Sea-Doo Speedster Wake
Sea-Doo's new Speedster Wake offers the recreational wakeboarder a great performance package with professional towboat features.
April 3, 2006
There's nothing like a professional wakeboarder to make wakeskating look easy, even if she's
riding behind a radical-looking towboat on a rainy day. But Megan McNeil is right there, gliding
back and forth in a fast, uneven arc behind the Sea-Doo Speedster Wake like an eagle tethered to a
string. She winces a few times in the pelting rain, but stays behind the jet-powered boat until the
tests are done.
When she gets
out of the water, she's smiling and gives the Wake a thumbs-up, figuratively speaking, as a
McNeil-certified wakeskating towboat. It's not exactly like being sanctioned by the Pro
Wakeboarding Tour, but it's an impressive endorsement coming from McNeil, who placed sixth in the
nationals two years ago, and regularly trains behind her Honda personal watercraft. "I like the lip
on the wake," she says of the new Sea-Doo. "It's a great boat for a crowd of people and perfect for
wakeskating. I can do tricks from wake to wake - stuff I can't do on my personal watercraft."
But there's a touch of a pause there when you ask her how she'd rate it against a dedicated wakeboard boat like a Correct Craft or MasterCraft, or one of a dozen other direct-drive towboats. "It doesn't hit that level of performance, and there's no way you could make the wake as big as on a direct-drive boat," she says. But then she makes an excellent point: Most people buying the Wake aren't dedicated wakeboarders - they're more into the recreational and social aspects of boating, with the tower adding an element of fun to the boat. If you want a hard-core towboat, you're likely to pay another 10 to 20 grand, and end up with less cockpit space.
Skeptics
might be concerned that the Wake is just another Speedster dressed up in a tower with a cool
graphics package. Kind of like pretending Sylvester Stallone or Jean Claude Van Damme are real cops
because they play ones in the movies.
McNeil puts that issue to rest, giving the Wake high grades for wakeskating (and she notes it'd still be a solid wake for recreational wakeboarding). The rest of the Wake package, plus a test drive, make you realize that the designers gave it some serious wakeboard features that are more than just gizmos or gee-whiz add-ons.
That includes the 600-pound ballast tank (which fills and empties with the push of a button), the seven-point tow connections on the tower, and the Perfect Pass Pro Series speed stabilizer. It also has a public address system connected to the tower speakers, so you can instruct - or yell at - the kids being towed, if they're learning or there's a boat passing nearby. You have to take care with the last feature, though, especially if you have a boatload of kids running the Wake on busy waters or in front of the neighbor's cottage.
But it shows that Sea-Doo's trying new avenues with jet power, something it's been doing since it introduced the first twin-engine Speedster in 1992. The sportboat line has come a long way since that first 16-footer turned the jetboat world on its ears, hitting a top end of 55 mph. The Speedster Wake is arguably the next evolution in the Sea-Doo line, and an adaptation of what has become a trend in runabouts - bolting a towing tower on top to keep the kids happy.
Megan aside, the Wake performs well in the wakeskating department during a separate test run. Tim McKercher, Sea-Doo's PR counsel and a MacGyver-like figure who loves getting wet on the new products, wakeskates behind the Sea-Doo while the writer drives. Though in great shape, 30-something McKercher's got a few pounds over Megan's 115, which is a plus because you want to see if he'll jerk the 19-foot shallow-draft (12 inch) boat from side to side. Plus, you're curious to see how well it keeps to Tim's preferred wakeskating speed of 22 mph, without the Perfect Pass dialed in.
It scores high in towing performance - actually, much higher than this writer expects. Jet-powered boats have a tendency to leap in speed from 4000 rpm to 5000 rpm, and the Wake is no different - at 4000, it's running at 9.1 mph, and at 5000, it rips up to 28.8 mph. Considering the best wakeboarding speeds are somewhere in the middle, and you have to trim two engines instead of one, you figure this boat (and your driving) will be all over the place. But it goes fine. It takes a bit of throttle-jockeying, and finessing this way and that, and there are moments where Tim is up to his shins rather than planing on the water, but the writer gets the hang of it - and once we get going, I watch him in the oversized rear view mirror, sliding back and forth across the sizable wake. The Wake does a really good job of towing on the slightly rippled brackish waters of the ICW near New Smyrna Beach (Megan's test run, by contrast, happens on freshwater Lake Fairview in Orlando).
The Perfect
Pass Pro, when dialed in, keeps the Wake on, you guessed it, a perfect pass. The system is designed
for different water conditions and users, with eight dedicated speeds from 19 to 26 mph. That lets
the riders, who come in all sizes and ability levels, choose the speed they're most comfortable
with. In that sense, the Wake has a nice democratic kind of appeal.
