In this Boat Helm Spotlight, we breakdown the helms on three 2016 wakeboarding boats, the Axis A24, the Centurion Enzo FS44, and the Moomba Mojo.
The new Axis A24 dash melds years of no-nonsense helm innovations into a finely tuned instrument of boat control. The center instrument panel boasts two backlit analog gauges so you always know what’s going on at a glance. The rocker switches are mercifully simple and easy to work on if something goes wrong. When the power plant is upgraded, the Axis A24 has a smooth and responsive throttle with a crisp break to and from the neutral position. It also has the Auto-Set Wedge, which means the wedge is always engaged, so you sacrifice a noticeable amount of hole-shot performance compared to any of the big Malibu Wakesetters with the Power Wedge’s lift function.
The Centurion Enzo FS44 sits at the top of the size and luxury food chain with helm features you could get lost in, but thankfully, the screens distill things to primary and secondary functions that are easy to figure out. You’ve got just over 24 feet of boat here, so it’s important that things like wake shaping and ballast can be configured from the helm. Despite the FS44’s massive footprint, this titan doesn’t drive like a hog. The lounge and bow are well balanced so you get a manageable level of bow rise even while surfing fully loaded. The icing on the cake is a plush armrest for your throttle hand so you can feather the speed no matter the conditions.
You’re going to be surprised at how much you like driving the Moomba Mojo. It’s not as luxurious as some of the higher-end models out there, but then again, you’re not paying near as high a price. New for 2016, you get a lever on the side of the steering wheel to bump speed up or down, which is huge when you’re trying to concentrate on the water in front of you. The hull was recently refined for a more responsive level of steering-wheel-to-hull engagement. You can now control the surf system from the dash, which improves the helm experience because you don’t have to run back and release a pin every time someone wants to surf.
