New Boat Help Tige RZ4 vs. MCx35

[Ewok]

I can from I/O too, here is a pic of my old boat and new. I was living on Lake Amistad, a very large lake, and I've seen 2-3' swells on the lake. The old bay liner did great on the lake even in he worst weather and the new Tige does almost as good. As you can see from the pics, the bay liner was a modified deep-v hull and the Tige is as much of a v hull as you can get on an inboard. I could run faster "comfortably" in the chop in the bay liner but the Tige does ok. In the worst weather I've been out in with the RZ2 I've had to slow it down a bit, I think I was running at about 15 mph to keep the bow up and the ride relatively comfortable and dry. I've never taken water over the bow from bad weather but when I'm surfing and I have friends new to the boat, they sometimes dunk it. The way they drive they might have dunked the bay liner bow too.

Bottom line, in my experience, Tige will have the best rough water ride of all the inboards, except maybe the center consol mastercraft. When you get your first inboard get some help learning how to drive it. I grew up on outboards and I/Os and it a big difference to get used to.

[robert theisen]

I own a RZ2 and i had a 22ve before that.As far a dunking the bow it's possible on just about every wakeboat if you don't have experience driving one.Also you will have to learn how to dock your boat as it only backs to the starboard side.The lake we ride on gets choppy and really rough with winds above 20mph.With a seasons worth of experience you shouldn't have any problems.I too started with a Bow RIDER I/O.Wakeboats,especially Tige handle like a sports car compared to I/O.Go demo one and you'll buy a Tige!

[Wakeman22]

Last year when I was upgrading from I/Os I looked at a lot of boat. Mastercraft makes a great boat but so does Tige. Mastercraft has been around a long time but Tige is bringing to the table new ideas and inovations. All boats will take on water over the bow especialy when slammed with ballast. It is all how you drive. My lake gets huge waves and chop. The wind venturies down the channels and waves build tall. It is a small crowded lake so it is always rough. I have taken on water a few times but usually it is with a newbie driving. The Z3 is nice.

Now as others have said don,t fret over the water issue too much. Sit in the boats. Play with everything and really get a feel for them. Test drive if you can. Consider price as Mastercraft are $$$.

The otherthing is look at Boat Test.com. They have reviews and test numbers for most boats. Then have video and comments about them too.

I used that site a lot in my decision. When it came down too dropping the hammer or the check book it came to economics. Not just the purchase price but the cost of operation. Look at the few burn rates and you may be in for a big surprize. Mastercrafts burn a lot of fuel. Tiges do not. If you run a weekend and use say $100.oo in a Tige you will run thru $200.00 in a Mastercraft. Bump that up to $200.00 a week in a Tige and it will be $400.00. Now multiply that out with all the weeks you will use the boat and you get the point. I will bet that the Tige will out do your I/O any day.

Now as others have said spend some time learning to dive and inboard as they steer diferent and reverse can get you in trouble. I fortunatly came from a sailing background so I reall use the wind to my advantage when in close quaters and around docks.

Either way you go you will be happy and so will your family. Surfing is a blast and you can,t do it with a stern drive. Good Luck and welcome to Tige owner's.

[talltigeguy]

Last year when I was upgrading from I/Os I looked at a lot of boat. Mastercraft makes a great boat but so does Tige. Mastercraft has been around a long time but Tige is bringing to the table new ideas and inovations. All boats will take on water over the bow especialy when slammed with ballast. It is all how you drive. My lake gets huge waves and chop. The wind venturies down the channels and waves build tall. It is a small crowded lake so it is always rough. I have taken on water a few times but usually it is with a newbie driving. The Z3 is nice.

Now as others have said don,t fret over the water issue too much. Sit in the boats. Play with everything and really get a feel for them. Test drive if you can. Consider price as Mastercraft are $$$.

The otherthing is look at Boat Test.com. They have reviews and test numbers for most boats. Then have video and comments about them too.

I used that site a lot in my decision. When it came down too dropping the hammer or the check book it came to economics. Not just the purchase price but the cost of operation. Look at the few burn rates and you may be in for a big surprize. Mastercrafts burn a lot of fuel. Tiges do not. If you run a weekend and use say $100.oo in a Tige you will run thru $200.00 in a Mastercraft. Bump that up to $200.00 a week in a Tige and it will be $400.00. Now multiply that out with all the weeks you will use the boat and you get the point. I will bet that the Tige will out do your I/O any day.

Now as others have said spend some time learning to dive and inboard as they steer diferent and reverse can get you in trouble. I fortunatly came from a sailing background so I reall use the wind to my advantage when in close quaters and around docks.

Either way you go you will be happy and so will your family. Surfing is a blast and you can,t do it with a stern drive. Good Luck and welcome to Tige owner's.

Comparably ballasted boats, the Tige will be more efficient, in my experience. But having owned both, I think it would be a stretch to say that the Tige will use 1/2 the amount of fuel. I was cranking more ballast, by a long ways in my X45 than in my 24V, and with the 8.1L engine, and I still was not doubling the fuel consumption of my 24V.

You will like both boats. Having a good dealership will make or break your experience, don't forget that.

I test drove an X35 and it definitely was the highest and driest inboard I had ever been in, until I was in a Z3. I think the Z3 is very comparable, depth wise.