It also has the crowd-pleasing features of any Speedster. They include a cooler in front of the helm station (it could double as a storage bin), an AM/FM Clarion system, a two-step ladder on the swim platform, helm and companion seats that turn around to face people sitting on the aft bench, multiple storage compartments, and a pull-up ski pylon.
There are a couple of small warts on the test boat, some of which are part of the hazards of testing a prototype. The tower has some corrosion spots on the bottom - a problem McKercher says will be corrected on production models - and the upholstery snaps on the back could be a little sturdier. The winged back cover over the engine hatch could use more padding, too, if it will be used as a sunpad.
The test boat is powered by twin Rotax 4-TEC engines (Sea-Doo has done away with its few Mercury offerings in favor of its in-house 4-stroke line) that total 310 hp. The upgrade 430-hp engine (supercharged and intercooled) will give the Wake extra bang for the buck (an extra $4,000 to bring the price to $41,889), but the top end of 48.5 mph for the 310-hp version seems fine, particularly since the boat will most likely be used for towing. (According to Sea-Doo, the Wake can reach speeds up to 60 mph with the 430-hp engine.)
Still, the Wake has the Speedster's best attributes designed in - instant planing with the jet engines, a minimal draft of 12 inches, tilt-a-whirl turns at speed, and the reliability of having twin engines over a single. The 4-TEC also has the added benefits of closed-loop cooling, D-Sea-Bel sound reduction system and the fuel-efficiency of a 4-stroke. It's a technically advanced engine that Sea-Doo uses in its personal watercraft, which explains the Wake's 6.3-second time from 0 to 30 mph. Most boats weighing 2,900 pounds would have to add a good three or four seconds to get that jump.
But the Wake doesn't feel skittish, even passing through and over sizable wakes from motoryachts passing along the ICW. And there's plenty to like about the stylish dashboard, leather/brushed metal tilt wheel, and analog gauges (though the tach can be a bit hard to read with the wheel in the up position). Some boaters might prefer to have a protective windshield (Megan agrees on that one in the rain); others might like the look of this boat's cockpit, which harkens back to the early days of the first jet boats. Presumably, Sea-Doo wants to maintain the sleek, bad-boy profile of the Speedster (which is enhanced even more with the raked-back design of the tower), and a clunky-looking windshield would mess that up. The twin plastic pods in front of the helm and companion sides add to the retro look.
There's something breath-catching about the Wake zooming by, with the dramatic graphics, curves of the top of the hull, and swept-back look of the tower. It's a boat that will get noticed - especially by aspiring wakeboarders. Megan prefers the boat over her PWC - these have also become popular towing machines - because it can hold a crowd (as opposed to two on a watercraft). She's also only into wakeskating these days (despite having placed sixth in the Pro Wakeboard nationals two years ago) and foresees a time when wakeskating will overtake wakeboarding in terms of popularity - partly because of cost (wakeskates tend to be cheaper than most wakeboards and don't require bindings), and partly because it can be done with a less substantial wake than wakeboarding. That means boats like the Sea-Doo, and even a personal watercraft, become more financially attractive options than some of the pricier direct-drives.
Overall, Sea-Doo does a fine job with the Speedster Wake in creating a boat for those who value jet-drive performance and the towing capacities of a recreational wakeboard boat.
Sea-Doo Speedster Wake
LOA 19'9"
Beam 8'
Weight 2,960 lbs.
Fuel 40 gal.
Base Price As Tested $37,899
(w/twin Rotax 4-TEC engines)
Structural Warranty 5 years
NMMA Certified? Yes
BRP North America
7575 Bombardier Court
Wausau, WI 54401
(321) 722-4039
www.brp.com
Test Data
Performance data was gathered with twin Rotax 4-TEC engines, two people on board, and 20 gallons of fuel.
Top Speed 48.5 mph
0-30 mph 6.3 seconds
Decibels @ Idle 72 dB-A
Decibels @ WOT 96 dB-A
Standard Features
One-touch Inlet Clearance System, Perfect Pass Pro System, 600-pound ballast system, auto bilge pump/switch, six stainless-steel cleats, stainless-steel eyes, bow and stern, wakeboard tower and storage rack, 12-volt jack, swim platform w/2-step ladder, dual rear storage compartment, glove compartment, driver/passenger console, sun deck pad, padded/bolstered seating, Clarion® AM/FM CD stereo, tower speakers, speaker system/P.A., windscreen w/pop-up wind deflector and helm storage, built-in ice chest, custom-matched trailer, full instrumentation, navigational lights, horn (flush mount), cockpit carpet, non-skid decking, non-slip grab handles, onboard storage, and operator's guide.
