197 nose dive at speed

[Tenderfoot]

Did Mastercraft ever put out a warning or hit with legal action on the issue where if you cut the throttle to neutral at speed the nose on a 197 takes a dive? I am the original owner of a 2005 197 and never received anything. I had an incident were I cut to neutral at 38mph when it appeared a barefooter I was pulling was going to hit a semi submerged log that we did not see until the boat was next to it. My bow went under and threw out a passenger. Water up to the gunnel. Nobody was hurt, but trashed my bimini, amp, camera other misc items. Not to mention quite the scare for all.

After talking about it others have said they have seen videos and heard stories that this happens to others.

[MIskiboat]

197 nose dive at speed

1. Hope everyone is ok physically and mentally.

Never heard of on the 197. But could be possible. Did you have people in front?

There is also a recent thread on ballofspray where a boat did something similar pulling into course. I don’t remember details. Driver either dumped throttle off or motor blew. Long read....

There was a big MC wakeboat that did something weird a few years back, sounded like he had way too many folks in the bow. I think someone fell out? Lawsuit followed.
It was talked about on here.

I now see that my buddies ‘14 malibu LX has a “bow capacity” sticker, which I’m sure is a result of the MC wakeboat guy.

[Maristar210]

https://www.mastercraft.com/teamtalk/showthread.php?t=99123&highlight=worst+driver

[Double D]

1. Hope everyone is ok physically and mentally.

Never heard of on the 197. But could be possible. Did you have people in front?

There is also a recent thread on ballofspray where a boat did something similar pulling into course. I don’t remember details. Driver either dumped throttle off or motor blew. Long read....

There was a big MC wakeboat that did something weird a few years back, sounded like he had way too many folks in the bow. I think someone fell out? Lawsuit followed.
It was talked about on here.

I now see that my buddies ‘14 malibu LX has a “bow capacity” sticker, which I’m sure is a result of the MC wakeboat guy.

The wakeboat was the X45.

The 197 is easy to get water over the bow but not sure about the diving in when backing off fast.

[MIskiboat]

I’ll add the MC wakeboat thing sounded like it was result of too many people up front and would happen in any boat. Unfortunately this one had MC on the side...

[ttu]

it was a x45 that was involved in the lawsuit. it was way more driver error than boat error.

https://www.tradeonlytoday.com/manufacturers/jury-rules-against-mastercraft-in-design-lawsuit

[jkski]

I've owned multiple 197's and have routinely dropped throttle to neutral from 36mph dropping a skier at the end of a course and never have come close to this happening. I've don't it from footing speeds as well (38-43) although not as often, and never had this occur.
I have most certainly taken a wave or 2 over the bow at idle when a large wave presents and I have more weigh toward the bow than the rear but that is just the nature of the 197.

In your instance did you have a lot of people in front of the engine box? Were you running the footer off of an extended pylon of some type that may have transferred more weight to the nose upon release of the footer on the line?
Just trying to think outside the box as clearly something caused your hull to decrease speed more quickly basically engaging the chines more heavily.

[lakedrum03]

Driving a friends 197 and will chop the throttle at bare footing speed. Have done both back to neutral and to idle in gear at 40mph. Never had it dip the nose in the water.

[MC25]

Did you by chance put it in reverse on accident? To blame MC is silly, you think they didn’t test every possible skiing scenario before they released the boat to the public?

I’m sure the people you talked to are referring to this video...

https://youtu.be/68AOltMu768

[Fullpass]

I could see this happening with two adults up front in the bow area, and a now more common surf boat wake hitting the bow and boat deceleration at the same time...pardon me if I don't slow down for a surfer anymore, his wake burrys the front of my 197 instantly on a calm day...his wake dose if I slow to an idle...was just thinking about putting a forward bilge in the bow floor drain hole...from this past summer experience. MasterCraft please put forward bilge on Prostars, now that we have to share the lake, I do like the removable had cover for the bow area, my next boat

[slalomjunkie]

Subscribed to this also... duplicate threads drive me nuts.

I've come off plane from 40+ with this never happening. Conversely, I've buried the tip of the boat at very low speeds, usually going through my own wake to pick up a downed skier.

Sent from my SM-G930T using Tapatalk

[bturner2]

Haven't driven a 197 specifically but have driven plenty of 190s/SNs over the years and have personally owned a 97 190 and an open bow 89 TriStar 190.

I'll start by saying that all tournament boats demand a very serious amount of respect and would not recommend any of them for first time boaters. This being said I have numerous hours pulling bare footers, slalom skiers, trick skiers and tubes behind these boats. I have also chopped the throttle from full speed, performed power turns and very hard turns at speed without the bow diving underwater to any degree near as severe as described by the OP and have never thrown a passenger out of the boat during any of my driving, ever. I have taken water over the bow when not paying attention going through chop or when crossing over my own wake to pick up a skier but throw a passenger out over the front over the boat? No sir, never, not even close to that.

Not calling your experience in to question but I do wonder if there isn't something more to this. I would think that if the footer was still behind the boat the drag if anything would have tended to keep the bow level as you're pulling the stern back/down. So the next logical questions for me would be.....

Have you addressed this with MasterCraft or a lawyer?
How was the boat was set up (number of passengers/gear and where the placement in the boat of both were).
Were you running any kind of ballast?
What were the water conditions at the time (I would expect excellent as you were bare footing)?
What engine is in the boat?

Not sure what happened to your boat in your situation but I haven't had this experience nor has anyone else I've skied with that I know of.

[TerribleONE]

You sure you didn't accidentally hit reverse...?

[epnault]

You know that is what happened.

[Tenderfoot]

I have been running inboards for nearly thirty years every weekend from April through October as I have a place on a lake. I have pulled all sport types, but countless hours on footing and skiing. So I am confident on experience level. As the original owner of this 2005, built in 2004, 14 years with this boat. I always chop back from speed to idle, not neutral as done here. There was 16 year old and 11 year old girls in the front. The water was smooth and also had another boat footing along side. (Their account was it looked like the boat hit something and stuffed the nose) I am certain I did not hit reverse, it was idling in neutral when we popped up. Also if I hit reverse at that speed I would have added a transmission to the list of parts that were damaged. I have seen another inboard do that and the result to the transmission (trashed).

I saw the video posted as well as was sent a link to a video regarding a 197 in a ski course.

I also since the incident have tested going to neutral at a much lower speed and the nose started to dip, but I caught it.

I am not looking to sue and not talking to lawyers. I was just surprised when it happened and that I was not alone, and think worthy of a warning. If there was any coverage for this it would be go to know as well. But at this time a life lesson (hopefully once in a life) to share.