School me on a '03 206 AN LE

[1fst97gt]

Hey guys! New to the forums and direct drive boats in general. Looking for a little help, I'm interested in an '03 Air Nautique 206 LE.

First, I know that this is obviously a ski boat first and foremost, but how great of a wake boarding and surf wakes can be made with ballast/fat sacs? What seems to be the best setups?

Also, I know only the team edition came factory with install ballast hard tanks, but I notice the LE's come with the switches installed..... Does this mean the thru-hull isminnplace with no ballast, or are only the switches in place?

Lastly, what is everyone's overall opinion on these boats? This will be my first boat purchase and as stated earlier first inboard ever. I have plans of having this as a small family boat, to be used for everything (wakeboarding, ski, surf and yes even tubing to some extent).

Thanks!

[NCH2oSki]

The 206 is a slalom machine with family in mind, anything else is a compromise on what the boat was designed for. We have tried to surf mine with my <90lb child behind the boat and a 600lb ish sack in the back and had limited/not great results. She was riding a 5'4" ronix fish if that helps. She could not ride without the rope.

The slalom wake is very good, a little taller than the 196 and a little firmer, but definitely doable for 15 off to shortline. (its a 196 from the windshield back)

BTW it doesn't tube, it stalls out and wont go in gear....

[1fst97gt]

Haha, I knew I would catch it with the tubing comment! Have smaller kids and stuff that love tube wars etc.... P,us its fun to sling my buddies around also now and again! I've got conflicting stories on the wakeboard and surf wake, I've seen in person even a 196 surf without a rope, just took a lot of weight!

[jsta281]

I own a 2009 206. It is definitely ski first boat. You do also give up a lot of comfort in the way of seating and space. However nothing drives like a direct drive . I have yet to try and surf the boat (I may never try even though I bought all the fat sacks to give it a try) but you definitely can wakeboard behind these boats. With the proper weight distribution it will throw a very nice clean , albeit small wake.

It seems to me the reality is that 90 percent of all wake boarders in the world will never need or know what to do with a big wake as can be produced by the big V drive boats.

If being able to throw big air tricks is what you call wake-boarding then get a big heavy V-Drive. If space and comfort are most important get a big heavy V-drive. If taking your whole neighborhood out at the same time is important get a big heavy V-drive. If surfing is a top priority get a V-drive. If you like to spend 200 bucks a day in fuel get a big V-drive.

If you want a ski boat that carries more then 3 people get a 206. If you want a light nimble"sports car" of a boat and want to carry more then 3 people get a 206. If you want to wakeboard and don't plan on being filmed by a helicopter when taking your set and all the aforementioned things are high in importance get a 206.

I personally would never own a big heavy V-drive, although I can see why most people would. The only thing that irks me about some big heavy V-drive owners is that they convince them selves they must have the big heavy V-drive boat "to be able to wake board" which for the super majority of riders that's simply not true. Buy a big heavy v-drive because it's so spacious and comfortable and for surf systems those are all great reasons, but it's not likely that you "must have" the big heavy V-drive boats do you can wake-board.

That kinda sounded like a rant against Big V-drive boats, it was not intended as such. I Love my. 206, it does all the things most important to me big enough for my family, ski awesome, drive awesome, tow awesome, very fast and fuel efficient, at least as compared to a heavy V-Drive.

[SkiTower]

If your focus is on skiing, get the 206. If your focus is on anything else and you simply want to pull the ski out from time to time, a V is what you want. The room is priceless. The 211 is a true crossover: jack of all trades, master of none. My focus is skiing (not good, just focused ) and would LOVE to have a 206 but family comes first and I value the storage and space. Can fairly consistently get 5-6 and on occasion am comfortable with 8-10. So how big is your crew, how often will you bring friends, and how much gear will you take? Do you have a lake house and can leave gear on the dock or do you trailer to the lake and need everything on board at one time? I don't have tanks so I can get both kid's wakeboards, kneeboard, and 2 deflated tubes in the right rear compartment alone. The skis in the ski locker, my board and whatever cooler we take under the spotter seat and still have 2 compartments to fill with lifejackets and any other gear.

So the big question is how important is skiing to you? If very important, can't beat the 206 for the price (a newer 200DD OB beats it for performance), but if you just want a fun day on the lake with more than a crew of 4 then might want to look at a small end V-drive.

