Not entirely true and for the record, Supra never made a boat called the XL.Originally Posted by Jetlink
Depends on what year Sunsport you are comparing the Rider to for size comparison.
Earlier model Sunsports (starting in 1985) were identical to the Rider hull in length, beam, width at transom and draft at stop.
For early 80s, the Rider, Sport, Star and Beast (and Allegro) were 19'6" in length. Width at beam was 95" and 81" at transom. Draft was 24". (Allegro draft was 26")
The Rider was introduced in 1983 as the first open bow competition ski boat.
The models prior to the Rider in 1981 and 1982 were the Beast, Star, and Sport which were all closed bow.
Beast came standard with the 454 and optional 454 high performance rated at 425 horsepower.
Star and Sport came standard with a 350 Chevy and optional 351W or the 454 options. A Chrysler 440 was an option for a short time.
The 1985 Sunsport was also 19'6", 95" beam & 81" at transom. Draft was 24". (See above specs)
The only difference was that the Rider weighed in at 100 pounds more than all the other models including the Sunsport. 2800 lbs vs 2700 lbs. Why? I don't know. The Rider was the top model among the Sport and Star and only boat that came with trash bag as standard equipment. (Not making this up!)
The Allegro weighed 3100 lbs.
The Comp (smallest boat) was the longest in their lineup introduced in 1984 (until the Saltaré circa 1986) was longer by an inch at 19'7" but had 84" beam, 72" width at transom, 22" draft and only weighed 2200 lbs.
As the Rider (open bow) and Beast (closed bow) were phased out in model name, the Sunsport and Marauder names appeared with same hull and same design. They called it the SupraTrac Hull for many years.
There were actually four models in 1985 appearing as:
1. Sunsport (open bow)
2. Sunsport Skier (open bow)
3. Marauder (closed bow)
4. Marauder Skier (closed bow)
The Skiers were the higher end models with adjustable wake plate and dual tournament speedos as standard equipment. Motor options were the 350, 351W and 454 for all Sunsport and Marauder boats.
Internet myth says the Sunsport has a deeper Vee than Rider but no one has ever proven that to be correct. Nothing on paper shows any difference.
Starting in early 90's, the Sunsport grew to 20' 11"in length. Beam grew three inches to 98" with same draft. Same size gas tank at 37 gallons but could now hold 10 people vs 8. It came in at 2900 lbs in weight. Eventually, the Sunsport hull was used for the Launch hull which was introduced in the late 90's.
The Sunsport was the longest continuous use nameplate for Supra to date.
Used from 1985 to 2013. Later models were called the Sunsport 20V, Sunsport 22V, Sunsport 24V until discontinued with the Sunsport 242 in 2013.
Unfortunately, Skiers Choice today has no imagination and can't think of a cool name for their new boats like the Sunsport or the Rider.
Charles D. Fowler was the man!
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