1996 200 VRS Opinions? Possible to move pylon?

[mikelleen]

I have owned 2 ProStar 205's and now am older with grand kids and not skiing as much.

Thinking about a local 1996 Maristar 200 VRS purchase but wanted some opinions and ask some questions. Seller is asking $14k with 800 hours but a newly rebuilt engine with 1 year warranty.

How difficult would it be to move the pylon from the center position to just in front of the engine?

How good is the ski wake on these? I am to old (out of shape) to run any courses, but I'd still like to pull across the wakes as hard as I can. Call me a strong intermediate to advanced slalom skier.

I read the FAQ and article on the 205 versions but am not seeing much about the 200 VRS. What hull is the '96 200 VRS based on? Is it also the 205?

How is the wake for up to intermediate level wake boarding? I'm not into wake boarding but I'm sure the grand kids will want to, and I wouldn't mind learning. An old dog learning new tricks...

I'm not really into wake surfing, but could I put a wedge on this if I ever decided to surf it, and get a decent wave? Again, beginner to intermediate level.

I was really thinking along the lines of getting a 205V, X-Star, X2 or similar 205 based hull V drive boat, but this 200 VRS is local and I may be able to work a good deal.

Thanks!

[madcityskier]

Moving the pylon would likely be a significant project as there needs to be pretty strong reinforcement, and the space is pretty limited there. I expect if you want to pull the engine and do some glass work it could be done. TRAX should be along shortly regarding the wake for board and surf. My guess is that MikeG has skied behind TRAX's Maristar as well as his PS205 and could give you a reasonable comparison from someone skiing at a similar level.

[YooperScott]

My uncle has a '95 200VRS and it skis fine. Is it direct drive, no, but it still skis better than anything else I have ever skied behind that wasn't direct drive. Not into wake boarding or surfing really but we have surfed behind his boat with zero ballast only 250-300 pounds worth of people sitting in the back corner. And by surfing this is sustained no holding the rope riding behind the boat not doing anything else. In fact it's better than my Prostar 190 with ~2000 pounds of water which several of us have also surfed behind, again nothing fancy just riding behind the boat without rope.

[mikelleen]

Good to know thanks.

So a decent surf wake with no water ballast? Interesting.

What else? Looking for more info. Trax or anyone else?

Any info on the hull history? What is it based on?

Thanks, I'm going to talk to seller this afternoon might go for a test ride.

[ahhudgins]

I'm at work right now so I will have to find the pictures and go into more detail this evening. I bought a 95 200VRS and moved the pylon behind the rear seat. If I knew then what I know now, I would have never bought the boat. The euro platform on the 95 sucks after you are used to a teak platform and the boat porpoises above 30 mph if people are sitting in the bow.
I drew up all of the plans for the pylon mount and had a shop weld up the aluminum...it was a LOT of work.

Look at this thread

http://www.mastercraft.com/teamtalk/showthread.php?t=33383&highlight=welded

[mikelleen]

I bought a 95 200VRS and moved the pylon behind the rear seat. If I knew then what I know now, I would have never bought the boat.
The euro platform on the 95 sucks after you are used to a teak platform and the boat porpoises above 30 mph if people are sitting in the bow.

Wow! Thanks please update further with information on the porpoising over 30 mph and issues with the euro vs teak platform.

I could probably live with the pylon where it is.

Thanks! And please comment further this is the kind of information I need for a decision.

Maybe I need to start a thread on best used V-Drive inboards for under $20k!

[mikelleen]

So a quick bump to maybe get some more responses.

Any more feedback on this?

I am also looking at an X10 or 205-V.

Thanks

[ahhudgins]

I went from a '87 PS190 to the '95 Maristar 200VRS because my 2 sons were bringing loads of people to the lake and we needed more room. The wake on the 200VRS is fine for a recreational skier...it is just a little wider and slightly higher than my old Prostar. I don't really see much difference in the wake at barefoot speed, and there is actually less curl in the wake at 22 mph for wakeboarding. I have to load the boat down to get good pop off the wake.

I can't speak for the '96, but the porpoising is an issue with the '95. It is NOT a weight distribution problem, it's a hull issue. The '95 rides with the bow very high. I only noticed the problem when I tried to slalom with someone sitting in the bow. I barefoot at 40 mph and it would porpoise if I had 2 people in the observers seat. If I had the people sit in the rear of the boat it did just fine. I glued a nylon strip (wedge shaped) to the bottom of the stern to act as a hook and it took care of the porpoising. I've been to lazy to install a trim tab but it's on my list of things to do.

As far as moving the pylon, I would suggest you either use an extened pylon, a tower, or look at another boat. My Maristar didn't even have a pylon installed when I bought it and I thought it wouldn't be too much work to install one in front of the motor...boy was I wrong.
I'm glad I took the time to do it...but it was a P.I.T.A.

[wtrskr]

I used to ski/wakeboard behind a '97 200 VRS. I'm not sure if the hull is the same as the 96? We did not have any porpoising issues.

The hull is a Maristar hull and is not based on any of the Prostar models. I'd say the wake is comparable to a Prostar 205V. You can ski both recreationally, but the wake is definitely bigger than the wake on a direct drive. Do not plan on ever doing much slalom course skiing because it does not track well (hard to drive in a straight enough line for the course).

I thought the wakeboarding wake was pretty good, however I haven't skied behind the more recently made wakeboard boats to know how it compares to a "good" wake. I pulled a guy that was doing inverts (Back rolls, Front rolls, Tantrums) behind the Maristar and said he was landing more tricks than he did behind his normal boat. He liked it. I always thought it took a lot of fat sacs to increase the size of the the wake much because it is a buoyant boat vs. the smaller Prostars.

We had the Pylon in the middle and were glad that it was there vs. in the back. There is a reason the direct drives put it there. I didn't find that it got in the way.

The Maristar's supposedly have a great barefoot wake. I did some footing but not enough to know what makes a good vs. bad footing wake.

[mikelleen]

Cool. Good to know. I think I am going to go for a 205 based V drive model. XStar 205V probably.

However I have a line on a 96 Maristar 200 VRS locally that might be a good deal at 14k with a freshly rebuilt motor and new upholstery.

I will not be barefoot skiing but certainly do not want to deal with popoising.

The other thing is that we are on Lake Powell a lot whch can get fairly big waves. So the better wave handling of tbe Maristar might be good.