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WATERSKI MagazineIt's time to take off your tie, skiers. Get loose. Throw on a pair of baggies, turn up the stereo and pack a cooler. And head upriver. That's right, upriver, where the water is narrow, gets choppy in a good wind, and you're far away from your usual back-yard pond.
That's what the Tigi 2150 is all about. Sure, it's a ski boat in the traditional sense: V-8 power, solid towing capability and a big hump in the middle of the floor. But it's also a new kind of tow boat, one that doesn't flinch when you're skiing shortline slalom and one that's as well-suited to towing an Air Chair around the lake as it is to taking the in-laws on a sunset cruise.
Born of a desire to create great skiing and a great time on the water, the 2150 is the widest boat in its class – 96 inches. It gets its good ski wakes from a refined version of the slalom-heavy PRE2000wt hull, Tigi's first entry into the ski boat market in 1992.
Tigi not only made a new boat when it designed the 2150, the company made a better boat. All around, our team noted improvements to the Tigi's detail, craftsmanship and quality control. It's as if Tigi execs were listening to our testers, the company's dealer base, and hundreds of competition and weekend skiers and reacted by building solid, value-oriented ski boats. It shows in the 2150.
The boat's skiability doesn't suffer from the 2150's girth. Wakes for every discipline are extremely skier-friendly, thanks to the Tigi Adjustable Performance System (TAPS) first featured in 1996. Using a transom-mounted aluminum plate (23 inches wide, 10 inches deep) that is adjusted hydraulically, TAPS can change the running attitude of the boat while under way, much like trim tabs do in larger offshore boats. When pushed, the TAPS rocker switch (repositioned from the dash to the Morse throttle knob this year) activates the plate, pushing it down or up, putting more or less hull into the water. The result is a drastic change in wake shape, size and turbulence that the U.S. Patent Office found innovative enough to award the system a patent. Skiers – and passengers in rough water – will give it two thumbs up. As nice as the 2150 is for the ski wakes, it can also take the hull out of choppy water and soften up the ride. It remains an option on all '97 Tigis, but the company has yet to sell a boat without it.
We can see why. While the 2150's hull has an inherently good slalom design (wakes without TAPS are still among the best in the inboard class), the wakes bulk up when TAPS is moved to the wakeboard position. They provide significant lift for both kneeboarders and wakeboarders, even without edging all the way into them. “Good size and lift,” says boarder Shannon Starling. “They may even be too steep to rail all the way through.”
Our skiers also noted excellent passenger comforts. There is plenty of room for skis, legs, arms, ropes, vests and sore backs in the wide boat, in addition to storage compartments in the bow (behind the passenger's seat), trunk and gunwales. Drivers won't feel cramped either, as the cockpit is sizable, and we particularly liked the good back support in the helm seat.
Even with all of the noted improvements in quality, Tigi didn't forget what it is skiers really want – fun. And that they deliver in big doses with the 2150.
