Boats

Supra Launch 20 SSV 2008

By Wakeboarding Magazine

Updated: January 1, 2008

Wakeboard Boat Review

The Supra Launch 20 SSV is a big wakeboard boat hiding in a small wakeboard boat’s clothing, offering high-end wakeboarding performance to rival its longer Supra Boats siblings. We were stoked to find wakes behind this sub-21-footer that were larger than expected. If you’ve wanted to see what Supra Boats are all about, the Supra Launch 20 SSV is a good choice to take out for a test-drive.

Hull: The deep-sitting Supra Boats hull might sacrifice a bit of top-end speed for pure wake-shaping displacement, but isn’t that what we’re all looking for? And that drop-keel design is also great for knifing through double-ups and slicing through chop.

Ballast: With a trio of ballast bags — one in the bow and two in the stern — topping out total weight to an impressive 1,200 pounds for this size of a boat, the Supra Launch 20 SSV offers plenty of wake-building potential. Supra Boats has gone with bags instead of tanks to maximum storage capacity when the ballast is empty.

Tower: Disengaging four bolts in the Rad-A-Cage wakeboard tower will fold it down into the lounge for getting under bridges and getting into the garage. And this standard feature comes complete with swivel wakeboard racks and offers such options as a pair of Kicker speakers and Roswell lights.

Wake shaper: We think Supra Boats’ Smart Plate really lives up to its name. Working in sync with the PerfectPass speed control, the hydraulic plate optimizes the hole shot and adjusts to the rider’s preference for shape and size automatically. And it stores up to eight rider presets in the on-board memory.

Highlight feature: Convertible seating is one of Supra’s signatures with an emphasis on creating rear-facing passenger seats. A side-facing bench in the 20 SSV, for example, turns into a love seat looking right at the rider.

The wake: The Supra Launch 20 SSV’s wake isn’t an overwhelming size for beginner wakeboarders, yet it has enough potential to have a rider’s skill advance quickly through the season. Solid tower, lots of ballast, on-the-fly wake plate — it’s all standard and all very effective.