SN 206 or Response LXi

[MARK-S]

That is supposed to say worry about weighting.
The skiers knew about the weighting because on practice day they have 4 196s and of those 4, 2 will pull. The drivers mess around and pull practice all day, in the end the drivers want to know how we feel about the pull. They then decide which boats to use.
Then on finals day, the higher seed get to choose which boat to use. From what I saw, there is always a favorite boat amoung the skiers. Of course I PBd behind the one that no one wanted. At the qualifers, the sweet 16 votes on which drivers will pull finals. But in the end, it is the chief driver that sets up all 4 Nautiques.

[G-man]

Of course I have a Nautique. The main reason was customer service from my local dealer. I felt they would give me the best service out of the big 3. It doesn't matter who built the boat if you can't get it fixed in a timely manner.

[jdarwin]

206 vs LXI

I had the opportunity to drive the new LXI at Nationals this year. It is quite a bit slower out of the hole than last year's boat. In fact, it failed the AWSA acceleration tests last month. Malibu and Indmar are reworking the boat/engine combination to resolve. The 07 LXI does track better but the visability over the windshield has become worse with the redesign of the windshield. The boat is quieter w/ the installation of the "cat engine". Almost as quiet as a Nautique - which was quite a surprise to me.

Overall, a good boat for less money. But if the resale value of a Nautique five years from now is $4-5k more, then spending $4-5k more for the boat is a wash. You have the enjoyment of owning a superior product for essentially, the same amount of money. I never look a what a boat costs TO BUY but rather what a boat costs TO OWN for a specific period of time. Just my $.02.