Diamond hull

[natman29]

I have an 07 VLX with the diamond hull. Didnt really know much about the hulls when it was purchased. Dealer said wake doesnt change until over 30 mph. Well the wake behind our boat with the wedge and stock ballast really isnt a good step up from our 03 response lx. Really dissapointing, and from what I hear it doesnt get any better with weight.

[vlx wakesetter]

Well the hull difference is a big factor depending on what water sport your family inquires. For obvious reasons if you only wakeboard you'd want the wake hull, but if you like to have a good cross over hull for slalom then yes the diamond hull is want you need. Sorry I can't tell you how to weight out a diamond hull but with the factory ballast and wedge I'd think it should throw a decent wake .

[sunscapeJeff]

Ours is on the 23 foot diamond hull, and I don't have too many complaints about the wake. It's a bit harder to create an awesome surf wake, but it can be done with enough weight that is properly placed.

[Hman442]

Ours is on the 23 foot diamond hull, and I don't have too many complaints about the wake. It's a bit harder to create an awesome surf wake, but it can be done with enough weight that is properly placed.

I agree. I don't have experience with your particular "Diamond" hull, but my '23 LSV is Diamond & several friends have '01 VLXs with Diamond hulls & with the wedge & some weight throw awesome wakeboarding & surfing wakes. I'm certain some others will chime in, hopefully some with experience with your hull. There is not usually alot of difference between the two hulls, especially at slow speeds, as the chines can't really do much until the water gets "hard" against the bottom of the boat.

[jetskipro550]

Your dealer screwed you. Sorry

[sunscapeJeff]

It does suck that the dealer sold you a Diamond hull when you were interested in a wake hull. Unless they gave you a significant discount. If they just sold you the Diamond hull because they wanted to clear out their floor model and just told you what you wanted to hear, that's just wrong.

[mook222]

Without asking a dealer, what is the easiest way to tell if it has a diamond hull versus the wake hull?

Is it the chines on the outside that you can see from the rear underneath the boat?

I had these on my 01 VLX, but I think it was the only option on the older VLX's. I want to make sure the 06 that is coming next week is the wake hull, but let me know if there is an easy way to tell if I have a pic from the undeside or transom of the boat.

Thx,

Mook

[DizzyG]

your dealer is full of it! Malibu sent us an '06 VLX with a diamond hull, the dealer tried to get us to take it even though we wanted the wake hull. We agreed to try it out, it sucked compared to the real deal. We got to keep that boat for over a month while an identical boat (except for the hull) was rushed to us. So, I can give you a comparison for wakeboarding.

We loaded that boat with stock and wedge and it was alright, but disappointing. We then added weight all over and with various placings of the power wedge. The best we found was wedged with around 600-700 in each trunk and another 400-500 in the nose. It was pretty good and I was starting to think we might be happy with it.

Then, the real deal showed up, we too it out, stock ballast and wedge and it blew the diamond away even when the diamond was loaded with extra weight.

yes, it can throw a nice wake!

yes, there is a huge difference even below 30MPH

if you are mostly wakeboarding, the diamond hull is probably the wrong one for you.

I rode both for some time, a full month and a half (maybe just shy of the half) with the diamond and now over a year with the wake hull. If you toss the weight we had in the diamond hull into the wake hull, it gets even bigger!

We never got a great surf wake out of the diamond

[BantamVTX08]

I ordered the VTX with diamond because at this point I'm not entirely sure how often or not I'll have riders that prefer a smaller wake for skiing. I also reasoned that the diamond hull would give me good cross-over characteristics...hopefully even better than the CC SV-211 I was close to buying. I felt (I'm a novice mind you) that the wake on the BU was alot smoother and probably better to control for all different levels of wakeriding.

I am surprised to hear there is THAT much of a noticeable wake height/shape difference when cruising OFF plane on either of the two hulls. I thought the real difference came into play when getting ON plane where the diamond cut hull would help keep the hull that much higher out of the water thereby reducing the wake height at ski length.

So my question is how much difference does the diamond hull make when ON plane for skiing? Is there a significant difference? Someone mentioned that the wake thrown behind the diamond might spread out wider than the wake hull. Anyone have experience? My spray date is scheduled next week and although I know my dealer would be frustrated with me I want to make the best informed decision on all this. This thread may help me ultimately decide which way to go. If I do make a change in hulls, does this jeopardize my delivery date?

[UWSkier]

So my question is how much difference does the diamond hull make when ON plane for skiing? Is there a significant difference? Someone mentioned that the wake thrown behind the diamond might spread out wider than the wake hull. Anyone have experience? My spray date is scheduled next week and although I know my dealer would be frustrated with me I want to make the best informed decision on all this. This thread may help me ultimately decide which way to go. If I do make a change in hulls, does this jeopardize my delivery date?

