The 21 Skier (and others like it as the hull was manufactured by other builders as well including Ultra, Caliber1, Cobra, and others) was the Industry standard of what a 21' West Coast boat should be in the mid 1990's. They are docile to drive, they ride fairly smooth, and with the "cab forward" design they have a ton of room in them for passengers and a day out on the water. They are a perfect lower river boat, great for Parker, and the occasional Havasu trip so long as it's not a holiday weekend, or a real windy day.
Lets crack the hatch and dig into this particular 21 Skier at the show a little deeper. This one is powered by a Marine Power LS3 (460HP) mated to a Dominator pump by American Turbine. The boat is estimated by the mfg to run 60-65mph depending on load and conditions. (It should be noted that Bob is pretty conservative on his #'s, and with a little pump work there might be some more on the table)
The hatch opened with ease, and I noticed it didn't have the typical "lean" that a lot of hatches will have if they are on a single ram. The bilge was coated with the typical old school "splatter" that matched the green accents throughout the boat. The rigging on the transom was exceptionally clean and considerably nicer than a typical "Entry Level" boat, which is where the title of the article comes from. Everything was held with stainless steel cushioned clamps, and the presentation of wiring and hydraulic lines were laid out in a fashion that's pleasing to the eye. That goes for the idea that the wiring was in looms, the lines were stainless, and the routes taken to the rigging were symmetrical and organized.
On either side of the motor there is a carpeted divider wall, these are typically used so that you could put larger items in the engine bay (lawn chairs, coolers, etc..). In this particular boat they put the batteries on a carpeted board on one side (not sure why they put the extra board in there?), and the hatch ram on the other. My only potential suggestion (which maybe there's some reason I'm unaware of that they did it this way) would be to put the hatch ram, and the batteries on the same side to open it up on one side for more storage. Although it did feel more "symmetrical" with the hatch on the opposite side.
The batteries themselves were in plastic boxes, which lack the "custom" feel, but truthfully are functionally superior to Aluminum boxes because of their lack of conductivity. This technically would be looked down on by most "custom" enthusiasts, but to head that off at the pass, I'm quite sure Shockwave will build you the boat with whatever battery boxes you want.
The wiring coming off the batteries could have been done a little cleaner, but again is considerably better then most other "Entry Level" efforts. If you look towards the engine on the floor you will see white access hatches to the stringers which is really cool to be able to get in there easily. If you wanted to step it up a tad on on your "custom build" you could either ask them to make that portion open stringer, or have them finish out the access hatches with something nicer and run the wiring from the batteries through a nice bulkhead fitting and under the floor. Obviously this would drive the price up, but I wouldn't think that much. (You would also lose storage benefits if you did open inner stringers, but it would look cleaner)
The Pump was painted lime green to match the "Theme" of the boat and looked absolutely fantastic! It was a setback installation with a ride plate, shoe, a "low profile" hydraulic place diverter with stainless lines. I'm not sure about that whole "low profile" deal as I'm not a jet guy, but you can pretty clearly see polished bracket that goes to the nozzle and the hydraulic, and it looks different then the typical installations I have seen in the past. The transom looked as clean as any jet installation I've ever seen.
- Top Side -
In this size and free board range you just simply aren't going to find this much room in this small of a package. (Or variants of it.) This particular boat was setup with two forward facing buckets, a bench in the back and an open bow walk through. That's 3 in the back, 2 in the buckets, and 3 comfortably in the open bow for a total eight fat guys. Now if you don't weigh 200+ lbs, and you mix and match a bit with some "Sandbar/Channel" style girls you are looking at 10-12 pretty easily. (Note* you can order the boat with back to back seating off the buckets adding another two seats)
I apollogize for the bathroom mat on the seat, I didn't even see it when I took the picture. It's obviously there to minimize wear and tear on the interior from people getting in and out of the boat from the stair case.
I have been in plenty of these over the years with the back to back seating configuration, and only in one without it. I believe the best setup (with dual forward facing seats) is the "hybrid" with one back to back behind the driver and on the other side the stainless cooler with the matching seat cushion on top of it. There is just something to be said for this ample amount of room that invariably turns into a dance floor at some point during the day (or night if you are a Parker boater). This area is A LOT bigger then it is in the pic, and roomier then you will find in any 21' boat I can think of presently. Actually to emphasize that point a little harder, it has more room in this area then just about any performance boat I can think of in just about any size range. Another great option that I would strongly consider is a "wakeboat" style interior where the passenger seat back is facing backwards with a wrap around bench.
The boat dash looked good with matching bezels (even though I'm not a fan of guage bezels on straight installations), It had a decent steering wheel in it (which is nice they didn't opt for the 40.00 wheel), and trim on the wheel. (which is an upgrade)
One thing I did notice is the throttle pedal wasn't bolted to the floor. There could be a number of reasons for that including "fitting" the new potential owner to the boat to make sure the pedal is comfortable for him/her. I will say I am not a fan of the "universal" pedal where it can be a left foot or a right foot pedal.. For some reason they always look left to me, but damn near everybody uses them so I'm not going to knock Shockwave for it. I moved that pedal around a bit trying to find a comfortable spot for it on my foot, but where the walkthrough meets the floor it just felt kind of awkward with the pedal that far inwards. (Bear in mind I'm probably bigger then most that would be buying and driving this boat) Personally, even though it'd be way out of the box, I'd opt for a gunnel mount offshore control and use the shifter to run the bucket, or even a single lever deal that actuated everything.
