MB Sports B52 Buyer's Guide, From the B52 V23 to the 23 Alpha

A wake boat on a yacht site, and why MB Sports boats for sale keep turning up

The B52 is not a yacht and not an offshore boat. It is an inboard V-drive wake boat built to drag a big, clean wave behind it at surfing and wakeboarding speeds. It appears here because a lot of yacht owners keep one at the lake house, and because MB Sports boats for sale are often listed simply as "MB B52" with no length or generation, which makes comparison shopping harder than it should be.

MB Sports came to life on August 1, 1993, in central California. Founder Mike Brendel grew up in a boatbuilding family that had been in the business since 1950, and he had already built boats under the Brendella, Hondo, Ski Brendella and Centurion names. His father's advice, as Brendel told Wakeboarding magazine, was to stay small and build a product no one else would attempt. The company still builds by hand in Atwater, California, and markets itself today as MB Boats.

Decoding the B52 family tree

B52 has always meant MB's traditional pointed-bow hull, as opposed to the pickle-fork bow of the Tomcat line. The name was already in the catalog by the 2004 model year, and the boats in used listings fall into a few clear groups.

• B52 V and B52 V3 Team Edition (mid-2000s): 21-foot and 23-foot wakeboard boats with PCM power and big factory ballast
• B52 V23 (2008 redesign): an all-new computer-designed hull and deck, deeper and wider than before
• B52V Team Wide Body (2009 to 2010): a 21-footer sharing everything from transom to dash with the F21 Tomcat, with a 100-inch beam
• B52 21 and B52 23 (2010s): JD Power lists both through the 2020 model year
• B52 23 Alpha (from 2021) and B52 25 Alpha (from 2023): today's surf-focused flagship pair, with the older hulls continuing for a time as the Classic Series

The B52 23 Alpha, a 23-footer that carries 4,500 pounds of water

The current boat most buyers mean by B52 is the 23 Alpha. MB lists it at 23 feet long with a 100-inch beam, a 32-inch draft and a 65-gallon fuel tank, rated for 16 people. Ballast totals 4,500 pounds, split between 2,000 pounds in sub-floor tanks and 2,500 pounds of plug-and-play ballast. MB's spec table quotes a dry weight of 5,400 pounds, while its summary card says 5,200, so expect the heavier figure once options are aboard.

MB uses gravity-fed ballast that fills and drains without depending on pumps, an idea the company introduced around 2009 when it switched to an electronically controlled gate on the B52V Team. The patented Switch Surf System moves the wave from one side to the other at the push of a button so riders can change sides without stopping.

The standard package is unusually complete. MB includes the surf pipe, surf system, Mission power tower, RGB lighting, a 12-inch screen, surf racks, a Wet Sounds audio package with a 12-inch subwoofer, sound deadening, a pass-through wind dam, a cooler and a shipping cover. That is why the MSRP looks high against base prices from bigger brands that sell those items as options.

Indmar Raptor power, and when to step up to the 25 Alpha

Every current MB runs an Indmar Raptor built on Ford's 6.2-liter V8, backed by a transferable five-year factory warranty. MB lists engine selections of 350, 398 and 510 hp for the 23 Alpha, with the Raptor 400 in its standard equipment list. For a boat that may carry 4,500 pounds of water plus a full crew, the bigger engine is worth considering if you surf at altitude or with heavy loads.

The 25 Alpha is the largest MB. It measures 25 feet with a 102-inch beam, 33-inch draft, 6,580-pound dry weight and the same 65-gallon tank, and carries 5,500 pounds of ballast (3,150 sub-floor plus 2,350 plug-and-play). MB lists the supercharged Raptor 575 among its included items. The extra length buys lounge space and storage more than a dramatically different wave, and it costs about $40,000 more at MSRP.

What the magazines measured on older B52s

Wakeboarding magazine tested the 2006 B52 V23 Team Edition with a 330 hp PCM Excalibur 5.7L and recorded 43.0 mph at 5,100 rpm, 0 to 30 mph in 6.1 seconds and 0 to 36 mph in 8.8 seconds. That boat had a three-tank, 2,500-pound ballast system and a two-speed transmission, rare at the time, which helped haul the weight out of the hole. Testers called the wakes pro level without extra bags.

The 2009 and 2010 B52V Team Wide Body was a different animal: 21 feet, 8 feet 4 inches wide, 3,900 pounds dry, 1,800 pounds of ballast in two 900-pound tanks that filled in about 60 seconds, and a 65-gallon tank. The test boat ran a 410 hp PCM Excalibur 6.0L; the standard engine was a 343 hp PCM 5.7L. The magazine rode at 75 feet and 24 mph and found the wake clean and crisp with long landings.

Running a B52 for a season

Budget roughly $6,000 to $14,000 a year for insurance, winterizing, impeller and oil service, a lift or slip, trailer upkeep and fuel. Wake boats burn far more fuel surfing heavy than cruising empty, and MB publishes no fuel curve, so expect to fill the 65-gallon tank often in a busy summer.

MB has long offered strong warranty terms. In 2009 it covered hull, deck and stringers for life, with five years on components and upholstery. Today it advertises a fully transferable five-year engine warranty from Indmar. Confirm what transfers before buying a used boat.

Shopping the used B52 market

MB is a low-volume builder; in the mid-2000s Wakeboarding magazine put production at 300-plus boats a year, so B52s are far less common than Malibu or MasterCraft models of the same age. That cuts both ways. Small production and hand finishing help resale among people who know the brand, but listings are thin outside the West and buyers may need to travel.

Always pin down the exact model and year, because a 2012 B52 21 and a 2023 B52 23 Alpha share a name and little else. Ask whether the boat has the Alpha-era Switch Surf System, check engine hours on the Indmar or older PCM engine, and look closely at ballast plumbing and the tower.