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VTX - Cut-diamond vs. Wake Hull


Big Clyde

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Does anyone know how much difference in the ski wake the cut-diamond hull on the VTX makes as compared to the wake hull? Is the VTX with the cut-diamond the best v-drive crossover boat in the Malibu lineup?

I'm thinking of moving from my Sunsetter LXI to a v-drive (mainly to get more room for the kids and their freinds), but want to sacrifice the ski wake as little as possible.

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We have the cut diamond on ours, and it is pretty impressive. I am big into skiing, so it is good for that...while my brother prefers the board sports (as do most visitors)...Overall I don't think you will be disappointed by the wake behind the cut diamond in any situation...

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My view is from the wakeboarder side. But I have heard many good things about the VTX Diamond for skiing and footing. The pics above tell a good story.

That said you do lose quite a bit of wake with the diamond hull at wake speeds. People will say you cannot tell unless you are a pro, and I have to respectfully and completely disagree. I am no pro and when I bought my VTX I demoed both and with identical set ups the difference was very noticeable. Sorry to be negative just wanted to let you know the other side. I just rolled over 200 hours on mine and I am still grinning ear to ear about how much I love it.

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Does anyone know how much difference in the ski wake the cut-diamond hull on the VTX makes as compared to the wake hull? Is the VTX with the cut-diamond the best v-drive crossover boat in the Malibu lineup?

I'm thinking of moving from my Sunsetter LXI to a v-drive (mainly to get more room for the kids and their freinds), but want to sacrifice the ski wake as little as possible.

You should ski them both. Also loading the bow ballast with some weight is supposed to help the slalom wake a bit. I elected to forego the tank for extra storage, in hindsight maybe should have got the tank though. The wake hull on the VTX has a pretty nice wake at slalom speeds, maybe a little cleaner but marginally taller than the diamond. It is a little more rounded than the diamond. I don't think you should rule out a wake hull until you ski it, especially if there is an inventory boat you can get a good deal on. Otherwise try them and get what you want.

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I think the VTX with the cut diamond hull is the best crossover boat available. If you're into slalom, definitely go with the diamond hull. While I'm sure you do sacrifice some wakeboarding peformance, my understanding is the majority (not all, but most) of impact from the diamond hull is above 28-30 mph.

Here's a video of a friend of mine skiing on Lake Powell in my '09 VTX with the cut diamond hull. 35 mph, with 9 (!) people in the boat. It's in full HD, so be sure to click the "HQ" button:

The wake's better with fewer people, obviously, but I was impressed with both:

1. how 9 adults (no kids) were able to fit in the boat with gear with room for one more to spare

2. the resulting wake with a pretty full boat

t

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I think Pearl summed it up 100%. There's lots of good posts with information here on the board so do a search.

This a buddy who is a short line hard free skier. He shredded it up pretty good behind our VTX. Quote: "pretty good for a v-drive". We had two people in the bow, tanks empty:

P6070384.JPG

Edited by CTSunsetter
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The Cut Diamond Hull on the 20' malibu VTX / LSV is the best ski wake you can get from a Malibu V-Drive. The 20' Malibu VTX / LSV is likely the second best ski wake from a Malibu V-Drive . I do not have back to back comparison between the CD and Wake hulls but the CD hull was designed to optimize the slalom wake and the Wake hull was designed to optimize the wake for wakeboarding. There shouldn't be much discussion on this fact. I pulled a slalom skier behind my CD VTX who routinely does 35' off behind his 196 correct craft. At 35 mph and 22' off he didn't like it (rooster was sizable) but still he looked very good. Beyond 22' off he said the wake disappears and he got into 35' off with little trouble. He was very impressed with the wake and spray at the shorter line lengths. That day we were on a private ski lake with barely a ripple. We had a full fuel tank (1st run after filling the tank), 4 adults in the boat and no ballast or people up front. Now, I will say that it isn't the wake of a Reponse but for a V-Drive very impressive for slalom. I do expect that you loose some boarding performance on the Cut Diamond Hull vs the Wake hull but the boarders that I have pulled have been very happy compared to their X2 and X15. Frankly, the X15 had a bigger wake but they really liked the shape of the VTX with the Cut Diamond Hull. They could do all their tricks behind mine that they could do behind the X2 or X15 or any other wakeboard boat for that matter.

If slalom is your priority but you NEED a V-Drive look for the Cut Diamond Hull but don't pass on a great wake hull deal either. You may find yourself spending more time on the wakeboard with the bigger wakes of a V-Drive.

With all that said, If I could do it over, I would still buy the exact same boat that I have now: VTX - Cut Diamond Hull, Titan III, and Hammerhead engine. Absolutely no regrets, except maybe I would have liked to have bought it one year earlier to have one more year of enjoyment.

Edited by Matt_Alger
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I'll chime in here too. We were faced with a very similar decision with our VTX last fall. Our first test ride was behind the CD and my wife (the skier) loved it, smiling ear to ear. I had fun skating behind it with the MLS fully loaded and the wedge did change the shape enough to make it a huge improvement from our previous boat. I wanted to compare the differences too, so we took out the Wake Hull and it made a difference in both ski and board wakes. I was more impressed with the wake and since I ride more often than my wife, we opted for the wake hull. I feel a little guilty every time she gets in the water and there is a little more wake for her to deal but it was the decision we made and were prepared to deal with.

If you are a skier, then you want the best boat for you. If you are forking out the cash for it then I don't think the people you are taking out have the right to complain about the size or shape of wake when they are riding, as long as you are happy when you are skiing. If we went with the CD, I know would be wondering the entire time about how much better the wake hull would be. I guess I could have blamed my inability to land certain tricks on the CD hull and now I can only blame myself.

