Advantage came back to the LA Boat show for the first time in 5 years! For some reason to me it seems like it's been longer than that but I'd take Bob's word for it. They brought this lime green 29 X Flight as a single boat display and it definitely got a lot of attention from Family buyers.
The one thing about the X Flight is it's considerably "deeper" than all the other decks out there and that basically stems from the idea that it is based off a Vee instead of a Cat. I'll get into that as well travel through the boat, but as I'm getting more and more into family mode with kids etc.. The idea of an X-Flight is more and more appealing to me. The huge comfy seats (love seats), the ability to do board sports etc.. There's a lot of advantages to a Vee for a family truckster.
The advantage X-Flight is a very divisive boat from the aesthetics point of view. A lot of guys absolutely love the looks of it, and almost proportionately a lot of people don't. Coming from a performance boat background one of my favorite boats of all time was the big Vee Bottom Advantage "Poker Run" edition. Had a half hard top on it with inline buckets etc.. It was the epitome of cool to me, and I always thought "When I get older I'm gonna get one of those." (Actually kind of found myself thinking about it again the other night..)
Aesthetics are subjective so six in one hand half a dozen in the other.. Either you as a person are going to like it or you're not. For myself it doesn't bother me looks wise.. The best way I could say it is It isn't a bad looking boat, it just isn't a great looking boat. Believe me I think there's a lot worse out there, and some of them would surprise ya..
What the boat may lack in a little form though it more than makes up for in Function because quite simply there's nothing else in the performance world that can compare to an X Flight in the function category.
You remember when I said the X Flight was "deep". this is the stair case leading down into the boat from the gunnel.
This is the perfect boat if you have small kids or even big kids and want to go out and actually do "Family Boating." As you can see the open bow is massive, and the seat backs are extremely high (no worries of a little one getting bounced out in this thing). The one thing I thought they might have updated by now is maybe making the seat backs raise up a little at the bottom and put some cup holders or storage areas for cell phones etc..
Looking back you can see they did a really nice double stitch pattern on the back rests of all the seats. Should be noted this is all done by hand as well! This isn't some little CNC sewing machine spitting out patterns! I don't know why but I just love the fact that they put multiple love seats in this thing. When I go through a boat I always try to imagine what it would be like to have it out for a day on the lake, or how I would use it if I own it. I could totally see myself sitting next to my wife in any of these love seats cruising down the river with a buddy driving..
I didn't do a great job with the pictures here, but this is one of the storage hatches on the top of the "fork" near the bow. They are on both sides.
If you flip up the hatch on the bow you will see a collapsable ladder and a foot wash down. The ladder is important to remember because this is a Vee, it's not like most decks where the deck is low enough you can just walk right on or hop right on. That said one of the big advantages (pun intended) of the X Flight is you don't have to worry about taking one over the bow and the boat acting like a Shovel. The rough water abilities of an X Flight are going to be a lot more than anything out there because of it's Vee Bottom Nature.. You could run one offshore without any issues and you can't really say that about too many performance deck boat platforms.
This was just the hatch on the second stair up.. I have no idea what you would use this for.
Now are you ready for this? There's a giant door on the passenger side and if you open it there's a big couch in there. Well that couch turns into an 8' Bed!! I'm not kidding when I say a couple and at least one small child could sleep in there no problem. That's by my standards as well, and I'm not exactly Mr. Camping.
If you are into overnighting or staying out on the boat, but can't see yourself in a cruiser, than an X Flight is the only performance deck boat that can pull this off to my knowledge. The others have things where you can make a bed in the open bow etc.. But to truly have a sleeping quarters I don't know of anything else out there.
On the opposite side of the both there is the sink and trash receptacle along with the stair case. It should be noted that this boat comes in two configurations! You can ditch that stair case and there can be a "Cuddy" here which is basically another long bench with fiberglass above it. It is open to the elements but some Canvas and some snaps and it could make a second sleep quarters for kids etc..
Here's your second love seat on the passenger side (first was in the open bow).
Like everything in this boat the glover box is HUGE!!
I love everything about the dash of the X Flight. From the little edge detail they put between the tach and the speedometer to where the throttle is at etc.. It's extremely roomy and extremely comfortable to sit in / drive etc.. It doesn't have that "race" feel to it, but on the same token this isn't a race boat per say.
You will notice that the entire engine bay is Gel coated and finished off. This comes Standard on an Advantage and is a considerable upgrade at every other mfg!
What you are seeing in the pic with the two clear hoses is one is the line to the foot wash in the front.. The other is a bilge hose.
On the walk off at the transom they had another hatch. When I opened it I was kind of surprised to see this big removable tub in there. It's actually kind of smart to take advantage of the depth of the Vee bottom and not just have a gaping hole. This is where I'd put floaties, or kids sand toys etc.. You just pull the whole tub out and set it where ever ya want. Kinda hokey, but I'll tell ya what as a Dad this would work and work well. (I'd put a small drain at the back).
