MasterCraft StanCraft X30: Vintage Modern
StanCraft teams up with MasterCraft to offer an old-school take on a modern wakeboard machine, the X30.
If you passed by the MasterCraft booth at the Miami Boat Show this year, you might have thought that mahogany-looking wakeboard boat was just a clever wrap or outstanding airbrush work used to make a MasterCraft X30 look like wood. You would have been mistaken—the boat on display was made entirely of solid African mahogany, from its hull to its stringers.
Yes, that's a real mahogany hull on the StanCraft MasterCraft X30.
All wood, and egads was it beautiful. The display model was the result of a partnership between MasterCraft and StanCraft, two iconic boatbuilders in their own right.
“MasterCraft is synonymous with a premium, luxurious experience on the water,” said MasterCraft vice president of sales and marketing Jay Povlin. “The partnership with StanCraft allows us to work with a premiere wooden boat manufacturer to reach a whole other audience that will create both MasterCraft and StanCraft enthusiasts.”
Watch our short video about this boat: MasterCraft StanCraft Edition: First Look Video
The partnership came together rather organically, according to Chad Warren, sales and marketing representative for StanCraft. You see, StanCraft became a MasterCraft dealer about three years ago, and the partnership blossomed from there. StanCraft owner Robb Bloem asked if MasterCraft would be interested in a partnership using a MasterCraft interior and components in a wooden StanCraft hull.
“We’re now building two more because they got great reviews, which is great for us, because we only build like eight to 12 boats a year,” Warren said.
Inside the gunwales, this boat is puire MasterCraft X30 through and through.
The model doesn’t come cheaply at $250,000 as shown, and it likely will not be used to pull professional wakeboard tournaments. It does come with an Ilmor 7.4-liter 522-horsepower V8 with catalyst exhaust. On the wakeboarding side, it comes standard with hard-tank ballast system that holds up to 1,000 pounds of water. The interior components are the same as those used in the MasterCraft X30, including the ZFT4 tower with board racks and speakers. StanCraft just had to build a boat around the MasterCraft interior.
“It really wasn’t too bad as far as the build,” Warren said. “We took an X30, pulled measurements from it, put it onto the lofting table and hand drafted it with straight edges, and it’s very simple. There was nothing that I hadn’t ever seen or had to build before.”
“What stressed us out was getting it done in time for the Miami Boat Show,” he added. “So, it was just a matter of building something on the scale that we build in a shorter amount of time than we usually tell our customers we’ll have it done.”
While this version of the X30 is certainly unusual, it's not entirely the first of its kind. Stancraft worked similar magic on a Bennington pontoon boat, which takes that particular genre of boat up a notch or three.
| Specifications | |
|---|---|
| Length | 24'6"" |
| Beam | 9'6" |
| Draft | 2'6" |
| Deadrise | NA |
| Displacement | 6,000 lbs |
| Fuel capacity | 65 gal. |
StanCraft also displayed the X30 at the Barrett-Jackson car auction in Scottsdale, Ariz., which had attendance in the neighborhood of 350,000. StanCraft intends on building three X30s in 2014, with plans for two more in 2015. Warren said the company also is working on a pickle-fork design used on other MasterCraft models. Of course, if you want your own StanCraft X30 MasterCraft edition, you have to add your name to the list. All the 2014 models are sold.
“We always have a buyer,” Warrant said. “We've probably only built three or four boats on spec since I've been here and they've all been sold before they were even finished.”
View listings for StanCraft edition boats.
For more information, visit StanCraft.