It makes a HUGE difference for slalom skiing. Remember, it's always possible to load a boat with a ton of weight to get a decent boarding wake, but it's impossible to change the shape of your hull to get a good slalom wake. If you only plan on wakeboarding part-time, and need a nice slalom wake, the Diamond is the way to go.

We don't wakeboard a lot, but we do surf quite a bit with our '01 VLX on the Diamond hull. It doesn't take an inordinate amount of weight to make a really really nice surf wave. I use 500 in the bow, 500 under the side seats, 600 in the back, Wedge, and 300-1000 lbs of VAB and get a really nice wave with a long pocket.

BTW, when J-Ro and LSOne were up a couple weeks back, J-Ro was throwing inverts on a borrowed wakeboard that was too small for him behind a Diamond V drive with no tower, the wedge, and 500 lbs of bow ballast. Maybe if that wake isn't big enough, you need to work on your technique???

[sunscapeJeff]

BTW, when J-Ro and LSOne were up a couple weeks back, J-Ro was throwing inverts on a borrowed wakeboard that was too small for him behind a Diamond V drive with no tower, the wedge, and 500 lbs of bow ballast. Maybe if that wake isn't big enough, you need to work on your technique???

[BantamVTX08]

So my question is how much difference does the diamond hull make when ON plane for skiing? Is there a significant difference? Someone mentioned that the wake thrown behind the diamond might spread out wider than the wake hull. Anyone have experience? My spray date is scheduled next week and although I know my dealer would be frustrated with me I want to make the best informed decision on all this. This thread may help me ultimately decide which way to go. If I do make a change in hulls, does this jeopardize my delivery date?

It makes a HUGE difference for slalom skiing. Remember, it's always possible to load a boat with a ton of weight to get a decent boarding wake, but it's impossible to change the shape of your hull to get a good slalom wake. If you only plan on wakeboarding part-time, and need a nice slalom wake, the Diamond is the way to go.

We don't wakeboard a lot, but we do surf quite a bit with our '01 VLX on the Diamond hull. It doesn't take an inordinate amount of weight to make a really really nice surf wave. I use 500 in the bow, 500 under the side seats, 600 in the back, Wedge, and 300-1000 lbs of VAB and get a really nice wave with a long pocket.

BTW, when J-Ro and LSOne were up a couple weeks back, J-Ro was throwing inverts on a borrowed wakeboard that was too small for him behind a Diamond V drive with no tower, the wedge, and 500 lbs of bow ballast. Maybe if that wake isn't big enough, you need to work on your technique???

I think whatever wake the VTX diamond can throw at us will be more than enough for the level of riding we will be capable of. If I really need more at some point, I'll buy ballast bags to supplement the stock wake. I'm no J-Ro!

Without knowing for certain the % use of skiing vs wakeboarding/surfing we'll being doing, I think I'm going about this the right way... The fact that you believe the diamond hull makes a HUGE difference for skiing but not so much so on the wakeboarding side leaves me to believe there's no need to change my order. If anyone in my family gets to the level of wake riding that the VTX diamond just can't do, we'll just have to buy another boat at that time.

This is my first boat ever... I can't wait!

[68Slalom]

So my question is how much difference does the diamond hull make when ON plane for skiing? Is there a significant difference? Someone mentioned that the wake thrown behind the diamond might spread out wider than the wake hull. Anyone have experience? My spray date is scheduled next week and although I know my dealer would be frustrated with me I want to make the best informed decision on all this. This thread may help me ultimately decide which way to go. If I do make a change in hulls, does this jeopardize my delivery date?

It makes a HUGE difference for slalom skiing. Remember, it's always possible to load a boat with a ton of weight to get a decent boarding wake, but it's impossible to change the shape of your hull to get a good slalom wake. If you only plan on wakeboarding part-time, and need a nice slalom wake, the Diamond is the way to go.

We don't wakeboard a lot, but we do surf quite a bit with our '01 VLX on the Diamond hull. It doesn't take an inordinate amount of weight to make a really really nice surf wave. I use 500 in the bow, 500 under the side seats, 600 in the back, Wedge, and 300-1000 lbs of VAB and get a really nice wave with a long pocket.

BTW, when J-Ro and LSOne were up a couple weeks back, J-Ro was throwing inverts on a borrowed wakeboard that was too small for him behind a Diamond V drive with no tower, the wedge, and 500 lbs of bow ballast. Maybe if that wake isn't big enough, you need to work on your technique???

