I love my Epic

[FreeLance]

I purchased my boat a year before my first kid was born and now 13 years later she is driving the boat!

It definitely has its quirks but it starts every time and always gets us back to the dock.

[cyclone]

I am out on mine with my sons and my dog almost every day. It just keeps goin. Interior is beat, but that's easy:)

[toyotafreak]

My family is ganging up on me to go in with oldest son on a new Axis A24. We got the Epic in '03 when that son was five. They want more room. Sad/funny...the new boats are such an upgrade, no doubt, but my heart ain't in it. Will do what the family wants, but am hoping they'll come around.

[DENNIS]

I bought mine in 2000 when my kids were 7 and 9 years old.  I have just recently passed the boat to my 26 year old daughter and her husband.  There is no down side for me at all as I can take the boat out any time, don't have to maintain or store the boat any longer.  Best deal ever for me!!  LOL.  Thsi boat will stay in the family forever.  Love the Epic!!!!

[brad]

Derek:

Before going down the Axis path, you might want to connect with Wakejunky (Doug) and get his thoughts and insights.  He's the best and I trust him explicitly.

My 2 cents :-)

Brad

[ryan.n]

I'm on season 3 with my '99 X22 and am right there with you guys. I'm 32 with very little mechanical experience, tools, and frankly ability.

I bought the boat in pretty bad condition and have worked hard to get it back to a reliable and fun to use boat for my 2 little kids to grow up on. I've replaced spark plugs, oil, impeller, exhaust hoses, learned to fiberglass cracked mufflers, learned to winterize, and fully replaced the bad gauges. I just had a tire blowout on the highway and replaced with new wheels and tires, and had to fully repair a damaged fender.

Long story short, this stuff may seem elementary but to me its a big deal. I've put a lot of time and effort into this thing and learned a ton along the way. Its been a great investment and experience and I value the boat way more than something with an insane monthly payment. I think its a design that holds up well after 21 years and I'm proud to own it.

[FreeLance]

@Derek, Cal had an X22 that he sold and traded up for a Supra.  He no longer has the Supra and still regrets selling his X.

[tripperdude]

FreeLance, this story sounds familiar as we bought our Epic in 2001 (before kids) and now our 17 and 14 yr old kiddos love it! Neither kid is any good at wakeboarding yet but we have a great time, and they don't seem hell bent on waking up at 6 am on a weekend morning to get the only good water (Lake Washington, Seattle). Do we never ever have boat envy when a $100k Malibu goes by? I don't know, maybe a tiny bit, but at this point the Epic is like part of the family.

One regret is that I haven't contributed to the dialogue here on epicmarine over the years, but the stalwarts (Cyclone, Lesman, ToyotaFreak, Blindside, Capt Rick are a few off the top of my head, sorry I’m sure I am missing some important contributors) always seemed to have the answers, and I felt like one of the least knowledgeable on the site! So I will make an effort going forward to post pics of some of the little projects I have done, like ballast, audio, batteries, etc. just in case there are some newbies that need ideas.

Hope everyone here is "loving their Epics" and enjoying their summer!

Steve

[toyotafreak]

For years we've migrated to using the boat more as a runabout than towboat. Would like to ride more, but we end up buzzing around an actually big lake going to different destinations. Now with a few bucks and cheap gas prices, we cruise at 30, and sometimes a little higher depending on the chop. Couple trips we had what I think were 60 mile days. The new boats are so optimized for surfing, I hear they cruise at 25 at over 4K RPM. Any higher and the trannies sound like turbines. So yes, better riding hulls, but a hit to cruise speed. I've been leaning to a cat of some sort, but we all keep coming back to the towboat seating layout - so much more social than the normal deck boat. Made it clear this last trip, this S22 is seriously my forever boat. Not to say we won't make a change, but I love it +/- like I did back in 2003.

[brad]

We've migrated to mostly surfing as our kids have left the nest and we've gotten older (softer landings and easier on the body).  Bought the WAKESURF EDGE MEGA WAVE SHAPER this year which enhanced our wake quite a bit.  So nice to weight the boat equally then switch the shaper to the opposite the side we are surfing on.  I'll try to take photo's the next time out and share.

[tripperdude]

Brad, I'm glad you mentioned that WAKESURF EDGE MEGA WAVE SHAPER because I have been curious which one of those will work well with our boats. We have not started surfing yet but I can see it happening sooner or later. Being 50, I am sympathetic to the desire for lower impact activities.

Derek, it's funny how much the use of the boat changes over the years - when we first got it in '01, we would wakeboard or ski 80% of the time we had it out...now 80% of the time we are just cruisin. On a hot summer day in Seattle there are a lot boats, us included, in the no wake zone (Lake Union) just chillin and listening to music and possibly consuming a couple beers. The Epic performs this task exactly as needed! Our teenagers are into it so we get to spend some nice time with them...only problem is the excessive amount of hip-hop music. I will say my son is finally getting the wakeboard bug, so I think we will be ramping that up a bit.

I agree that the major knock on our boats is the hull design is not quite as ideal for wakeboarding. I mean you can do a lot to dial it in, but it's obviously not going to compete with the new big wake boats. Also you take a beating in any rough water. When I bought the boat I was still into skiing and I loved how the hull did both duties extremely well. I was amazed at how you could go from a perfect slalom wake to a pretty nice wakeboard wake in a few minutes of ballast fill. But times change and so do boat needs. Anyway, we are still enjoying it!

[elgringo-inaz]

1300 hours 18 years and counting.  Currently, only gauge working is temp (only one I really care about) which is going to be this season end project....had fully reupholstered last year (in Mexico for cheap)....using season after season.  Replaced both exhaust manifolds is the extent of issues so far.  And yes, kids use more than me now.  Solid ! .....Correction...two gauges working, Temp and Hours! Ha!

[liljulzs]

@elgringo-inaz, where did you get it reupholstered in Mexico?

[elgringo-inaz]

Rocky Point Sonora

[FreeLance]

@tripperdude, do you have your epic up in Northlake marina Kenmore?

There is an epic in the racks up there that I have been wondering if the owner knows about epicmarine...