Campion WS18 Review

The new Campion WS18 water sports Edition isn’t just a great wake surfing boat; it’s also a capable family runabout.

Wake surfing is hot – super hot, in fact. But not everyone can justify dropping six figures on a fully rigged wake surfing boat. Apart from that, a lot of buyers today want a boat that can do more than just wake surf – they also want the versatility to pull the kids on a tube, take the family out for an after dinner cruise, catch some fish or accommodate the whole gang for picnics on distant islands and beaches.

Campion Marine answered this call by taking one of the company’s best-selling bowriders and rigging it up with the extra gear required to surf like a pro, including a full ballast system, trim tabs and Volvo Penta’s remarkable Forward Drive. The result is the all-new Campion WS18, and it’s a truly remarkable boat.

The Campion WS18 starts by riding on the company’s Apex hull design, with three-dimensional woven fibreglass construction and Kevlar laminate reinforcements throughout. Inside, passengers ride on their choice of super-comfortable Razor suspension bucket seats with flip-up bolsters, a full-width bench seat in the stern or long, high-backed loungers up front in the bow. And like all Campion boats, the WS18 is put together with care and incredible attention to detail.

The WS18 comes with every toy a wake surfer could ask for, including a zero Off GPS-controlled wake surfing control system and a pulsing Kicker KMC20 premium marine stereo with Bluetooth.

What sets this ride apart as a wake surfing machine are the extra goodies, like a high-end, forward-leaning Samson Blade wakeboard tower, a zero Off GPS-controlled wake surfing control system and a pulsing Kicker KMC20 premium marine stereo with Bluetooth streaming, USB input, an amp, a subwoofer and no less than six speakers. Of course there are LED docking lights, LED courtesy lights, a massive in-floor ski and wakeboard locker, and a full-width stern sun pad that steps down onto a colour-matched extended swim platform complete with a telescoping boarding ladder.

Super-comfortable Razor suspension bucket seats with flip-up bolsters for the driver and navigator both swivel and slide for comfort.

In spite of this boat’s 20-foot length, the bow is surprisingly spacious, with plenty of room to stretch out.

The Campion WS18 gets its distinctive Watersports Edition look with custom gel coat, a stylish curved windshield and a telescoping four-step ladder mounted up front in the bow, making it a cinch to get on and off the boat when you beach it for a picnic. Additional goodies include a portable cooler, Rigid underwater lighting and SeaDek non-skid soft floor matting throughout. This boat even comes with a leather-wrapped sport steering wheel, all stainless steel hardware throughout, stainless beverage holders with integral LED lights, an in-dash depth sounder, tilt steering and more.

Aft-facing lights and speakers from the Samson Blade tower keep surfers in the grove.

Under the hood on our saucy white and lime green review boat was Volvo Penta’s 240 horsepower 4.3L V6, linked to its remarkable Forward Drive system. Turning tandem counter-rotating propellers mounted on the forward face of the outdrive, the Forward Drive allows the props to bite clean, undisturbed water for tremendous torque and acceleration. Full-throttle hole shots are something that need to be experienced to be believed, as the 2,686-pound WS18 leaps onto plane in two seconds flat, the speedometer climbing rapidly as the far side of the lake grows closer by the second. Handling is crisp and precise, and the boat simply goes where it’s pointed without any fuss at all.

The massive rear swim platform includes a boarding ladder and aft-facing seats for surfers to set up.

Throttle back to a much more leisurely 10 mph, flood the ballast system and adjust the trim tabs to set the boat into wake surfing mode and voila – the Campion WS18 pushes a long, smooth, magnificent wall of water with the kind of well-defined pocket that hard-core surfers dream of. It’s hard to believe you can get wakes like this from a 20-foot boat, but the WS18 delivers the goods.

The WS18 pushes a long, smooth, magnificent wall of water with the kind of well-defined pocket that hard-core surfers dream of

Comfortable, thoughtfully equipped and built for full-on family fun, the Campion WS18 isn’t just a great wake surfing boat, it’s an all-around performer that really can do it all.