I have seen the 2014 MasterCraft

[ral]

@Than_Bogan, what is that???

[oldjeep]

@Than_Bogan - Gekko GTS 20?

[Wish]

@Than_Bogan. WOW!! on the tight fit through the tunnel. ....NOT your back.

[Than_Bogan]

@ral Tunnel between launch ramp pond and slalom course pond.

 

Of course, this tunnel is also possibly THE reason we can have a serious tournament training site on a public park that is less than 30 minutes from Boston.

[Texas6]

@Than_Bogan, do you ski in those business slacks and a belt? Does it help? Kidding aside, that's a pretty tight squeeze through that tunnel. Must be tough on rub rails when a boat passes and throws any kind of roller into that tunnel

[jipster43]

@Than_Bogan @Chef23 I'm dying to see a video of your daily ski ritual!

[Than_Bogan]

@Texas6 If board shorts get any longer, I might as well!

 

Chef and I are fortunate enough to be able to moor on the course side, so we typically only HAVE to use that tunnel a few times each year. And technically you can beg the army lab to let you borrow their ramp on the slalom course pond, but I strongly prefer not to be subject to their whim.

 

But folks like @MikeT and my driver last night (Chet, but not that Chet) have to go through every time they ski, so they get pretty good at it. Mike installed a variety of extra rub-rail-like material on this boat to limit the damage.

 

What you perhaps can't quite see in that picture is that it's made of rough-hewn rocks, so there are a lot of chances to put a nasty gash in your gel-coat or windsheild supports.

 

There's even sometimes a strong current in there. But the good news is there are almost never rollers, because of the shape of the passageways on either side.

 

And again, barriers to entry are valuable to us as well!

[ral]

wow...

[DooSPX]

The weight that was published on MC's FB page has to be a typo or the total weight including trailer.

 

"At 20 feet in length and 96 inches in width, the new ProStar is slightly larger, yet lighter, than its predecessor – the 190 / 197."

 

Copied from MC's website on the news release.

[jimbrake]

@Than_Bogan - what is the tunnel under? A public road? We have a geotechnical engineer at our lake that specializes in tunnel improvements. Maybe you could get him to design a widening for you.

 

It wasn't your back that impressed me as much as your triceps. Did you just switch from serious competitive road bike racing to waterskiing? JK - I'll trade arms with you to run 38 again.

[bogboy]

I think the pickle fork bow looks pretty subtle and tastefully done.

[uflbret]

Than_Bogan, post the pic of the tunnel view from the pond. I've seen it before a while back on CCFan I think but can't find it now. It's a pretty cool pic. Looks like it should be on the cover of "On Walden Pond" or something.

[Chef23]

@jimbrake the tunnel is under a railroad. There is no getting rid of it. Frankly it doesn't kill me that it is there because it keeps big wakeboard boats out with huge wakes. I am fortunate in that my boat is moored on the lake we have the slalom courses on so I don't have to go through the tunnel except a couple of times a year.

 

There is a launching ramp on our lake but it is on the grounds of a US Army facility and we can get access to it right now but if something changes it might not be available.

 

Due to this restriction the 95" boats are a problem. The LXI/TXI will squeeze through if the water isn't too high but there have been long stretches this year when even a 196 wouldn't come through.

[Than_Bogan]

@jimbrake You can see triceps in that picture? Are you using some fancy post-image zoom??

[Bulldog]

http://instagram.com/p/cuW4snhDac/

[ISP6ball]

In Shawshank Redemption he carved an entire tunnel with a little rock hammer. Start chipping away at the sides of that tunnel for a few more inches!!!! It would probably have to be a night operation of course :-)

[webbdawg99]

Too bad that tunnel won't keep the jet skiers out

[Than_Bogan]

Jet skis are completely banned on Lake Cochituate. The park got tired of dealing with them many years ago. That might be even more important than the tunnel, now that I think about it.

[Triplett]

So it's better on gas. My question is the wake. It has to be better than the 200, but if its better than the TXi MC will have went from number 3 to number 1. And yes I think the TXi is a better overall wake than the 200.

[MattP]

here is some footage of @Horton riding behind the MC http://instagram.com/p/cuW4snhDac/

[aussiemc]

Speaking with the MC CEO, he said they actually physically weighed all their boats as the published weight were way off. The statement of 300lbs lighter I would believe to be true. The only question I have is (they have so far hand built 4 boats, none production, 2 are to be in Calgary, and 2 in Europe this weekend), once they start producing "off the line boats", are the weights going possibly go up?.

