Summarizing my first impressions of the 2014 MasterCraft ProStar.

[Horton]

The biggest news about the ProStar is the wakes. While I was in Calgary, I took two slalom rides totaling about 14 passes. I ran 15 off, 22 off, 28 off, 32 off, and 35 off at 34 MPH. I also ran 15 off at 26 mph, 28 mph and 36 mph.

 

During all of these passes, I was intently trying to feel the wake. I was looking for the speed and/or the rope length where the new boat would not live up to its promise. For every pass I skied, I found the wakes to be at least as small and as soft as any other boat I have ever skied behind.

 

 

Skiers at my level and above are often more worried about the feel of the pull than the size of the wakes. For me at 32 and 35 off, I basically did not feel the boat. That is to say that pull was exactly what it should be; nothing more and nothing less. If you are not convinced about the quality of the pull, please take a look at the scores from the “2013 MasterCraft Pro Water Ski Shootout” http://ow.ly/o271x

 

The wakes and the pull are clearly world class, but it is all the other details that are the most unexpected. The first word that came to me when I stepped into the boat was “spartan”. You can outfit the boat with a long list of options, but the basic boat is clearly a purpose built tournament tow boat. Everything in the interior has been re-thought and re-designed resulting in a lean, no nonsense ski boat.

 

 

The new touch screen Zero Off interface is a huge leap forward in terms of the user interface. If you can use an iPad or smart phone, you already know how to use the Zero Off in this boat.

 

The modular design of the interior options is a stroke of genius especially for the promo boat program. If I was ordering a promo ProStar today, I would not order any of the extra upholstery or racks or whatever. At the end of the year, the new owner would get a lightly used bare bones boat, and then they could order the bow seats, racks, and carpet that they desired. The new owner gets to outfit the boat exactly how they want it.

 

 

The idea of snap in carpet alone is genius. For everyday use, if you want to keep the carpet clean, take it out and store it. With the carpet out of the boat, you can literally hose out the interior if it gets dirty.

 

The new windshield and bimini exemplify the attention to detail that makes this boat stand out. For decades, most biminis have required the boat owner to drill into the gunnel, and the straps flap and rattle in the breeze. The bimini on the ProStar is not an engineering marvel but a careful reimagining of the norm. See the video below for additional explanation.

 

Open bow with a hard cover, simplified driver cockpit, folding middle passenger seats, the list of new innovations continues on and on.

 

My final thoughts on the ProStar: “I want one.”

 

[6balls]

I drink the Nautique cool aid but this looks like the bomb...just what was asked for when Ballers were polled some time ago. Serious, purpose-built, modular ski boat with outstanding wakes.

[gsm_peter]

Thanks Horton

 

What engine option was reviewed?

Is there any figures on fuel consumption compared to for example the 196?

 

Brgds

Peter

 

[east tx skier]

A couple of interesting things after watching the Marcus Brown video.

 

1. Friggin' glove compartment right in front of the steering wheel. Brilliant.

 

2. Nice work on the dash. I'm sure the digital stuff will break and be a pain, but the speed control screen is intuitive and the view without the huge gauge cluster is excellent.

 

3. Sleeve locks on the bimini top. Perfect.

 

4. Observer's folding seat back slides flat and becomes a step to the bow. Wow!

 

5. Hinged bow cover for storage access. Impressive. Removing bow cover (does not compute). ;)

[Horton]

@gsm_peter they had the 6.2 I Calgary. I assume 99% of the boats will get the 5.7. That is what I would want.

[Greg Banish]

Our dealer had an event in Grand Rapids where we got to ski the new boat on Sunday. They brought the two exact boats from the Calgary facebook photos out to a private ski lake and had pros show us around the boat and drive for us. Karen Truelove was our host in the boat with the red deck. She was an absolute sweetheart and very patient as we worked in a tour of the 2014 ProStar around my 4 month old son's demands for attention.

