So I didn't want to just brag and act like a spoiled new boat owner. Let me say, first of all, I am extremely impressed with the wake pictures that Brent has been posting with the S22. (I won't refer to it as mine anymer, Brent's check cleared.) I guess a little knowledge on weighting a boat can go a long way to getting the most out of a boat. When Brent came up to Denver to pick it up and we were out there riding in terrible water and Brent is throwing sick tricks, I thought..."If he can do that stuff behind this boat, I should be able to. Why am I selling it?" Too late though.
So I have mentally turned the page.....
The 247- initial impression was- holy heck, this is a battleship! I can't tow it with my Sequioa, so that poses an immediate problem. I have to use the Titan, and with a family of 8, that isn't very practical or seat-belt safe. I have decided to tough it out this summer. I am hoping the new Seqioua, which I think is due out next year as an '08, has the beefy upside of the new Tundra. If not, I guess I'll look elsewhere. Back to the 247- it is a heavy mother. With the trip-axle trailer hard to manuever in tight spots, so I avoid them. I park it with blatant disregard to parking stripes or anything else.
I have taken it out three times now, but the first two times don't count. The water was bad, I was in a rush, etc. So before yesterday the boat still only had 4 total hours on it. Yesterday rocked! Javman, two other friends and I had great water and sunny skies. With 4 people in that boat, you can pretty much stake your claim to a large quadrant of the boat and set up shop without being near anyone else. We wake boarded and sky-skiid. I am not filling all of the ballast tanks yet, in respect for the engine break in protocal, but we did fill the bow ballast, as no-one was up there (Did I mention how big the bow was on the 2nd choice, X45? All that wasted space....) With the bow ballast filled and the wedge 1/2 way down the wake was great. Still only 3 adults in the boat (one rider...4-1=3). The nice thing was, a couple minutes to fill the tank, 3 seconds to deploy the wedge, and there you go. Of course, each of the 4 tanks has it's own pump, so when I get up to full engine power, post break in, etc. it won't take any longer. I am really looking forward to getting 10 people in there and the tanks, and a full load of gas (87 gallons = appr. 600lbs) and the wedge, which is rated at the equivelant of 1200lbs, you're looking at close to 5000lbs of water/human/petrol ballast. THAT wake will be intimidating, at least to me.
As far as quality of the boat, it loooks great, but I am not sure how the quality will stand up. I already broke one of the hydrolic lift thingys on the transom. Actually, I think the stereo shop did it, but still? They are way too wimpy. The stereo is good, I would like a little better/easier control of the specific sound levels on the tower speakers v. interior speakers and subs. Small stuff though. I love the custom fabricated parts the stereo guy did. Makes my 247 unique compared to the other 22 million of them out there.
The wake when you are back there on a board is great. It is amazing how, even with a 24 1/2 ft boat, moving one adult from one side to the other affects the wake shape. It is smooth as butter. The wakeplate didn't change much on the height of the wake, but cleaned up the peak quite a bit. Nice, really happy with the wake. Like I mentioned, I think it will only get better.
I am dinking with the prop situation. I think it is way overpropped for this altitude. I think the stock was an acme 13.5x17.5 The hole shot seems lethargic and when you add weight it gets sluggish. The dealer gave me two other props to try, so I'll get feedback on that eventually. One of the props is a beta or test size. It is funky, I'll have to get the #'s off it.
So that's it. I'm sure things will change for good and bad as my ownership tenure goes on, but so far so good.
Oh, I hate the trailering aspect. you have to have the boat in the exact right spot side-to-side to get the trailer supports to align with the hull correctly. I think I may be having an issue with trailer depth in the water, so I'll mess around with that. If I don't strap the stern onto the trailer, by the time I get hom eit has settled correctly, but I don't want to damage anything.
It's the accumulation of these little things that make you wanna go crazy, but it would be the same with any other boat, I think....(although I don't remember this from the S22)
So there. I wish Toyota was still in the biz, but hopefully I have something close.
