I skied a new 200. Wake seemed better than the old 200. Am I the crazy one?

escmanaze

So Call's Fort here in Utah does "public nights" a couple times a summer where they allow joe public to come get a tow behind their club boat on their private lake. It's a cool deal - they are awesome.

So their old club boat was a 200 that I think was like a 2011 or 2012, something like that. I was never really impressed with the wake. I always felt like it was fairly substantially worse than my 97 SNOB. I always wondered if they actually had the hydrogate adjusted / tuned well.

Last night, though, they had upgraded to a 2020 200. The new kind that don't have the saddlebags on the sides. That boat seemed to have a much kinder wake. Like, almost as kind as my 97 - much closer than before.

Is this something other people are noticing as well? Or is it just me?

For reference, all my passes were 15 off at a variety of 30, 32, and 34 mph.

ScarletArrow

Same hull. In my experience at those same speeds and line lengths there was no difference between old and new versions of 200. Either something was wrong with first boat or your ski position was better.

As an aside, I have heard people complain that the hole shot on new 200 is not as good despite better engine. It was never my experience but multiple skiers voiced an independent opinion. I think something was wrong with boat in question.

Frank_MA

Defently not, we have also switched from a 2013 SN200 to a 2020 SN200, beside poor quality the wake feels a bit harder to me than the old SN200 wake and far away from the old SN196 wake especially at 32/34 22 off.

Andre

@Frank_MA ''...beside poor quality...''
Care to elaborate?

bkreis

Would depend on which factory built it. If Bryant boats built it, it’s quite a bit heavier which will make the wake harder as you said.

ScottScott

Lake depth can make a big difference

Not_The_Pug

The prop could be the difference. The 2011 & 2012 didn't have the 654 prop.

Lars

@bkreis what about Bryant building it makes it heavier?

Interjon

Just speculation. Love my "bryant built" 200.

Clydesdale

Never skied behind. 200 I didn’t like. Seems to me diff engines can change characteristics slightly, but I haven’t noticed any difference between the 2019+ and the older version.

brettmainer

I haven’t skied behind any of the “new 200s”, so this commentary is just meant for the 2010-2017 versions. I was on the promo team for those years, so I had a few. My 2011 was the worst for -28 and longer. My 2013 was much better. My 2014 and 2016 were even better, as was our 2010 club boat.

There was some variability during those years. I am not sure whether there were good and bad molds or whether it was engine or hydro gate placement related. Anecdotally, I could easily remove my drain plug on the bad wake 2011 but my arm barely fit on the smaller waked boats. Maybe the engine and therefore CG was an inch different? Maybe not because maybe the floor cut out was just different? But there was definitely a difference in the wakes boat to boat at -28 longer. Like many other boats (MC 197 for example), those problems went away at the shorter lines.

bkreis

@Lars it's a mute point as Nautique has it back...bryant managed to add 300=500 lbs more material than it had previously. again it doesn't matter now since it's back in Orlando now.

Frank_MA

@Andre - Oil pump problems (apparently it broke some engines, we were lucky), timing belt pulley sounds very loud like a sewing machine, frequent sensor error messages, middle seat poor design, driver's seat adjustment bad, towing mast creaks. The boat is louder inside than the old 200s (Sea Deck?) Sensitive to lateral seat distribution in the boat (wake) The maneuverability is really better compared to the old ones and I like the dash software design with the Helm Command really. Nautiqes are really good to drive

skierjp

@Frank_MA , Ski Pylon, regular maintenance, tighten it up. 3/4 socket with extension. 2 U bolts, 4 nuts.