 

Having seen it on Facebook and Balls of Spray, I knew what to expect and the boat didn't disappoint. The interior is typically great Mastercraft quality, despite not being 100% finished yet. The new gunwale ski rack is super easy to operate and very convenient. Ditto for the digital helm and ZeroOff controls. At 96" wide, it's the same outside width as my PS214. It looks like they used the same exact observer seat from the 214 (not a bad thing!) and then added even more seating in front of the post with the jump seat. The flat fold into the walk-through is really nice. The narrower gunwales end up creating more interior space, even with the non-production engine cover that was 4" wider than the final piece is meant to be. This boat will have all kinds of room inside.

 

Dual rear seats and another walk-through are clever. The dual rear storage compartments look to be about the perfect size for a 12 pack and ice, hrmm...

 

The available color combinations are enough to make your head spin. It's going to take a couple hours on the build-a-boat to sort out just which bit and pieces one wants which color. There are certainly some fairly intricate patterns are possible. There is also supposed to be a two-point tower available that installs at the triangular pads almost in line with the pylon. This shouldn't get in the way of short line skiers and I can't see getting a modern boat for family use without a tower.

 

The biggest thing we miss is the rear facing lounge seat behind the driver in the 214. This was the best seat in the house for when we had friends/family on board. If Mastercraft can resurrect that, this boat becomes a home run in our book.

 

Oh yeah, the wake. Easy to forget because there ain't much to remember.

 

-15/30mph, NOTHING, pretty much like the SN200 and TXi. I should have taken more passes here because it felt soooooo easy and clean.

 

-22/30mph, much improved over all older MC boats, on par with the SN200 here and definitely nicer than the TXi. If you're a hack like me, you can still screw this up if you flatten out the ski completely and make it hop a bit, but it's less painful than before. If you stay on edge clean, you don't feel any bump, more like the rumble strip mentioned before.

 

-15/32mph, just a cleaner version of 30mph wake at the same length. I'm not used to ZeroOff yet, so getting a different pull at the buoy made more difference than the wake to me. That's a pretty good compliment to the wake I suppose.

 

18-21mph (wakeboard speed), well... bring some ballast. Then get more ballast, you'll need it. There really isn't a defined lip at all with the boat at slalom weight. There was some talk of adding a wedge, gate, or some other widget to improve the trick wake. I can completely see how it's necessary. If it were an option, I'd get it and bring a couple fatsacs too for the times when I'm not on the course. The upside to this is that teaching new skiers or wakeboards becomes very friendly wake-wise as they have nothing to be afraid of back there at low speed.

 

So my challenge to MC and my dealer: Find me one in Canadian Blue Metal Flake with bow seats, the tower, wedge/gate, and a rear facing lounge seat behind the driver and it becomes an easy sell as a killer slalom boat that is cleverly disguised as a family friendly platform. Checking those boxes would make me forget all about the 200 and TXi.

 

Thanks again to Action Water, Mastercraft, and Karen for having us out and humoring a non-pro skier with a family who still appreciates a great wake.

 

~Greg

[ForrestGump]

Great write up, Greg!

[MrJones]

The boat looks super cool. My only concern is what they are going to do about trick wakes. If they get that sorted out and the boat is proving to be solid after a year or so in the real world I will look VERY hard at it.

[DW]

Excellent write up, thanks. It sure seems like MC really thought this boat through and built a boat that will be very well received at least for the hard core skier segment and hopefully the rest of the market. Lots of excellent ideas and features as noted above.

[teammalibu]

Jones the tires havnt even cooled off on the new boat you just picked up!!

[Chef23]

@MrJones I asked Marcus about the trick wake and he said they are still working that out but I would expect some sort of wake enhancer like a wedge.

[escmanaze]

I'm a little surprised to see everybody care about the trick wake so much. Do you care about it because you enjoy the occasional wakeboard/wakeskate run like me, or do you guys actually still trick ski sometimes?

 

I don't trick ski at all, so now I have another question out of curiosity. If you were at a tournament, and the Txi was pulling everybody around for slalom, would the Txi then be allowed to put the wedge down for trick skiing? I don't know the rules at tournaments to know if that is ok or not.

