 100% of the time with our Max. Probably like 40% of the time is used for surfing. The rest is just cruising, exploring or hanging out in a quiet cove just as we did with our jet boat. The only thing my Yamaha did better than my Moomba was be able to go to the Gulf to boat in salt water. Everything else is just better for us. Granted the Yamaha was lighter so it is easier to tow with my old truck but we don’t really tow much these days so it’s a non-issue. I don’t miss getting bounced, tossed and beat on in rough water. Or screaming at each other to talk while underway, bad handling around docks, much less storage space, manually setting up heavy ballast bags, floppy windshield, jet boat spray in the face of doing watersports.... I could go on but you get the point. Everything I did on my jetboat is easily repeatable and doable on my Max. I’m not one of those who seeks 10” of water in a jet boat so the whole shallow draft thing was never a selling point for me. I will say it’s nice to have a dedicated anchor locker and a scupper on the Yamaha for those times you want to clean the floors.

 

[Chillypilot]

I too did not buy my boat exclusively to surf. I loved my Yamaha but the one thing that always bothered me about was 1 the noise, and soundproofed the hell out of that thing 2. the clean out plugs. Every time went to the marina a had to clean out the weeds put in the plugs, repeat if is picked up anything along the way. Sometimes the boat just seamed like a lot of work. (Maybe I’m getting old lol) Now I just turn the key and go and I have to say I like it.

 

[YamPat]

I will trade my Ar240 2010 for a 2022 252SE when my boat will arrive to the dealer.

My 2010 is a real screemer. It is loud.

The newer one (250-252-255) suppose to be a lot less loud ... I hope I will solve that issue to a certain level

For me I am on a big lake with a few good sand bar so draft, high freeboard and the new aft design was a true seller

 

[KCAR250]

Do surf boats exist below $100K?

Heyday and ATX are both under $100k

 

[suke]

I will trade my Ar240 2010 for a 2022 252SE when my boat will arrive to the dealer.

My 2010 is a real screemer. It is loud.

The newer one (250-252-255) suppose to be a lot less loud ... I hope I will solve that issue to a certain level

For me I am on a big lake with a few good sand bar so draft, high freeboard and the new aft design was a true seller

I've been impressed with just how quiet my 2020 is while doing 99.9% of what we do. Now surfing fully loaded up with the fatsac and running at 6k+ RPMs is pretty loud. However, I follow nearly every manufacturer and several factory riders and at towing RPMs that V8 on most brands doesn't seem to be much quieter under load. Just a different frequency.

The lake we frequent has a lot of underwater tress/forests that aren't all marked. The area we hang out in is a max depth of like 17' and drops to under 4' randomly in parts, and could be lower depending on lake level. So for us a V drive we'd have to change our habits.

 

[the MfM]

I haven't heard about reliability issues either, I belong to MC team talk and there aren't many threads about quality or issues. MC stands behind their boats with a 5 year bow to stern warranty and 7 year or 1000 hours engine warranty, this is the factory warranty, not an extended warranty.
This is my first year owning the MC and had 2 issues, I had one tire fail at about 500 miles and a ballast pump fail. The pump was replaced under warranty with a phone call to my dealer who sent a new pump within a few days. I already had a replacement with me, so it wasn't a big deal to replace. I replaced both tires with Carlisle tires because I didn't read good things about the tires that came on the trailer from the factory, the failure just sped up that process. My fender got damaged with the tire failure, I haven't discussed a replacement with my dealer yet, I'm going to wait until the offseason.


Will you post a picture of the boat already.

Here's my NXT20
View attachment 161669View attachment 161670

View attachment 161671

That’s a beautiful no nonsense boat. Kinda reminds me of the original ar210 obviously with a hull design for a big wake.
@Yamaha @brp notice how low the swim platform is in relation to where people actually swim?

 

[OrangeTJ]

^^yup same for us. We don’t surf 100% of the time with our Max. Probably like 40% of the time is used for surfing. The rest is just cruising, exploring or hanging out in a quiet cove just as we did with our jet boat. The only thing my Yamaha did better than my Moomba was be able to go to the Gulf to boat in salt water. Everything else is just better for us. Granted the Yamaha was lighter so it is easier to tow with my old truck but we don’t really tow much these days so it’s a non-issue. I don’t miss getting bounced, tossed and beat on in rough water. Or screaming at each other to talk while underway, bad handling around docks, much less storage space, manually setting up heavy ballast bags, floppy windshield, jet boat spray in the face of doing watersports.... I could go on but you get the point. Everything I did on my jetboat is easily repeatable and doable on my Max. I’m not one of those who seeks 10” of water in a jet boat so the whole shallow draft thing was never a selling point for me. I will say it’s nice to have a dedicated anchor locker and a scupper on the Yamaha for those times you want to clean the floors.

Yep. These boats aren't the "one trick ponies" some folks seem to think they are.

 

[tkeru408]

That’s a beautiful no nonsense boat. Kinda reminds me of the original ar210 obviously with a hull design for a big wake.
@Yamaha @brp notice how low the swim platform is in relation to where people actually swim?

Are you talking about the height of the swim platform? Maybe I'm misunderstanding, but if you're talking height the swim platform of my 252SE sits pretty much where the teak deck of that MC is. It's only a couple of inches above the water.

And agreed, that MC is a beautiful boat.

 

[the MfM]

Are you talking about the height of the swim platform? Maybe I'm misunderstanding, but if you're talking height the swim platform of my 252SE sits pretty much where the teak deck of that MC is. It's only a couple of inches above the water.

And agreed, that MC is a beautiful boat.

Yes I was talking about the height above water. The old ar210 has a swim platform pretty much even with the water. If two people sit on it then it actually goes under water. Makes it very easy for kids and others to board in deep water. (Even without using the ladder) Unlike the switch and many newer Yamahas where the rear platform is quite high.

I wasn’t aware the 252 platform was that low.

 

[josh_h25]

I got to test drive and surf behind a 23ft heyday last week. Meet a guy at the sandbar and he offered to let me try it out. 6 people in the boat stock ballast full and suck gate on the side and that thing threw a sweet wave. Interior quality was ok 6/10 but it had plenty of power. I’m 190lbs was able to do 360’s on a short skim style board. He paid $72k for it brand new. Made me think twice about considering that brand when I move to a wake boat next year.