Most decorated slalom boat.

[303Skier]

This may have already been answered in another post. A buddy and I were arguing about which boat was the best (MC or Nautique). You've never had this argument before with a buddy, huh? LOL! Well I think the boat with the most record pulls would be the best. Is this fair to say? Or Smallest/best wake? reliability?

 

Between MC and Nautique which boat is most decorated?

[oldjeep]

Neither one? You would have to look a really long time to find a Nautique ski boat around here and almost as long to find a Mastercraft. Oddly enough I see more Gekkos than Nautique or Mastercraft. A Carbon Pro is a mythical thing only seen in pictures on the internet. Malibu seems to rule the water in MN.

[303Skier]

Gekkos, don't even get me started :D

 

Has a Gekko ever pulled a pro tournament? Not sure they're AWSA approved?

[The_MS]

Ask the top drivers which boat they want to drive at -43 with Parrish behind them going for 3 ball when the camera is rolling.

[oldjeep]

I don't think they are approved, just happen to be a lot of them on the lake I ski the course on most often. Might have something to do with the owner of Gekko living on the lake ;)

[swc5150]

Sticking with the "most decorated" theme, I'm guessing MC has pulled more world records over time? This is my guess anyway, since they had the Pro Tour for so long.

[303Skier]

@Horton might know which boat has the most world record pulls.

[Horton]

Most decorated? Not really a good metric. Skiers who can break records often avoid doing so behind the "wrong" boat. Yes it happens. It is business.

 

The Correct Craft people have been around the longest and I can not think of a year Nautique that is considered a bad year so there you go.

 

You guys know my loyalty is elsewhere but "greatest history" has to go to Correct Craft / Nautique.

[Horton]

@303Skier No idea but like I said above skiers who can break record often wait until they are skiing behind their sponsors boat. It is really a false premise that the boat with the most world records is the greatest.

 

[303Skier]

@Horton I would have to agree with you on the premise that skiers probably wait to set records behind their sponsors boats.

 

I guess it's an ambiguous question with no real answer but I would also agree that Nautique/CC has the longest standing history at being a great ski boat.

[Jordan]

Nate is a nautique skier, so is Whitney....Regina is sponsored by Malibu.. Freddy is mastercraft.

 

Who else is likely to break the slalom record?

[303Skier]

@Jordan @CParrish43 will break it again and will be behind a Nautique :)

[Horton]

If i started HortonCraft and paid the athletes the most money so they all work for me and they only broke records behind my boat does that make my boat the best? Nope.

[Horton]

Correction: BallerCraft

[303Skier]

Nautique will always be the best IMO B)

[Horton]

@303Skier you need a BallerCraft

[Horton]

BallerCraftPro?

[303Skier]

@Horton you need a PandaCraftPro! :D

[303Skier]

When Nate Smith set the World Record at 2.5 @43-off it was the 14th World Record set behind the Ski Nautique 200 since its inception in 2010. That's pretty impressive. That was in 2013, wonder how many more have been set since?

[skiinxs]

I think a good measure is also "most consistent over the years". Some builders always, consistently put out very good boats. There are others that have some really good years, some so-so years, and some really bad years.

[ALPJr]

MC probably pulled the most pro events - during the tour heyday.

[PatM]

I know that there is a boat I don't want to ski behind when I go to tournaments.

[ToddL]

Pulling events was probably more about business and sponsorship, too.

[303Skier]

@"Pat M" a PandaCraftPro? :D

[Wish]

Get your PCP today and take a rip.

[ThePantsManCan]

BallerCraft PandaStar

[swc5150]

Pandtique

[gt2003]

Pandabu

 

[303Skier]

I think we're on to something here!

[thager]

Yep, bored!!

[oldjeep]

This thread needs one of these

 

[303Skier]

Well I think we know what the best boat is, it's clear....Nautique is the winner B)

 

Maybe the PandaCraftPro will show some competition in the near future.

[BrennanKMN]

At the public course I ski in Carver County, MN I have seen 3 different Nautiques and 1 MasterCraft that were inboards. One of the Nautiques belonged to a guy who used to have the only Malibu I have ever seen on the lake. I have seen a Moomba or two and a few MasterCrafts that were all V drives. Never seen a Gekko or Centurion . To be honest I don't pay much attention to V drives, they just don't fascinate me - they are a dime a dozen around here.

 

Compared to MasterCraft and Malibu you have to go out of your way to get a Nautique around here. Although now that MarineMax is caring them I bet they will pop up more and more - V drives that is... I drove by the MarineMax in Excelsior last week and they had 3 SuperAir Nautiques parked out front ready to sell.

[oldjeep]

Marine max has been the nautique dealer for years, thus the reason few people around here have nautiques. Marine max was a horrible bayliner dealer, cant imagine spending any real.money there.

[thager]

Completely ignored me when I stopped by once. Miss the service Son Water Sports used to provide. CorrectCraft totally screwed this one up!!

[slow]

I have a nautique but our dealer un north idaho is marginal.

[brettmainer]

Full Disclosure:

1. I have been on the Nautique promo team for 16yrs, so there is going to be some bias.

2. Maybe not as much as you'd think, because I haven't always been thrilled w Correct Craft.

3. At various points in the 90s, I skied behind promo Mastercrafts, promo Centurians and promo Malibus (in that order).

 

All of the big 4 boats are great. Really, any nitpicking of any of them has to do with the difference between A+ and A-. Not a B boat in the group.

 

I think if cost were no object, more folks would prefer to own a Nautique than any other brand. Maybe more than all other brands combined.