The side panel storage is perfect for wallets, cell phones, smokes, sunglasses, sun block, and other small items you might need to stash while underway.
The textured material they used in the recesses really were the highlight of the interior of this boat. Everything else was "to be expected" or a little plain in my personal opinion. That's more of a matter of taste then quality though. I can tell you as I pulled up each cushion they were well built, and not overly heavy. I have zero complaints about the actual "quality" of everything I saw.
So now I'm going to get to the only thing I actually didn't like about the boat. Underneath the rear seat there is a "box" that takes up quite a bit of the storage room. The box is there to allow the fuel line to go from the gunnel down to the belly tank, but I'd have to imagine there is some other way to do this where it's less intrusive to the storage and aesthetically.
Overall I give this boat two thumbs up!! I have spent too many years having good times in the exact same boat (albeit different mfg's) to give it anything less. It's a great 21'er, with a lot of capability for family or party that is incredibly easy to drive, and has no bad habits.
On a second note it was my little girls favorite boat at the LA Boatshow. She was completely disinterested in every other boat there, but saw this one and she jumped right into it and wanted to go boating, so that has to count for something right?
This particular boat has a retail of 62,450 with a boat show price of 55,850.
(End of RD's report)
It just so happens that Shockwave has a complete build sheet on this boat so we included it in the review. As well as pricing options below it.
2014 SHOCKWAVE 21? SKIER
- STANDARD FEATURES -
BASE PRICE WITH BASE MOTOR 5.7 ? 325 HP $51,500.00
7 YEAR LIMITED WARRANTY ON HULL INCLUDED
2 YEAR MERCURY CERTIFIED WARRANTY ON MOTOR (Exclude Racing Motors) INCLUDED
FULL LENGTH STRINGERS, VINYL ESTER RESIN, HAND LAMINATION, BALSA CORE CONSTRUCTION INCLUDED
CUSTOM TANDEM TRAILER (Disc Brakes, Spare Tire and Carrier, Diamond Step Plates, Color Choice) INCLUDED
CUSTOM GELCOAT, COLORS AND GRAPHICS INCLUDED
CUSTOM INTERIORS, COLORS AND GRAPHICS TO MATCH GEL-COAT INCLUDED
PREMIUM MARINE GRADE CARPET INCLUDED
COLOR MATCHED POWDER COATED BILLET ALUMINUM TRIM PACKAGE INCLUDED
POWDER COATED CUP HOLDERS INCLUDED
SKI TOW INCLUDED
STAINLESS STEEL BOW RAILS INCLUDED
COLOR MATCHED STEERING WHEEL WITH TILT INCLUDED
INTERIOR COURTESY LIGHTS INCLUDING ENGINE COMPARTMENT INCLUDED
STAINLESS RACK AND PINION STEERING SYSTEM INCLUDED
STAINLESS THROTTLE AND SHIFT CABLES INCLUDED
BILGE PUMP INCLUDED
BILGE BLOWER INCLUDED
STAINLESS STEEL PROPELLER INCLUDED
COMPLETE GAUGE SET INCLUDED
CUSTOM FIBERGLASS SWIM STEPS INCLUDED
AUXILIARY POWER PLUG INCLUDED
FOUR DECK CLEATS INCLUDED
ANCHOR STORAGE INCLUDED
ALL THRU-BOLTED STAINLESS STEEL FASTENERS INCLUDED
COMPACT DISC STEREO SYSTEM WITH REMOTE INCLUDED
STAINLESS STEEL BIMINI TOP w/ QUICK RELEASE MOUNTS AND SUNBRELLA FABRIC INCLUDED
BOAT STORAGE COVER INCLUDED
HEAVY DUTY DUAL MARINE BATTERIES INCLUDED
LARGE CAPACITY FUEL TANKS INCLUDED
NAVIGATION LIGHTS INCLUDED
LARGE UNDER SEAT STORAGE INCLUDED
BUILT-IN ICE CHEST INCLUDED
UNDER DASH SNAP COVERS INCLUDED
IN FLOOR LARGE CARPETED SKI LOCKER INCLUDED
CUSTOM HAND PAINTED LOGOS INCLUDED
UPGRADED MARINE POWER 6.2 ENGINE - 418 HP $ 5,400.00
UPGRADED HYDRAULIC PLACE DIVERTER $ 1,100.00
UPGRADED SHOE & RIDE PLATE $ 750.00
UPGRADED SET BACK PUMP $ 1,200.00
UPGRADED TRAILER WHEELS $ 750.00
UPGRADED CUSTOM COLOR ON PUMP $ 550.00
UPGRADED WHEEL SWITCH $ 375.00
UPGRADED LIVORSI GAUGE PACKAGE $ 550.00
UPGRADED S.S. DIVERTER LINES $ 275.00
TOTAL-$62,450.00
BOAT SHOW PRICE-$55,850.00
21 Skier Base Price - 5.7 (325 HP) 45,900 / 350 Mag 48,000
21 Skier Base Price Jet - 44,900
