Need Help buying Equipment

[atomic081]

My family has bought a lake house and we are looking into getting into water sports. My dad bought a Larson 20' with a 220 hp engine for the lake. He told us he would buy the house and the boat, but we are required to buy everything else we need. I thought it was a pretty good gig for the rest of my family.

We do have some background in water sports and are pretty athletic people in general. My dad grew up on a lake and got really good at slalom sking and bearfooting when he was a kid. My brothers and myself have never owned a boat but we always take trips with other familys to lake houses and have got pretty decent on a slalom ski and wake boards. We are all between the age of 24-30 and have wifes that are willing to wake board and try anything.

So im looking for some suggestions on what equipment we should buy. Ill give a detailed description on what we are looking for and I hope i can get some feedback on what you might think we should buy. We have a budget of around 2000 between my 2 brothers and myself. If we need to go more, then we will save for a bit but this is a start. Any suggestions are appreciated since we dont even know where to start.

1. Tubes:
We want 2 nice tubes that will last us for a while. We had tubes in the past that have been a total POS. Any suggestions on a brand that wont break the bank, but will last for a while.

2. Dual Combo skis:
We need these for beginners. Nothing fancy, just something that will be easy to get up on and maybe kick off if some want to start slaloming.

3. Slalom Water Ski
I want something that I can get good on. My dad is really good at Slaloming but hasnt bought a ski since the late 70s. Im not sure about bindings on a Slalom ski, but It needs to be adjustable cause multiple people will be wearing it. Also my dad needs it to be adjustable cause he kicks off and bearfoots off of it (not bad for a 55 year old).

4. Adjustable Wakeboard
We need a wakeboard for general use. Something that people can learn on. It would be used mostly by our wifes and other random people who are in the boat.

5. Intermediate/advanced wakeboard.
This is where i need the most help. My dad, brothers and Myself all range from 5-8 to 5-11 and weigh from 140 to 170. We all wear a 9.5 to 10.5 shoe. We want a nice agressive wakeboard that we can all use. I can already jump the wake easily and my brother does backflips on snowskis. He jumps like a monkey, so i doubt it will take him long to get good on a wake board. What would you recommend as a overall good buy for us. We dont want to break the bank, but we want something that will last. I was thinking maybe a board from last years models that someplace might be looking to get rid of.

If someone can help point me in the right direction i would really appreciate it.

Thanks ahead of time

[HHI Dave]

Welcome to WB.com

Tubes and skis...can't really say.

Wakeboards... can't say enough. The short answer is stick with the reputable manufacturers vs. the marine supply "brand X" stuff.

Find a board that is the proper length for the riders body weight.

Find a pair of bindings that fit correctly and comfortably.

Then ride, ride, ride.

Everyone has their own favorite brands but some of the more common and popular are generally going to be Liquid Force, Hyperlite, Ronix, CWB, Gator, Obrien, Slingshot.

EDIT: And yes, you are definitely on the right track with buying last year's closeouts. Pretty much all of the online retailers have bargain priced closeouts to get rid of last year's inventory. Generally, unless its a brand new model, the only thing that changes are the graphics. Though in the last couple of years there have been quite a few changes in regards to binding/board combos and flex technology. Try some of these....

boardstop.com
wakeside.com
buywake.com
evogear.com
closeoutdude.com
the-house.com

[JeffreyCH]

Tubes and ski's: H.O. sports makes good stuff

Slalom Ski: O'Brian or Connelly

General wakeboard: Hyperlite State 134cm with med. or small open toe bindings

Advanced wakeboard: Hyperlite ERA or Premier 138cm with med or large open toe bindings.

I ride closed toe bindings and will never go back, but open toe will fit a range of sizes and suit your needs better. Keep in mind that you will need 3 different ropes, 1 for tubes, 1 for skiing, and a non-stretch wakebaord rope. If at all possible try on bindings, they really are the most important part. Uncomfortable bindings suck and can ruin your day, poor fitting/loose bindings can be dangerous. Sounds like you are in for a fun summer. Welcome to the forums, if you have any other questions ask away.

[GnarShredd]

I had a big post with a ton of information typed up but it didn't submit correctly when the site was down earlier and I lost it all.


JeffreyCH nailed it though.

[wtwdevil]

For tubes I would go with O'brien same with the skis, a good site is http://www.wholesalemarine.com, the screamer series is good.

[JeffreyCH]