No more Waterski Boats??

[UCFskier]

it is becoming obvious the major boat companies are moving away from waterskiing and more to Water sport luzary boats. wake board, wake surf, tubing, swimming.

Do you see a time when there will be no more manufacturing of waterski boats??

malibu has decreased production as have mastercraft and correct craft...

 

thoughts?

[Horton]

MasterCraft is making ProStars as fast as they can. It is not their biggest product by a long shot but I do not think they have decreased production. Supply chain has impacted deliveries.

[swc5150]

I suppose it's possible, but not likely anytime soon. After all, Nautique has 2 world-class ski boats in their lineup. I've been hearing about the "demise" of the ski boat since the late 90's too, so that is swaying my opinion as well.

[2Valve]

hmmm, on our lake there's a new proposal to ban wakeboard boats.

[ral]

There is and will (almost for sure) be a market for waterski boats. If one of the big manufacturers decides not to make them anymore, the rest will pick up.

 

Barriers to entry are fairly low also.

[UCFskier]

@ral

i was sort of thinking the same.... would defunct companies come back to produce boats? would smaller companies try to fill the void? I do not believe this is tryly a supply issue rather a shift in demand. Malibu no longer has Will (still on of the best in the world) as an ambasator which sort of shows their committment to the sport

[Horton]

k wait. I heard some rumblings about this but did Malibu officially let Asher go?

[Broussard]

@Horton He is no longer listed on the athlete page of their website for what that's worth.

 

https://www.malibuboats.com/discover-malibu/life/

[Sethro]

Malibu and MasterCraft are both publicly traded companies. I’m glad they are still building the direct drive, but in reality when the board of directors sees that every build slot is full, and they make more on a wake boat, it does make one speculate that they could pull the string someday chasing profits.

[DW]

As ambassadors of the sport, BOS addicts could do their best to promote 3 event and maybe spark some ski boat interest to their circle of non skier people. Hands down, the most effective group to do it if we have a fear of losing new options. It does seem as though the TXI is hanging on by a thread, at least the Malibu Open is still happening.

[lpskier]

They could do what Nautique did and increase factory space and thus facilitate significantly increased production. I’m told that Nautique bought a facility across the street from and larger than their current factory.

[Broussard]

@Sethro While that theory is correct in the short run, if the companies believe this increase in demand will be a long term increase it would be wise to make capital investments to increase production capacity in order to meet increased demand.

 

@lpskier That is correct. Correct Craft purchased a facility near near the current Nautique plant in order to increase production capacity. I believe the facility was previously a window factory.

[Horton]

Nautique may have increased their overall capacity but all of my spies tell me that they're building very few ski boats.

[Mastercrafter]

I'm told from a reputable MC dealer that Prostar production went from 300/year to under 200 .. not sure if there was a limiting factor (supply issue?) or if they just decided to focus on barges, but either way, it's not helping ski boat supply.

[UCFskier]

if you look at the trend of luxary companies, they do not tend to increase production rather ride the wave of increased demand. this has product sold out for the years in advance with ppl on waitinglists. this also allows them to increase price without losing the consumer.

 

@Horton with regards to asher.... someone mentioned he did not have a decal on his ski so I went over to the site and hes not on there.... replaced by wakeboarders and surfers.

[LoopSki]

I am shocked that the current pricing model is sustainable. Market has spoken and apparently there are alot more people willing and able to spend hundreds of thousands to do some wake surfing. It blows my mind. I wouldn’t be surprised if Malibu was the first one to drop the ski boat.

[Shell]

@2Valve would love to know how that turns out? lol

[UCFskier]

@Shell I agree... I live on a chain of 3 lakes near a national and provincial forest/park. For years the RM has been trying to ban boats, but more recently wake boats. the thing is the ppl with wake boats tend to be high earners who pay high property taxes.... Im actually glad they have not banned them (I dont own one) as I get stoked just seeing ppl enjoying the water

[2Valve]

@Shell Exactly

[UCFskier]

I see there are alot of likes for the @2Valve comment but be carefule what your stoked on. if they can ban wake boats they can ban all boats..... this has been the discussion at the RM meetings for a few years now

[Shell]

@UCFskier not sure how you can actually ban boats from a lake? Or from homeowners on a current private lake so to say. Would never happen on a public lake,(I doubt anyways) maybe on a private lake, but it would be tough to implement after many years of not having it in place. Some private lakes won’t even let guest boats or even if you want to test a boat out for the day, you always have that one neighbor who calls and turns them in even tho the guy testing the boat is doing no harm and following all the rules. So glad I don’t live on a private lake and have to deal with all the “old” folks wanting it their way. The lake I live on may be public but we never get many drop ins causing problems, I guess I am lucky:)

[Stevie Boy]

Somebody, some where, would fill the gap, if there was nobody producing, just need something with zero off to pull you down the lake, there are quite a few extras that you do not need.

Must be a mould kicking around for the carbon pro.

[2Valve]

@UCFskier Some of the "old folks" on our lake put this on the ballot for next month's meeting.

Our ski club has a good relationship with all the boarders/surfers on our 'All Sports' lake, and most of the homeowners have voiced that if they can ban "x", they'll eventually come after "y".

I don't see this passing.......

[Shell]

@2Valve then you should be “ok” in knocking that off the ballot from all the “old folks”, as you have lots of support?

[swc5150]

About 11 years ago, the association on the little lake we lived on (100acre) banned wake boats...at least from making giant wakes. You could idle around in one, but that was it. Fast forward a decade and that's still the only type of boat with restrictions there. I still agree if they can come for one, they can come for all FWIW, but there is a clear difference on the havoc those boats create on smaller waterways.