This boat is all about creature comforts and even the guys in the back have their own glove boxes.
Just like the front one they are huge and you can put all kinds of stuff in there. *Update these side compartments also double as coolers! At the bottom of the pic you will notice a little magnet latch. That works a lot better than I would have given it credit for!
Down in the drivers foot well area you'll notice a hatch, it contains the breaker panel for the boat.
The boat does carry fresh water (for the sink) which would definitely help when overnighting etc.. Clever little velcro strap for the trash can.
This one had a bit of an upgrade to the stereo.
It's not as pretty as the 90 degree wiring jobs etc.. But this isn't a bad way to do it. I'm not a boat rigger and someone told me years ago the point of the loops but I can't remember now. I'll revert back to the idea that if something happens you got a little wire to work with to fix it.
Like I said earlier if I'm going through it I'd like to see how I and my family would use it. I see my kids bouncing around in this thing, my wife chilling out with a little wood cutting board (rubber feet on the bottom of courser) that goes in that area with the stainless bar cutting cheese and sipping wine with her friends. It really is an entertaining / family style boat.
My pics seem to be a little out of order here, but right behind the throttle / shifter there is dual cup holders for the captain as well as a power port / audio in. Nice so you can just throw your phone in one, and cocktail in the other.
I thought it was kind of cool that they tooled this little piece up. They didn't have any great place to put the speaker so they made a little speaker pod just fo the X flights.
So I get to looking up in there and I see this.. I'm like WTF is that thing? I have never seen one before.
It turns out all the new builds have to have this little deal where you turn it on when you are fueling the boat and an alarm or something goes off if it over fills? I'm not sure what the hell it does. If you have a newer boat though I guess one of these is supposed to be in it! (Don't tell me if it's not.. I don't want or need mfg's getting in trouble).
So this is the gas cap that they are using (admittedly better than the ones a lot of other guys are using???). At least it still looks like a nice stainless piece and not some plastic piece of junk. On the left side of the bezel you can see a red LED light. Again I have no idea what that whole program is about, but welcome to CARB. Like I said earlier at least this fuel fill looks decent.
As we are coming to the end of the X flight you are going to see that this thing has the giant sun pad, giant swim step.. The boat is all about family fun and comfort and for that purpose I'd give it a 10 / 10.. That said with anything in life when something sways so hard in one direction it has to detract from another.. She's not the hottest chick on the block, but I wouldn't kick her out of bed for eating crackers either.
The one thing about the X Flight is it's considerably "deeper" than all the other decks out there and that basically stems from the idea that it is based off a Vee instead of a Cat. I'll get into that as well travel through the boat, but as I'm getting more and more into family mode with kids etc.. The idea of an X-Flight is more and more appealing to me. The huge comfy seats (love seats), the ability to do board sports etc.. There's a lot of advantages to a Vee for a family truckster.
The advantage X-Flight is a very divisive boat from the aesthetics point of view. A lot of guys absolutely love the looks of it, and almost proportionately a lot of people don't. Coming from a performance boat background one of my favorite boats of all time was the big Vee Bottom Advantage "Poker Run" edition. Had a half hard top on it with inline buckets etc.. It was the epitome of cool to me, and I always thought "When I get older I'm gonna get one of those." (Actually kind of found myself thinking about it again the other night..)
Aesthetics are subjective so six in one hand half a dozen in the other.. Either you as a person are going to like it or you're not. For myself it doesn't bother me looks wise.. The best way I could say it is It isn't a bad looking boat, it just isn't a great looking boat. Believe me I think there's a lot worse out there, and some of them would surprise ya..
What the boat may lack in a little form though it more than makes up for in Function because quite simply there's nothing else in the performance world that can compare to an X Flight in the function category.
You remember when I said the X Flight was "deep". this is the stair case leading down into the boat from the gunnel.
This is the perfect boat if you have small kids or even big kids and want to go out and actually do "Family Boating." As you can see the open bow is massive, and the seat backs are extremely high (no worries of a little one getting bounced out in this thing). The one thing I thought they might have updated by now is maybe making the seat backs raise up a little at the bottom and put some cup holders or storage areas for cell phones etc..
Looking back you can see they did a really nice double stitch pattern on the back rests of all the seats. Should be noted this is all done by hand as well! This isn't some little CNC sewing machine spitting out patterns! I don't know why but I just love the fact that they put multiple love seats in this thing. When I go through a boat I always try to imagine what it would be like to have it out for a day on the lake, or how I would use it if I own it. I could totally see myself sitting next to my wife in any of these love seats cruising down the river with a buddy driving..
I didn't do a great job with the pictures here, but this is one of the storage hatches on the top of the "fork" near the bow. They are on both sides.
