2002 Tige 21V vs 2007 Mastercraft X2

[venetrex]

After having some issues with my tige, more mercruiser than tige. I purchased a 2007 mastercraft X2. Great deal. I wanted to share my comparisons and get your opinions. Wake X-2 good and has extra ballast on top of stock, wakeboading wake is superior, however there is no comparison on the surf wake. Tie
Fit and finish hands down, mastercraft.
Comfort of the seating and the vision air chair is by far way better on the Tige. We joke and call it the floating couch.
Storage is a tie. They both have more room than I'll ever need.
Power, you know the tige has less horsepower and weighs more but that taps plate give it a huge advantage.
Handling, mastercraft turns way better, but has no tracking fins, so the tige hold straight better. Also tige smashes the waves.
Platform, Tige has teak, and mastercraft has fiberglass with ripped rubber, people call those an UPGRADE??? Tige wins there
Gelcoat, not a fair comparo cause mastercraft is 5 years newer.
The tower is a hands down winner for the X2, but my comptech air chair rack is way friendlier on the tige than the X2. Because I air chair so much that's a biggie
Stereo, I modeled my tige after the mastercraft, but I added way more power, x2 would need an upgrade.
I love my tige PA from infinity. Can't live without that now.
So I thought I'd post this from a couple days of out on the lake. It's hard to believe a 2002 would be so likable compared to what is supposed to be the best. Of course I'm no pro, but thought people would find my findings interesting when shopping around for a boat. Any other input from anyone else??

[da.bell]

Thanks for sharing your opinion of the X2 and Tige 21V. I would have thought that the 2007 would have been better in more areas than you said.

[dom w. forte]

My experence with the x2 versus current hull tiges, dont drive or handle as well , problems with the switches failing, ss series exhaust tip failures, ballast pumps for port and starboard tanks are mounted improperly in my opinion , leading to early failure, and not a very user friendly tower for folding, tower even with additional upgraded braces is still flimsey.

[skyski_tige]

"comptech air chair rack" - I believe Skyski makes the Comptech rack :-)

[talltigeguy]

My experence with the x2 versus current hull tiges, dont drive or handle as well , problems with the switches failing, ss series exhaust tip failures, ballast pumps for port and starboard tanks are mounted improperly in my opinion , leading to early failure, and not a very user friendly tower for folding, tower even with additional upgraded braces is still flimsey.

I have the same tower and find it pretty stout, even with 65 pounds worth of speakers up there. Some of the 'stoutness' of a tower is actually related to noise. I thought my friend's Malibu tower was extremely stout, but the fact is that it moves a fair amount. But it makes no sound, so it seems more solid. Mine moves some, but makes no noise whatsoever. My 2005 tower was a little more wobbly, but rattled and squeaked like mad, so the perception was that it was a bad tower, even though it is not so bad, IMHO.

Dom, what is the optimal way to mount the Jabsco pumps?

The MC stock stereo sounds nice, but when you add more power, it really comes alive. Tige wins hands down with Wetsounds speakers and amps there.

[dogbert]

Thanks for sharing your opinion of the X2 and Tige 21V. I would have thought that the 2007 would have been better in more areas than you said.

Hmmm, interesting. The most interesting part of this is that the 21v was nearing the end of its life after being introduced in '99. Still not sure if MC is worth the premium you pay for it new but, like any other boat, there's always some things yo you like better about one boat over another, regardless of what brand you own. At the end of the day, it's a personal choice and you have to weigh the pros and cons.

Great write-up, thanks for sharing.

[Bad05]

I have the same tower and find it pretty stout, even with 65 pounds worth of speakers up there. Some of the 'stoutness' of a tower is actually related to noise. I thought my friend's Malibu tower was extremely stout, but the fact is that it moves a fair amount. But it makes no sound, so it seems more solid. Mine moves some, but makes no noise whatsoever. My 2005 tower was a little more wobbly, but rattled and squeaked like mad, so the perception was that it was a bad tower, even though it is not so bad, IMHO.

Dom, what is the optimal way to mount the Jabsco pumps?

The MC stock stereo sounds nice, but when you add more power, it really comes alive. Tige wins hands down with Wetsounds speakers and amps there.

I haven't noticed the "squeaking" and I have a few pounds up there....I do notice the shaking when I take on wavesthough, but feel it's strong enough to handle my needs. I have noticed how the new tower seem much stronger though.

[dom w. forte]

If the pumps are mounted like the ones I have worked on , they are on the transom mounted with the impeller housing on top , so when they leak it goes into the bearing and slowly takes out the motor.

[talltigeguy]

If the pumps are mounted like the ones I have worked on , they are on the transom mounted with the impeller housing on top , so when they leak it goes into the bearing and slowly takes out the motor.

That is exactly how 1 of my 3 pumps were mounted. I think it makes getting at the Impellers easier, but I think I have some hose rerouting to do this winter. Thanks for the advice! I actually did not know that and turned one of them over after I had a hose failure. (BTW, my ballast system was built on a Friday at 4pm, if you know what I mean).

[G-MONEY]

(BTW, my ballast system was built on a Friday at 4pm, if you know what I mean).

Before a 3 day weekend maybe?

[venetrex]

More updates

Upon waiting for paperwork on he X-2 I've been using my NOW WORKING Tige. I was able to wakesurf last night with only my wife in the boat. Pretty Damn amazing. I liked breaking out the little table to eat dinner too. I have to say once you get the bugs out. TIGE makes a great boat.

[kko]

Not sure what were doing comparing an older tige to a newer MC X-2. But i have been out on three of them. They drive like a school bus.The one that had the red mxc motor had good power but still could not compare to a tige in driveabilty and ride quality. I have driven a bunch of different models of MC and I would have to say the X-2 is my least favorite of them all. Its a roomy 20 footer other than that I didnt like anything about it.