Everything is bigger on the Ri257. At over 25 feet in length with more than 6,000 pounds of dry weight, 92 gallons of fuel, 18 passengers and a staggering 5,550 pounds of factory ballast, it’s safe to say this is one of the beefiest inboards ever built.
Add all that weight up and you get somewhere in the neighborhood of 15,000 pounds of displacement. You can imagine the sheer wall of heavy water this thing will leave behind it, which is exactly what Centurion intended with this behemoth. To be clear, you don’t fill all that ballast for anything but surfing because the boat won’t even get on plane, but when you want maximum surf potential you’ve got it. One of the really cool things about that ballast is the fact that the majority of it isn’t even visible to passengers, meaning it’s below the deck in the RAMFILL compartments. RAMFILL floods the space between the running surface and the floor with water while the boat is at speed, filling and emptying as fast as anything on the water. Control your swell with the QuickSurf Pro system and you never have to shift ballast from side to side because the boat stays evenly weighted. Tweak the face with the Stinger Wake Plate and you’ll get the world class wave you crave, from long and mellow to steep and pitty. For wakeboarding, just fill part of the ballast and you have more than enough to make a massive wall of water.
You might think driving this beast is a chore, but with the QUICKLAUNCH system, hole shots are a breeze. QUICKLAUNCH stows all your wake shaping devices to get the fully loaded Ri257 up and on plane in short order and with minimal bow rise. Control everything through the dual touch screens, which are in a side-by-side configuration and can work in tandem or individually, depending on the application.
Inside, the Ri257 is all luxury. A gorgeous interior includes tough marine-grade vinyl and foam, a wraparound seating configuration with ergonomic seatbacks, deep sides to keep out spray, LED lighting and a unique audio setup called DOWNFIRE. Exclusive to Centurion, DOWNFIRE has zones that send sound down into the cockpit or back to the rider, and you control how much and in what zone. The Ri257 has too much to mention in one review, but suffice it to say this boat is a luxurious, tech-forward surf boat that can handle your whole crew and more.
LOA: 25’7″ | Beam: 102″ | Dry Weight: 5,450 lb. | Seating Capacity: 16 | Fuel Capacity: 63 gal. | centurionboats.com
