Are 196's rare?

[CradGen2]

I'm loving this thread. We are guessing the number of 196 built in a period of time. I liked the 800ish number.

Can't ski, people are right. There are only going to be a couple Great 196 out there. I'd call the one in Pittsburgh quickly. It is the cleanest 196 on the market, promise. Make a 4 day rode trip out if it, they are fun. Seems I get to do one a year for a boat. I wouldn't joke about taking Airtools wifey. He is a footer so more then likely has arms like the HULK. We don't want to start calling you "Dead Ski".

I'd buy quickly, this thread is more then likely getting people in the market faster. Soon we might be calling you "no boat to ski this year". Dude, you picked a great screen name.

t-minus 4 days til I get me 2006 196 limited with 106 hours. Again I don't really need ZO.

[AirTool]

AIRTOOL, can I take your wife with me? Just kidding. .....

In the words of the late Henny Youngman "Take my wife, ...please!"

Trust me, you don't want her along. While she's been my co-pilot for thousands of miles, she tends to sleep when I drive (nice). Then when she drives, she wants me to be awake to "chat" with her. That's not going to be a good way to get to PA in 20 hours

[CAN'TSKI]

Crad, I'm glad you got a kick out of my name. I got a laugh out of your response.
AIRTOOL: My wife waits till I fall asleep. Then she will periodically jam the brakes and make a gasping noise. After 45 stressful minutes, I tell her to pull over because, "I'm rested now, thank you Honey".
It looks like I am headed half way from SoTex to Cody, Wyoming. We will meet at a lake in Trinidad, CO. Yeah, I'm sure you've all been to Trinidad.
I'll post pics when I return.

[Kenv]

Have a safe trip Jody. Is the water thawed enough in CO to try the boat....lol

[Kenv]

Jody....did you see this one in FLA....'08 with ZO

http://www.correctcraftfan.com/forsa...ort=&pagenum=1

[Erik]

Not to beat a dead horse, but 800 196's really is your estimate - across the 3 year span we're focusing?
It just strikes me as really low. I'd feel comfortable if you doubled that, at least. You wouldn't hear me balk.

The 211 has been called their cash cow by many people, but I wonder what, aside from the Sport Nautique (which is kind of in a league of its own), they've built the most of, over the years. And I wonder what they build the most of now. If we're to go by polls/threads online, you'd swear it's a close tie between the 230/236 and the 196. I bet they make more money per boat off the wake fleet but build slightly more Ski Nautiques than anything in a year.

[AirTool]

my guess is 3 196 per week.

I think they only build about 12 total boats per week at peak rate. I toured the factory but CRS.


Promo guys might be able to tell us promo boats per year. the maybe triple that?

[2gofaster]

CC has built roughly 200-250 196s or 200s for each of the last 10 years.

[swc5150]

I was originally thinking between 800 and 1,000 196's between '06 and '09, which seems close what Shane is saying. From those, it seems like the lion's share for sale are/were club or promo boats, so regular folks must buy them to keep them.

[ClemsonDave]

There are apx 40 promo reps. Not all of them bought a new boat every year.

[DanielC]

People are keeping 196's

I know this. In November of 1996 I bought my 1997 Ski Nautique, and I still have it. it has over 2308 hours on it.

I am not a hard core slalom skier. I have ran 15 off, at 30 MPH, all six balls, once. I bought my boat because of what it represented. More on that, a little later.

In January, of 1997, I went to the boat show, here in Portland. Obviously, not to look at boats. My reason for going was to find some information in boaters education classes, because I knew it would lower my insurance rate. I found that, and also found out about a local show ski team in Portland, Portland Water Spectacular. I also bought a drysuit at the boat show, because I wanted to start using my boat.

I Joined Portland Water Spectacular. Two other team members also bought 1997 Correct Craft boats, another Ski, and a SNOB. One team, about 27, or 30 skiing members, three Ski Nautiques.