When she gets
out of the water, she's smiling and gives the Wake a thumbs-up, figuratively speaking, as a
McNeil-certified wakeskating towboat. It's not exactly like being sanctioned by the Pro
Wakeboarding Tour, but it's an impressive endorsement coming from McNeil, who placed sixth in the
nationals two years ago, and regularly trains behind her Honda personal watercraft. "I like the lip
on the wake," she says of the new Sea-Doo. "It's a great boat for a crowd of people and perfect for
wakeskating. I can do tricks from wake to wake - stuff I can't do on my personal watercraft."
But there's a touch of a pause there when you ask her how she'd rate it against a dedicated wakeboard boat like a Correct Craft or MasterCraft, or one of a dozen other direct-drive towboats. "It doesn't hit that level of performance, and there's no way you could make the wake as big as on a direct-drive boat," she says. But then she makes an excellent point: Most people buying the Wake aren't dedicated wakeboarders - they're more into the recreational and social aspects of boating, with the tower adding an element of fun to the boat. If you want a hard-core towboat, you're likely to pay another 10 to 20 grand, and end up with less cockpit space.
Skeptics
might be concerned that the Wake is just another Speedster dressed up in a tower with a cool
graphics package. Kind of like pretending Sylvester Stallone or Jean Claude Van Damme are real cops
because they play ones in the movies.
McNeil puts that issue to rest, giving the Wake high grades for wakeskating (and she notes it'd still be a solid wake for recreational wakeboarding). The rest of the Wake package, plus a test drive, make you realize that the designers gave it some serious wakeboard features that are more than just gizmos or gee-whiz add-ons.
That includes the 600-pound ballast tank (which fills and empties with the push of a button), the seven-point tow connections on the tower, and the Perfect Pass Pro Series speed stabilizer. It also has a public address system connected to the tower speakers, so you can instruct - or yell at - the kids being towed, if they're learning or there's a boat passing nearby. You have to take care with the last feature, though, especially if you have a boatload of kids running the Wake on busy waters or in front of the neighbor's cottage.
But it shows that Sea-Doo's trying new avenues with jet power, something it's been doing since it introduced the first twin-engine Speedster in 1992. The sportboat line has come a long way since that first 16-footer turned the jetboat world on its ears, hitting a top end of 55 mph. The Speedster Wake is arguably the next evolution in the Sea-Doo line, and an adaptation of what has become a trend in runabouts - bolting a towing tower on top to keep the kids happy.
Megan aside, the Wake performs well in the wakeskating department during a separate test run. Tim McKercher, Sea-Doo's PR counsel and a MacGyver-like figure who loves getting wet on the new products, wakeskates behind the Sea-Doo while the writer drives. Though in great shape, 30-something McKercher's got a few pounds over Megan's 115, which is a plus because you want to see if he'll jerk the 19-foot shallow-draft (12 inch) boat from side to side. Plus, you're curious to see how well it keeps to Tim's preferred wakeskating speed of 22 mph, without the Perfect Pass dialed in.
It scores high in towing performance - actually, much higher than this writer expects. Jet-powered boats have a tendency to leap in speed from 4000 rpm to 5000 rpm, and the Wake is no different - at 4000, it's running at 9.1 mph, and at 5000, it rips up to 28.8 mph. Considering the best wakeboarding speeds are somewhere in the middle, and you have to trim two engines instead of one, you figure this boat (and your driving) will be all over the place. But it goes fine. It takes a bit of throttle-jockeying, and finessing this way and that, and there are moments where Tim is up to his shins rather than planing on the water, but the writer gets the hang of it - and once we get going, I watch him in the oversized rear view mirror, sliding back and forth across the sizable wake. The Wake does a really good job of towing on the slightly rippled brackish waters of the ICW near New Smyrna Beach (Megan's test run, by contrast, happens on freshwater Lake Fairview in Orlando).
The Perfect
Pass Pro, when dialed in, keeps the Wake on, you guessed it, a perfect pass. The system is designed
for different water conditions and users, with eight dedicated speeds from 19 to 26 mph. That lets
the riders, who come in all sizes and ability levels, choose the speed they're most comfortable
with. In that sense, the Wake has a nice democratic kind of appeal.
It also has the crowd-pleasing features of any Speedster. They include a cooler in front of the helm station (it could double as a storage bin), an AM/FM Clarion system, a two-step ladder on the swim platform, helm and companion seats that turn around to face people sitting on the aft bench, multiple storage compartments, and a pull-up ski pylon.
There are a couple of small warts on the test boat, some of which are part of the hazards of testing a prototype. The tower has some corrosion spots on the bottom - a problem McKercher says will be corrected on production models - and the upholstery snaps on the back could be a little sturdier. The winged back cover over the engine hatch could use more padding, too, if it will be used as a sunpad.
