1. The Little Big Company
Before we get to talking about the boat itself, let’s take a quick look at the company behind Supra and its philosophy. Skier’s Choice is the manufacturer of both Moomba and Supra boats, and operates out of their facility in Maryville, TN. Moomba is their value oriented brand while Supra is their high-end offering. Unlike some of the larger ski-boat manufacturers, Skier’s Choice is a privately owned company that builds a very limited number of boats per year. Building less than one half the amount of boats as some of the other leading manufacturers, their emphasis on quality control is evident from the moment you step into one of their products. With that said, this “little” company is certainly making big waves with their lineup for 2019. Let’s explore some of the reasons why.
2. The Shift
Those who are familiar with Supra would likely agree that the brand looks a lot different today than it did 10 years ago. Since their founding in 1981, Supra has been a luxury inboard boat designed to compete with the industry’s top brands. The big difference between then and now? For most of those years Supra was what some would consider the “entry-level” luxury brand, meaning they offered a solid product that played in a space just below high-end brands like MasterCraft and Nautique. Today, the mindset of what the brand should be has changed drastically. Since the release of the original Supra SA in 2013, Supra has emerged as a brand capable of going head to head with any other luxury boat on the market, and the 2019 product has made that more clear than ever.
3. Standard Features
When one spends premium money on a luxury boat, they more than likely expect to be showered with valuable features they could not get if they went with a more budget-oriented boat, right? This may seem like an obvious concept, but when you compare other high-end offerings in the market, you may notice that most brands come standard with only very basic equipment. These can be upgraded with premium features and options, but often at a very significant cost. This is one area where Supra sets itself apart from the bunch. With standard features like their FXone power folding tower, the Vision Control dual-screen dash, new Chill Tech heat-resistant vinyl, Autowake, and plenty more that vary by model, Supra has made it clear that they feel a luxury boat should never come “stripped down.” And if you think that the cost of these standard features are simply being rolled into the price of the boat at the same rate as the other guys’ options, think again. We’ll let you do your own research with your local dealers on that one, but with all this in mind, let’s take a deeper look into why these features can bring value to your day on the water.
4. Technology
So why would you buy a boat that comes with all this fancy equipment? Well, let’s first be clear that a boat with this level of technology might not be for everyone. We recognize that there are a collection of boat buyers that simply don’t feel they benefit enough from the spaceship-like look and feel of a modern luxury towboat to spend the extra money, and there’s nothing wrong with that. For those that do, however, Supra offers some incredible ways to make your day on the water that much easier and more enjoyable. Here are a few examples:
AutoWake
You’d be hard-pressed to find a luxury boat in this day and age that cannot be setup to put out a great surf or wakeboard wake. You know what can be difficult though? Replicating that great wake. Plenty have experienced a test drive or a day on their own boat when the wake was phenomenal, only to go out the next time and find that they could not achieve the same shape. This is where Supra’s proprietary Autowake technology kicks in. Standard on all of their 2019 models, Autowake uses pitch, roll, and draft sensors as well as ballast to monitor and modify the angle of the boat as it goes down the lake. This ensures that no matter where your passengers and gear are loaded in the boat, it will give you the same great wake shape every time. It also monitors what it calls “amplitude,” or the amount total weight in the boat, to let you know the wake-making potential your boat has at any given time based on the ballast and people weight you have with you. To learn more about Autowake, click here.
Vision Control Dash
Sure, two big touch screens on your dash may look really cool, but do they really make your day on the water easier? The answer is yes. Supra’s Vision Control dash gives you the power to surf or wakeboard at the touch of a single button, activate and adjust comfort features like the heated drivers seat and RGB interior mood lighting, and full control of your boat’s audio sources and zones, just to name a few. It’s also worth mentioning that Supra has designed the screens’ user interface to ensure that none of the boat’s core functions are ever more than one or two clicks away. This can relieve the boat drivers stress levels massively when operating in crowded or chaotic environments and make it easier for them to focus on water in front of them and their rider behind the boat. To learn more about the Vision Control Dash, click here.
Chill Tech Vinyl
Fact: dark colored boat interiors look awesome. Okay, that’s more of an opinion, but it rings true that Supra offers a wider range of interior vinyl color options than ever before, including dark grey, browns, and even black. If we only had a nickel for every time someone walking through our showroom said something to the effect of “that black interior looks awesome but I’d rather avoid the third degree burns it would give me!” we could probably quit selling boats all together. Luckily though, Supra has squashed that way of thinking with its new Chill Tech vinyl which is standard on all models. The vinyl uses nano-technology to resist the heat that would have traditionally been absorbed into the fabric and made you look like you were playing a game of hop-scotch when moving around your boat. So whether you love the all black look, can’t get enough of browns and tans, or live in the south where even white vinyl can scorch you, Supra has made sure that you’ll be able to sit and stand where you please all summer long. To learn more about Chill Tech vinyl, click here.
5. The Time Is Now
So finally, we feel like we should end by saying that if you haven’t talked with your local dealer about ordering a 2019 Supra yet, there is a chance that by the time you read this post you may not be able to order a custom boat at all. We know, this sounds like the classic sales tactic of “creating urgency,” but in this case the urgency is very real. It’s no secret that at the time of this post, towboat sales nation-wide are strong and have seen a healthy increase every year since the last recession. While some manufacturers have scaled rapidly and thrown out quality to meet this demand, Supra has scaled responsibly, seeking only to grow in ways that don’t steal from the brand’s emphasis on quality construction. With that in mind, there are less 2019 Supra’s on the market than any other luxury towboat, and the ones on your dealer’s showroom floor are probably moving pretty quickly. So while there’s still time before boating season is in full swing, we encourage you to consider something different, give the underdog a chance, and find out for yourself if a 2019 Supra is the perfect fit for your family this boating season.