Ok the wife and I have decided its time to buy a new (read new to us 1998 or newer 20-25k) boat. We have 2 kids 7 and 4 who love riding tubes and now my son wants to learn to wakeboard. What is the difference in drive and ride quality of the v-drive or the direct drive? Also we have a place in Needles so this boat will be only in the colorado river between Needles and the sandbar (sometimes all the way to Havsu) ride is very important to us and some of the wakeboard boats we see on the river look like they pound you to death. We currently have a 20ft. open bow with a 302 v8 I/O its been good to us but its not great to board behind and not worth putting a tower on because I need (read want) something with a lot more power for pulling and crusing (yes I know that even with a mag 350 a wakeboard boat will only do 50 to 55 --top speed is not a huge priorty for us) Thanks for any info you can give.