buying a used boat

[2whlin]

Looking to get into the boating world. Grew up skiing and now I have kids and would like to teach them. Can't afford the stickers on a new one so looking at 10 year old Tige or Mastercraft boat. When did Tige stop using wood in their hulls?
What model boat should I steer clear of in say a 2000 year model?

Thanks

[Fit to be Tige]

I have a 1999 that runs and handles like a champ. Like you, I grew up skiing, only behind a 16 ft Starcraft with a 75HP motor on it! Other guys on the site have boats older than mine and really don't have any issues. They are awesome boats.

[lightning59]

2000 model 21i here,380 hours. perform the normal maintenance, great boat.

My buddy has the Mastercraft dealership here, I bought a Tige'. Mastercraft builds great boats but my $$ went farther with a pre-owned Tige'.

My previous boats were Nautiques.

It is a buyers market so take advantage of the deals out there.

The owners on this forum are great and will provide all kinds of help.

[2whlin]

used boats

what about some of these other brands I am seeing on the market
Moomba, Sanger, Gekko, Supra? I know some of them have been around but are they any better worse?
Can anyone steer me to a place with unbiased reviews on these boats??

Thanks

[dogbert]

I have a '99 and it's built like a tank. The hull is much thicker than any other boat in it's class and yes, it does have wood stringers. However, they are properly treated and completely encased in fiberglass. The result is that my 'old' Tige hull is actually a lot stiffer than many of the new composite stringer hulls (because wood flexes less than the composite material). Not sure what the big deal was about wooden stringers, but the way Tige used them, there's no chance of failure, period.

My boat has over 750 hours on it since I bought it new, most of that in the last 3 years.

All Tige models from that model year were great boats. Not much changed until the 2003 model year, except for the introduction of the 20V. Tiges from the '99-02 years were generally wider than the competition, which over the length of the boat translates to a lot more storage. All of them can handle towers, including aftermarket universal towers, like Monster. I know you want to ski, but your kids may decide to wakeboard or wakesurf later. The 20i is a first rate ski machine that produces a decent surf wake and wakeboard wake when properly ballasted. The 21i, 21v & 23v are great wakeboarding boats, but still produce a very ski-able ski wake.

You'll find the Tiges to be very versatile. I was looking at a Nautique (either SuperSport or Air Nautique) and found them to be really small. Supras were a little better, but still small. MC was out of my price range, but they were also a little on the small side. Back in '99, Tige boasted a wider beam than any other inboard out there.

The bottom line is that all inboards are gonna be better quality than your typical runabout. I chose the Tige 21v because it was roomier, had a great layout and handled the rough water I get sometimes on my home lake a lot better than anything else. 4 of my friends obviously agreed because they own the same model as me after spending time in mine.

Last, but not least. I'd pick a boat where you will get decent support, both from an online forum such as this and a local dealer. This forum is pretty good (actually, it rocks) and you'll need to make the decision on the dealer based on your location. My dealer was a large part of my positive Tige experience. I get great support even though my boat is 10 years old. Of course, their standard answer whenever I bring it in is that I need a new boat, but that's sort of the running joke nowadays...the even started in on my wife

I'd buy another Tige in a heartbeat. That said, MC, Malibu & Supra all make good boats. Drive them before you buy and check out the local dealer support.

[2whlin]

used boat

Thanks for the responses. I'll be keeping my eyes open for a good used boat. Too bad there is not a classified section for boats on this site.

[dogbert]

Where are you located?

[skyski_tige]

there are 2 used boats in the classified section

http://www.tigeowners.com//forum/forumdisplay.php?f=17

[2whlin]

Houston

[2whlin]

ok, I did not think to just look, I saw classifieds but it said gear & accesories...so I'll keep my eye in there now.

[dingleberry]

what about some of these other brands I am seeing on the market
Moomba, Sanger, Gekko, Supra? I know some of them have been around but are they any better worse?
Can anyone steer me to a place with unbiased reviews on these boats??

Thanks

As far as unbiased reviews, I am not aware of any. Plenty of magazines offer reviews, but they don't want to bad mouth their sponsors, so you don't really see any critical comments or comparison. I feel this is true with online sites like boattest.com too. Their "test results" are probably accurate, but they are literally things like stop watch measurements of time-to-plane. But I don't think they make sure to have an equal load on each boat for these tests, and the weather conditions probably vary. Again, they seems to write nothing but positive remarks about the boats, likely to avoid making their sponsors angry.

I am not aware of any truly unbiased reviews of any significant number of towboats, like you see with cars from companies like Consumer Reports. But maybe someone else knows of some.

[dogbert]

ok, I did not think to just look, I saw classifieds but it said gear & accesories...so I'll keep my eye in there now.

I'd check out what they have at Texas Tige. They're a really good dealer and may have some old trade-ins worth considering. A lot of times they'll know someone who's looking to unload a boat. Go talk to them and get to know them.

[2whlin]

used boats

I have talked to them, they have a 2000 20I listed at 19,900.
It does look clean but price seems a little high. GOing to go take a look at it.

How well does this boat handle in rough waters? My wife will kill me if I bring home a boat that is rough. Looking for a boat that will be smooth, cut through chop and not take on water if you know what I mean?

[2whlin]

actually it's a 21i.

anyone witha 21i comment on the handling of this boat in rough waters??

[skyski_tige]

What lake on you going to hit the most? If you say Conroe, then IMO you need a min of 22 feet if you are going out on weekends when it is rough. If you are hitting some of the rivers then you can get away with a smaller boat.

Check out http://www.gcwa.com local wakeboarding site... They have some boats but not sure if they will be in your price range.