The test boat is powered by twin Rotax 4-TEC engines (Sea-Doo has done away with its few Mercury offerings in favor of its in-house 4-stroke line) that total 310 hp. The upgrade 430-hp engine (supercharged and intercooled) will give the Wake extra bang for the buck (an extra $4,000 to bring the price to $41,889), but the top end of 48.5 mph for the 310-hp version seems fine, particularly since the boat will most likely be used for towing. (According to Sea-Doo, the Wake can reach speeds up to 60 mph with the 430-hp engine.)
Still, the Wake has the Speedster's best attributes designed in - instant planing with the jet engines, a minimal draft of 12 inches, tilt-a-whirl turns at speed, and the reliability of having twin engines over a single. The 4-TEC also has the added benefits of closed-loop cooling, D-Sea-Bel sound reduction system and the fuel-efficiency of a 4-stroke. It's a technically advanced engine that Sea-Doo uses in its personal watercraft, which explains the Wake's 6.3-second time from 0 to 30 mph. Most boats weighing 2,900 pounds would have to add a good three or four seconds to get that jump.
But the Wake doesn't feel skittish, even passing through and over sizable wakes from motoryachts passing along the ICW. And there's plenty to like about the stylish dashboard, leather/brushed metal tilt wheel, and analog gauges (though the tach can be a bit hard to read with the wheel in the up position). Some boaters might prefer to have a protective windshield (Megan agrees on that one in the rain); others might like the look of this boat's cockpit, which harkens back to the early days of the first jet boats. Presumably, Sea-Doo wants to maintain the sleek, bad-boy profile of the Speedster (which is enhanced even more with the raked-back design of the tower), and a clunky-looking windshield would mess that up. The twin plastic pods in front of the helm and companion sides add to the retro look.
There's something breath-catching about the Wake zooming by, with the dramatic graphics, curves of the top of the hull, and swept-back look of the tower. It's a boat that will get noticed - especially by aspiring wakeboarders. Megan prefers the boat over her PWC - these have also become popular towing machines - because it can hold a crowd (as opposed to two on a watercraft). She's also only into wakeskating these days (despite having placed sixth in the Pro Wakeboard nationals two years ago) and foresees a time when wakeskating will overtake wakeboarding in terms of popularity - partly because of cost (wakeskates tend to be cheaper than most wakeboards and don't require bindings), and partly because it can be done with a less substantial wake than wakeboarding. That means boats like the Sea-Doo, and even a personal watercraft, become more financially attractive options than some of the pricier direct-drives.
Overall, Sea-Doo does a fine job with the Speedster Wake in creating a boat for those who value jet-drive performance and the towing capacities of a recreational wakeboard boat.
Sea-Doo Speedster Wake
LOA 19'9"
Beam 8'
Weight 2,960 lbs.
Fuel 40 gal.
Base Price As Tested $37,899
(w/twin Rotax 4-TEC engines)
Structural Warranty 5 years
NMMA Certified? Yes
BRP North America
7575 Bombardier Court
Wausau, WI 54401
(321) 722-4039
www.brp.com
Test Data
Performance data was gathered with twin Rotax 4-TEC engines, two people on board, and 20 gallons of fuel.
Top Speed 48.5 mph
0-30 mph 6.3 seconds
Decibels @ Idle 72 dB-A
Decibels @ WOT 96 dB-A
Standard Features
One-touch Inlet Clearance System, Perfect Pass Pro System, 600-pound ballast system, auto bilge pump/switch, six stainless-steel cleats, stainless-steel eyes, bow and stern, wakeboard tower and storage rack, 12-volt jack, swim platform w/2-step ladder, dual rear storage compartment, glove compartment, driver/passenger console, sun deck pad, padded/bolstered seating, Clarion® AM/FM CD stereo, tower speakers, speaker system/P.A., windscreen w/pop-up wind deflector and helm storage, built-in ice chest, custom-matched trailer, full instrumentation, navigational lights, horn (flush mount), cockpit carpet, non-skid decking, non-slip grab handles, onboard storage, and operator's guide.
Related Links:
BRP North AmericaSea-Doo
related articles:
Sea-Doo Speedster Wake: Sea-Doo's new Speedster Wake offers the recreational wakeboarder a great performance package with professional towboat features.Caravelle 237 LS: The 237LS gives boaters an impressive glimpse into the future of Caravelle bowriders.
Bayliner 197 Deck Boat: Get the most out of the sun with a little help from your friends and Bayliner's 197 Deck Boat.
1960 Glasspar Seafair Sunliner: As a child, Paul Scorza never knew that the very same 1960 Glasspar Seafair Sunliner he loved and admired would one day become his.
