Over the past two weekends I spent some time at the 2023 Detroit Boat show and there were not as many skis as there was in 2020. They canceled the show for 2021 due to lack of product. There were no Kawasaki’s unfortunately.
Every Sea-Doo model was there except the RXT-X including the Apex and Explorer Pro which was what I came here to see. As you can tell from my pictures the booths were pretty cramped. I could not even get the skis into shot.
I found out at the show that the Explorer Pro can hold more than one LinQ accessory. It can hold up to three whereas the other Sea-Doos can only hold just one.
The Sea-Doo booth had life jackets, hats, etc. on their booth for people to purchase if they wished they even had a computer set up in case someone wanted to buy a ski.
I love what Sea-Doo has done with the color scheme of the Wake Pro 230. I do not know why but the baby blue and orange really jumped out at me not as much as Kawasaki’s green, but it still sticks out like a sore thumb. If I bought one, I would wrap the mirrors and change the seat cover as I do not think the gray matches.
Sea-Doo even brought a Switch I cannot believe they even got it in here I wonder how they got it off the trailer and onto those carts I think the one they had there was a 230 Yamaha should do a version of the Switch who knows it might come at some point if enough people buy the Sea-Doo Switch.
Then I finally got to Yamaha. They had the most skis out of everyone at the show. Every Wave Runner Yamaha offers was at the show besides the Super Jet. I love the rear door on the FX cruisers and the storage underneath the rear seat.
I sat on the FX Cruiser, and I think the seat is way better than the one on the GTX Limited 300. It was way softer than the Sea-Doo and had way more cushion. The thing I like about Yamaha is that they make a ski or boat for everyone. I did not like the 2023 colors for the Jet Blaster in pictures, but it looks really good in person.
Above: I checked out some Mastercrafts; mainly the X23 and the Prostar. I thought that the era of slalom ski boats is gradually coming to an end but both Mastercraft and Nautique assured me that is not the case. I am a Nautique guy and have a G23 but I like how the Mastercrafts have hard buttons and that you don’t have to go into a menu to change a setting like on a Nautique.
Above left: This bass boat must really move with that big 400 horsepower v10 Mercury on the back. Above right: This electric offshore boat that was there wasn’t anyone to talk to about it but the two main questions I had was the range and the time to charge.
