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WSxti dd vs WSlsv vd


jody house

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Hello! Malibu newby -- looking to buy a Malibu -- right now I am comparing an 04 WSxti (DD) vs 02 WSlsv (VD) --- both have 340 engine and comparable options. We are a family of 3 who slalom but gave wakeboarding a token try at the end of the season this year. Liked it and know our 8 year old will be wanting to get into it soon. Going for a 23ft boat because we always have LOTS of friends when we go to the lakehouse (imagine that?). Need some opinions on comparing the 2 boats wake for skiing...hoping for some bit of the best of both worlds...to be able to do some morning slaloming and then go out and learn some wakeboard tricks when everyone wants to go! Looked at the sunsetter 23 but really don't want to limit ourselves for wakeboarding with that boat -- like the built in ballast.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

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The 02 LSV has the Diamond hull (read waterski), and IIRC the only "built in ballast" on the boat is a sac in ski locker. Kind of gen 1 mls.

I love the lsv floor plan, lots of open space. The trunks are huge, and you'll be filling them with more ballast when you want to build a wake for either boarding or surfing. Make sure you get wedge in either case.

Welcome and good luck.

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Ignor my email, I thought you were asking about new Xti/LSV. As Useless_Male said above the 02 LSV was on the Diamond hull, which makes it better at skiing and less wakeboard specific. Either boat. Test drive/ski and tell us what you think!

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The '02 WSLSV has rear ballast tanks, the center ballast bag and wedge. It will have a better wakeboard wake due to the engine placement. As for the ski wake, once you are over 30 mph the diamond hull lifts and the wake starts to flatten. At 34-36 you will find the best ski wakes.

You may find that the XTI layout, while nice, does not have the room that you will find in the open V drive rear layout. However you may like the seperation it offers.

We ski and board and the WSLSV offered the best of both worlds for our tastes.

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I have an '03 WS 23LSV - last year of the diamond on the WS LSV.

Although not tournament quality wake it is definitely slalomable (?) at 30 mph - and gets very flat at 36 and 36.

I've skied it several times then turn around and load it with folks and ballast and surf it.

The floor plan is very friendly - we regularly have 10 to 13 folks on board and never a crowding problem

Well except a couple weekends ago at the WOW and TJ was trying to get a couple more 550 lb sacs in the floor while we had a full crew.

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Thanks to all for the information -- we have already skiied behind the '02WS lsv last week and will be trying the '04 WSxti today. Will have to see how the wake compares...

dlb (owner of a '02 WS lsv) -- you said the boat skis well above 30 mph -- what is it like between 22-29 mph (where my daughter and wife like to ski) -- any ideas? Have you been happy with your boat? Have you had any trouble with your perfect pass? I understand that there were some problems with pp on the WS in '02 --

t

hanks again for everyone's input -

feel free to send any more fyi's that anyone thinks of!!

information is golden!

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Both boats are great - The '02 does have a few less HP (is is 325 in '02) and the PP is a bit of an issue, though not a huge deal.

The layout and price & options should be your biggest concern between these two boats. The wakes will be similar, especially if you are only recreational skiing.

Here is my wake at 32

post-80-1130169535_thumb.jpg

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SacRiverRat -

thanks for the pic...

you mentioned the probs with pp on the '02 - can you elaborate? the '02 lsv we are looking at does NOT currently have pp but we will be having it installed...would we still have the potential for problems? Also - do you feel the 325 engine has plenty of power?

thanks

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SacRiverRat -

thanks for the pic...

you mentioned the probs with pp on the '02 - can you elaborate?  the '02 lsv we are looking at does NOT currently have pp but we will be having it installed...would we still have the potential for problems?  Also - do you feel the 325 engine has plenty of power?

thanks

:unsure: Ok... now you've called me out on my two issues with the boat. 1st, lemme say, that I'm a power freak. I love HP, so if I had my way, I'd have the 8.1 or hammerhead in my boat. I'm now running a much lower prop, which helps the hole shot quite a bit, and only cost me a couple MPH on the top end.

I run a bit more ballast (was up to 540lb per locker, but now down to 400/each) in the rear, and usually lots of people - so when loaded (with the wedge down) the boat had to work a bit. Without the weight or wedge, the boat handles great.

I installed the PP myself, and is a great way to go. The issues with the 02/03 LSV and PP has to do with with way the water flows under the hull when loaded & at wakeboarding speeds. The paddlewheel struggles a bit to get a good read. I've tried some different things, and understand that PP has a fix (much deeper paddlewheel). I haven't actually tried the PP fix yet.

