bigmac
06-30-2005, 09:15 AM
Hey...
After many years of I/O's, I decided to try an inboard. We have lived on a lake in Minnesota for many years, and the maintenance on my Century Arrow was getting problematic. Our hard-core skiing days are pretty much behind us, but I wanted a high-quality boat that handled well, so I was looking at inboard ski boats. I didn't really want a tower, but I did want a nice roomy interior and something that would work for cruising as well as pulling water toys. I test-drove Moomba and Supra but I was disappointed in the handling, so was looking hard at Cobalt and CrownLine, but they just didnt' really turn my crank after the long, low and powerful Century. My neighbor talked me into checking with the MasterCraft dealer, and he had a new holdover 2004 Maristar 230 VRS with MCX engine, heater, DF, platform and a bunch of the other options that he was willing to sell for $48,000. Seemed like a great price for that $63,000 boat. I was aided substantially by unusual amount of rain we've had here over the last several weeks which provided the dealer with a little more selling motivation than one might expect. I test-drove the boat on the Whitefish chain the other day and was blown away by the difference between it and the Skier's Choice models.
Long story short - I'm picking that boat up this morning. I hope it stops raining long enough for me to get it into the lake with enough time to get my boat lift re-rigged for an inboard. Any tips in that regard would be appreciated...
I'm very pleased to see such a comprehensive and active MasterCraft discussion board. I'll probably need a lot of advice as I enter this new boating paradigm. Thanks in advance.
If any of you happen to be in central Minnesota (Brainerd Lakes area) and see a couple of old folks pulling a few innertubes behind a MasterCraft, I apologize in advance. :o
After many years of I/O's, I decided to try an inboard. We have lived on a lake in Minnesota for many years, and the maintenance on my Century Arrow was getting problematic. Our hard-core skiing days are pretty much behind us, but I wanted a high-quality boat that handled well, so I was looking at inboard ski boats. I didn't really want a tower, but I did want a nice roomy interior and something that would work for cruising as well as pulling water toys. I test-drove Moomba and Supra but I was disappointed in the handling, so was looking hard at Cobalt and CrownLine, but they just didnt' really turn my crank after the long, low and powerful Century. My neighbor talked me into checking with the MasterCraft dealer, and he had a new holdover 2004 Maristar 230 VRS with MCX engine, heater, DF, platform and a bunch of the other options that he was willing to sell for $48,000. Seemed like a great price for that $63,000 boat. I was aided substantially by unusual amount of rain we've had here over the last several weeks which provided the dealer with a little more selling motivation than one might expect. I test-drove the boat on the Whitefish chain the other day and was blown away by the difference between it and the Skier's Choice models.
Long story short - I'm picking that boat up this morning. I hope it stops raining long enough for me to get it into the lake with enough time to get my boat lift re-rigged for an inboard. Any tips in that regard would be appreciated...
I'm very pleased to see such a comprehensive and active MasterCraft discussion board. I'll probably need a lot of advice as I enter this new boating paradigm. Thanks in advance.
If any of you happen to be in central Minnesota (Brainerd Lakes area) and see a couple of old folks pulling a few innertubes behind a MasterCraft, I apologize in advance. :o