 

And agreed, someone would be sure to fill the ski void if they all quit building them. If one of the big 3 dropped ski boats, that would likely make the other 2 quite happy.

[Ali]

easy way to "ban" the wake boats is boat length, always say bigger boat have more weight and bigger wakes in any discussion, Propose limit to 22 feet for example.

[Horton]

@ali 20

[ISP6ball]

They'll just start building wake barges that are 20 feet long.....

[6balls]

@ISP6ball they do at 20ft, but they don’t have the space and massive wakes that the bigger barges do. Go big or go home say the surfers.

[Sethro]

@Broussard hopefully, if that scenario came to light they wouldn't just use the increased production capacity to build yet even more wakeboats...my understanding is they sell as many as they can make. What we don't know is would they sell as many wake boats as they could make without taking some of the build slots away for the direct drive.

[LeonL]

@Sethro I would imagine that even with increased production capacity, they would focus on the product that renders the greatest profit margin. Just business.

[unksskis]

Horsepower limitations(or none at all), boat length and weight limitations, No-wake implementation, boat type limitations. There are plenty of options for public and private to block watersport enthusiasts. If they see wake boats as an issue, they likely view a ski boat in the same manner. There are dozens of lakes in Indiana that have horsepower limitations, and are thus just pontoon lakes, when they are perfect for skiing. Also, ski boats are getting larger and heavier, the new Prostar gets close to some lakes' weight restrictions. There are also "wake" boats that are 20' to skirt around that specific rule.

[unksskis]

I would add, IMO having national and international governing bodies signing exclusive contracts with a boat manufacturer is not good for the sport overall, and should impact the other manufacturer's interests in sustaining their production and future involvement/commitment.

[UWSkier]

I ski on public water much of the time that is super popular with surf boats. Last year, I was at the launch dock when I struck up a conversation with a fisherman and the subject of wakes came up. He said "those &$#% ski boats make it impossible to stand and fish with their giant wakes." I was standing in my Malibu Response at the time and said "this is a ski boat, and you and I are in 100% agreement on those wakes. But this one makes the smallest wake possible and that's what skiers want. Surfers and surf boats are not skiers and ski boats." He thanked me for keeping my wakes small. :smile:

 

But if these guys start going after "ski boats," they may throw out the baby with the bath water. Gotta make sure we're educating as many of them as possible and keeping them as allies against the monster wake crowd.

[escmanaze]

@Ali

@Horton

 

Don't forget about Heyday starting at just 20'6".

 

https://www.heydaywakeboats.com/models.html

[UCFskier]

New spots in production go to the highest selling/revenue boats. None of the companies are in it simply for the love of the sport. $$ becomes the bottomline in decison making.

 

 

[swc5150]

Lol ya but no one is buying a Heyday :D

[FSSPCat]

@UWSkier we had a similar encounter with a gentleman who owns property in a bay where we ski some open water sets in the morning. He waved us over and once he saw we were skiing, he was delighted and welcomed us to be there to chase away the surfers. We also don’t go near there when we are surfing later in the day ha ha.

[buechsr]

UCF, thats more true during Covid, but during normal times its the (un) availability of molds that allow space in the production line for less profitable models. For example, Malibu makes less on an Axis A20 than it does on a Malibu M240 or 25 LSV. However, they can only build so many 25s due to mold limitations, so there's space for other models to come down the line. Malibu has increased production at times by operating another shift. However, Covid changed things in that parts limitations did skew production of more profitable models to the detriment of others since they couldn't build all they wanted to.

[UCFskier]

@buechsr so Malibu will be stepping up production on their waterski boats?

[buechsr]

@UCFskier

I'm not saying what they will or won't do, but Malibu has the ability to build more lxis, so long as their production does not impede production of other models until supply chain kinks are worked out entirely.

[Ski_Dad]

Malibu should re-release the Sunsetter LXI. It would be a hot seller. I'm never giving mine up.

[liquid d]

There will always be new ski boats as long as there is demand.

[swc5150]

FWIW, when I was buying a pontoon at our local MasterCraft / Bennington dealer, we we're talking Prostar's and they mentioned a customer who put a large deposit on one last year but won't get his until next spring as a 2023 model. They couldn't get a 2022 allocation for one. In fact, they only got 2 allocations for MC boats period when they usually sell double digit numbers. They also sold out of their 85 allocated Bennington's Monday when we bought ours. They were promised 115 and "only" got 85 boats.

[Skoot1123]

Demand is high for the moment - the problem now is parts availability. That is also driving prices higher.

 

For the foreseeable future, I think there will be plenty of demand for ski boats. Good for us skiers.

[2Valve]

@Shell "then you should be “ok” in knocking that off the ballot from all the “old folks”, as you have lots of support?" Old? I recall Kramer trying out for Ball Boy at the U.S. Open. And that worked out well.

 

[Broussard]

@Skoot1123 The problem now is production capacity

[Skoot1123]

@Broussard - are you talking boats specifically or the overall marketplace? I’m referring to the overall marketplace, which will eventually “trickle down” to boat manufacturing.

[mmosley899]

For what it is worth, Malibu is pulling both the World Games Waterski event and the Malibu Open event, both events in Alabama this summer.

[UWSkier]

@mmosley899 I think Malibu is also the tow boat for the Duel event in the UK (which looks awesome BTW), San Gervasio, Lacanau Malibu Pro-Am.

 

I'm happy to get to watch the pros ski behind more than one brand all the time.