A lot of you might not have heard of Heyday Inboards yet — the company has been keeping a low profile until they were fully ready to launch.
Early iterations were called the Wake Tractor; now, about four dozen different hull tweaks later, the first model for Heyday Inboards is called the WT-1. The company designed it to be a wake generator with just enough features that it doesn’t feel stripped down, offering an unprecedented level of accessibility for the inboard buyer. The surf wave follows suit.
There’s no surf system, so you’re throwing your stringer-flooding internal ballast and your friends on whatever side you want to surf. For a boat with an LOA shorter than most slalom boats, though, you still get a respectable wave. Sure, you’re not looking at a hip-high wall of water, but the wave has a lot more push than you would expect for a boat this size. This push is really the wave’s saving grace because, at first glance, you don’t expect the WT-1 to displace enough water to really provide adequate drive for a 190-pound guy on a skimboard (which was how we tested it). You’ll soon start to trust it and drop farther and farther back.
After surfing it, we can confidently say we never dreamed a boat that barely scratches 18 feet would generate a wave with this much push. The wave was ultimately clean from front to back, and while it was on the flat side closer to the boat, it had a nice lip farther back with a very manageable transition. There’s no trim tab, so you have to move people to the back if you want more vert, and forward if you want the wave to lengthen and flatten out.
Top-Notch Trait: We can’t say enough about the ease of ownership with the WT-1. It’s so small that you can tow it with a light SUV, it comfortably fits in a standard garage and the components are so simple that there’s really not a lot to go wrong on it.
Stat: We never thought we would be printing this number after boat prices skyrocketed around the early aughts, but the WT-1 comes with a trailer for $40,000. If you really want to deck it out with all the available bells and whistles, you’re looking at about $47,000. This boat might not have all the things the wakesurf flagships are offering, but it can literally come in at a quarter the price compared to luxury models.
| Specifications | |
|---|---|
| Length | 17’11” |
| Beam | 96” |
| Dry Weight | 3,150 lb. |
| Fuel Capacity | 35 gal. |
| Seating Capacity | 9 |
| Standard Ballast | 1,200 lb. |
| Max Factory Ballast | 1,200 lb. |
| Standard Power | 405 ft-lb. |
| Maximum Power | 405 ft-lb. |