Once I had my boat, and started to use it, I realized what a great boat it is. It was designed to be good for slalom, trick skiing, and jump. And it had enough speed to pull a few barefooters. In show skiing, there is not much slalom. But you do trick, and you jump. The wake designed for a good trick run turned out to be good for swivel skiing. The position of the windshield made it easy to pick up a rope after the trick release was pulled. It turned out to be good for pulling doubles, both conventional, and harness. The precise tracking, and accurate turning ability made the boat a good one for around the boat acts. And on to top of all that, it was an easy boat to drive. The driver's seat was one of the most comfortable to sit in. You could look through the windshield, and not have to adjust to see past the windshield frame. I could go on, but you get the idea.

The 1997 Ski Nautique was not about cupholders, graphics, storage, bling, or looking flashy on a floor at a boat show. But it was beautiful for what it does, and how it performs. It was beautiful for its quality and construction, that was proven by its use in professional ski shows, in some cases being used for hundreds of hours of trouble free hours, a year. Many Ski Nautiques saw 30 or 40 hours of use a week at waterski camps during the summer.

This is what the 1997 Ski Nautique represented.
It was the best, no compromise, 100% total devotion, giving the best effort a company could to building a boat for the sport of three event skiing. Dare I say, even going as far as building this one best "tools" needed to further the three event skiing sport, to the Glory of God.

Another minor factor I know of is this. On a local private lake, (Lake Oswego) many boat houses were designed when boat has narrower beams. New boats simply do not fit.

That is why the Ski Nautique (196) boats are so desirable.

The Ski Nautique 200 is a better slalom boat that the 196.
To be honest, I have never driven one, nor skied behind one. In fact, I did not even see one, until this late summer.

To be honest again, I really do not believe the 200 is a better boat than the 196. It needs a bigger motor to be able to attain the same top speeds.
I do not believe it was designed with the same philosophy as the 1997 TSC hull was. Because it was designed as a boat that had to have storage, and stainless steel cupholders, and be able to have an open bow, that you could put a closed bow deck on if you really wanted, it is not as desirable of a boat as a 196.

As it has been pointed out, there are only a few years you can get with the Zero Off speed control in a 196. So with all the qualities of a 196, they are a very desirable boat, and people are keeping them, and not selling them.

They are not rare, they are just not for sale.

[TRBenj]

Playing Devil's Advocate...

To be honest again, I really do not believe the 200 is a better boat than the 196. It needs a bigger motor to be able to attain the same top speeds.
I do not believe it was designed with the same philosophy as the 1997 TSC hull was. Because it was designed as a boat that had to have storage, and stainless steel cupholders, and be able to have an open bow, that you could put a closed bow deck on if you really wanted, it is not as desirable of a boat as a 196.

While I happen to agree with you on the desireability of the 196 vs. 200 for my personal purposes, if you look at the evolution of the Ski Nautique from 1961 until now, you may find that the 200 is not out of place at all. Each successive redesign of the hull has brought about, without fail, 2 areas of improvement: 1) improved skiing performance and 2) better ergonomics/creature comforts. You will also notice that to accomplish both of these things, almost every successive version has gotten larger (length and beam) as well as heavier- which has lowered the top speed or required a larger engine to maintain the same level of performance, every single time a revolutionary hull change occurred. I suspect we're not the first people to be upset about the larger footprint and slower top end as compared to the previous hull during the model's history. A quick comparison:



A few creature comfort/storage improvements with each generation of note:

2nd gen: Observer seat became wider (no longer a bucket). Speedometers incorporated into the dash. Vinyl covered motor boxes. Swim platform added.

2001: Delux (wrap around) interior added, including rotocast driver seat. Under bow storage improved (kick panel replaced by air box), and access granted with hinged observer seat.

No Wake Zone: Gull wing observer seat added. Improved access to storage under rear seat. Larger glove box, in dash cooler. Removable platform standard. Open bow option added.

TSC: Digital gauges, rear trunk (front access)

TSC2: Rear sun pad and trunk (top access)

200: Gunnel ski lockers, open bow option returns, new side dash pod.

