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Potential boat "upgrade".....maybe


vette-ski

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OK, so literally days before I decide to start drilling holes all over my boat for a ballast install, I run across something that now has me thinking. I find a deal on a 2004 "22'6" wakesetter" so I'm looking for a little info from the crew before I drive over and take a look. The pics on-line aren't that great, but I see 23LSV on the back. I looked at the hull chart and and see there is a 23' Wakesetter LSV and a Sunscape 23LSV. Can anybody ID this as for sure being a Wakesetter? Looks like it may have front MLS from the pic. Only reason why I'm curious is I still to do rec slalom from time to time and I'm thinking my days of skiing would be done with a V25 Wake. The Sunscape is still on some variant of the Diamond, although it still may not be all that good for skiing. Also, it's listed as having a 340 hammerhead, which is obviously wrong. From the pic of the motor, I think it's probably a Monsoon but I don't have any experience with these to know for sure. Look familiar to anyone?

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The last pic is a little small to be sure, but that looks like a wake hull to me (no reversal on the chines that I can see). FWIW, '04 was the first year of the newer hull (the brand new design is '08). Prior to '04 all 23' boats were on the older V25 Diamond hull. Motor could be either the Monsoon or Hammerhead (I'd want the Monsoon from that year), since they look very similar from that angle.

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I never had any problems with mine, but there were enough that it would be an engine that I'd avoid unless I really knew the boat. Add to it that it was a motor that performed better in the mid range & upper end, but lacked some of the torque that the Monsoon had so for a wakeboarding application it was less than ideal. We propped ours down, & I'll tell ya that once it hit the mid range it was a lot of fun. Biggrin.gif But talk to Stewart, he went through 3 Hammerheads in his '04 & can speak more intelligently than I can about the specific problems that those motors had. On a side note, the lead service guy that was working for my dealer at the time was the one that came up with the fix for the problems that that engine had.

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The oval shaped aluminum badge on top of the engine looks just like mine. "Monsoon 340"

The Hammerhead badge looked identical, it just had the 380 etched behind the lettering for engine name. Here's a pic of the HH in our '04:

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If it was a Fakesetter (Wakesetter on the diamond hull) then it would still have all of the ballast options. The best way to tell is the chines on the hull. If you can get a better (bigger) picture of the rear, you'll be golden.

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How good of deal is it? Skiing behind a 23 LSV isn't going to be great, but it could be a great upgrade if you can sell your boat for good price.

-Chris

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Thanks guys (and gal). I'm probably going to go check it out. Decisions, decisions. I'm in a perfect cross-over boat now. Not sure if I'm ready to take the plunge fully to a wake boat yet. So, we'll see how this turns out.

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When you count gear....yes it's not uncommon. I keep adding more and more racks to the tower to get boards and skis out of the floor and bow seats. Typical outing is 5-6 people. Maximum has be 9-10 on a few occasions.

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Seems like I saw that you were wanting to or getting into surfing. In the past I have always had sacs laying around and stuffed in the lockers. People sitting on the sac on the seats etc. Since the Pro X Group Buy, that is not the case. I've got the same weight in the boat with NO ballast showing for regular side surfers (none of our crew is goofy). It's all hidden. We tried the same thing on a VLX and there was not enough room under the side seat. Now people can actually sit on the side seat when we are surfing.

I took out the above the floor hard tanks and plumbed in the 750 Pro X's. I put a ProX rear seat bottom (650 lbs)on the port side UNDER the seat. You can't fill completely but it's close. Now besides the factory Quad ballast we've got the 750 in the locker and the 650 under the seat.

What I'm try to say here is there is a ton of storage room in the 23LSV. Comfy if you have 2 or 10 in the boat.

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Well, I went for a look today. Overall, I was less than impressed with condition. It's amazing how some people don't take good care of their expensive toys. At any rate, I'm still doing further investigation. It does have the hammerhead engine. I need to research possible issues there. It appears to have been regularly exposed to the elements (on an uncovered lift maybe?). All of the aluminum (racks, speakers, emblems) looked pitted and almost corroded. Fixable though. I'm concerned with fitting under a 7' garage door. I could measure the top of the windshield line to ground. Can anyone give me a measurement of how high the highest point of the illusion tower is above the glass when folded down. I'm thinking no way it will fit but I should check. The trailer did sit LOW. One other thing....I noticed spider web cracks in the gel around the base of the tower. Is this common for the Illusion?

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Well, I went for a look today. Overall, I was less than impressed with condition. It's amazing how some people don't take good care of their expensive toys. At any rate, I'm still doing further investigation. It does have the hammerhead engine. I need to research possible issues there. It appears to have been regularly exposed to the elements (on an uncovered lift maybe?). All of the aluminum (racks, speakers, emblems) looked pitted and almost corroded. Fixable though. I'm concerned with fitting under a 7' garage door. I could measure the top of the windshield line to ground. Can anyone give me a measurement of how high the highest point of the illusion tower is above the glass when folded down. I'm thinking no way it will fit but I should check. The trailer did sit LOW. One other thing....I noticed spider web cracks in the gel around the base of the tower. Is this common for the Illusion?

Common enough. Both of my mounts have it, & the boat's getting ready to go into the f/g repair shop for that & a few other issues. I've been reading of it enough to think that it could be considered common.

You need to check the tower. The quick release, spring loaded system wasn't available in '04, so quickly dropping the tower may not be an option. Even so, getting it under a 7' door will be a challenge at best (even with a lowrider option on the trailer, which it sounds like it may have), if it can be done at all.

I found a good topic that discusses the issues that the Hammerhead 380 had - Link. We put a lot of hours on ours with no issues at all, but stewart never got more than 20 on any of the 3 engines that were in his '04 so YMMV.

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We have the spider web cracks around the base of the tower. This year when it is time to put the boat up for winter, I plan to have the tower repowder-coated and while it is off have the spider cracks repaired.

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We have the spider web cracks around the base of the tower. This year when it is time to put the boat up for winter, I plan to have the tower repowder-coated and while it is off have the spider cracks repaired.

Funny, we're thinking about doing something different with the tower color on ours as well while it's off. We have less time to decide though, it goes into the shop within the next 2 weeks.

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How many hours on that bad boy, most of those hammerheads that went boom did it in the first 100 hours or so.

-Chris

138 hours

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How good a deal is a "good deal". There is nothing worse than inheriting someone elses issues. If a boat that is for sale, looks a little beat, the I can't imagine that it got great care. Most people clean up their shiz when they try and sell it - so this is the probably the best it has looked in years.

Obviously you can use that to your advantage, and give him a low-ball offer. If it is all cosmetic stuff (probably is) then get a great deal, spend some $ fixing the stuff, and have a much bigger boat.

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