 

Regarding history, Nautique has never sucked. Anybody my age (44) who spent the late '90s skiing behind the Death Star 190s because the M3-M5 tournament organizers weren't going to give it to themselves, their wives or their kids (hello M1 & M2), remember some bad Mastercraft years.

 

Centurions and Malibus didn't always have the Nautique solidness and quality throughout the 80s, 90s and 00s.

 

For 2016, Nautique is still the best, but not by a landslide.

 

Historically, it is a landslide for Nautique.

 

[santangelo]

Found it...

 

 

 

[ToddL]

@santangelo - That is a highly decorated boat.

[harddock]

The love affair with wakeboard boats has made the manufacturers spend much more time catering to and developing boats for that market. When a factory ratio of wake to ski boats is 80-90% wakeboard boat and the demand for them is equally as great, we will be lucky to see any innovations from the big factories.

[swc5150]

I'm not sure? With the new PS, CP and an updated Nautique 200 due out in the near future (from what my dealer buddy says), they haven't completely abandoned us yet.

[skiinxs]

I can still remember being on a plant tour the Monday after a big layoff when the recession hit a few years ago. At that time nine out of ten boats on the line were direct drives. Let's hope the boat companies don't forget who carries them through the tough times.

[oldjeep]

@skiinxs - don't you think that had more to do with scheduling the building of promos all at the same time and little to do with how many wake boats they were selling?

[303Skier]

I don't care much for for V- drives either but they're great for entertaining large groups of people and getting them involved with water sports. My family has always owned Nautique's and our first family boat was a 1983 Ski Nautique 2001 (A boat I think still looks very cool with the vents on the bow). Since then our family has owned probably 10-15 different Nautiques. That being said I am biased to like Nautique's. It's like being a Ford guy/gal or a Chevy guy/gal. They are all great boats and hard to say one is bad. I would agree that some years are worst than others. I think the 1996 Nautique was probably the worst wake they ever had and maybe the 1983 2001. My favorite Nautique's are the bubble back and 2003-2009 196's and of course the 200. Although the 200 is a HP greedy hull and here in CO you have to have a 6.0L at the least to run good times at 34 and 36 MPH.

[skiinxs]

@oldjeep I don't think so. Mine was a late boat that year, most of the other promos were probably built many weeks earlier. I believe that the low cost money for daddy to buy the wakeboard boats for the kids had dried up, many of the dealers with large stocks of v-drives were going bankrupt, and there were no orders.

[So_I_Ski]

Now I realize that the question was which slalom boat was the most decorated and the answer to that is clearly either Nautique or Mastercraft as they have been around the longest and as a result have become the defacto standard for pulling tournaments. However, some of the comments have been about which was the best tournament boat to ski behind and truth be told, and I am telling the truth here, GEKKO has had the best wake and tracking to go with it since the boat was first introduced more than twenty years ago. I happen to have one and among my close ski buddies, there are two MC's, one Nautique 200 and four Malibu's of varying vintages up to 2008. None of us have been behind either a new MC or a new Centurion so no comment there. But not only are all the other boat owners willing to admit that the Gekko has the best wake on all the line lengths but it tracks like an arrow in the course. And unlike the other tournament boats I have mentioned, when you get to 38 off and beyond it is the only one with a dead flat wake without a trough which has long been a common failing in other tournament boats. Now in fairness I do not ski a course in very short line but I do ski 38 to 41 for fun and I have pulled 38 off for one of the guys. Apparently the 200 was designed to improve on the big dip problem and I haven't tried it at 38 or better but the long line is not as good as the old Nautiques and no match for the Gekko whatsoever. Overall the Gekko hull is flat out fantastic even in rough water and that is about it. The interior of the boat comes nowhere near the quality of the other boats and I have no issue stating that although I believe the new ones have addressed that problem to a degree. Regardless, they will probably always be an entry level boat so you save a ton of money when you buy one. But if you have never skied behind one you don't know what you are missing and I have little doubt that once you do you will wish the other guys could design a hull that nice to ski behind. Of course if you are a tournament skier you have no choice but to buy a boat that is commonly used in tournaments. And Gekko will never have the money to invest in promoting their boat for tournaments other than barefooting where I believe they are the clear choice and for a very good reason - small wake.

[aupatking]

@303Skier at first I was getting a little annoyed, because, on the face of it, you asked a reasonable question. The thread went from funny to a little ridiculous and back to reality. What the whole thread has brought me, personally, back to is: what do I like best/ski best behind. That seems to bleed into every answer I read.

All the guys that get paid have to choose the boat they can make the most behind, but vanity (the thought that they may set a record) hopefully for us plays a big part in that. I have seen a couple tournaments won by guys/girls who wouldn't go after a record because of the boat pulling them. Far be it for me to tell anyone what world record conditions are, but when the cut is 3 @ -41, a record area performance wins. A pull-up after 1 ball says "I'm not going for it". Solid business decision, not faulting anyone.

So, in the "most decorated" category, who wins?

After all is said, there is only one real answer: "the bubble butt Nautique is the best". Ever

 

[aupatking]

@santangelo is second

[Texas6]

I'll be honest, I pick the boat I like to drive more so than the one I like to ski behind, because in 2015 I can barely tell the difference between the three from behind the boat. But I can sure as hell tell the difference between the three after hours in the seat on a hot day

[Horton]

@aupatking I'm pretty sure Nate, Willie, @FWinter or CP would tell you 2 @ 43 is 100 x harder than 1 @ 43