Nautique 216 direct drive

What do you think about Nautique 216 direct drive ?
How is it for slalom ?

I have a ski buddy that has a 2004 216 Air Nautique. It is a great roomy all around boat. I skied it many times last summer. I have a 2002 Sport Nautique. I noticed the wake was better, less bump, on my boat then the 216. My friend live on the lake and his boat is on a lift so I will show up on Friday, Saturday or Sunday at Daybreak for a pull. I felt bad that we were using his boat and not my boat that one morning I put it at the ramp at 5:30 AM. I live lake view and it is more trouble to launch and load that we just most of the time take his boat for about a 30 minute run for three of us. The morning we used my boat he asked me what I had done to my hull to reduce the slight bump. I told him nothing it is a different hull at 21' 2" with Total Surface Control.

The 196, 19' 6" close bow, in my opinion has a world class wake. However, my family wanted an open bow and tower.

A 206 at 20' 6" has a freaking dang close to world class wake if you load it light and it has the tower and the open bow.

The Sport Nautique / Air Nautique does not have as great of a wake as the 206. However, I have never skied a 206 or 196.

I would then rank the 216 after the Sport / Air Nautique in smoothness of the wake.

I hope this helps and if you are a hack skier like me you would love any of these Direct Drive for skiing. My 16 year old daughter has more talent than I and she can fell the difference more than I. She is a course Skier and I am a open water free skier for now.

Donald

Thanks Donald. I have never ski a DD, therefore I know it will be a lot better than what I presently own.

Donald has summed it up nicely! Couple things I will add, you will see various graphics like Sport, Air, Nautique & Ski Nautique on the models Donald mentioned, the only difference is the stickers, they will all use the same hull and deck. Regarding the years, 1998 thru 2002 you will find the sport/Air, in 2003 thru 2009 the 206 and 216 were the open bow direct drive offerings. Also in 1998 thru 2002 there was a Ski Nautique Open Bow which in 2003 became the 206. Take a look at the brochures in the reference section for those years to see exactly what we are describing. Good luck in your search and if you find something of interest be sure and post some pics!

There was also a Pro Air from 1999 thru 2002 which is a different hull then the sport/Air of that time, would probably be my last choice as a slalom boat, has a strange wake with multiple crests at slalom speeds, that hull was geared towards wakeboarding.

Tough to tell the whole story from those pics, the Blue and white looks like 2002 Sport/Air, trailer looks like it will work but is a bit short and leaves the rudder a little vulnerable. Looks like the rear hatch door is off or missing, if missing that could be a challenging part to find. Those graphics are not original and IMO look terrible, they are for a 06 or 07 210. The interior picture skins look OK but tough to tell, looks black/tan but that may just be the lighting??

David, the sport DD of that era is a 21' boat, during it's 98-02 run there was also a SNOB which was 19'-6", both had TSC hulls. In 03' thru 09' the SNOB became the 206 and the sport became the 216, 206 being 20'-6" and the 216 21'-6", all had variations of the TSC hull.
Basically the difference is 6", 216 is 6" longer then a Sport of that era.

Thanks. I've never been in a 216, just had assumed they were the same, not bigger. Would be curious to compare them myself.

Thanks Quinner, I did not notice the length of the trailer. I am also not a big fan of the graphics on the side.
The owners manual for Sport/air 2002 confirm length of 21'2", not the same hull compare to the 216.
I bet every boat is better than what I have, but I had a lot of good summers on it. It's time to move on.
I also want to wakeskate when the lake is not very good and maybe surf if possible.
Thanks

David,
Something else to keep in the back of your mind. When I purchased my 2002 Sport about 20 months ago I was in the market for a 206, 216, Sport Nautique or Air Nautique. The 2002 Sport and Air Nautique are the same boat with different graphics. However, the Air version will have about 700 lbs of hard plastic tanks in the trunk for ballast. My friend's 216 also has a belly tank for more weight. Seems like 200 lbs or so.   

Several members here on CCFan advised me that the advantage of a Sport over Air is that it would have no hard tanks in the trunk and I could place a 900 lb fat sac in the trunk. I was told that the 700 lbs was really not enough for a great wake board wake and the 900 lbs would show a nice improvement. Also, when not boarding you have the entire trunk now available to use for storage. My long range plan is to install a ballast pump and put a Fat Sac in the trunk to be used as needed. Those hard tanks take up about 1/2 of your trunk space. Like some have said on this thread, keep the junk out of the trunk when skiing for a better wake.

Now Mr. Quinner prefers a Fat Chick or two in the stern of the boat to get the best motion in the ocean. There are many ways to skin the cat.

My search came down to the best condition boat I could find at it was the Sport that I purchased. I would of pulled the trigger on an Air Nautique, 216 or 206 if I would of found the right boat within my budget. Condition Condition was what I was looking for. .

I hope this helps,

Donald

Here are the specs in the owner manual for sport/air 2002:

Water ballast tank Capacity (Approx.. 400 lbs.) 50 Gal (189 ltr)
Approximate Weight. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2890 lbs. (1,315 kg)
Approximate Weight with full LCS . . . . 3,290 lbs. (1,495 kg)

When written "with full LCS" does it mean full with water ? The capacity is approx 400 lbs and with full LCS the difference is 400 lbs. Also, I find it hard to believe for a pump, few feets of pipes and a plastic tank to weight 400lbs...

I was more trying to understand if the weight of the LCS would affect the slalom performances (wakes). Will the plastic tanks are heavy enough to really have an impact on the wakes ? I cannot believe empty tanks can be 400 lbs