Other 3 Event Ski Boats of the 80s

They still make an closed boat inboard direct drive, but target it to barefooters.



Sanger DXII

There is a relatively contemporary direct drive sanger on our lake.

KRoundy wrote: I thought that Tru-track was because the front fin of the boat "steered" a little bit? I could be way off on that.

I hope you don't mind if I revive this thread.

The Tru-track was a model in the 80s up until the Falcon was introduced in the late 80s. My cousin has an 88 Falcon that has been restored and is about to go up for sale.

The other tracking system that is referred to here is the CATS that was an option starting in 1990. From the Centurion history page:

Centurion turned the water sports world upside-down - this time with steering technology. Centurion developed the patented Centurion Articulating Tracking System (CATS), which featured the first articulating front fin. This design enhanced steering tracking ability.

Back in the later 80s / early 90s there weren't many Centurions in the east. My cousin decided to buy a Falcon Sport about the time he graduated from college and when he called the factory in Merced he was told that there wasn't a dealer within 300 miles of his location in east, TN. So, he purchased a 1996 model directly from the factory. BTW, he still owns that boat today (after selling it and reacquiring it) and it does have the CATS fin.

Totally agree on the fit and finish knocks, but it does have a nice slalom wake.

I agree Bruce. Back in the day I thought that was the ugliest thing ever.

Upon further review the called them S rails and apparently were for spray only. I remember the boats well, but I guess I did not remember much about the details. The boat model is however Tru Trac II which proceeded the Falcon.

BKH

Like this one. BKH


http://www.onlyinboards.com/Details.aspx?ID=29181

Look for an 80s model Tru-trac centurion. As the name suggests, those "fenders" were supposed to help tracking. BKH

my 89 Supra in 2006 original everything

I'm not super sure, but I am thinking those saddle bags on the centurions were billed as some kind of spray suppressor, but I could be wrong. Guy on my lake had one, which he bought from a friend of mine.

Let's not forget the step side fenders on some Ski Centurions, When they went from 5-7 color gel to tape stripes.

I have not problems beaching my 80s ski boat and sometimes a little keel rub is a better option than dock rash.

harddock wrote: Nautique and the power slot MC followed by Supreme and American Skier on the East. The west coast had Centurion which got plugged away into Tige, Brendella, and a few others. Hydrodyne made a inboard skiboat as did Sea Ray. Toyota had the Epic, Bagliner had the Challenger, and I'm sure I missed one or two

Some of these are 90s

BKH

I recall in the 80's, our ski club would beach their boats in the little cove you see the photos of the gold MasterCraft in. A club member would fire their boat up, VEEEEROOOOM, the dual exhaust would say dammit, listen to me!! Those were the days.

Did the old flightcraft inboard fall into this 80's 3-event category. I almost bought a frozen one on a deal a few years back.

wow, good activity here. I love those vintage 80s pics. keep em coming.

ya'll remember the:

Ski Pro--I/o tournament boat; I believe it had a telescoping boom that retracted into the boat (out of the way and stored) when not in use.

Sunbird Skier--outboard powered budget ski boat

Cherokee Skier

Brendella--I forgot to mention in my original post

Cool boats, Bruce. Almost got one of those instead of the Supra back in 96. Nice lines and the CA graphics, although a subjective thing, I like too.

I'm guessing my "Black Sheep" Dixie 299 Super Skier may have never pulled an event, but growing up in a family run bayliner dealership I'm sure I could have done worse. There seem to be quite a few Dixie 299's around the mid atlantic. I believe they were made 1984 - 1989 (all same design / no change). I think they were the first open bow inboard ski boat (1984). Does anyone have any old school info on what this boat was / how it compared? The ride is nice, not to bad in chop, dry is no problem, but steering SUX. The guy who ran Dixie Boat works Melvin Little made his mark in racing inboards. The as i'm told the racing influence shows on the ski boat too. The knife like rudder has marginal input on what you want the boat to. It still turns and skis Ok but nothing like the few MC's I skied as a kid. Rear 3-4' of the hull has a stepped design (rear 3-4' is 2-3" up from forward section. I believe this is to aireate the running pad. I think a few go fast outboards and bass boats use this method but I don't see the advantage on an inboard. At higher speeds (depending on loaded weight) the hull design and lack of water pressure on the stern can causes the boat to porpse.     

   I'm still looking for my first Correct Craft ride / pull.

PS: My Dixie is #0050 and the only metal flake gelcoat I've seen (sky blue metalic). I also have the special trailer package with factory polished aluminium wheels and and aluminium diamond tread trailer step plates.