Editor’s Note: Our sibling brand, Boating, awards the most coveted prize in the boatbuilding industry, Boat of the Year. The first step towards earning that award is being named as a BOTY Category Winner. For 2023, the Watersports Category award goes to Montara Boats for the Surf Boss 2.0. The following article explains the reasons Montara was so honored.
The Montara Surf Boss 2.0 is one the most innovative boats we have ever tested, seamlessly blending the very best of a V-drive towboat with the attributes of a pontoon boat.
Let’s be clear: this is not some sort of compromise. The Surf Boss 2.0 is not a, “pontoon boat that also provides wakesurf waves and wakeboarding wakes.” It’s not a pontoon boat at all.
The Surf Boss 2.0 runs on a monohull bottom that’s optimized to create the kinds of wakes and waves that expert watersports enthusiasts can enjoy to the fullest. This hull was developed by a team that’s been designing and building—and riding behind—watersports boats for years. All of that combined experience was brought to bear in rendering the Surf Boss 2.0’s hull shape.
Pro wake athletes agree with our assessment. Gunner Daft, who was unaffiliated when we hired him to test this boat with us, was blown away by the wakes and waves delivered by the Surf Boss 2.0. Daft went on to sign with Montara. And, subsequently, Montara garnered the endorsement of legend, Scott Byerly, even developing a “Byerly Edition” of the boat. Visit the Instagram accounts of Byerly and Daft to see this boat’s watersports prowess.
And, though as stated, this boat is not a pontoon, it delivers the sociability of one. The wide-open deck is loaded with sofas and seating and the ability to swallow a whole crew of people and give elbow room and comfort to them all. Innovations such as the massive storage area that Montara calls, “the basement,” are just so much icing on the cake.
There’s more: Innovation alone isn’t enough. To win a category, the boat must be built to a high standard and meet ABYC standards, as well as the discerning eye of our editors, each of whom possesses decades of experience evaluating boats for a living. The Montara Surf Boss 2.0 ticked all these boxes.
You can learn more details about this boat’s layout, features and construction by reading our boat test or by visiting the Montara Website.
To sum it up, Montara’s Surf Boss 2.0 delivers the best attributes of two very popular boat categories with little discernible compromise.
Congratulations as the 2023 Watersports Category Winner, Montara!
