Considering buying a Tige... How do they ride in rougher waters? Lake Havasu?

[dragan]

I am considering buying a Tige boat, probably the RZ4. I am planning on using the boat for wakeboarding, wakeskating, and wake surfing. In addition, I want to be able to cruise down the Colorado river and Lake Havasu with the family and friends (around 8 people) and not get beat around. Both aspects are are equally important to me.

So my concern is how do these boats handle cruising down the Colorado river (near Moabi, Topock gorge, sand bar, etc) and in the rougher waters that can occur at Lake Havasu? Would I be better off getting an I/O instead maybe a Chaparral or Cobolt and put a wake tower on it?

I am sure their are many members on here that use their Tige in these waters and could offer some great advice.

Thanks!

[Wake Bandits]

That Tige' is a good rough water WB boat is what caught our attention in the begining.

The good easy re-sale, fun-to-drive and other excellent Tige' features are just a bonus IOHO's.

Shallow waters are a concern with Direct and V drives.
Thats why jets are so popular those sections of the river.
We run on Parker Strip and South Havasu because of warm waters and excellent social scene, and cheap camping.

When ya put a roll bar on a standard boat it may have you wishing you bought a WB boat.

[G-MONEY]

We were in Park Moabi last weekend and the wind was blowing 25-30mph all weekend. We were still able to surf and make the run down the the gorge no problems. 24V

[chpthril]

I will put the ride of a Tige up against the ride of any comparable sized I/O, and that means a 24ft RZ4 compared to a 24" I/O that doesnt include the swim platform, as most do.

Saw your post on WW. Just an FYI, the Tige haters over there will bash Tige and steer you away from Tige towards anything, with out any factual info or actual experience and they will do this with out really telling that you why your other choices are better. They seem to feel that the only way to make their boat look good it to trash the comp Try to get a demo as close to each other as possible, in each boat you're interested in.

[RYAN0]

Was just there last weekend it was packed. We ran up to moabi and back. The water was rough but the tige handled it pretty well. My buddy was following me in a 26 foot chaparral deck boat and he was getting knocked around just as much as me. I think its probably a wash as far as the ride between the two. I have rode in other wakeboats out there and tige has the best ride by far. If you do go with a tige get the 24 it will handle the best out there amongst the 30 foot high performance crowd.

[evil0ne]

I will put the ride of a Tige up against the ride of any comparable sized I/O, and that means a 24ft RZ4 compared to a 24" I/O that doesnt include the swim platform, as most do.

I love my 24V but my buddies Sea Ray 200 Sundeck definitely has the rough water edge on the Tige. I've never regretted it but there is certainly a difference.

[larryueckert]

in one hand tige and in the other sea ray i sure hope my hand with the tige wins

[Timmy!]

Jeffe on here rolls an RZ4 in Havasu. I'm sure he will chime in! I can tell you this, the RZ2 > Malibu 247!

[gman]

We had a true 21ft sea ray. The sea ray without a doubt was smoother than the 24v tige. The tige is smoother than the 16ft sea ray we had. Todays Sea Rays just do not impress me. If I was going to get a good I/O I would seriously consider the Cobalt. The I/O's especially the larger ones have a deeper v and are designed to ride smooth. We do like the 24v TIGE!

[ragboy]

I had a fourwinns horizon 220 before my Tige 24Ve. I would say the horizon was def better in rough water, but only very rough. However, it doesn't get rougher than it can get on Mojave Mead or Havasu. I have been on Mojave and Mead with 4-6ft waves, nuts. The tige would have a tougher time staying afloat in those types of extreme situations than a comparable sized runabout.

That being said, I put 270 hours on my horizon in 9 years, and this is my 3rd season on the tige, and I have 350 hours now. I would have over 400 now, if it wasn't for the fact that my entire community was on fire all last summer. I put a tower on the four winns, but it doesn't compare. You can't get a good wakeboard wake from an IO unless you trim the nose up really high, and that isn't even that great.

Going down the river can be hairy at times, and an I/O is better suited if it gets shallow, especially if you are going downstream. You can trim all the way up and float. On a inboard, nothing you can do.

If you just like exploring and tooling around, and pulling a tube and waterskis for fun once in a while, get the I/O. If you really want to explore watersports like wakeboarding and DEFINTELY wakesurfing, get the Tige. You can't wakesurf on an I/O.

You can see lots of video and pictures of our Tige and Family at http://wake9.com/ I love my Tige.

[Jeffe]

Jeffe on here rolls an RZ4 in Havasu. I'm sure he will chime in! I can tell you this, the RZ2 > Malibu 247!

We are about 30 miles above Havasu in Needles. We dont really make it down to Havasu to often & never once in the RZ4, but thats not because of the RZ4. But I would definitely say go for it, it handles awesome in rough water.

[Jeffe]

Jeffe on here rolls an RZ4 in Havasu. I'm sure he will chime in! I can tell you this, the RZ2 > Malibu 247!

We would have gotten the Malibu 247 Wakesetter, but we didnt like the the dealership. Enough said, not going to get into bashing!

[dogbert]

We would have gotten the Malibu 247 Wakesetter, but we didnt like the the dealership. Enough said, not going to get into bashing!

Jeffe's got a great point. Your dealer is going to make a huge impact on your overall boating experience. Most of the tow boats are pretty comparable, both in quality and features. Each has something a little unique to them that appeals to different people. But, if your dealer sucks, you are gonna be miserable.

[Timmy!]

We would have gotten the Malibu 247 Wakesetter, but we didnt like the the dealership. Enough said, not going to get into bashing!

Wasn't bashing, just comparing rough water ride. The 247 is a great boat, spent a few days on Powell on one but I just didn't feel that it handled rough water as good as my RZ2.

[Jeffe]

Timmy,

I meant I didn't want to get into bashing the Malibu dealer.

Because trust me, I could go on for hours about them!!!