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Perfect Arrowhead boat

BIG MIKE

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So my BIL just purchased a second home in Arrowhead with lake access and a dock.

He would like a boat that has enough room to take friends on and entertain. And he also has three kids 5 to 10 who will no doubt be into water sports. So he wants the room of a deck boat and the capabilities to ski and wake board.

There is a length restriction of 26’ I believe which is not a problem.

He is going back and forth between a deck and ski boat. He did find a 2017 22’ Tahiti deck that he liked. But I am not sure how rough the lake gets with winds and boat traffic.

I threw out a couple options
Howard 255 VTX It is 2” to long
Ebbtide deck with tower
Yamaha 242X E-Series - no props safe for kids, lots of room and cool rear lounger
Tahiti Deck 22’
Monterey M-6 - rear lounge,tower

Don’t think he wants to go the pontoon route.

I don’t believe he will be boating anywhere else as he doesn’t go to the river or lakes. He does have plenty of boating and driving experience.

I tired to tell him he needs a Schiada or Hallett.
 

Swain

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The lake has a 35mph speed limit which sucks. I would get a pontoon only thing that has room and would be fun up there to have. Or something like a Monterey
 

River Dirt 2

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04E707AC-9FD8-4422-A327-92DABC436985.jpeg
 

dnewps

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With a speed limit I would keep it simple, cheap, functional, reliable, no stress. Older direct drive comp boat. Name brand or not...make sure it has a 350. Eliminator did a few too. Under 10k
 

TimeBandit

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The biggest boat that meets the rules, that lake gets super rough on weekends. Think Wake surfing and 6,000 pound ballast filled boats.
 

Jed-O

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A buddy of mine had his pontoon on arrowhead for a few years, (Bennington, I believe.) it had plenty of horse power to pull a skier but the wake sucked. However it did fit plenty of people and coolers.
With that said, the perfect Arrowhead boat is a 21 Schiada or Howard. The lake is like Parker. Full on combat boating. So a boat that is heavy and can punch through the waves is a good bet for the lake.
Also if he joined up with the water ski club, he could drive as fast as the skier could handle during practice and races.
 

X Hoser

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I agree with Jed-O except a 22-25 foot V Hull with an open bow. Maybe a Hallett or Howard. On weekends plan on staying within the bouys and booze cruisin' or tying up in a group. Open bow will allow for more passengers. Skiing on week day mornings or "off-season".
 

braindead

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Deep v and heavy, that's y Halletts do well up here, my spectra 20 gets beat up on weekends, but then again this place is a zoo on those days.
 

rivermobster

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The lake has a 35mph speed limit which sucks. I would get a pontoon only thing that has room and would be fun up there to have. Or something like a Monterey

Yep. Definitely sucks. And it's like the puddle, you just go around in a circle all day.

Its actually more crowded than Parker at times. 4th of July weekend was nuts!

54102.jpeg
54115.jpeg
 

Halvecto

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Food for thought....most comments are correct. Weekends and holidays get blown out and choppy. Especially if he plans on doing lots of slow towing with smaller kids, get a boat that has good, clear view from drivers seat and has some trim ability to get the bow down. Some of the FourWinns/Cobalt type boats are nice, but have terrible driver views at slow speeds. Put kids up front, a tall windshield, people hollering and it's a mess.
 
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Jed-O

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I agree with Jed-O except a 22-25 foot V Hull with an open bow. Maybe a Hallett or Howard. On weekends plan on staying within the bouys and booze cruisin' or tying up in a group. Open bow will allow for more passengers. Skiing on week day mornings or "off-season".
I've driven a few open bow deals on Arrowhead. Never want to do it again. I need to be able to see as much as possible and having drunk passengers beside me and behind me is bad enough.
 

Jed-O

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Food for thought, there are 4 things about Arrowhead that put Big Bear to shame.
1. No lice allowed
2. No rental boat drivers
3. A counter clockwise rule
4. No tubing
 

StevieHops

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Look for the old whalers that Nordic, eliminator, Campbell and some others built. Can fit lots of people and tow the kids around.
 

StevieHops

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Look for the old whalers that Nordic, eliminator, Campbell and some others built. Can fit lots of people and tow the kids around.

 

twocents

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Look for the old whalers that Nordic, eliminator, Campbell and some others built. Can fit lots of people and tow the kids around.
Good advice -- an old whaler/center console in the 21-foot range, either stern drive or outboard would be an excellent choice. Those models ride great, have excellent visibility for the driver and tons of people carrying capacity. Also don't forget....Arrowhead is a 'docking' lake, very seldom do you beach it. Whalers are super easy to tie-up, even for a single operator.
 

Waterjunky

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Cobalt .

Not that fast but you don't need speed with a 35mph speedlimit. Unmatched build quality for a production boat. Eats the rough stuff like candy. There is a reason tahoe is dominated by them. Readily available because it is a production boat.
 

RiverDave

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I have never understood how that small lake with a speed limit has such a crazy amount of huge hp Schiadas.. They are everywhere up there
 

fmo24

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I have never understood how that small lake with a speed limit has such a crazy amount of huge hp Schiadas.. They are everywhere up there
Waterski club has local races. A lot guys back in the day racing in Region 2 ski races were arrowhead boats.
 

DarkHorseRacing

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I have never understood how that small lake with a speed limit has such a crazy amount of huge hp Schiadas.. They are everywhere up there

That used to be the case. Way back when it was the mecca of Howards, Schiadas, Hallets, Raysoncrafts, Eliminators etc. Hardly anyone had a toon and the wakeboard boat didn't exist yet. The main thing the Arrowhead Lake Safety had to do was give speeding tickets to all the A-# boats up here that thumbed their nose at the speed limit. Good times.

Now the lake is like driving in the parking lot of the DMV on drivers test day with the majority of people who can barely tell which way is forward, and they all own wakeboard boats and drive the speed of tug boats trying to see who can make the bigger wake. Lake Patrol has now turned into chasing down people who got a license to drive on the lake by looking at all answers and not the questions.

If you want a boat that crushes the conditions up here, and can do the watersports and take a bunch of people, a 24+ deep-vee bowrider is the only way to go. 26 is the limit if you can swing it.
 

DarkHorseRacing

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By the way, the ALA goes by the model length listed on the registration. I have a 26 (per the registration) with a 2 foot separate swim step on the back that they don't count. Swimstep only counts for length on the molded in ones. So go big (just keep it to 26 on the registration) and then hang another swimstep off the back of it. No one has complained so far. And I have never seen ALA measure anyone for length if the reg says 26'.
 

Dirtbag

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seems like too much boat for too little lake. I would go the pontoon route in a heartbeat up there. Can fit everyone on the boat. 35 mph speed limit. can pull the kids on skis. not going to have the wake for wake surfing but can still do it with a rope. Cant imagine having a hallett or schiada or shockwave or tahiti up there to only do 35 mph
 
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