In my opinion, it was the TSC1, TSC2 and TSC3 that were the anomalies in the Ski Nautique history. As you’ll note by the short list of ergonomic improvements made for these models, the changes from 1997 to 2009 focused largely on the skiability of the hulls- all changes were evolutionary rather than revolutionary. From 1990 to 2009, engines got bigger (240hp --> 409hp) and wakes got smaller as they tweaked the running surface. These were the only years that size stayed constant, but both power and speed went up. Once the 19’6”/91” platform was maxed out on features (which I would argue, was largely done by 1996 during the No Wake Zone years), there really wasn’t much left to improve upon inside. Was this model left without a revolutionary change for so long because it was so good? Or because the focus during those years was more on wakeboard boats? Probably yes to both.

Regardless, us purists should be happy that we had it so good for so long. Like you, a 2006-2009 196 is probably my ideal boat. The 200 is too large, too slow, and has too many features I don’t need (open bow, side storage, etc) to make it attractive to me… but that doesn’t mean that it isn’t a better ski machine, or that it won’t appeal to a broader market than the 196 does. I’m afraid that CC is moving forward, whether we like it or not!

(Though I do think that there is room below the 200 in CC’s lineup for a smaller, faster ski boat.)

[swc5150]

Great synopsis TR! The big difference I see with latest incarnation of the Ski Nautique, is the primary focus was to create a great ski boat available in an open bow. CC wasn't concerned with that aspect in the past. The SNOB of old was designed a closed bow machine first, with the sandbox being an afterthought. The dollars and cents behind the 200 are perfectly understandable in this market. Considering what they were able to achieve with the 200, I can only imagine what kind of 3 event boat they could've built, had market forces not pushed them to require an OB version.

[DanielC]

TR, great post! love that chart.

However, I am going to suggest that the digital gauges in the TSC1 hull were not an improvement.

My belief the TSC hulls were more revolutionary, rather than anomalies. I believe the TSC1 hull was a large enough of an improvement, that Correct Craft could focus on the TWC hull used on the Pro Air Nautique. Remember, in 1998 one of Correct Crafts major competitors was trying to make a boat go around the turning island at the end of a ski course. By the time the TWC hull was developed, Wakeboarding had moved onto desiring V-drive Hulls, and surprise, the boat of choice in the wakeboarding community was the 1995 Super Sport hull, and that was basically used until 2007.

I still think Correct Craft could take what they learned with the 200, and make a better skiing closed bow 196.

[TRBenj]

TR, great post! love that chart.

However, I am going to suggest that the digital gauges in the TSC1 hull were not an improvement.

My belief the TSC hulls were more revolutionary, rather than anomalies. I believe the TSC1 hull was a large enough of an improvement, that Correct Craft could focus on the TWC hull used on the Pro Air Nautique. Remember, in 1998 one of Correct Crafts major competitors was trying to make a boat go around the turning island at the end of a ski course. By the time the TWC hull was developed, Wakeboarding had moved onto desiring V-drive Hulls, and surprise, the boat of choice in the wakeboarding community was the 1995 Super Sport hull, and that was basically used until 2007.

I still think Correct Craft could take what they learned with the 200, and make a better skiing closed bow 196.

I definitely agree with you on your last point. But the 200 is still a better boat from the skier's perspective based on what I'm hearing... unless youre a barefoot skier, of course.

IMHO, even as good as it was, the TSC was only an evolutionary change. It certainly improved on the slalom wake, no doubt- but how much? I say the change from NWZ to TSC was a significantly smaller improvement than going from the 2001 to the NWZ. The 19'6" x 91" basic dimensions were also unchanged from the 2 hulls, so it seems obvious to me that the NWZ was altered to create the TSC. Look closely and you may notice that the differences between the boats lie primarily in the aft portion of the running surface, and then flow to a handful of changes above- but only the back half of the boat is radically changed. It was certainly not a clean sheet redesign like the NWZ or 200, both of which I would consider revolutionary changes. I consider anything newer than 1990 to have a "good" slalom wake- with each generation getting better than the one before it.

I certainly agree that the TSC was the best ski boat of the late 90's and had absolutely no need to be pushing radical changes. MC made a major goof for '98 and took a step backwards, IMHO- and Malibu at that point had not yet established themselves as a top tier towboat. For good reasons, the TSC is still a highly sought after slalom boat- and I would love to own one if I could ever bring myself to sell my '90. The '97-99 TSC and the '06-09 196 are my favorite ski boats of all time due to their classic looks and skiing aspirations.