 

It seems to me like this problem could be easily solved with a factory orderable option (just like the tower) of some hard piped ballast tanks to add 500-1,000 pounds of ballast. The people ordering the ballast option are also ordering the tower option, and towers can store so darn much stuff that it doesn't matter that the ballasts fill up and take up all the storage space...right?

 

[klindy]

@escmanaze the SN200 has a hydrogate that has different positions for slalom/jump and trick. Makes a difference. You can certainly ballast/weight boats for tricks as long as it's the same for everyone (except for a limited amount of weight available to be moved to balance the boat).

 

Why care? Because three event skiing is not dead. In fact about 1/3 of the skiers entered in the Nationals skied all three events. For some Regionals and Nationals may be the only tournaments they ski all three events but competing for Overall is still something magical for some.

 

That said, I'm sure Mastercraft will find a solution that works!

[elr]

I too am a bit surprised that trick wakes/table appear to be an after thought in the design process (I hope I'm wrong - we train behind a 196 but trick behind MC in tourneys) . . . definitely a strong point for the PS190/197.

[Greg Banish]

I care not because of trick skiing, but I do wakeboard and so does my wife/friends. I still want to be able to go wake to wake with some air (not just 4" above the water). Adding a widget seems like a great idea since it adds zero static weight to the boat (less chance of swamping it at rest) and one can still add fat sacs later if you need more. I think if you add enough wedge/ballast, just about any boat is board-worthy. I haven't yet seen an I/O or V-drive that isn't absolutely punishing at -15/30mph in the course. If the boat can't be made to work for anything other than strictly slalom, guys like me have a hard time selling their wives on the purchase. I firmly believe MC will produce some option that makes the trick/wakeboard wake acceptable, even if it's not close to an X-star.

[Wish]

They had it set up with weights at the Nationals and called it a trick option. Really there is no room for water ballest hidden somehow that I could see. Just out of curiosity, is there any rule as to a boat adding weight or a wedge or gate for tricks. I'd think a wedge like the boos have would be simple and affective. Weights look heavy. Not sure I would want to move them all out or in the boat. Very cool way to hang them on the removable post.

 

.

[ral]

IWWF 15.11

 

 

"The skier may place a tournament supplied weight of between 20 - 50 kg in the boat on the floor side to side by the feet of the pin man or behind the engine cover.

If a manufacturer can supply something to enhance the wake and it is the same for all skiers then it can be allowed.

"

[6balls]

wedge is cleanest, malibu have patent I assume?

[Chuck_Dickey]

I think the hang on weights are not good. I can see a number problems with plates Vs ballast bags filled with steel shot like the wake boarders use. I hope they come out with a better idea for this otherwise well thought out boat.

[ForrestGump]

I love the simplicity of the weight system.

[MattP]

@Chuck_Dickey Why do you think they are not good? Any reasons? Or is that just a statement?

[Chuck_Dickey]

@MattP

 

I can see them being dropped off the dock, or on the floor (my toe) or banged against the gunnel when taking them in and out, just a number of things I personally don't like. I have the PS2011WTT and love the trick and slalom wake and it pulls jumpers wonderfully. I would like to upgrade to the 2014PS for the slow speed wakes for my daughter and other kids. I'd just like to see a better system offered up on this otherwise great upgrade.

[elr]

How do you switch between trick and slalom if you are out on the water?

[MattP]

@ELR if they go the route of the wedge it should be pretty easy. If you have the weight in more knee flex

[Steven_Haines]

What about Mike Murphy's invention? (Probably doesn't have a finished product yet or isn't an approved product) Someone posted video of it a while back. It uses doors/ scuppers to direct water between the floor and hull. It's pretty ingenious!

[jedgell]

The problem with the weight system is for the guys that don't ski at a private lake. Talked to a 3 eventer this weekend, also a MC promo owner, about the weights. He skis on public water and usually tricks and slaloms during the same outing. It's several miles to the course from the ramp, he can't go back to the dock to drop off the weights. He's not going to sell his 197 if MC doesn't come up with a better system.

That said the trick wake doesn't matter to me.

[Chef23]

I trick and my son 3 events. Many MC that get sold go to tournament sites or are promo boats that pull trick.

