1994 Maristar 225 LT1 Direct Drive

[maristardd]

Hi,
First post after reading a lot here - I just purchased my first Mastercraft, a 1994 Maristar 225, Direct Drive with EFI LT1, about 700 hours and decent interior (recovered by previous/second owner), ended up at $10k. Something fun to get the family out on water on local lakes (6/8 year old olds), and big enough to take another family out with us. I'll post more pics as I start cleaning it up / going through it.

A few questions:

- The front edge of the hull is scraped a little from the first owner beaching it (scraped through gel to dark layer). Is this a nice-to-fix, or must fix immediately? (Boat is stored out of water)

- Would like a tower for recreational wake boarding. Most folks here seem to like Monster or New Dimension towers. Anything else reliable/reasonable cost to consider, as well anything specific to 94 Mastercraft or Maristar to consider on adding a tower?

- Tandem trailer has dual drum brakes, seems in decent shape, but while towing 50 miles home at two points on hill climb there was something like a 'bang'. I'm not sure if this was me hitting drainage grate and low siding trailer, if sticky surge brake, or ??. Any thoughts on what to check for?

- Newbie question - should there be a 'safety' line other than the winch line holding the boat in front?

Looking forward to getting the family out one I check for safety stuff and generally shake it down. Thanks!