[MattP]

@aussiemc The weight will go up with every extra feature you add. I assume it will stay the same.

[TylerR]

The weight should stay close. When manufacturing any product once you go to production anyone with a decent process can produce it over again with in a few percent of baseline

[aussiemc]

I hope it does/is & stays lighter, but I'm not assuming.

[Porkfight]

The wake does look impressive according to the above Instagram video.

[webbdawg99]

I hope it gets out of the hole a lot better. Calling the previous MasterCraft "sluggish" would be kind.

[MattP]

[Wish]

no ski trunk. good, walk through transom good. no vinyl combing pad to get beat up good, ski rack good, sea deck good, what looks to be a massively big motor box... could just be the angle of the pic

[bogboy]

The bigger motor boxes now are for a calf. Catalytic converter, or fresh water (I can't remember which), what a Florida s/n dealer told me a couple years ago.

[E_T]

@bogboy @horton screw California i want strait pipes on my MC

[MCskiFreak]

MC has implemented some new qc and mfg processes to help control weight variation but there will be some due to the fact that the boats are built using open molds and the resin is sprayed onto the laminates. They have resin counters to show the amount of resin sprayed but let's just say you never see a technicians use too little resin. This was a major issue when I was there and hopefully it has been dealt with.

[Horton]

@wish @bogboy

the motor is roughly 4“ lower so the engine box is a lot lower than the current boat. The pylon is also lower.

[uflbret]

Axis boats called. They want their fugly windshield idea back.

[Horton]

@E_T the new boat sounds pretty good

[Drago]

@horton: speed/rope length of that vid? I'm diggin you 2-handed 6 ball

[MattP]

34/22off

[skiray]

Looks like a lot of great features. I'm excited to see advancment in a 3 event boat. I'm looking forward to skiing behind one. I will never have one...

 

Capacity of 7 people. I know that sounds crazy to the rest of you, but there are times we take another family (usually 4 people) to the lake just to hang out / let the kids play and ski. My kids are 11 & 12 and a big part of them enjoying the sport is hanging out with friends. That's what happened to our 196. It was great, but our TXI is much better.

[Drago]

Looks like a pretty nice 22 off wake.

[Skihack]

You all are missing the most important feature. Cupholders. There is one up on dash to the left of the steering wheel. A 12 oz. Bud fits nicely there. But, seriously, don't drink and drive. Ski responsibly. :)

[Leopold]

"30% less fuel than a competitors boat"

 

Yesssssssssssssssss. I jsut learned the name of my next boat!

[skibug]

30% less than the TXi or Centurian is a different 30% less than the SN200. Can't see how they can make this claim unless they are only comparing it to the SN200. This is just marketing BS.

[Leopold]

"A competitors boat". I understand SN200 yes. I guess in the range of Txi. Enough for me.

[uflbret]

30% less fuel? How big of a deal is this really if you have $60k+ to spend on a new boat? If you can't afford the fuel, you can't afford the boat.

[ForrestGump]

Just because they didn't specifically name which competitor, doesn't mean it's marketing BS. Two of their design criteria which they told us was better wake and more efficient than the 200.

[PJ]

@uflbret - i'll just make mom and dad pay for the boat and gas. problem solved

[skibug]

@uflbret, I was going to make the same comment because in the end I don't care how much I spend on gas feed my addiction (like any good addict will admit). I personally put around 700 gallons (~$2700.00) of gas in the boat last year. 30% of that almost equals a new ski. I would like a new ski every year; so, this is how I justify it. Mind you, this is math of an addict and it doesn't always make sense.

 

Marketing and BS will always go hand in hand; it is a marriage of unsubstantiated potential and hyped speculation.

[Jordan]

Using less gas isn't just about the money.

 

Personally, I find filling the boat to be a pain in the ass. The less I have to do that the better.

 

Also, to me the evolution of bigger, faster, stronger has to include being more efficient.

 

Kudos to MC for perusing that worthy goal. Now, if we could just get rid of that pickle fork.

[The_MS]

By using 30% less gas, it will be much better for mother earth. All that gas that you burn send carbon into the atmosphere and causes Global Warming. We dont need the planet any warmer, my winters are too short the way it is.

[Skoot1123]

@MS - I thought there was a "sarcasm" font for that..... :D

[The_MS]

I should get loaded up with Awesomes