I think whatever wake the VTX diamond can throw at us will be more than enough for the level of riding we will be capable of. If I really need more at some point, I'll buy ballast bags to supplement the stock wake. I'm no J-Ro!

Without knowing for certain the % use of skiing vs wakeboarding/surfing we'll being doing, I think I'm going about this the right way... The fact that you believe the diamond hull makes a HUGE difference for skiing but not so much so on the wakeboarding side leaves me to believe there's no need to change my order. If anyone in my family gets to the level of wake riding that the VTX diamond just can't do, we'll just have to buy another boat at that time.

This is my first boat ever... I can't wait!

Your going to love your boat, we saw one at the dealer a few weeks ago and they said it was the hottest selling model. They are small, great for water skiing and good enough for your beginner to mid advanced wakeboarder.

[68Slalom]

I have an 07 VLX with the diamond hull. Didnt really know much about the hulls when it was purchased. Dealer said wake doesnt change until over 30 mph. Well the wake behind our boat with the wedge and stock ballast really isnt a good step up from our 03 response lx. Really dissapointing, and from what I hear it doesnt get any better with weight.

Your dealer could have given you more information and I think they sold you what they had available , but I think you didn't ask the right questions either. Coming from a 03 response you should see a difference and as mentioned above you can play with the position of the wedge to really get a bigger wake, we have been playing with ours all summer and found the perfect set up, now we just need to work on our form.

[natman29]

Yeah well its depressing. All we do is wakeboard. And really I feel like not wakeboarding anymore. Im happy we have a decent boat but really the wake behind it holds me back as a rider. We did ask questions and I was really sceptical of the hull being a crossover/more aimed for slalom. The dealer knew we were looking for a wakeboard boat, and he knew I was a decent rider looking for a big wake. We tooled with the wedge for a while and found the best to be at 1/2 way, but still not a good wake at all. I really didnt want to have to be filling sacs every session.

[natman29]

oh and yes I know its the diamond hull, two chimes on each side. I looked a while back but again the dealer metioned that "it wont make a difference over 30 mph" which is stupid because then there would really be no point for a wake hull

[Hack]

Yeah well its depressing. All we do is wakeboard. And really I feel like not wakeboarding anymore. Im happy we have a decent boat but really the wake behind it holds me back as a rider. We did ask questions and I was really sceptical of the hull being a crossover/more aimed for slalom. The dealer knew we were looking for a wakeboard boat, and he knew I was a decent rider looking for a big wake. We tooled with the wedge for a while and found the best to be at 1/2 way, but still not a good wake at all. I really didnt want to have to be filling sacs every session.

Are you the buyer of this boat (paid with money you earned) or are you a minor who's parents bought a beautiful new boat? You don't sound like the person that actually paid to me but I'm asking because I don't like to assume. I'll have more feedback based on your response to the question above.

[DizzyG]

natman - if you want the massive wake you shoudl have gotten the wake hull. half of these people that are giving you advise either don't board or don't want the massive wake for beginning to intermediate boarders. I took a couple advanced riders out on the diamond we had, sure they could still do nearly anything they can normally do behind the diamond hull, but it's not as easy, they were obviously not going as big. I still landed backrolls and scarecrows without issue behind the diamond, it was just harder.

We switched to the wake hull and it is a HUGE difference. You can get a nice wake out of the diamond, we got a nice wake out of our '95 sunsetter D-Drive, you just need lots more weight to get close to that of the wake hull.

To the people babling on and on about skiing and crossover, do you run a course? Do people that don't run a course care that much or even notice? My bet is NO they don't!

I don't ski a course, but I could probably hit the first 2 or 3 if I tried it, I used to ski a lot! I have skied behind the wake and diamond hulls of identical boats. I noticed a difference but it didn't effect my riding for fun. If I were trying to hit a course or really tear it up, I wouldn't like the wake hull wake, but I'm not, nor are the wallys I bring out with me to ski. One of them goes off the tower on two skis and jumps wake to wake constantly, he loves it! It all depends on your crowd.

If your dealer told you there would be no difference, I'd be going in and having a talk with them! Get them to take that thing back if it's not what you wanted! They talked you into something and told you incorrect information.

[DizzyG]

to the dealer comment about 1/2 down with the wedge, I did notice that seemed to make it nicer behind the diamond. It drove a little funny like that and ours ended up stuck in that position, not sure if that is because it was a very early version of the power wedge or what. I think I read others having that issue. Our new wedge looks different than the original power wedge and we haven't had that issue, we haven't been running it half down for long periods of time either

[NorCaliBu]

Short Hi-Jack -

...I don't ski a course, but I could probably hit the first 2 or 3 if I tried it, I used to ski a lot!...

