Centurion online ad campaign?

[duckhunter82]

I'm a member of several FB boating groups and almost weekly some asks
What's the best boat?
What boat has the best wake?
What boat has best chance to get me laid?
You get the point!
Everytime the centurion groupies chime in and talk about how great the hull, fuel consumption, wake and rough water conditions seem to be.
Are they really the boat to have or are they the best at advertisement?
Got me looking on YouTube. JS

[Mark rsa2au]

You are brave to ask that blasphemous question on an MC Forum...

Some boat groupies are pretty vocal including us MC owners, and some more than others like centurion owners.. I also hang around a few forums and some like the barefooters forums swear by the Sangers! Each to their own...

Sometimes I do shake my head at people wanting the "Best boat for XX". We have an old man on our lake who has an outboard fishing boat, and mounted a highpole for his grandkids to wakeboard... they are out every day for hours having a blast, even with the tin can for music. The kids are actually quite good and their tricks behind that boat put some $100K + boat riders to shame. I love seeing them out on the water having fun, while the Malibu Crew try look cool standing next to their boats on shore!

PS if anyone knows the answer to your 3rd question I would be interested...

[ONTHECOAST]

Answer to question #3 is of course....MasterCraft

[swatguy]

Everytime the centurion groupies chime in and talk about how great the hull, fuel consumption, wake and rough water conditions seem to be.
Are they really the boat to have or are they the best at advertisement?
Got me looking on YouTube. JS

Yes on all accounts as far as performance, best boat to have ???? I don’t know there is a single
Best boat out there. There is a best boat for a customer .

Any quick search of any forum , will find you comments on the rough water ride , their hulls were some of the deepest v entry’s and exits of any manufacturer. Build construction with extra design and reinforcements in the areas that flex most using their tech keeps ride solid. Wakeboard wakes have suffered through the years due to the deeper v hulls. They’re tricky to get dialed and more weight sensitive side to side at wakeboarding speeds. Surf wakes are legendary and are still are regarded as some of the best produced.

Options , tech , materials , components have always been step below MC and Nautique, but they’re a rock solid , well built boat with legendary surf performance. They’re mostly a west coast boat and have next to zero dealership networks in the Midwest. They’ve struggled to expand , but not sure that’s something Centurion was pushing. They’re now owned by Correct Craft which has allowed them to add some flare.

If you’re looking for pure luxury , top end materials and attention to detail MC amd Nautique still are ahead , but as the next tier down they are towards the top on build quality and reliability.


For the record I was just in their new RI 265 over the weekend. That boat was insane. The tech and performance was off the charts. Gel coat accent’s were a little much for me. Lots of weird graphic angles . Interior design wasn’t the smoothest flowing on the aesthetics. The boats lines in the water over all we’re sleek for a 26ft boat. I believe MC is the only other MFG offering a 26ft surf barge to handle
Big lakes.

The post covid answer to #3 is just about any towboat will get the job done these days

[TolCarMan]

"Is Centurion the best?" is honestly one of those questions that facts can't really answer. At the end of the day it really comes down to what you like and don't like. I wouldn't have ordered another MC if I thought there was a superior boat for me and my family.

[maniacmikes]

Centurion online ad campaign?

I agree with the posts above. Never really riding a centurion, I was resigned to concede that they must have a better surf wave and just be the “best” boat for surfing. Now My local MC dealer is a centurion dealer, so I have gotten to spend time on a lot of centurion models the last two years; and it has made me realize that they are not the crazy unicorn boats I thought they were.

The new 245 and 265 have the best “stock” Surf waves I have experienced…but with that said, they also run way more ballast stock than anything in the MC lineup- and if you ran 5500# in an X24 it is also a damn good wave.

Rough water ride is great in the centurions too.

I personally don’t like the ergonomics in the centurions. It just doesn’t feel right to me. Not a huge fan of all the sheet metal they use- it makes for a lot of sharp edges and makes closing the hatches sound tiny. I think ramfill is a gimmick- you still have to fill ballast using pumps if you want to surf it…so why have two different systems and have the disadvantages of both? Storage space on centurions is also lacking.

