'98 Sport

Alright Mark, it just seemed like you were saying the opposite.

A shallower prop shaft angle would actually provide less stern lift...

What is the measurement for the PRO Air?

Oh and I like the smaller platform. Makes it really easy to stand on the ski. Plenty big enough to get up on.

lewy2001 wrote: Hollywood looks like Jody has confirmed that it is narrower.

I know this is a 4 year old thread but this still bothers me. Jody (and so did myself and The Dude) confirmed the new hull is narrower at the transom.

Thanks for the info NF. I do look on onlyinboards a bit, they have the one I've been looking at plus a few air's on there now.

With direct drives typically the "Airs" are sports unless of course they are "Pro Airs", which 99' - 01' or 02' had a different hull (TWC).

Regarding price, My neighbor just picked up a really nice 98' for quite a bit less then 18k FWIW

63 Skier wrote: That looks like an incredible buy. I haven't found any deals that good over the few months I've been looking. I expected some to surface as fall came along, but still haven't seen what I'd call great deals on Sport's.

There seems to be a bit of Nautique drought in New England. I was having that conversation with bkhallpass the other night. He was saying they can be plentiful in CA, I know there's a lot in the South East.

Someone should start addressing that issue. I'd think there could be money to be made as long as transport costs could be managed.

That looks like an incredible buy. I haven't found any deals that good over the few months I've been looking. I expected some to surface as fall came along, but still haven't seen what I'd call great deals on Sport's. It seems like there are a lot more closed bow Nautiques, and a ton of 2001's, but not a lot of '93 up Sports for sale.

I think you both are right, and was thinking along the same lines. It is worth something to me to hear the story of how the boat was maintained, you can tell when you speak to someone how they approached it, what kind of attention to detail the owner took. But, hard to put a number on that, and it's not in my back yard either.

I've expected/hoped to spend 12-14 thousand on a '93-'97 Sport. As I look at the design changes and listen to the comments here, I know I'd like the '98 a lot, but I just can't spend that much on it. I might make an offer and see if the owner is willing to part with it for a few grand less.

David $18K sounds a bit high for a 98 especially this time of year. If the boat was in really good shape I would say $14-16K.

Because of the rear trunk area new molds were produced as it would have been a nightmare to try and adapt the newer transom in the exsisting mold. In reality the width of the boat overall did not change except where the chine cutouts were. The relase points on the trailing is indeed somewhat narrower. Some may think that what I consider small changes in a wetted surface to be a totaly new hull but the entry and basic shape did not change. As for the platform on the early trunk model being a little smaller it was addressed in the last couple of years. More emphisis was put on the deck change and the amount of room and storage.
Still the Sport is a very fine ski machine and will provide for a great experiance either behind the wheel or behind the boat. A lot of the ideas off the sport transfered over to the 216 as the Sport was fazed out.

lewy2001 wrote: Hollywood the earlier hull does look narrower but is it just because all the other angles have changed due to the new rounded transom.

The earlier hull in the back is wider.

Why is the platform so much smaller? I wish our 2000 sport's was bigger like the old ones.

(I'm sure this will get put into a signature at some point)

I put the feelers out for this measurement on the 93-97 hull. I'll snag it off PLBC's 99. I'll bet it's a good 5" difference.

The Hull changes were very minimal to the later Sport 98-2001. Chine cutout was changed as the boat had a tendency to drop in and run not so flat in a turn as did the early super sport . Also a flatter shaft angle was was introduced that year that helped the slalom wake. A 98 Sport makes a great slalom boat provided that the boat is kept as light as possiable. Start getting three people and a skier in the boat and all their gear and it has a rather rough bump at 34/22off and the longer line wake is biger then a SN but still better than any other boat in it's class for that year. 28/32 off and top speeds the boat is dream to ski with,35 off their is a slight trench in the middle of the wake but is very managable. Spray is non exsitant at all line lengths.
BKH is very much on the money about his statement concerning overweighting the boat.
If the price is right and the boat is clean and you want it then pick it up!!