MasterCraft Crossover Boats and Jacket Rack-It
MasterCraft Crossover Boats
Continuing the focus on crossover boats, I stopped in the MasterCraft pavilion at the Utah Boat Show. The local dealer set me up with Josh Palma to talk about the boats.
Josh Palma
Josh Palma is a sponsored wake boarder with MasterCraft. He is a great guy to talk with, and knows the boats in the Mastercraft line quite well. While he's not a dedicated skier, I felt that he represented the various disciplines who will use a crossover boat effectively. I mean, these aren't dedicated boats either.

MasterCraft NXT

Josh described the NXT as MasterCraft's "price point" boat. It is a boat that you can get into - with a trailer - for about 60 grand. I know that a 20' Bayliiner is still cheaper, but a Scion is also cheaper than a small Mercedes.

The NXT has a lot of the same design features as the other boats in the line-up, but pulls back on the automation and control areas. Rather than the full Gen2 system on the other boats, this features a system with more manual controls. Other than that, this boat has many of the same features as the X10 that Josh talks about.

MasterCraft X10

We spend most of our time looking over the X10 to get an ida of the features in a MasterCraft. As we talked, I was struck by the way that software now defines the product. I think that it was BMW who said a few years back that we would buy a car based on is software rather than its hardware soon. It appears that boats are heading the same way. While the hardware on boats - particularly the hulls - continues to evolve rapidly, the software is making the driver's job simpler every year.

MasterCraft X30

As we moved to the X30, Josh got really excited. This is his favorite crossover boat. He explained that using the Gen2 Surf System, the X30 can  actually produce a better slalom wake than the X10 because the weight is distributed across a larger hull surface for lower displacement despite a slightly higher total weight.

This boat is great for taking out larger numbers of people on the lake. The only reason to not get the X30 instead of the X10 is if you have a length restriction either in your garage or at your lake.

Gen2 Surf System

A big part of our discussion was about how the Gen2 Surf System makes it so easy for a driver to set up for surfing, or skiing with just the touch of a button. Rather than having to decide how much ballast to add to each tank, how to adjust the side and center trim tabs, the driver just tells the boat what the activity is and it sets everything up.

When I compare this experience to the way I used to have to manually fill and drain each ballast tank, and figure out how to adjust the wedge on a boat we used to own, I can't believe that we even tried to surf.

Josh explained that this system is designed to automate the set up for the driver. That has been the hard part of surfing. Tabs, ballast, etc. Tap the button on the touch screen for the sport you want, or the side you want to surf on  and the system sets it up.

MasterCraft uses a symmetrical surf fill system so that the boat doesn't tilt to one side, and you don't have to shuffle passengers around to get the right wake.
Jacket Rack-It

There are products that make help you ski better, there are products that make boating more fun, and there are products that make life in a boat better. Jacket Rack-It is one of the products that makes life in a boat better.

If you've ever had to put on a cold, wet life jacket, then you start to understand the need for the Jacket Rack-It. Sure, if you're already roasting on a hot summer day, you don't mind cooling off a bit with a cold life jacket. But for many of us in northern climes, we are usually putting on a cold jacket just before jumping into a cold lake, on a temperate day. There goes the fun.

Jake Randall, founder of Jacket Rack-It, had this experience one time too many, so he did something about it.