They get good fuel mileage because they have a 1.75:1 transmission and it keeps RPMs low…but it has its drawbacks if you are heavily loaded. All MC of that size use a 2:1 transmission.

Would I buy one? For the right price, sure, I think they make a good solid boat….but they are not “better” than everything else.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk loop

[Dredgeking]

The Centurion is the best wave, rough water ride and fuel consumption. But....I dig MC quality and dealer network more.

[FourFourty]

Best surf performance??? Hmmm.....maybe. Problem is you gotta have the boat weighted just right, and the stars aligned perfectly to get that wave. The major drawback I see with Centurions is the weight sensitivity. The modified deep V helps with putting up a bigger wave on less ballast, and helps with rough water ride, but it also makes it fussy about weight. I have been behind multiple Ri's, and they need weight offset pretty good to put out a great wave. Even then, we had to be careful about where everyone was sitting, especially for the STBD wave.

Definitely not anywhere near the best for Wakeboard performance. Way too vert and fussy.

CC has done some great things for their build quality as of late.

[tchur1]

These questions are always funny to me because they are so subjective and there are so many variables at play. You can make any boat the "best" surf/wake boat if you want to invest in weighting the boat properly. A perfectly weighted G23, X24, X Star will put out a better wave than a stock Ri in my opinion. Out of the box they may be better but you are carrying 5500 lbs of ballast. For all that ballast you get zero storage so its all a tradeoff.

"Best" Is always too subjective. When we are talking about 200k wake boats, they are all really solid so everything is on the margins at that point. Which boat has materials you like? Which design/styling suits your eye? Is build quality important? All of these are subjective, I may love something that others cant stand. And because of that, anyone can claim to be the "best"

[peterjbrown71]

Not a huge threat to any of the big brands, but the newer MB's are pretty nice too. Hard to beat their ballast system with valves opening to flood the hull. I had that on my 2005 Calabria and it was fast and efficient.

Any thoughts on the current boat market cooling off and returning to normal? I've been seeing a lot more listings on craigslist for high end boats. Was kicking around listing my 2021 XT22 at the end of the season.
Maybe the newbies figured out if was an expensive hobby if you only get out 3 or 4 times a year? Or of course we have no water in California, so there's that.

[hunter991]

Centurions are also famous for hydro-lock. I hear you can't sit still with any ballast or you may flood the exhaust with water. There is a new safety feature that empties ballast if your sitting still. To me that is a HUGE oversight unless they fixed it recently.

[JohnE]

Not a huge threat to any of the big brands, but the newer MB's are pretty nice too. Hard to beat their ballast system with valves opening to flood the hull. I had that on my 2005 Calabria and it was fast and efficient.

Any thoughts on the current boat market cooling off and returning to normal? I've been seeing a lot more listings on craigslist for high end boats. Was kicking around listing my 2021 XT22 at the end of the season.
Maybe the newbies figured out if was an expensive hobby if you only get out 3 or 4 times a year? Or of course we have no water in California, so there's that.

I'd put it up for sale now.

[jtryon]

Centurions are also famous for hydro-lock. I hear you can't sit still with any ballast or you may flood the exhaust with water. There is a new safety feature that empties ballast if your sitting still. To me that is a HUGE oversight unless they fixed it recently.

famous? pretty sure that would be on ALL the forums if a bunch of boats were hydro-locking just by sitting there. might want to research before spreading that rumor.

[maniacmikes]

I have never heard of the hydrolocking, and I don't know how water from the ballast would be able to get into the exhaust.

Maybe if you sink your boat so deep in the rear that the water line is above the exhaust ports of the head? Seems like Centurions need a ton of weight in the rear, and you don't fill the front ballast much - so maybe this would be more likely to happen on a Centurion??? I don't know.

[88 PS190]

I have never heard of the hydrolocking, and I don't know how water from the ballast would be able to get into the exhaust.

Hydro lock is real. No clue on centurion. Haven’t thought about them since correct craft bought and killed the carbon pro.