Malibu vs. MB Sports

and no - tow vehicle is fine - rated at 7200 lbs and I'm only towing 2 - 3 times a year anyway (to/from storage plus pulling boat out of lake for maintenance etc.)

so here it is - final build

That BU is going to look very good in person! Congrats on your decision and thanks for keeping the thread updated. Ready to hear the weight test and see live pictures.

so here's an update ... boat got delivered early February but I put it into storage right away ... so today was unwrap day of sorts ... tomorrow is clean up and installation and hopefully first water test .... uh play ... testing is boring ...

and did get a new boat lift - my floe VSD5000 had to go and picked up a VSD8000 ... so we should be good for a while?

That's slick!

Good choice!!!

Great looking boat. But the limiting factor was your lift, and after all this you got a new one anyways?! Boat choices would have been almost unlimited with your budget and a new lift.

well it's not raining money over here my limit was still 80K ...

but after the boat show and getting a few quotes I decided to list the lift on CL and it was gone within 2 days ... as I figured I could defer the lift purchase for a few months and save the money for the new lift ... well within a day another person posted a 2015 Floe VSD-8000 on CL for 8.5K - no canopy frame though... but bought it the same day because my prior quote for a VSD-6000 was almost 15K. So I had to fork over some additional cash and still have to buy canopy frame plus a few other extras which will set me back around 3K but still a lot better than the first quote ...

and don't forget - I didn't want to buy a new towing vehicle - so going much higher with the net weight before gas etc. was not an option either ...

and most important - wakeboarding at "normal" speeds - not having to go 23mph to finally get a clean wake ... my first water test again showed a clean wake at 18mph last Saturday ...

Great choice! Boat looks amazing!

You know...one would think that other boat manufacturers would get on the "low speed wake" band wagon. If not for all their boats, at least for a couple of them. Cannot tell you how many threads I have seen extolling the virtue of the Malibu/Axis low speed (~18mph) wake and that they finally went with them because of it. Reality is that most people don't want to ride at 22mph and get concussed or trash their ACL.

In any case, sweet boat for sure. Enjoy.

Originally Posted by Bakes

You know...one would think that other boat manufacturers would get on the "low speed wake" band wagon. If not for all their boats, at least for a couple of them. Cannot tell you how many threads I have seen extolling the virtue of the Malibu/Axis low speed (~18mph) wake and that they finally went with them because of it. Reality is that most people don't want to ride at 22mph and get concussed or trash their ACL.

In any case, sweet boat for sure. Enjoy.

I think if these boats were coming out 10-15 years ago this should have been the case but now with wake boarding taking a backseat to surfing, buyers don't care much about the wakeboard wake and deep V hulls that produce a washy wakeboard wake at lower speeds (think MB or tige) surf great and that's what people care about now.

I bought my X-30 because of the clean wake at slower speeds and for kids it great but load up the ballast and the wake gets huge at 22.

Originally Posted by Bakes

You know...one would think that other boat manufacturers would get on the "low speed wake" band wagon. If not for all their boats, at least for a couple of them. Cannot tell you how many threads I have seen extolling the virtue of the Malibu/Axis low speed (~18mph) wake and that they finally went with them because of it. Reality is that most people don't want to ride at 22mph and get concussed or trash their ACL.

In any case, sweet boat for sure. Enjoy.

In some instances that is great but you also suffer with the rough water ride because most of the boats that have a great low speed wake have very flat hulls. The others that don't have a great low speed wake have a deeper V and ride a lot better in rough water.

With my X23, I can get a clean wake for my nephew at 18-19 mph, but it requires zero ballast and some center tab. He rides at 55ft so the wake isn't all that wide, but the wake can get washy when you have a lot of people in the boat. But that is a trade off that I made for a better rough water ride for windy days.

Originally Posted by monkey_butt

so here's an update ... boat got delivered early February but I put it into storage right away ... so today was unwrap day of sorts ... tomorrow is clean up and installation and hopefully first water test .... uh play ... testing is boring ...

and did get a new boat lift - my floe VSD5000 had to go and picked up a VSD8000 ... so we should be good for a while?

Great looking boat. I have always loved the lines of the Malibus.

rough water ride is hardly an issue for me - lake we live on is small - so that wasn't a factor. W/o going back to my original requirements - wakeboarding is first - surfing comes second and a washy and VERY sensitive wake was not an option ... remember my dogs?

Originally Posted by davez71

In some instances that is great but you also suffer with the rough water ride because most of the boats that have a great low speed wake have very flat hulls. The others that don't have a great low speed wake have a deeper V and ride a lot better in rough water.

With my X23, I can get a clean wake for my nephew at 18-19 mph, but it requires zero ballast and some center tab. He rides at 55ft so the wake isn't all that wide, but the wake can get washy when you have a lot of people in the boat. But that is a trade off that I made for a better rough water ride for windy days.

Yes, this is definitely true. Where you go boating makes a difference in what will suit your needs. There is no doubt that a rough ride on a large and choppy lake sucks. I think flatter bottom boats tend to handle better as well, more like a sports care if you will, but that really isn't all that important either.

We have used an X23 for some wakeboard comps and it was very good. People liked it but you needed a bit of speed with full ballast to keep it clean. It surfed excellent.

Well and today was first surf day - chilly/windy but water temp now at 61 ... ordered the plug and play ballast earlier this week but didn't bother to plumb it all in ... huge mistake ... as there was no push on the wake just with stock ballast. Now as I said - wakeboarding is priority but it was pretty disappointing ...

Maybe I was expecting too much

Coming from an Epic, you had a ton of stock ballast. I'm sure you'll be happy once you get the plug and play in.

Originally Posted by monkey_butt

Well and today was first surf day - chilly/windy but water temp now at 61 ... ordered the plug and play ballast earlier this week but didn't bother to plumb it all in ... huge mistake ... as there was no push on the wake just with stock ballast. Now as I said - wakeboarding is priority but it was pretty disappointing ...

Maybe I was expecting too much

Get some 750lb bags for the back and 1000lb triangle for the front. Wedge at 3 spots up from lift. You will no longer be disappointed...