[Skidave]

I have an 03 206. It does everything we need it to do. We have small kids too. We board, surf, ski, kneeboard, skyski, and more behind the boat. Mine came with hard tanks. We add some side sacks to add weight when necessary and move them around for surfing. I could add a bow sack and ski locker sack, but for us, storage is more important. I have had no problem with people surfing behind the 206. Also, with open bow seating, the room is not bad. We have had 4 adults and three kids with no issues.

Your control panel and breaker box have what is necessary to 'control' ballast pumps. What to look for is if the wires from the breaker box were put into the engine compartment for the ballast pumps. If not, then you need to run your own wires from the breaker box (by the driver's foot panel) to the pumps you install.

Dave

[1fst97gt]

I own a 2009 206. It is definitely ski first boat. You do also give up a lot of comfort in the way of seating and space. However nothing drives like a direct drive . I have yet to try and surf the boat (I may never try even though I bought all the fat sacks to give it a try) but you definitely can wakeboard behind these boats. With the proper weight distribution it will throw a very nice clean , albeit small wake.

It seems to me the reality is that 90 percent of all wake boarders in the world will never need or know what to do with a big wake as can be produced by the big V drive boats.

If being able to throw big air tricks is what you call wake-boarding then get a big heavy V-Drive. If space and comfort are most important get a big heavy V-drive. If taking your whole neighborhood out at the same time is important get a big heavy V-drive. If surfing is a top priority get a V-drive. If you like to spend 200 bucks a day in fuel get a big V-drive.

If you want a ski boat that carries more then 3 people get a 206. If you want a light nimble"sports car" of a boat and want to carry more then 3 people get a 206. If you want to wakeboard and don't plan on being filmed by a helicopter when taking your set and all the aforementioned things are high in importance get a 206.

I personally would never own a big heavy V-drive, although I can see why most people would. The only thing that irks me about some big heavy V-drive owners is that they convince them selves they must have the big heavy V-drive boat "to be able to wake board" which for the super majority of riders that's simply not true. Buy a big heavy v-drive because it's so spacious and comfortable and for surf systems those are all great reasons, but it's not likely that you "must have" the big heavy V-drive boats do you can wake-board.

That kinda sounded like a rant against Big V-drive boats, it was not intended as such. I Love my. 206, it does all the things most important to me big enough for my family, ski awesome, drive awesome, tow awesome, very fast and fuel efficient, at least as compared to a heavy V-Drive.

Thanks for the straight forward comparison, I'm not by anyways mean probably ever going to reach the potential of crazy high flying tricks or needing my on film crew! HAHA A v-drive would be nice for the size and shape, 1- i cant ever seem to find any for sale, especially in the my price range (plus i found a killer deal on a 206) 2- i agree that the large weighty and fuel consumption that is the v-drive is not as appealing either.

Im definitely first and foremost a skier, as is my wife, we do however wakeboard as well, just not at nearly the skill level as skiing currently. We has always been pulled mainly by I/O (meh ), so this will be a whole new experience for us and we want to capitalize on something that will entertain us with all water sports if we so choose to partake and progress in them.

If your focus is on skiing, get the 206. If your focus is on anything else and you simply want to pull the ski out from time to time, a V is what you want. The room is priceless. The 211 is a true crossover: jack of all trades, master of none. My focus is skiing (not good, just focused ) and would LOVE to have a 206 but family comes first and I value the storage and space. Can fairly consistently get 5-6 and on occasion am comfortable with 8-10. So how big is your crew, how often will you bring friends, and how much gear will you take? Do you have a lake house and can leave gear on the dock or do you trailer to the lake and need everything on board at one time? I don't have tanks so I can get both kid's wakeboards, kneeboard, and 2 deflated tubes in the right rear compartment alone. The skis in the ski locker, my board and whatever cooler we take under the spotter seat and still have 2 compartments to fill with lifejackets and any other gear.

So the big question is how important is skiing to you? If very important, can't beat the 206 for the price (a newer 200DD OB beats it for performance), but if you just want a fun day on the lake with more than a crew of 4 then might want to look at a small end V-drive.

Family is definitely a first for me as well, i just do not see more than 6-8 adults and kids combined being in the boat at one time (hopefully). The 211 sounds appealing and maybe more of what i need to be looking for (can do it all but not the best at any). We do have a lake house, so storage isnt as much of an issue, other than we might want to go out and not come back all day! But the option is there that we are not in a bind where we have to load everything and trailer to wherever we are going.

