Where does your family sit?

I am starting my search for a new toy. This will be my first boat, and I really really want a correct craft.

I have a family of 4 and fear that space will be an issue on these boats?

With the pylon in the middle of the boat with the rope running over the stern, where do you guys sit passengers? I'm looking forward to future weekends on the lake with friends and whatnot, but I don't want to have to leave half the party on the dock while 3-4 of us go out and have fun.

MartyMabe wrote: Get a SNOB ! An Open Bow. Or get a TOWER!!

+1 on the tower, and the open bow for that matter. Between the two I had 8 people comfortably on mine this weekend, 7 on board while we were skiing with no issue.

Help us out though, what do you plan on using the boat for? Skiing? Wakeboarding? Footing? Keeping you from drowning while drinking beer? (I'll give you a heads up if you haven't spent a lot of time on this site, "tubing" is a four letter word here and is usually met with some backlash.) Give us a few more details about how you want to use it and it'll be a lot easier to point you in the right direction.

We had 9 on the 2000 Sport Nautique this weekend with 3 wakeboards, 2 pairs of wake skis, fat sac, jackets, ropes and we still had room left over. Also sat 4 on the backseat while we skied with the tower. Tower has been extremely handy for that purpose.

Knowing your price range would definitely help your new CCFAN friends assist you in your boat purchase.

Depends on your perspective I guess. I do not own a open bow and had a family of 5 before I got divorced. We made do with what we had with two kneeboards, slalom ski, pair of combo's and 2 wakeboards. I do have an extended pylon so was able to rope from there and store the wakeboards when we were just cruising or stopped to swim.

An open bow would have been nice but I explained to the girls that "Hey.. be thankful that we've got this as I didn't even have a boat growing up, and how many of your friends don't even get the opportunity to go. All I had growing up was a canoe and my dad towed us around on a raft with a tiny 3hp motor but we were thankful for it." That usually set them straight.

Get what you can afford... and make the best of it even if it isn't an open bow.

A fly high is a relatively cheap solution for everything but slalom skiing and frankly no big boat loaded with people is a great solution for slalom skiing anyway. I just go ahead and load the boat full of crap and people.. I did the same when I had an unbelievably small mustang and since the 83 always seems luxuriously large to me as a result. So maybe just get a really small boat first and after a few months move up to a SN...

The 98 and newer Sport, has the trunk which can seem to swallow a tremendous amount of gear (Cooler, lunch, towels, wakeboard, ropes/handles, anchor, towable, pumps, fat sac). The center ski locker has room for three pairs of skis (1 junior set) and two Slalom skis plus a paddle. All the wife's and kids clothes (I have 3 girls)go under the observer seat, noodles and light poles on the port side nets and boom and hifly on the starboard side. 2 or 3 kids in the open bow, wife and possibly another kid in the observer seat, and my parent and my sister in the back. We have n extended pylon (58") so we ski with the full load, the back seat passengers only have to slouch a little. Plus there is room for a second cooler behind the drivers seat. Somewhere we stow 4 wetsuits and 2 barefoot suits too, I think they usually make the trunk... It's a full boat but it works.

Somehow as a kid, my family got most of the same amount of gear in the 63 Ski. I wish, I could dig up my Dad's checklist for going to the river when we were young, included a porta crib and porta potty, obviously when I was that little I don't remember it but it must have been something to see. In some respects, I think that boat has more room then the newer ski nautiques - Gen 2 & 3.

Hey if you can find more people or gear, then let me know I will ask them along.

You guys aren't using all your available space, I can do 5 foils and 8 people not counting skiers in the Excel. I could do 4 foils and 6 people in my DD 19ft Centurion and that was winter riding so we had bags with drysuits as well.   There was only 1 kid in each of those, everyone else was an adult.

It takes a bit of practice to learn how to work around eachother, but once you vet used to it you'll be amazed at what you can stuff in when you have to. I actually prefer the smallest boat I can get away with because fewer people on board means more turns for me.   A single ride for everyone in my friends Malibu 247 can take 6hrs, it's really nice to have more space than some apartments, but have to wait you turn in a full boat sucks.   