[ThePantsManCan]

Perhaps the trick wake of yesterday's boat may be able to help sell off the remaining dealer stock and promo boats?

[klindy]

@jedgell put the weights on the ramp when you're slalom or jumping. It'll make the jump better too!

[kfennell]

Guys quit defending the weight system, it is terrible! We often go out with three people in the boat, even on a private lake, where there will be two slalom sets and two trick sets etc, and we would have to drive back 3 lakes to change the weight if we wanted to? What about when we are toe tricking and the ski rope gets caught on one of those pegs after a release? What about as mentioned dropping the weight, which will happen for sure.

 

I thought this was a thing that they just had on there for the prototype or something, or adding more weight for wakeboarding, if it is the "solution" to tricking that is ugly. I have to think it is not since I know someone who was told to wait a few months to order so they could get the trick wake sorted out. I know the rest of the boat is great looking, and that most of you don't trick but if 1/3 of skiiers hate this boat just like 1/3 of long line slow skiiers hated the old boat how is that really any better. Especially since the TXI already does all three events so well.

[ForrestGump]

Think about it. The vast majority of the skiers buying boats don't trick. The 197 was a boat that catered to the minority of trickers, was a good jump boat, and only a good slalom boat for minority of shortline skiers. It only makes sense to build a boat which caters to the use by the majority of skiers. I joke on here about no one tricking any longer. But in the grand scheme of things do you build a great trick boat to sell to 30 trickers a year? Or do you build a great slalom boat with a decent trick wake to sell to 200 slalomers a year?

 

FWIW......... I know of a few slalom skiers, including me, who will probably 3 event for the first time in '14.

[Horton]

@kfennell how much do you trick?

[Horton]

Building on what @ShaneH said if the trick wakes end up being really good that is great but 97.3% of the skiing public does not care.

 

From a basic design perspective MasterCraft had a choice of insane great wakes for slow speeds or good trick wakes.

 

As a potential boat buyer I would like to have trick wakes but the slalom wake for my wife is 100,00,000% more important.

 

You can not have your beer and drink it too (or something like that).

[kfennell]

@Horton By time I trick more then I slalom or jump, mostly because it isn't so hard on the body. if you meant by score I am not that good yet just 900 points, but I am very close to getting WBB/R and TB/F which will take me to 1500 and better then average. I am already running into trouble with my boats flat wake at WBB.

[SkiJay]

It doesn't look like ballast, water or weights, is going to be the answer. They've had 2,000 lbs in the back of the boat and the wake was still not ideal for tournament tricks. It was okay at the slower trick speeds, but the wake still flattened out at the faster trick speeds. Some version of a wedge may be the only option.

[xrated]

@Horton I think is right. This is coming from a non bouy chaser and no tricks either. After seeing the wakes at slow speed I would sell a kidney to afford this boat.

[boarditup]

I have a very good trick boat - an X-2 with 2,100 lbs ballast and a trick release on the tower. Of course it is not allowed into 3-event competition. However, to the public, the real tricking is wakeboarding. I have not seen a trick ski on public water since the 80's - and that was under my foot. Now, I have a single and a pair on the racks and have not ridden them for years.

 

The ProStar's 26 mph wake is soft and very low. It will definately make a huge contribution to many novice skiers progression in the years to come. As I see it - MC has made an awsome slalom tow boat for the novice slalom skier. That is a huge accomplishment. That is fits well with an active family with the interior finishes is a big bonus. This will force the other manufacturers to design better platforms in the future. It is a home run.

[6balls]

if @skijay is correct and 2000 lbs of ballast didn't do it, then the weight system is irrelevant. Would seem to make a wedge irrelevant as well...if memory serves a wedge contributes 800 lbs or so of downforce?

Seems it would require a cockpit controlled running surface altering device of some sort. My guess is they have some kind of mod that will improve the trick wake but it may not ever be a favored trick boat when other alteratives are available.