I have an 03 206. It does everything we need it to do. We have small kids too. We board, surf, ski, kneeboard, skyski, and more behind the boat. Mine came with hard tanks. We add some side sacks to add weight when necessary and move them around for surfing. I could add a bow sack and ski locker sack, but for us, storage is more important. I have had no problem with people surfing behind the 206. Also, with open bow seating, the room is not bad. We have had 4 adults and three kids with no issues.

Your control panel and breaker box have what is necessary to 'control' ballast pumps. What to look for is if the wires from the breaker box were put into the engine compartment for the ballast pumps. If not, then you need to run your own wires from the breaker box (by the driver's foot panel) to the pumps you install.

Dave

Thanks for this info! Control wise and wiring is definitey good to know, next most important part i would like to know is if nautique already made the thru-hull connections/intakes, or will this also be part of my project if i so choose to purchase the 206L

[jsta281]

1fst97gt

If you and your wife are ski first people my opinion is the 206 is the perfect boat. I think you will be much more disappointed with the ski wake from a v drive then you will be the wakeboard wake from a DD. I have 5 in my family and the boat does 5 awesome. We frequently do 7 with my in laws and that's ok too. We have had 10 on the boat. 10 is a** holes to elbows and you are not skiing from the pylon but it can be done and a lot of fun doing everything from the tower.

I may be a pansy but I won't ski behind a v-drive ( I would like to try the sport) crossing the wake at speed is just not any fun unless you are trying to jump the wake, which can be fun but not exactly conducive to the kind of skiing I enjoy.
Happy shopping!

[High altitude]

I'm trying to figure out what used boat I want to buy in the future (hopefully late 2015). I currently have a '99 Nautique. Skiing the course is important to me but I also enjoying surfing quite a bit. I currently use about 1500 lbs of fat sacs in the '99 and it puts out a respectable wave. (I have done quite a few mods to the boat to include an retractable extending pylon, built a lightweight rear trunk which hides the rear fat sac, three Johnson pumps, extra bilge pump, etc)

Here is what I have narrowed it down to and I would welcome any opinions:

1) 2008/2009 206TE with tower, hard tank, etc. -- Does anybody know what size sac could fit in the rear ski trunk of a 206? Maybe 350-400? I know that hull can surf well...I would use a bow sac, use lead weight under the rear seat and have a 450 on the surf side. (BTW...do the '08/'09 props spin right or left?) I would like the 2008/09 because I would love to have zero off. Not super happy with PP Stargazer when it comes out of the turn islands.

2) 2011 200 OB and add a tower. Storage would be minimal so sacs would be all over for surfing. I live on a lake so I don't need storage but I also hate having sacs all over. The upside is I would have the absolute best ski wake in the industry.

3) 2011 200 Sport. I'm a bit worried about the wake at slower ski speeds. I ski the course at 32 mph. My wife skis it at 28 and my daughter is just learning and skiing it at 22. She will improve quickly but I think 28 will be realistic for awhile. I also don't like spending that type of money and not having an NSS system but it doesn't look like that will ever happen (still my absolute biggest issue with Nautique is the lack of effort they have spent on the cross-over market. Malibu has a nice boat with the VTX with Surfgate)

Thanks for any info. -Marc

[jsta281]

Not that this will come as a shock but skiing and surfing are the two that don't go together very well. If I wanted to do both equally I think the 200v is the only boat that can pull that off reasonably well. I have a 206 and think it would take a lot of weight in the nose to get a good wave that would make coming to a stop really hard without taking on water over the nose.

As for the fat sac the 10x16x62 (380) will fit in the locker of a 206

[High altitude]

I wouldn't think the 206 would need any more weight than my 196. I use the 10x16x62 in the front. I've never dipped the nose but I'm fairly careful about how I drive. I agree with you that surfing and skiing are pretty much polar opposites when it comes to boat design. The reason I am considering the 206 is I know the surf wave the 196 can make...and I like it. The problem is I need extra space. Thanks for the info on the size of the sac. Where is the 200 lb hard tank located on the 206? -Marc

[jsta281]

I don't know where the hard tank is my 206 did not come with ballast tanks it's not an "air nautique" it's a ski nautique 206.

I can tell you that if you fill the 380 in the ski locker the nose stands straight in the air that's why I was saying a lot of weight in the front would likely be needed. You seem to have a good handle on that part of it.

Oh and mine is RH drive