If you have a wife like mine that needs to bring everything with her then definitely go with the bigger boat. All i need is a full tank of gas and the keys.

I have a 89 2001 and we normally carry 2-3 Wakeboards, 2 Knee boards and 3 slalom ski's plus a set of doubles. We often have large crews 6-8 people normally 4-5 adults and the rest in kids. The location we ski out often requires a trip from the launching site of 20 mins to find nice calm water so the boat is fully loaded all the time. The slalom wake suffers with this load but can be fun if you like jumping the wakes.

We progressed from a small ski boat 17'2" and the SN2001 felt like a cruise liner after that. You will need a high pole with a wakeboard rack. Having a rack on top of the bimini for the kneeboards keeps them off the floor. Most of the ski's could fit under the short bow of the 87-89 SN2001 except for the longer slalom skis.

Always love seeing Anakin having a good time on the boat

IMO, If you are planning to do any watersports besides tubing, I would go ahead and bite the bullet and get a ski boat. We (on this forum) are biased towards Correct craft. I have had a few friends over the years, with young families, start out with a recreational boat, and have since gone to SN after they have spent some time with me on the lake with a SN. It is the proper tool for the job. I can spend all day in my boat (with the bimini top) pulling kids and hardly get out of the seat. You can go real slow for small kids or run the course at 36 mph. IMO, it is safer. The prop is way under the boat, you can see over the bow, and it is very predictable. It is much easier to control a rope, has a platform to teach and get gear on. Easier to keep a constant speed, even if it is 10mph for a three year old. The list goes on and on. You must make your own decision, but based on my 30 plus years of watersports, there is only one purpose built ski boat. Combo boats do nothing well. Also, the junk stern drive you buy this year will be worth 1/2 of what you paid next year, the ski Nautique will hold most of its value for a while. Just my .02 cents.

C-Bass wrote: Always love seeing Anakin having a good time on the boat

Anakin gets pretty p...ed if I take the boat out without him. So most of the time the crew also includes a large dog. He likes to swim but has much more fun retrieving a ball or stick from the water and bringing it back must be instinct for them.

Donald80SN wrote: Hello, Do not start with a project boat. To make the family happy, you need to be able to hit the water as soon as you get it. Working on a project boat all summer will just make the family hate the boat. There will always be time and money in the future for a project boat. Get on the water as soon as possible to hook the family on the life style. My first boat was a pontoon, that I still have. I was going to buy a $5K project boat and fix it up. My wife said heck no, get a good one so we can enjoy the water. I spent about $10K and got a great boat that I did not have to work on too much.     When we purchased the 80 SN ( $4,800) I also wanted to start with a project boat. Once again she said no, get something that is ready to use. It took over 1.5 years to find the right boat at the right budget. Following my wife's advice was a great thing. However, whatever you do, only spend what you can aford. Do not go into debt to do it. Boat payments suck in the winter time. JMO, Donald

I'll chime in and echo these comments. I was a tragic restorer/modifier once and always had a boat (or car) in the shed that wasn't quite ready to use - or at least not that pretty yet. My wife would hint of possible boat days, but I would just turn her down because of something or another that wasn't quite right or not finished, or I needed the time to do something on it. The days that were beautiful and sunny were the worst. After 2 previous classic Australian clinker skiboat projects (that were both restored or modded) I bought my Ski Nautique and have spent more time on the water in it than the last two put together. These vessels are exceptional, no questions asked. If you do any sport behind a boat that involves hanging onto a rope, a Nautique will NOT be a bad purchase decision.

We are a family of 3 with the 4th only a few weeks away. Our boat is used to cruise for fish & chips & icecreams on beautiful sunny winter days. We tow our little 3 year old son around on an Ezyski. I also go out with 3/4/5 mates on wakeboard sessions.

Do yourself a favour and buy a real tow boat

I have to agree with getting a boat that's turnkey in order to get the family to buy into it right away. Once I got the wife and kids in it for the first time right after buying it, I was totally amazed by how much they loved it! They were so used to bigger, newer boats, but now enjoy the coziness and fun the CC has to offer. If I had to make them wait, I don't think the outcome would be the same.

Be patient and good luck!