[Razorskier1]

While the older 197 has better trick wakes, it sacrificed some on slalom -- compromises happen. I have owned a good number of multi-purpose vehicles in my life hoping that they would be "good enough" at everything that I'd be satisfied across the board. Never happens. When you need a hammer, buy a hammer. Using a wrench as a hammer only works so well. I need a purpose-built slalom boat-bring on the new 197

[Horton]

@Razorskier1 FYI the new boat is not the 197. It is simply the "ProStar"

[scuppers]

Well said @Razorskier1 - I just can't see why all this controversy is necessary. Slalom guys buy a slalom boat. Trick guys buy a trick boat. Her is another subject we beat the cover off of to no avail.

[klindy]

@scuppers and the need for 3 different models of Mastercraft at a three event tournament is a bad plan. Again, give MC a chance, something will develop.

[Chuck_Dickey]

Malibu has the wedge and Nautique has the Hydrogate, MC needs something as functional so you can do it on the fly. The ballast/weights option isn't going to cut it and MC needs an innovation equal to the competition and equal to the leap ahead they did on the rest of the boat. I hope they can/ will come up with it soon, I want to order mine soon.

[BG1]

The boarding platform could be a water ballistic tank that could be filled and drained remotely using the same technology from the wakeboarding boats. The bottom of this ballast would have to be slightly above the bottom of the hull. The exhaust would have to be dealt with but weight that far back would push the transom down substantially, creating a larger wake.

[DooSPX]

If its going to have MTS it would be rather simple to incorporate two more smaller tanks on either side of the fuel cell.

[ForrestGump]

No room for the amount of water that would be needed.

[Razorskier1]

@Horton -- I've seen a map of possible color combinations and it is, quite honestly, way more than I need! Just keep it simple!

[usaski1]

See the pure vert system (Calabria Boats). system is below the floor, hit the switch while at idle ad all the water floods in. Accelerate to 20mph or so, hit the switch, and all the water dumps out the back.

[DW]

I had the opportunity to get a pull behind the new Prostar which I am extremely thankful for. In my opinion and for my use, they hit a home run with it. Some thoughts on my experience:

* Wakes: excellent from 22-39 at 34.2 & 36 mph and 22 very nice at 32 & 36 mph. I found the wakes to be very soft, the trough to be shallow and the outer edge of the trough to be very rounded. The wake is wide, this is a pretty wide boat so no surprise there but also very little white water outside the trough. There is no spray in pretty calm conditions, the hull appears to knock the spray down nicely. The ski does not get bounced around & cuts through the wake nicely. 22 off bump low and soft. In other words, world class slalom wakes.

* Pull: I was surprised at how slow the boat felt, my initial impression was the boat was 1-2 mph slower than I asked for. Times were checked and were all 16.93 and 16.08 +/- .02 with a B2 ZO setting which seemed very soft (150# rider) so it was certainly at the correct speed. The boat did not feel very powerful, it was a 5.7L not the 6.2 and I did not ask for a fast pull up so that was random by the driver. It was equipped with a 3 blade OJ. I skied a PP equipped 196 later that day and it felt much harsher and faster, certainly not what I was expecting.

* Hardware / Features: I personally really like the way it is configured, I appreciate the skier focus aspect of the step & short distance from boat to platform, removable or lack of back seats, sea deck material on the gunnels, small storage bins at the transom that happen to be sized to check the course buoys (now that is cool), low & flat dash for visibility and places to toss t-shirts, caps, logical cupholder locations, sideless windshield, the recline feature on the driver seat, the fold down feature on the center observer seat, no straps on the bimini (but it does not have a good way to fold it down if you don't want it, you have to remove it). Ski rack is great, user friendly and bindings don't stick out too far thus offering a quick place to store skis w/o being in the way. Seating position and low dash allows good visibility, controls are well located & the boat drives well w/o skier in tow but I would like a nice analog speedo. The boat is equipped with an an engine flush fitting on the transom (nice touch).

 

Finally, I have to tip my hat to the great folks at Action Marine (Michigan) as they really made this a great event and did themselves proud from the very professional way they treated the customers not only with the chance to check out the boat, ski it, discuss it with MC representatives and then hand out a classy goodie bag. Kudos to Action & MC on a marketing gold star.

[racerdjs]

Thanks for the current write up!