If you flip up the hatch on the bow you will see a collapsable ladder and a foot wash down. The ladder is important to remember because this is a Vee, it's not like most decks where the deck is low enough you can just walk right on or hop right on. That said one of the big advantages (pun intended) of the X Flight is you don't have to worry about taking one over the bow and the boat acting like a Shovel. The rough water abilities of an X Flight are going to be a lot more than anything out there because of it's Vee Bottom Nature.. You could run one offshore without any issues and you can't really say that about too many performance deck boat platforms.
This was just the hatch on the second stair up.. I have no idea what you would use this for.
Now are you ready for this? There's a giant door on the passenger side and if you open it there's a big couch in there. Well that couch turns into an 8' Bed!! I'm not kidding when I say a couple and at least one small child could sleep in there no problem. That's by my standards as well, and I'm not exactly Mr. Camping.
If you are into overnighting or staying out on the boat, but can't see yourself in a cruiser, than an X Flight is the only performance deck boat that can pull this off to my knowledge. The others have things where you can make a bed in the open bow etc.. But to truly have a sleeping quarters I don't know of anything else out there.
On the opposite side of the both there is the sink and trash receptacle along with the stair case. It should be noted that this boat comes in two configurations! You can ditch that stair case and there can be a "Cuddy" here which is basically another long bench with fiberglass above it. It is open to the elements but some Canvas and some snaps and it could make a second sleep quarters for kids etc..
Here's your second love seat on the passenger side (first was in the open bow).
Like everything in this boat the glover box is HUGE!!
I love everything about the dash of the X Flight. From the little edge detail they put between the tach and the speedometer to where the throttle is at etc.. It's extremely roomy and extremely comfortable to sit in / drive etc.. It doesn't have that "race" feel to it, but on the same token this isn't a race boat per say.
You will notice that the entire engine bay is Gel coated and finished off. This comes Standard on an Advantage and is a considerable upgrade at every other mfg!
What you are seeing in the pic with the two clear hoses is one is the line to the foot wash in the front.. The other is a bilge hose.
On the walk off at the transom they had another hatch. When I opened it I was kind of surprised to see this big removable tub in there. It's actually kind of smart to take advantage of the depth of the Vee bottom and not just have a gaping hole. This is where I'd put floaties, or kids sand toys etc.. You just pull the whole tub out and set it where ever ya want. Kinda hokey, but I'll tell ya what as a Dad this would work and work well. (I'd put a small drain at the back).
This boat is all about creature comforts and even the guys in the back have their own glove boxes.
Just like the front one they are huge and you can put all kinds of stuff in there. *Update these side compartments also double as coolers! At the bottom of the pic you will notice a little magnet latch. That works a lot better than I would have given it credit for!
Down in the drivers foot well area you'll notice a hatch, it contains the breaker panel for the boat.
The boat does carry fresh water (for the sink) which would definitely help when overnighting etc.. Clever little velcro strap for the trash can.
This one had a bit of an upgrade to the stereo.
It's not as pretty as the 90 degree wiring jobs etc.. But this isn't a bad way to do it. I'm not a boat rigger and someone told me years ago the point of the loops but I can't remember now. I'll revert back to the idea that if something happens you got a little wire to work with to fix it.
Like I said earlier if I'm going through it I'd like to see how I and my family would use it. I see my kids bouncing around in this thing, my wife chilling out with a little wood cutting board (rubber feet on the bottom of courser) that goes in that area with the stainless bar cutting cheese and sipping wine with her friends. It really is an entertaining / family style boat.
My pics seem to be a little out of order here, but right behind the throttle / shifter there is dual cup holders for the captain as well as a power port / audio in. Nice so you can just throw your phone in one, and cocktail in the other.
I thought it was kind of cool that they tooled this little piece up. They didn't have any great place to put the speaker so they made a little speaker pod just fo the X flights.
So I get to looking up in there and I see this.. I'm like WTF is that thing? I have never seen one before.
It turns out all the new builds have to have this little deal where you turn it on when you are fueling the boat and an alarm or something goes off if it over fills? I'm not sure what the hell it does. If you have a newer boat though I guess one of these is supposed to be in it! (Don't tell me if it's not.. I don't want or need mfg's getting in trouble).
So this is the gas cap that they are using (admittedly better than the ones a lot of other guys are using???). At least it still looks like a nice stainless piece and not some plastic piece of junk. On the left side of the bezel you can see a red LED light. Again I have no idea what that whole program is about, but welcome to CARB. Like I said earlier at least this fuel fill looks decent.
As we are coming to the end of the X flight you are going to see that this thing has the giant sun pad, giant swim step.. The boat is all about family fun and comfort and for that purpose I'd give it a 10 / 10.. That said with anything in life when something sways so hard in one direction it has to detract from another.. She's not the hottest chick on the block, but I wouldn't kick her out of bed for eating crackers either.