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WATERSKI Magazine
MasterCraft X-80
Recommendation: Wakeboard
www.waterskimag.com/boats/mastercraftx80
The new X-80 is obscene – and we mean that in the best way. It revels in its own bigness, pioneering new limits for wakeboarding boats.
For example, the bow alone has more to offer than many entire boats. The double-pronged design maintains more of the width, so up to four people can sit in the wraparound lounge. Six drink holders and two Clarion speakers make the bow its own party room, while storage underneath the bench seats is surprisingly expansive.
Walk through the rest of the boat, based on the MariStar 280 VLD, and you'll see more of the same space and luxury, from the in-floor locker to the convertible observer's seat, second wraparound lounge, dual sun decks and extremely wide integrated fiberglass swim platform. Powered with the standard Vortec 385-hp engine, the X-80 can quickly find the butter on any lake. Invite all your friends to wakeboard with the aluminum tower and double ballast, and you'll feel like a cruise director.
Skiing
The deep-V hull is designed for conquering big water and other places not so conducive to serious skiing. But try some recreational sets behind it, more for sightseeing purposes than for working on your skills.
Wakeboarding
Huge boat equals huge wakes. While they may not be as expertly sculpted as those on the X-Star or other wakeboarding-specific boats, these wakes will keep intermediate to advanced riders flying high all day. The wakes are pretty steep behind this bad boy, so be prepared for tight landing zones when going for big wake-to-wake moves. Besides its sheer size, this boat is aided in wake-shaping by its 1,000 pounds of in-floor ballast, which fills pretty quickly.
Lowdown
-For the greatest combination of length, beam, passenger room and storage capacity in a water-sports boat, nothing beats the X-80.
-With two wraparound seating areas and sun decks wide enough for a basketball player to lie on, there's no shortage of party space.
-The dash features the bullet-shaped X-Pod housing for the speedometer, tachometer and Perfect Pass Wakeboard Pro gauges.
–The hull graphics, tower and ballast system give this cruiser the X Series style.
