Looking at a 2015 R20 for Surfing, Slalom, and a bit of wakeboarding

[Rbuss4]

I am looking to upgrade from my 1999 Mastercraft Prostar 205. I have found a low hours 2015 R20. Looks beautiful. the boat does not have VX, but has XL ballast. It has the base tower with the "fixed board racks", nice tandem trailer...

Thoughts on this boat? The selling claims it surfs superbly only filling the surf side and having a couple kids to list that way. What's the slalom wake like? Is is worth buying without the TAPS3 or VX?

Thanks for any feedback.

[bsreid]

Tige R20 is a great little boat. I’ve got a 2014 with taps 3 added on and all the other goodies from ballast to lights. The surf wake with taps 3 is quite a bit better but non taps 3 is also pretty decent. Slalom wales alright but when you’re below 30 wakeboarding takes over.
Pm me if you’re interested in my r20, I need it gone. Could be had for a great deal with everything already done.

[Bjax]

Love our 2015 R20! We don't have Taps 3, AVX or a wedge but still have guys on our lake with bigger MC's, Malibu's, Supra's etc asking how we get such a killer wave with such a small boat. Had chpthril upgrade the bags from stock XL package, well worth it. Love skiing behind it as well.
If you are near Western NC let me know and you can see for yourself.

[Rbuss4]

Love our 2015 R20! We don't have Taps 3, AVX or a wedge but still have guys on our lake with bigger MC's, Malibu's, Supra's etc asking how we get such a killer wave with such a small boat. Had chpthril upgrade the bags from stock XL package, well worth it. Love skiing behind it as well.
If you are near Western NC let me know and you can see for yourself.

Excited to hear that feedback. I am testing the R20 Wednesday, and was a little worried that I could be updating, but not all the way. The fact that you get a great wave without AVX or TAPS3 is awesome. Do you list the boat, and if so what ballast are you filling and how much? Have you tried a suck gate of any kind? I have a Nautic Curl that I was wondering if it would work to enhance the wave. The guy selling the boat says he only fills the rear ballast on the side he surfs, and the wave is awesome. Claims he can vary the speed to lengthen the pocket if he wants it.
Also, which tower do you have? This one has the base one i think, not the curvy one. Does it fold by pulling a pin, or do you have to remove bolts? The manual says the board racks are "fixed" Do you by chance have them and know how easily they come off? I think I will need to remove them to fit into the garage. Thanks- Rick

[bsreid]

Like I said before the R20 is a great boat. To get the best wave without any surf system of gates, fill both fronts and the rear surf side completely and go about 10.8. The tower folds down with two screw pins on either side and the board racks can come off with a screw nob thing. But honestly I don’t think they’re the wisest point.

Shoot me a text if you’re interested man.

[Ironrequiem]

Here is a short vid of 2015 R20 with upgraded surf ballast.
Was stock 1600 total ballast. 200 200 front 600 600 rear. We changed port side 600 to 1000.
We run fronts full, port rear full and starboard 30% at 11.8 - 12.4 mph depending on who is surfing.
This vid was at 11.2 mph since this was the 2nd time surf dog has surfed.

But,yes, the R20 can make a nice wave.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rA2ZGstIJOE

[mschmidt33]

The R20/RZR has one of the best surf wakes for a 20ft boat. I tried them all. It is better than a lot of bigger boats too. Here are a few videos of bad surfing that show its potential. Sorry for the Ignorance in advance. Don't judge. I also had MLA upgrade my rear sacks and have 300lbs of lead to keep her evenly listed after all audio and battery upgrades. I listed the first and 2nd year, then switched to a custom suckgate for year 3, then got Taps 3 retrofitted (manual Lenco controller) for year 4. The wake has been great each year. For listing you really need to get her over maybe 8-10 degrees. It is annoying so I switched to the suckgate. This improved the wave (due to allowing full rear ballast) but the steering was kind of annoying. Low and all the way back for the gate was best. Taps 3 wave is just as good but much more convenient and I love not having to tell people to move around (made my boat bigger in a way). We have a sacked out Z3 on the lake as well and his wave is better, but not by a mile if you know what I mean. The extra space is nice in the Z3 but I'm sure you are looking at a 20ft boat for a reason. If I did it again, it would be Z1 probably. The Tige factory is great, can't say enough good things about working with them over the years.

Wakeboarding is good but not great (A20 better for example). She is a little touchy with listing but if you get it right it is good but a little lippy. No ballast you can get down to 18 and the more you add you need to speed up to almost 23 to keep clean. It can get pretty rowdy and more then capable for 99% of the riders out there. We wakeboard less and less each year and surf more and more as we get older.

We do not fag stick (I mean slalom ski)

I have thought of upgrading more then once but its just not worth it financially as this boat does everything we need currently. I may change my mind someday but the plan is to run this girl again next year I think. In short, I think the R20 is a great boat and upgrade for you.

https://youtu.be/hpNHBvm4sYI - 0:17 shows goofy potential
https://youtu.be/nG6XcVm3Law - 1:56 dope normal side potential
https://youtu.be/d5-C9tgEXwQ - First 2 min
https://youtu.be/WuheBg61Wpg - Z3 for comparison on same lake

[2thdoc01]

Kind of funny, i came across this post... wave seems pretty nice to me! Surf side full and 3 kids in the boat....even 25 lbs heavier, it pushes a fat *** pretty good from a ways back now doesnt it?https://youtu.be/elly7gzbMa8

[TigeFamily]

That Nauticurl should do well on the R20 hull too....make a good wave till you can add TAPS3 (if you want it). I use Nauticurl on my boat and love it...thinking about installing GSA in spring tho if I keep boat and dont upgrade next summer