R5 or R7....need some opinions

[Tuscany]

LOL, Captain Ron is ready. I’m currently a little pissed at CRon. He is like this incredibly talented professional chef. Throughout the whole Covid thing, he’s been stuck home, posting pictures of incredible dishes he’s made Sherry, his wife. Really making me look SOOO bad. I cant fry an egg.LOL..

A beautiful day here. Cleaning the garage..
Got her out today. Gave it a quick pull around the block to make sure our first tow with the Ford is good-to-go.

[mdadgar]

T I second that. I towed my R-7 with my Yukon Denali XL and you don't want to tow with this set up very far.

My A25 weighs ~500 lbs less than an R7 and I towed it with a Mercedes GL350 literally half way across the country comfortably.

I would not hesitate to tow an R7 on an aluminum trailer with a big truck-based SUV like a Suburban / Yukon XL / Navigator L.

A 2019 Navigator L is actually my current tow vehicle and I towed the boat from CA to Table Rock and back last summer. Painless, other than the boredom.

My race trailer is heavier than my boat and the Lincoln tows it comfortably with no issues.

- Mark

[Big Block Power]

LOL, Captain Ron is ready. I’m currently a little pissed at CRon. He is like this incredibly talented professional chef. Throughout the whole Covid thing, he’s been stuck home, posting pictures of incredible dishes he’s made Sherry, his wife. Really making me look SOOO bad. I cant fry an egg.LOL..

A beautiful day here. Cleaning the garage..
Got her out today. Gave it a quick pull around the block to make sure our first tow with the Ford is good-to-go.

Looks great. Just make sure Captain Ron is at that garage party when we get there next year!!

[Dadof3girls]

Tusc, your boat is very sharp! I am leaning towards the R7 with the 430 we have been looking at. It seems the 380 is also a great engine so I wouldn’t be disappointed at all if I picked one up with that engine in it. We shall see where we get on this next week.

[Dadof3girls]

Also Tusc, what is a good cruising speed on your boat?

[Tuscany]

Thanks.
We cruise at 35 MPH normally. I started to play with props late last year. BB found me a FH6 to try. It’s a little better, but I think it could use one more step up. FH7 BB?

[Big Block Power]

Thanks.
We cruise at 35 MPH normally. I started to play with props late last year. BB found me a FH6 to try. It’s a little better, but I think it could use one more step up. FH7 BB?

Really? We need to know what rpms you are hitting at wot. I know you don't care about that. Lol
Ok I'm find them. Lol
We started at 5 right. Lol

[Dadof3girls]

So someone on here said that 30% off of MSRP seemed to be the going rate from Cobalt dealers. I spoke to the dealer I am working with on the boat I am looking at and they are at 23% off MSRP. After we spoke and I suggested their price was high, they gave me my trade-in value for my boat (which appears low as well) and then didn’t move off of their sale price. I just wanted to see if I really should expect something close to 30%. It doesn’t have to be that, but if I should be close to that I just want to be getting a fair deal.

[Chrispval]

My experience has been its hard to push them past 30. They all start at around 22-25 ish, depening on time of season and stock. When they have a high demand, they dont deal as much. Not sure who your local dealer is, but they often make it tough to deal with anyone else, as many dealers have unspoken agreements not to sell outside their marketshare

[Dadof3girls]

I don’t want to mention the dealer just so I don’t throw them under the bus. I do like them, they seem like good people. I can’t imagine that they wouldn’t want to sell me the boat being the COVID-19 has hampered their ability to sell like they normally do this time of the year. During the boat shows, I had 2 separate dealers quote me $50k and $48k for my trade and this dealer says the market on wakeboard boats is flooded and they offered me $39k. I just don’t buy that argument when I look up asking prices for similar boats to mine. So I could go sell my boat and come back to them, but I am not sure I want to if they are not coming off more than 23% of their MSRP.

[Big Block Power]

Yes T is one that got a great deal. From what I've heard 25% seems to be the good deal spot. The dealers have a agreement with Cobalt that they won't sell out of there territory. Are you on a lake or you going to trailer it? Yes I don't watch the market on tow boats but it could have stopped in the last couple months. That's a big bath though. Sucks and then I wouldn't do it. You have to look at what wholesale value is on yours not retail or market listing prices. That's not how it works. I haven't looked lately but I'd the free engine upgrade still going on?

[Dadof3girls]

This boat already has the 430HP so that wouldn’t help any. We are on a lake and we just trailer a couple of times a year but we do have to trailer short distances at end of the boating season when they drop the lake down. The salesman seemed to suggest that the wakeboard boat market dropped in the last year, not the past 2 months. I said the NADA should adjust for what the market is bearing. So I am interested in the actual NADA is on my boat now to see what has changed. I seriously doubt there was a drastic swing....seems like they are just offering me a low amount for my trade.

[Big Block Power]

So then you have to buy to the dealer that will service the boat in the lake area. Or you buy from the dealer where you live. Then you would have to bring your boat to them to service it. If it's in 2 diff dealers territory.
I think have that correct.

[Table Rockin]

Have you looked at or considered a one to three year used with all the goodies? Might be hard to find the 430 used because most folks don't want to pay the premium over a similar performing 380.....but if that's not a big deal for you it might make the most financial sense. Otherwise I think your discount range isnt far off from what is typical depending on your sales region.

[Table Rockin]

you know....never mind my bantering. Just looked up used R7s on boattrader and holy crap prices seem high. Wonder if the surf models are pulling up the prices of non-surf models. Or it has just become a damn popular boat. Maybe new is the way to go!