Water Sports

2017 Tigé R21 Boat Review

By Boating Staff

Updated: January 23, 2017

2017 Tigé R21 WSM

At 21.5 feet, the Tige R21 is just big enough to have all the performance potential of the high-end Tige’s, but with fewer luxury features the price is far lower. The ConvexV hull coupled with this manageable overall length can throw anything from a heavy surf wave to a relatively small and passable slalom wake and anything in between. Beyond the hull design, the TAPS (Tige Adjustable Performance System) system has a plate that can alter the boat’s running attitude to further morph it to fit different sport demands. Throw in 2,400 pounds of ballast and you have big wake making prospects. When you want to surf, you can either list the R21 with all the weight on one side or you can keep your evenly weighted wakeboard setup and use the surf system to surf one side or the other without moving any ballast. When you want to surf your opposite side you just hit a button at the dash and the process is done within three seconds.

Inside, the R21 is all about simplicity. You’ll notice it’s not as striking as the luxury-level Tige Boats but it doesn’t lose that signature Tige look and feel that buyers love. Look for marine-grade foam flooring that cleans up easily, simple vinyl bench seats and a transom walk through. One of the biggest assets of the R21 is the dash, and that’s because this value-conscious boat has a touch screen. Tige calls it the ActiveTouch Electronic Command Center and it houses everything from your interior lighting to standard GPS speed control, wake shaping, ballast and more.

Look for a lot of performance out of the standard 6.2 liter Indmar engine with a Ford block. This is a torque-heavy block that’s bigger than most other value-conscious boats in this class and it shows through in hole shots and fuel economy with a fully loaded R21 towing watersports.