[Wakeman22]

Look at the stats on boat test.com. At cruise speed the X-45 shows double. They come closer in feul use as you top the speed out. But if you got that with the 8.1 then I shoild have bought the x-45. Did you ever fill that 90 gallon tank up? But then again I heard they were not as good as a Tige for surfing. What was your experience with surfing behind the Mastercraft. I believe I saw a post where ragboy was getting 4.1gals/hour. Now thats good.

[dom w. forte]

All you have to do is drive both boats , the throttle response will tell you which one is going to use more fuel, also stand up when you drive the MC so you can see where your going till it planes.
Pay close attention to your left turns in both boats when ballasted the MC will be very vague , unless it has the hydraulic steering and then it drives like a school bus with power steering.
These are just my experences when I have to lake test for the service departement.
All my test would be apples to apples , hull to hull , hp to hp, Tige all the way.

[CountryDMan]

Again, thanks for all the great information and advice. I spent about 8 hours at the chicago boat show yesterday going through all the brands.

Tige: Z3 is big and tons of freeboard like you all said. Fit and finish is as good as anyone out there. Alpha Z tower is too heavy for my wife to put up and down. Reps there were telling me that we can get a second spring to help assist. I don't know why any of the boats wouldn't have this. All the other boat co. now have counter balanced towers that a kid can take up and down.

MC - This may sound funny, but they looked "cheap" on the inside. Maybe that is because the sticker shock makes you want to find something wrong with them. They are off the list... Too expensive.

BU - The new 22MXZ is nice, and pretty deep. Compares nicely with the RZ2. I am going to take the 22mxz and 247lsv out within the next couple weeks.

It is pretty funny going to these shows. You get all the sales guys knit picking the other boats (even though most of them have worked for the other companys).
- about tige':You won't be able to sell a tige' in Illinois, no one wants it
- about BU: power wedge will rip the transom off
-- about tige': wakeboarding wake is no good. otherwise everyone would ride behind it

You just got to ride/drive all of the ones you are interested in.
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[chpthril]

Tige: Z3 is big and tons of freeboard like you all said. Fit and finish is as good as anyone out there. Alpha Z tower is too heavy for my wife to put up and down. Reps there were telling me that we can get a second spring to help assist. I don't know why any of the boats wouldn't have this. All the other boat co. now have counter balanced towers that a kid can take up and down.

BU - The new 22MXZ is nice, and pretty deep. Compares nicely with the RZ2. I am going to take the 22mxz and 247lsv out within the next couple weeks.

It is pretty funny going to these shows. You get all the sales guys knit picking the other boats (even though most of them have worked for the other companys).
- about tige':You won't be able to sell a tige' in Illinois, no one wants it
- about BU: power wedge will rip the transom off
-- about tige': wakeboarding wake is no good. otherwise everyone would ride behind it

You just got to ride/drive all of the ones you are interested in.
-

Was the Tige tower loaded with speakers? If so, they all are heavy when optioned out with stereo speakers....I know, cause thats what I do So, just have the dealer get the heavy-duty springs put in.

We see lots of people coming here looking for used Tiges and many end up doing some traveling to pick them up. I see no more trouble selling a used Tige then any other, its all market timing and price.

The only wedges that ever got ripped off, outside of striking an under water hazard, where done during a wake-board speed power turn with the wedge deployed. In the years since, Malibu has beefed the transom area around the wedge.

The MXZ is a beast of a boat! It is very deep, but the seats are lower to the floor compared to a Tige. I think the bow has a little more room then the bow of the Tige RZ. I think the extra bow room might be lost in the main cabin as it seems slightly shorter then the Tige. The G3 tower gets a little heavy when 6 tower speakers are mounted to it.

[dom w. forte]

You never said are you going to drive a Tige, make sure you take both brands out in rough water , the Bu,s use brackets for all internal seating , they are not glassed in and tend to flex alot the older they get, also the storage is very poor in the rear of the 247 on either side of the engine.
Tige has a much better warranty with the 360 plan.

[Timmy!]

Dom sells both brands BTW.

[CountryDMan]

I took the Tige RZ4 out on Table Rock Lake in MO. earlier in the year. It is solid.

[chpthril]

You never said are you going to drive a Tige, make sure you take both brands out in rough water , the Bu,s use brackets for all internal seating , they are not glassed in and tend to flex alot the older they get, also the storage is very poor in the rear of the 247 on either side of the engine.
Tige has a much better warranty with the 360 plan.

The only 2012 Bu ive been in so far is the MXZ. It now has a one piece cap like tige. No more bolted down seat boxes.

[thtrog]

Don't you get tired of dealers telling you what they believe are faults of other brands. Drive them all, new or used,I would never buy any boat without a water test first.

[Ewok]

The counter balance on the tower helps when the tower is in the down position so it doesn't crash into the boat, mine has no speakers (yet) but I keep the extended Bimini on and it can be tough, my wife can raise and lower it but she has to be standing in the right spot. I may try to get tougher springs and not tell her and see what she thinks.

Just like ET says, they are all nice boats but you don't get a good sense of how it will be unless you get all your normal crew out with you and ride the wake if you can.

[robert theisen]

This is the Stock[no ballast added]Wake behind my 2011 RZ2.At my age that's enough air for me.