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Moomba Mobuis vs 197 vs X9 (209?)

cletuspapa

By cletuspapa
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cletuspapa Apprentice

cletuspapa

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Happy Friday! I'm still looking for a new to me direct drive boat w/ ballast and tower, order of operations for me as a recreational skier who wants a multi-purpose boat to play with kids, friends, hang on the lake: Slalom, Wake Surf (read this as ride behind the boat on anything shorter than a longboard and wakeboard. - finances dictate $25K or less (I could stretch but I want to buy toys too!) and I've found 3 boats between the mastercraft team list, SIA/OIB and a general dealer search in my area (I'm in Chapel Hill, NC).

 

I've found a somewhat clean 2006 197 in Maryland - ~997 hours https://www.chessiemarine.com/default.asp?page=xPreOwnedInventoryDetail&id=7041107&p=2&s=Year&d=D&fr=xPreOwnedInventory

 

A 2006 Moomba Mobius LS 335 hours - looks VERY CLEAN and is somewhat local https://www.poplarpointemarine.com/default.asp?page=xPreOwnedInventoryDetail&id=7592850&p=1&s=Year&d=D&t=preowned&fr=xPreOwnedInventory#gallerySlider

 

and a 2002 Mastercraft X-9 380 hours, somewhat local, or as local as the moomba, yellow, clean on it's 3rd owner. https://teamtalk.mastercraft.com/showthread.php?t=100071

 

My reading on the site has lots of love split between MC, Malibu and the occasional bubble butt Nautique, very rarely do I see any love for Moomba or Gekko. I guess I'm looking for advice here - the 197 is on my list as a skier's boat first that does other stuff, the X-7 and Mobius, while DD boats are bigger from what I can tell. My primary use case will be myself, girlfriend and two kids or kids and friends or if it's all of us 4 kids, 2 adults (all high school aged).

 

What say all y'all who are smarter than I am? Planning a ride/ski test in the moomba as soon as I'm able, same thing with the X-9. The 197 is so far away it's a weekend trip.

 

Thanks so much

 

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WiscoSkier Apprentice

WiscoSkier

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What is your ski ability level ? Is the goal to go out and chase buoys at 35 off? The 197 and x7 are virtually the same boat. They run on the same hull. The x7 has built in ballast. The boat in your link is a X9 which is a larger boat, you will be sacrificing slalom wakes if you go with the x9. I personally love the look of a 197 with the Mastercraft mini towers.
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cletuspapa Apprentice

cletuspapa

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@WiscoSkier thanks for the correction (I corrected my OG post) - I must have197 on the brain! I'm a hack at best right now - Do not see myself chasing balls on my local lake - I've been skiing since I was about 10, grown up with boats, never had one of my own after I left the nest, ex-wife thought going to the lake was 'tacky' so no boat for me - now 2 years divorced - I can buy what I want so the kiddos and I can go play! Like you the 197 with factory towers is where my heart is at - I have an issue with nearly 900 hours and potential brackish water use.
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Fatroll Community Regular

Fatroll

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https://www.bhmtrilakes.com/default.asp?page=xPreOwnedInventoryDetail&id=7137047&p=1&s=Year&d=D&t=preowned&fr=xPreOwnedInventory

 

This is my boat on sale by consignment. You could have a tower added and still be under budget. We pulled a surfer one time with the boat sacked up, but that is not our thing so can really comment on how good of a surf boat it would be. It does all other disciplines. We used it mainly for slalom course, barefoot and kids wakeboarding. The local wakeboarders said the wake is "meaty" when sacked up.

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6balls Grand Master

6balls

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look at @fatroll 206. Nice all around boat, nice slalom wake, can load it up and surf. I pulled my 200 plus pound son (pulled?) surfing a few nights ago with a bunch of fat sacks behind a 2000, closed bow Nautique that is smaller. I have heard a 197 becomes surf-able with ballast, too, and is also a nice all around boat. I can't comment on the surf-ability of the 197, but my brother owned one for years and it's a nice boat.

That white 197 is sharp in your link

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BraceMaker Grand Master

BraceMaker

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@6balls - that's somewhat questionable. I can say back before wake shapers were in vogue I've been in 197's ballasted till people could surf them and it was not safe. Maybe with a suck gate you could reduce the ballasted weight and things would be OK.

 

 

 

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cletuspapa Apprentice

cletuspapa

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@Fatroll @swc5150 I like Fatrolls Malibu - my preference (no insults given or implied) is for a factory tower.... Suddenly a newish Malibu just popped up on SIA - message has been sent - we shall see. There are a couple of other 197's (freshwater) floating (pardon the pun) around out there with nearly the same or fewer hours - as the one in MD. I'm hoping this thread might tease out more options. Hoping to see the Moomba in the flesh soon. Thanks for the input!
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Garn Proficient

Garn

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I own a 2007 Moomba LS. I love my boat. Is it a tournament level boat - no. But I have skied it into 35 off. The wake is extremely skiable! The reason I went with the LS over a pure tournament boat is because we go to Lake Powell and Lake Mead a few times a year. You go there in a tournament boat and get in the open channel - could get pretty scary. I don't surf but my friend has a 2008 LS and with a fat sac, they surf an it regularly. But we do hydrofoil (Air Chair) behind it on a regular basis. That is our number two activity next to slalom. We have a rack for our foil on the tower. We love our boat! l42mps4oicfm.jpgtqbprv741rdl.jpg

 

 

 

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eleeski Grand Master

eleeski

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Love MC197s! Best all around boat ever. Look for 2008 or newer with ZO. Or 2004 or older with the servo PP. The drive by wire boats didn't interface as well with PP. Minor complaint and PP might have worked things out for the DBW boats.

 

As a trick skier, the 197 is fantastic. Add a fatsack and the wakeboarders loved it in my shallow lake. The slalom wake is good enough for getting into 41off (my boat has pulled it, not me!).

 

Still skiing and loving my 197.

 

Eric

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cletuspapa Apprentice

cletuspapa

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Update 2 - Scratch the X-9 too.... it's overpriced for the condition - pictures not current, raw water intake has been taken off and reinstalled (screws protruding) looks like a new prop installed (CNC prop), etc.... just didn't smell right for the asking price. An X-14 popped up - still hunting the 197 - dealer went dark on me - the experience with the X-9 has me gunshy of sellers overstating what they have.
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cletuspapa Apprentice

cletuspapa

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Pulled the trigger today on a 2008 X-14 - too nice to pass up and local. Still needs to be water tested and checked out (private sale) but everything looks to be in great shape.

 

Dorian has decided to make a northward jog for a direct hit (currently) on the Carolinas which may complicate this transaction as I need to get a quick pull and do a good hard look at the running gear on the boat. I'm super stoked - a little more boat than I need but it's what I've wanted.

 

x27rpsg2rly3.jpg

 

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