Always makes me laugh when people who don't ski a course make comments like that. No offense but if you haven't skied a slalom course you have no idea just how difficult it is.

[/hi-jack]

To the OT...If the dealer told you he was selling you a "wake hull" and you ended up with a "diamond hull"...take it back. It's not what you were promised. If the dealer told you the diamond hull would be "just as good"...well, that's a subjective opinion and could be a little stickier but I'd still let everyone (the dealership management, owner, and possibly Malibu management) know that you're not happy. That's a lot of dough to not get what you want.

Good luck...keep us posted.

[SacRiverRat]

Yeah well its depressing. All we do is wakeboard. And really I feel like not wakeboarding anymore. Im happy we have a decent boat but really the wake behind it holds me back as a rider. We did ask questions and I was really sceptical of the hull being a crossover/more aimed for slalom. The dealer knew we were looking for a wakeboard boat, and he knew I was a decent rider looking for a big wake. We tooled with the wedge for a while and found the best to be at 1/2 way, but still not a good wake at all. I really didnt want to have to be filling sacs every session.

Are you the buyer of this boat (paid with money you earned) or are you a minor who's parents bought a beautiful new boat? You don't sound like the person that actually paid to me but I'm asking because I don't like to assume.

[DizzyG]

always makes me feel sick when skiers offer boat hull advise to boarders

I'd love to try to run a course but on the public lake I've lived on for 30 years there isn't one available. I skied since I was very young until around 18 when I started wakeboarding. At that time, I probably could have hit at least the first 2-3 as that's all we did every weekend and most weeknights, no course but still did what we could with what we could.

I still enjoy taking a run here and there without a course, I've gone to several ski competitions, malibu open etc, seen the course, been in the boat for course runs, I still stay with my original statement that I could probably hit the first two, I am not completely disillusioned. Give me a weekend on a course and I could get the first few. Do I have any desire to ski a course - HELL NO! I was just trying to show that I have some skiing ability. And, that I had ridden (ski and board) the same hull, same year, same model boat. Both for more than a run or two. I had that Diamond hull pile for almost a month and a half and was trying to give the guy some feedback from a person who can actually ride and has ridden both.

[68Slalom]

always makes me feel sick when skiers offer boat hull advise to boarders

I'd love to try to run a course but on the public lake I've lived on for 30 years there isn't one available. I skied since I was very young until around 18 when I started wakeboarding. At that time, I probably could have hit at least the first 2-3 as that's all we did every weekend and most weeknights, no course but still did what we could with what we could.

I still enjoy taking a run here and there without a course, I've gone to several ski competitions, malibu open etc, seen the course, been in the boat for course runs, I still stay with my original statement that I could probably hit the first two, I am not completely disillusioned. Give me a weekend on a course and I could get the first few. Do I have any desire to ski a course - HELL NO! I was just trying to show that I have some skiing ability. And, that I had ridden (ski and board) the same hull, same year, same model boat. Both for more than a run or two. I had that Diamond hull pile for almost a month and a half and was trying to give the guy some feedback from a person who can actually ride and has ridden both.

That's what I thought!! I even considered myself a great skier until I tried the course and now find myself rating my skills in the beginner class. I don't talk about how well I can ski anymore..........it has been a reality check for me

[natman29]

A bit of an update for you guys. We have 70 hours on our 07 VLX and today after talking to the dealer its time to trade in for next season. Were going to change it for a VLX Silver Edition. Two have been returned on trade in, one with 8 hours the other with 30. The difference will be around 10k but for as much boarding as I will do next summer, hopefully everyday it wont be all too bad. Going to test the SE in the next few weeks. Aswell we had the monsoon on our VLX and it was a little underpowered, the SE has the 383 and the acme 12 prop. Excited.

[nathan lucas]

the wake hull is narrower than a dimond hull

with the wake hull the water making up the wake is alot harder so insted of riding through the wake on the dimond hull the wake hull pops you strait up

you got jibbed by your dealer

with the dimond hull if you load it up there is no where near the size wake if you loaded up the wake hull with the same amount of ballast

you will be able to progress behind a dimond hull but your never going to land pro level tricks behind the dimond hull

the way to tell the difference between the two hulls is

dimond chimes concave over themselves holding air under the hull making it sit higher in the water it also has a larger flat sop than the wake hull in the rudder area of the hull

wake hull chimes dont concave over themselves and there is a smaller flat spot where the rudder is at the back of the hull