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Well took me a while to finally get out on my new VTX with wake hull. I only got one run in, but I can say without a doubt the wake with the wake hull is very different then the Cut Diamond. The CD hull that I demo'd hardly had a wake, I cut across it with the smallest of bumps. Actually thought it was too small. On the wake hull I had to absorb more of a bump, it was still worlds better then the old IO. I don't regret the Wake Hull, because that was the boat I could afford (bankrupt dealer boat, no other choices). It was still the second best ski I had in 20 years (#1 was the CD on my demo).

I will say it wasn't apples to apples though, on the CD I was probably going around 31 with a 65 foot rope, on my wake hull I was going 28 with a 75 foot rope. I don't know how much of a difference that makes, but just to be sure, next weekend I will try more variations.

Again regardless loved the boat, but if your a hard core skier or coming off a ski boat, you will really want to try the CD hull.

Good Luck

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Well took me a while to finally get out on my new VTX with wake hull. I only got one run in, but I can say without a doubt the wake with the wake hull is very different then the Cut Diamond. The CD hull that I demo'd hardly had a wake, I cut across it with the smallest of bumps. Actually thought it was too small. On the wake hull I had to absorb more of a bump, it was still worlds better then the old IO. I don't regret the Wake Hull, because that was the boat I could afford (bankrupt dealer boat, no other choices). It was still the second best ski I had in 20 years (#1 was the CD on my demo).

I will say it wasn't apples to apples though, on the CD I was probably going around 31 with a 65 foot rope, on my wake hull I was going 28 with a 75 foot rope. I don't know how much of a difference that makes, but just to be sure, next weekend I will try more variations.

Again regardless loved the boat, but if your a hard core skier or coming off a ski boat, you will really want to try the CD hull.

Good Luck

speed up to 31 and shorten the rope to 65 and they will be a lot closer. That extra 3 MPH will help flatten the wake for sure.

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Friday morning at 6am I will try that out. Can't wait to get back out there and play with it. Other differences I thought about were the demo boat with CD had 10 gallons of gas and no equipment on it. I had a full tank and a decent amount of gear.

I'll give another review after this weekend.

Thanks for the info.

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Friday morning at 6am I will try that out. Can't wait to get back out there and play with it. Other differences I thought about were the demo boat with CD had 10 gallons of gas and no equipment on it. I had a full tank and a decent amount of gear.

I'll give another review after this weekend.

Thanks for the info.

Some say taking boards/skis off the racks and having the bimini folded up also helps. I haven't tried myself, but if you really want to optimize the slalom wake, that might be the way to go...

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Not to hijack but I am very curious about the VTX. It says the hull is the V25 wake. Does this mean its the SAME hull as the VLX that lists as V25 wake as well? If so that makes me very interested in the VTX because of the size. Thanks for any help.

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same hull jus sorter in length but on the vtx the wake will not be the same as a vlx, its just no possible without addind quite a bit of weight,

my mate over here in aus has a 07 vlx with wake hull and power wedge and the 4 ballast tanks, nd another mate of mine has an 08 vtx with wakehull 4 tanks and power wedge, the size is definately noticeable but its still an awesome wake.

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How would it compare to the V Ride same year aka old vlx.

same hull jus sorter in length but on the vtx the wake will not be the same as a vlx, its just no possible without addind quite a bit of weight,

my mate over here in aus has a 07 vlx with wake hull and power wedge and the 4 ballast tanks, nd another mate of mine has an 08 vtx with wakehull 4 tanks and power wedge, the size is definately noticeable but its still an awesome wake.

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I first bought a 2007 VTX with CD hull. The slalom was great everywhere except 22 off as the rooster is pretty big. It surfed excellent without additional ballast (it had all four stock tanks) and was pretty decent for wakeboarding. I sold that boat and bought an 08 VTX Wake hull and find that the slalom wake is pretty poor in comparison. The only place it is close is at 15 and 22 off. 22 off is actually a little better on the wake hull. However, once you try to get any deeper the wake hull has some pretty deep troughs on each side of the wake. I was out tonight with 3/4 tank of gas and 5 people in the boat skiing at 32 off with the bow tank full and empty and it just wasn't that great either way. My son who is a boarder does prefer the wake hull though. If we have enough people we usually don't even use the wedge. Just full ballst and a little slower speed like 21-22 mph.

So, If you are into slalom I would go with the CD hull.

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  • 13 years later...

Here is my 2007 Malibu VTX - WAKE HULL at 22' Off 30mph, 3/4 tank full of gas and 4 adults in the boat (All sitting in the bow...except the driver & video recorder! LOL).  The wake is best for slalom skiing with 1/4 tank of gas and two people in the boat.  I wanted to post this to show everyone what the wake hull looks like for slalom skiing.....debated forever about which hull to buy.....by accident ended up with the Wake Hull! LOL   Since we spend most of the day surfing.....I'm loving the wake hull!  We only ski at the crack of dawn, when the water is smooth!  The rest of the day is surfing and wake boarding.  I've been impressed with the surf wake it puts out with just the stock ballasts & Power Wedge (Rear and Center - I don't have the front tank).  I can surf it with my wife and kids in the boat...and they are all tiny and light!  Throw a bunch of adults it the boat and you have a monster wake....no added ballast bags....just a nauticurl Wake shaper!  Anyways hope this helps someone in the future!

 

Edited by Steveorino
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