After all that jib-jab... I wouldn't worry about the power or the PP issues. The power will be the same as the XTI- with similar folks, and weight.. so it is more a question of "is the monsoon enough for you" - and for most folks it is more than enough. The PP issue is just a little quirk, that should be something that you can do right the first time by ensuring PP knows you want the deep padlewheel when you order the unit.

Like I mentioned earlier - the layout is key. I love the V-drive layout, and the room in the LSV. Being able to all be in the conversation is great. I totally love my boat, and am in no hurry to replace it.

*edit*... oh and where are you from - don't be shy, step up, introduce yourself Biggrin.gif

... [dances off the stage] go Jody, introduce your self.. go Jody, introduce yourself Yahoo.gif

Edited by SacRiverRat
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Not sure if it matters to you or not but if you slalom ski with the XTi, you won't be able to seat anybody in the back if you use the center ski pole. On the LSV, you can still be full crew and pull someone slaloming off the ski pole. You could always use the grab handle rope mount on the XTi if it were full though.

We have an '01 LSV and I had 9 people on it when we went to Havasu and at sea level I didn't see any issues with power. I normally ride at ~4000 feet and it struggles a little there with a full load of people.

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Since I do not know what type of boat your daughter and wife have been skiing behind at 22-29 it would be tough to compare wakes. I will put it this way though, the slower you go, below 30, the more wake you have to contend with. It will be less then the wake you would have behind an I/O though.

My daughters, aged 9, 7 and 5 all ski in the 22-28 range. Going out of the wake for for the first time for any kid is a challenge. The oldest has been skiing since she was 4 and now is learning to be comfortable at 30 +. I think there might be slalom ski from a certian Mr. Claus coming her way.

My son, 11, is on the dark side. The more wake the better.

My wife likes the 32-34 speed because of the flattness of the wake. She used to like the slower speeds, but with a good ski setup and a good boat I just moved the speed up and she liked it. What she didn't know didn't hurt. Since it is the wake she likes, speed is not an issue.

I wakeboard and ski, with a little practice you can get the boat setup the way you want and then if is time for FUN! Yahoo.gif

Also, I have Perfect Pass with the paddle wheel fix. PP works fine for me.

Edited by dlb
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The '03 is nearly the same boat.

I got the paddle wheel fix directly from PP.

The ski wake at less than 30 does get bigger the slower you go - of course- but to repeat its still way better than an I/O wake at comparable speed.

Also either boat's wake will get bigger with more folks - even at slalom speeds.

Neither is gonna give tournament style ski wakes.

But both will give tournament style wakeboard wakes.

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I would have to go with the LSV, just for the room. On the xti the driver is all alone. Plus I would bet that next year you will be doing more boarding than ski. Plus the LSV puts out a great surf wake with the right lb's.

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The '03 is nearly the same boat.

I got the paddle wheel fix directly from PP.

The ski wake at less than 30 does get bigger the slower you go - of course- but to repeat its still way better than an I/O wake at comparable speed.

Also either boat's wake will get bigger with more folks - even at slalom speeds.

Neither is gonna give tournament style ski wakes.

But both will give tournament style wakeboard wakes.

I don't think either will produce tournament wakes, but for the level of wakeboarding you refer to, it really won't matter much. Both will have adequate wakes for beginning to intermediate riders. I'd ski them both and see what you think. I had the 03 LSV with the diamond hull and found it a bit challenging in the course, but fine for free-skiing. The LSV begins to plane around 23 mph - thus losing the wakeboard wake. It really doesn't clean up for slalom until you're north of 30. I skied my kids at 25 mph as a tradeoff between the slower speed they like and a wake size they can handle on the skinny stick.

Having said that, I'd pay alot of attention to layout and storage. The XTI doesn't have the storage we needed as we trailer and have to carry everything with us (boards, skis, tube, ropes, bumpers, safety equipment, jackets, food, clothes, etc.) That may not matter if you've got a place on the lake. The layout of the XTI definately seperates driver and observer from the rest of the crew. When the boats running the engine noise is between those groups. As the driver, I didn't want to be out of earshot of people's reactions, comments, jokes, etc.

Edited by LouDoc
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Thanks so much for the info -- we are still boat shopping but trying to narrow it down. We have pretty much r/o the xti (for the same reasons you gave). Right now we are looking at an 03LSV vs 04LSV --- all things being equal...do you think there is much difference in the 03 with the diamond hull? We really want to be able to ski some and will choose the 03 if the wake at 30 is noticably better unfortunately we can't find an 04 LSV that we can try (other than the xti) but my husband skiied behind an 02 LSV (diamond hull) and thought it was pretty good.

Guess it boils down to whether or not we want the diamod hull...is it going REALLY make a better ski wake?

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