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Just spoke with someone whose kids wake surf behind their 230, and they are apparently happy with it. Will get to try it out next weekend, but I see your comment that the 230 wake is quite a bit bigger than the 210, so trying out the 230 might not be all that predictive. Have a chance to go see a 210 on the trailer tomorrow morning, which will also help with our decision.

Saw the 210 Wake boat at the dealer, who said that the 310 HP model would be too wimpy, and that I must have the 430 HP (which he was selling). Does anyone have the 310 HP model, and if so, how is it when loaded down with people and a wakeboarder?

P.S. A big shock is that the 430 HP model, which uses twin supercharged 215 HP engines, needs the superchargers redone every 100 hrs., at a cost of about $700 PER ENGINE!

James,

I have looked at Yamaha boats at the dealership, but I have never cared for them from a fit and finish perspective. I cannot compare the wakes since I have never considered a Yamaha boat past the showroom floor.

Just spoke with someone whose kids wake surf behind their 230, and they are apparently happy with it. Will get to try it out next weekend, but I see your comment that the 230 wake is quite a bit bigger than the 210, so trying out the 230 might not be all that predictive. Have a chance to go see a 210 on the trailer tomorrow morning, which will also help with our decision.

James,

If the wake still looks small to you then it could be due to the camera angle or you are use to a boat with a much bigger wake. Have I seen much bigger wakes and wakeboarded behind them yes. Please see my post here, http://seadoosportbo...5202#entry15202, regarding the 210 Wake versus a "traditional" wakeboard boat.

I have to ask what is your skill level (1-10) when it comes to wakeboarding if you had to rate yourself? I would say I am around a 4-5. The reason I ask is because this would help me gauge what your expectation is for the size of wake. For my liking the 210 Wake creates a nice sized wake for my skill level. I have wakeboarded behind an Air Nautique 210 with over a 1000 lbs of ballast and the wake was much to large for my liking.

For me I am not a professional wakeboarder by any means so the 210 Wake was the boat that made the most sense for us. We looked at "traditional" wakeboard boats but these boats are strictly made for competition wakeboarding. We were looking for a boat that was much more versatile, the 210 Wake provides this. It offers a wide range of features and a much better ride quality when compared to a traditional wakeboard boat at a price point you really cannot beat.

Sure you can go out and spend 60k-100k for a comparable 21 foot traditional wakeboard boat such as a Mastercraft, Malibu, Tige, Supra etc. Or even go for the lower end Moomba or Axis to get a much larger wake but this is not what we were looking for. The ride quality on those boats when not wakeboarding does not compare to the ride quality in our 210 Wake, at least in my opinion - of course I am little biased though.

The other factor for us was the jet drive versus the stern drive. This is our third SeaDoo jet drive because we prefer the safety and piece of mind of not having a propeller in the water, especially when having young children in and around the boat.

I do not have any videos of the tanks fully loaded because as I said previously on a day with good water conditions I like the shape of the wake even with no ballast. I have filled up just the 600 lbs ballast and it created a larger wake but for me and my skill level I am not confident enough to pop across the wake yet at that size. When I filled the (modified - slightly borrowed from MY2012) transom ballast it put us up too 900 lbs. and this wake was too large for my liking at this time. I believe by next season I will be more comfortable with that size wake but I am just not there yet.

Another thing to keep in mind is the shape of the hull as it also has a lot to do with the shape and size of the wake. SeaDoo is trying to appeal to more folks than just the hardcore wakeboarder which is why their boat creates the size wake it does, they are not just creating a wakeboard boat. They have created a boat for the wakeboard enthusiast that wants to wakeboard with all the bells and whistles when they can while still having a comfortable recreational ride on the water when not wakeboarding.

I do not believe you will find any other videos on the web featuring a 210 Wake apart from the ones we have put together, but if you do please share them. I have other videos of the 210 SP but as you know there is no ballast even offered in that boat so it would be comparable to what you have seen already seen. I wish I had more I could show you with the ballast full, I just do not have any footage since we do not keep ours full for long days on the lake. I typically fill them up early in the morning when we wakeboard, and then drain them so we can get better fuel economy.

I will say if you are not happy with the wake size you see behind ours, try to find a dealer that maybe has a demo where you can test drive a 210 Wake and see for yourself with the ballast empty and full on either a MY2010 (older tower design) or MY2011 (newer tower design) since they have the older single ballast pattern. MY2012 they have went to a new stringer pattern, 3 separate ballast tanks but I have not wakeboarded behind that boat or driven it yet.

If you are looking for a more aggressive wake and really like SeaDoo you might consider the 230 Wake, in MY2012 it has the same stringer pattern with 3 separate tanks holding up to 1400lbs. I wakebaorded behind and drove this boat at the 2012 BRP press event, the wake was fairly larger than the wake behind our 210 Wake.

Hopefully this helps, let me know if you have any further questions.

Hi, Kevin - good food for thought. The boat is primarily for my 14 year-old, who is very athletic and learning fast. As well, the kid's instructor drives a Mastercraft X2, so guess what the yardstick is for a wake? As well, wakesurfing is now all the rage on our bay, and so I am also wondering what kind of wave you get directly behind the boat. A local guy on our bay has a Yamaha AR230 with twin jet drives, and that throws a good enough wake for wake surfing, so all the kids use that one. The question is, does the Sea-Doo throw a better wake?

Best,

James

Hey, thanks, Kevin. I can't seem to get the video loaded - will try from home.

James

Hi, Kevin (from home). I managed to load the second video, and the wake looks pretty small. You don't know of any videos with the ballast tanks(s) loaded, do you?

Thanks,

James

James,

That video does not do justice for the wake on the 210 Wake. This was just a short video my wife had taken with a new camera we had purchased the beginning of Summer to try it out. The wake is very messy in the video due the water conditions, it was mid-afternoon on a very busy lake so there was a lot of chop. As you know this it not ideal for wake boarding, but this was the first time we had the boat out since the new wear ring was installed so I insisted giving it a shot for a bit. I did not ride very long because I was getting bounced all over the place in the chop.

We only had 3 adults and 1 child in the boat, and no I did not have the ballast filled up. With more people in the boat and the ballast full it creates a much more defined wake. When the water conditions are right it also creates really nice wake (at least I think so) even when the ballast are not full. If you want to see some better shots of the wake on some days where the water conditions were better check out the video below.

In MY2012 they relocated the ballasts, rather than have one ballast bag in the center ski-locker at 600 lbs. they have gone to a new stringer pattern where they have two 150 lbs. on each side and they have now converted the transom ski-locker to a 300 lb. ballast. All ballasts are hard tanks in MY2012 versus the ballast bag in MY2010 and MY2011. They did not add any extra weight but the new placement of the ballast is suppose to create a more defined wake.

When I saw they had converted the transom ski-locker to a ballast that got me thinking on a our MY2010 210 Wake - we could in essence do the same thing, we just do not currently have a pump to get the water in. We tried it, I just plugged the two drain holes with some duct tape and waa-laa an instant ballast tank. With our 600 lb. ballast in the center ski-locker and now our optional 300 lb. transom ballast tank we can now get up to 900 lbs. which is more than offered in the MY2012 boat. With this filled up and 4 adults on the boat, it created a really nice sized wake - enough that I felt would be optimal to try some wake surfing.

Hope this helps, let me know if you have any further questions. In the video below, the wake you see is still with none of the ballasts filled up.

Hey, thanks, Kevin. I can't seem to get the video loaded - will try from home.

James