Decision point….

[OREGON85]

I’ve been struggling with what to do next for some time, so I’m turning to the experts for help. 

About 5 years ago I bought my first boat. A 2000 Air Nautique which is a 20.5’ DD boat with a tower. The original impetus was to surf and this was the closest thing to a surf boat we could afford at the time. It was certainly a decent boat for us to start with, nothing fancy, but decent. My wife and I really ended up loving skiing and Lukewarm about surfing (good thing we couldn’t afford a v-drive!😆). If you can keep the weight down and go fast the ski wake is really quite reasonable. The versatility is great for when we have guests/family.

I have three boys, 12, 10, and 7 plus a girl due any day now. None of whom have any real interest in skiing. They aren’t even interested in wakeboarding, or surfing, just tubing. 

Here’s the trouble. The boat is wore out. The performance mechanically is excellent, but the carpet is getting worn, the vinyl has some rips and is really aging, the hull is stained and has a few nicks, and the trailer needs repainted. 

The real question is, do I invest probably around $15k in bring the condition back to where it is really enjoyable? If I do that I’ll spend $15k making a $15k boat into a $20k boat. Not a great return on investment. OR do I cut my losses sell it and buy something different? If so, what? I don’t know what would check the boxes better. I want room and a nice slalom wake. Budget would probably be $30-40k, assuming I can get $15k for my current boat.

With a 1-year-old baby, next summer is probably going to be a bust for the boat anyway. If I take a year off, do I fix up what I’ve got or upgrade? I’m at a loss. 

In any case, I’m SUPER excited about the new girl. Hopefully she’ll like skiing someday. 

[Brokenstack]

I say get the ski boat and enjoy it as long as you can.  Mid to late 2000s Malibu response LXI or sunsetter would fit the bill.    

 Other boats

Nautique 206 .

Maybe a Ski Nautique 200 at the top of your budget.  

Mastercraft 205 or 197

 

[foxriverat]

I second sunsetter lxi. You can't beat the ski wake for a boat this size. https://www.ski-it-again.com/php/skiitagain.php?endless=summer&topic=Search&category=Boat_3Event&postid=71173

[COsnowandwater]

Congrats on the upcoming arrival! With regards to your decision to make improvements to your 2000 AN, we just replaced the carpet on our '08 SN this spring & the cost was pretty significant but we plan to use this boat for many more years, so it made sense. If your boat is running well, perhaps you upgrade one item big ticket item each off season. If you try to sell the boat with the current carpet & vinyl as-is any buyer will notice and the price they are willing to pay will go down accordingly. My friend is about to sell his 2001 Malibu Response & we took it to the car wash & did a clean of the carpet & engine bay. Used a little carpet cleaner & scrub brush, methodically sprayed with the pressure washer & the carpet improved significantly! We were amazed.

Regarding your boys not yet ready to get out of the tube...  My wife & I both teach snow skiing and we have always focused on making the ski experience as fun as possible for our students, while ensuring the guest is safe & engaged in the lesson (engaged is not always the case). Hoping your 12, 10 & 7 YO's will determine when they want to start skiing or wakeboarding & join mom & dad behind the boat on something they can control, as opposed to "hanging on" with the tube. Good luck there & don't hesitate to reach out if you want to chat about the boys.

[chrislandy]

5 hours ago, Brokenstack said:

I say get the ski boat and enjoy it as long as you can.  Mid to late 2000s Malibu response LXI or sunsetter would fit the bill.    

 Other boats

Nautique 206 .

Maybe a Ski Nautique 200 at the top of your budget.  

Mastercraft 205 or 197

 

Coming from an early 205 to a '15 prostar, they are not comparable. While yes we had loads of fun in the 205, the prostar is better in every way. The amount of space is outstanding, you could fit my old 205 inside the gunnels of the prostar with an inch to spare....

There seems to be a few popping up sub 40k now.

Early SN200 2010ish had all the toys and big locker stores at the rear, again top of the budget.

Can't comment on the malibu's, not spent too much time in them unfortunately as they are really nice boats

[MitchellM]

How many hours on your current boat?  Since you know it well and " the  performance mechanically is excellent", perhaps just do some cosmetic work and keep it for another year or two and you are skiing more frequently.

[liquid d]

The answer is ALWAYS, "Get the new boat".

[FullFlavorPike]

I would not spend $40k to pull the kids in a tube if I had a perfectly good boat
 

id upholster and seadek (or gator step if I was feeling thrifty) my perfectly good running boat  — if you don’t sell it any time soon you don’t need to worry about “losing money” on the repairs, either. 

[DW]

3 boys aged 7 > 12, I see a lot of low cost labor there, maybe as hard as herding cats, but certainly lots of energy to help rip out carpet, buff the hull, learn new skills (fiber glass work) and hand dad tools with learning and family bonding opportunities.  Good luck.

[BraceMaker]

I'd have the hull cut and polished by someone last time I had it done was ~300 bucks and they hung the boat and did it all in a day.

Trailer you can use roll on rust encapsulator like eastwood or POR-15 and then get roll on color matched paint and give it a quick stabilization.

For the seats complete redo is expensive, having a panel sewn in behind the splits and tears is pretty cheap and will stabilize them for more use.

Cut the carpet along the crease at the floor neatly with a sharp razor blade use that as a template and get some EVA foam and glue that down.

 

Something to be said for a useful/somewhat banged up boat when you have kids.

[Stevie Boy]

Get the New Boat, treat like your new baby and you will always get a good resale value on it.

[ReallyGottaSki]

 

Winter is coming, i would buy skins, new foam and a ss staple gun , sand/buff it out, lay down a new rug. 

Good project for ones young sons to see a dad do, and participate in, pull rug, pull staples, 

It will turn over fast  in spring, get the boat you want.

[cougfan]

@OREGON85 look for a Malibu Sunsetter. The wake for skiing is great, u can wakeboard behind it and it has tons of room for a family with the open bow. My wife and I recently gave our 2002  Sunsetter to my son and daughter-in-law who have 3 girls 9,7 and 1 1/2. The 9 year old is a skier hopefully the other 2 will follow. My wife and I replaced the Sunsetter with a really sweet 2001 Malibu Sportster. Perfect boat for skiing as it is mostly just the  2 of us skiing unless @Rednucleus and @S1Pitts join us at our place on lake Curlew😁.

Happy hunting!

[S1Pitts]

Not to mention the Sportster has dual exhaust giving it the cool retro sound of pre 90's ski boats but the added bonus of great wakes. 

As @cougfan and many others have stated in several threads, you cannot go wrong with the Sunsetter LXI so long as you get the one with the diamond hull. I skied a non diamond hull this year and it is no where near as nice a wake.

[OREGON85]

This is all really great advice. Thank you all for the input. 

I think right now light/budget fix up approach and then, go for a SN200. Spending money on the current boat will slow that upgrade down a bit, but maybe that’s not a bad idea with a bunch of messy kids in the boat. 😆