Had a Javelin 389SF for 14 years, was a compromise while my kids were growing up. I loved that boat and put more than 2,000 hrs. On it. Bought a new Bass Cat in '09 and gave the Javelin to my brother and he has it looking better than ever. Sometimes a guy has to make allowances for the wife and kids. Be thankful you're gonna get a new Boat.

Yep.

Look at brands such as Blue Wave, Nautic Star, Pathfinder, etc..

I have spent hours pulling a tube, knee board, skier...in my old Ranger BASS BOAT when my kids were younger. You can ski out of a bass boat way better than you can fish out of a ski boat(including fish-n-ski).

Dont take your wife to look at boats and things like this wont be a problem

I compromise on 99% of things with my wife and 2 girls. Who am I kidding, they always get their way....
My choice in boats and vehicles are the exceptions to that rule!!!!

If they have the option of fishing or tubing most kids will pick tubing. If you don't give them the option, their only choice will be fishing.

Tubing and skiing becomes as cool as riding a moped after about the age of 16.

As others mentioned, if it's really a huge deal, rig up the bass boat to pull a tube a couple of times per year. No big deal.

The Ranger Reata is great fish and ski.

Fish n Skis are a catch 22 with most brands. Most don't fish or ski well. The BEST i've ever been in is the Cobra Coral. It did both very well and a good compromise. They were fast, fished well and yanked skiers all over. "If" I was looking I try and find a Cobra Coral. They were made for a few years before Cobra went belly up and most the folks that have em won't let em go.

Shoot me a PM if you want and I'll send you pics of my fish and ski, if I can remember to get on after work.

I have a 2017 Nitro Z19 sport. The 2019 is basically the exact same boat.


Pros: Plenty of deck space- I fish three guys on the boat all the time going for Striper and bass. As long as everyone knows how to fish, there is plenty of space and never a problem. The back deck space is bigger than most bass boats.
Very comfortable ride, even in the roughest conditions
plenty of storage for accessories
Can take 5 people, and go cruising and put on the bimini top for summer
Comes with a tow pole for pulling people behind the boat, but i've only used it once
Mercury Outboard has been solid for two years, no issues whatsoever.
Swing away trailer hitch helps with garage storage
Very clean looking boat on the water, more streamlined than most fish and skis, get compliments all the time

Cons: Rod storage is the worst thing about this boat. If you have anything longer than 7ft, you won't be able to use the rod locker. I put my life jackets in the rod locker, because it's basically useless to me. I have to lay all my rods along the inside in between the seat and the boat outside wall. There is plenty of space to put all your rods there, I usually only take 4-5 rods max for myself, and ask friends to bring 2-3 max, even then we still get rods tangled up and baits etc. I will say, I have broken the tips off of two expensive swimbait rods, so once again, this is the biggest drawback of this boat.
Electronics suck- Comes with a crappy small screen lowrance with no gps, don't know what the new boats come with trolling motor wise. -I personally upgraded to an Ultrex, Garmin livescope at the bow, and Humminbird Helix 10 at the console. Loving this setup so far, but it was not cheap that's for sure.



Nitro Z19 sport

Finally figured out how to load a photo from my iPad. It has lots of options you don't regularly find on a FnS like Ultrex and Large Humminbirds. It's a pretty good boat and tops out at 60mph (GPS) with two people on board. Would like to have put a Yamaha SHO on it but, at the time, Mercury was the only option.

My 16 year old body says Hi. I'd have been able to pull the back end of your bass boat all over the lake. Needed the middle fins and weight of a Mastercraft or Nautique to keep the boat steady down a slalom course. Best job I ever had was teaching rich kids to ski and pulling them around Inks lake all day when I was 19. Camp Longhorn had full inboards for me to ski on every other evening. Skiing is a great sport. I only started to fish when my body broke down and my back wouldn't ski anymore. Both sports are awesome and have different challenges but at 59 fishing is where it's at. But if I were 16 again, I'd be back behind the boat, not at the helm.