2018 R7 Surf - electronic issues??

[jetsmith]

Thanks everyone! I'm 6'1", 190 but there's only 4 of us so if I'm in the water there's less than 400 lbs of body weight in the boat. Where did you put the fatsac on the boat? It does have a fresh water shower tank at the stern port side - thinking of filling that up as another ballast.

[Cmagne]

I have a 2019 R7 surf, had a few issues the first season that were covered under warranty. I haven't had any issues the last couple of seasons. The wave that the R7 surf puts out isn't as good as the R8 surf, other than that I like the design of the R7 better. Based on my experience I wouldn't have any fear of buying an R7 again. Good Luck!
Post a link to the boat your looking at.

Thanks! Looking at buying a 2020 R7 surf; ride/comfort is our priority over surf so we are wanting an R7 (vs R8). Any sacrifice in performance with the surf vs non-surf and if I may ask, about what is the top speed of an R7 surf? The one we are looking at has a 430hp. Thank you much!

[jhnmdahl]

The one thing I haven't seen mentioned here is that the electronics are not Cobalt systems, they're third-party electronics chosen and installed by Cobalt. This should make finding replacement parts, or even replacing or upgrading a whole system (e.g., the stereo, the wave/ballast controller, etc.) much easier to do than trying to service or upgrade a proprietary part.

[Norris_Boating]

I have a 2019 R7 surf, had a few issues the first season that were covered under warranty. I haven't had any issues the last couple of seasons. The wave that the R7 surf puts out isn't as good as the R8 surf, other than that I like the design of the R7 better. Based on my experience I wouldn't have any fear of buying an R7 again. Good Luck!
Post a link to the boat your looking at.

Thanks! Looking at buying a 2020 R7 surf; ride/comfort is our priority over surf so we are wanting an R7 (vs R8). Any sacrifice in performance with the surf vs non-surf and if I may ask, about what is the top speed of an R7 surf? The one we are looking at has a 430hp. Thank you much!

I have the 380 and top speed is 45-48 depending on conditions. I usually run 28-32mph as it is a comfortable ride in almost all conditions we experience. Sometimes pulling up slalom skiers I wish I would have gone with the 430, but that is about the only time I would probably have noticed a difference.
I don't think there is any real performance loss with going with the surf.

[jhnmdahl]

The VP 380 and 430 are basically the same engine at lower RPM (below 4k rpm or so). You'll get more peak horsepower out of the 430 and a few miles per hour greater top speed, but for pulling up a skier they should be pretty close to equal.

[Cmagne]

Thank you so much, y’all are great!