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Any XTi owners on here at all? Feeling a little left out....


Sane Asylum

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Just curious.....Was searching for a thread or two to get some ideas on pricing for my boat (may try to sell / upgrade but not sure) and couldn't find anything. Also, why did you buy an XTi (if that was your decision). We've loved our boat but the reality of what we like to do points in the direction of a response and a LSV......Yes, owning both. My wife thinks this is an idea that's about as good as a multiple fracture of the femur....

Lemme know....

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My brother & 2 of my buddies own XTIs. Their all SkySki riders & love the boats. None are using any ballast or the Wedge in them.

Their all the Malibu quality. Just don't do the "best" wake for any discipline. :whistle:

Edited by Bill_AirJunky
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I have a 23XTI and love it. We have the power wedge which does make a difference. The wakeboarding wake is just as good as most once you get your crew situated. If you've got a small crew, you'll need some weight in the rear. If you've got a mix of skills, and disciplines, you can't beat the XTI. If you've got skiers, footers, boarders and surfers, the XTI does them all ok. It's not built to be the best at any ONE thing but I do think it's the best at doing ALL things. What I mean, is it isn't a Response when it comes to running the course, but you can get into 15, 22, or even 28 off behind it. It isn't a LSV when it comes to boarding unless you fill the rear seating area with ballast. and it's not a 24t for sheer size, but I routinely run with 12 people in my boat with no problems. What the XTI does give you is flexibility. If you want to foot at dawn, run the course right after breakfast, board before lunch and surf once things get blown out, you can do all that in the XTI. You'd be hard pressed to do the same (with the same quality wake in each) without changing boats at least 1 time. I wish they still made them (I want the MTC and new Tower) but don't want to give up the flexibility of the direct drive in a large boat.

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I got the 23 Xti for the reason it was made. I'm a skier by heart, but enjoy wakeboarding as well. I also have 4.5 kids and am a social boater so it fits us perfectly! I love going to the boat show and realizing that I still have my dream boat. It has front/rear ballast with a power wedge but rides on the diamond hull. Not a Response, but pretty dang good for a 23 foot boat. Oh man, now I've got the shakes...thanks for making me think about summer! Now if the clouds will just go away.....

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I have a 23 XTi as well. Suites me for my wakeboard skills once you get your weight distributed in it. I bought mine because it was a good deal, and local. Not too many Malibus in the 4 corners area.

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Accident with the wood chipper? :shocked:

:lol:

:thumbup:

That d@mn wood chipper had better not be responsible for the 0.5 kid! I'll kick his trash! We're expecting a little girl in June. It is our last, so I'll be facing the the ole urologist sometime this year. :cry:He's kind of a wood chipper.

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Just curious.....Was searching for a thread or two to get some ideas on pricing for my boat (may try to sell / upgrade but not sure) and couldn't find anything. Also, why did you buy an XTi (if that was your decision). We've loved our boat but the reality of what we like to do points in the direction of a response and a LSV......Yes, owning both. My wife thinks this is an idea that's about as good as a multiple fracture of the femur....

Lemme know....

We have an XTI and love it for most of the reasons that people mentioned previously. I like to slalom ski and I think the wakes are great given the boat's size. Tons of storage, and I love direct drive "feel" in terms of performance. Love the rear seating social area for when we're rafted up with friends and family. I attempt to cause bodily injury to myself by lowering the wedge, loading up the MLS, and think the wakes have decent ramp for pretty big tricks if you have the wakeboard skills - I am still working on that.

Now, this will probably start a fight, but you have to be a serious surfer or wakeboarder to want a Vdrive. That's the only thing a Vdrive's good for, honestly. Wakeboard/Suft Wake: Great. Handing: Average. Mainteance access: Lousy.

-- Mike

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Now, this will probably start a fight, but you have to be a serious surfer or wakeboarder to want a Vdrive. That's the only thing a Vdrive's good for, honestly. Wakeboard/Suft Wake: Great. Handing: Average. Mainteance access: Lousy.

A V-drive is good for hydrofoiling too. Plus it has storage to beat the band. Maintenance access, meh, not on the circa 2000 boats. If it's newer and you can afford a V-drive (:tomato:), you're taking it to the dealer anyways, let them deal with it.

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I will agree with the maintenance suggestion on a v-drive. My buddy has a v-drive supra and it is much harder to access the engine than on my XTi for obvious reasons

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We bought our xti because it seemed to fit the 'multipurpose' category. My wife and I ski and the 3 boys are all in the learning stage. While we will teach them to ski, they want to wakeboard or kneeboard and this boat works for both. I agree with the previous posts, the wake is acceptable when needed and works to slalom for skilled skiers. It all depends on your specific needs. I like the idea of owning specific boats for each activity, but I don't live on the water and can not afford that option even if I did.

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A V-drive is good for hydrofoiling too. Plus it has storage to beat the band. Maintenance access, meh, not on the circa 2000 boats. If it's newer and you can afford a V-drive (:tomato:), you're taking it to the dealer anyways, let them deal with it.

Gotta love the hydrofoil - here's my buddy Kevin behind the XTI (hopefully the link works)...I need more practice...

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/video/video.php?v=1790546040605

I have to turn wrenches to keep myself feeling useful around the house, so the only thing I get from the dealer is spare parts.

-- Mike

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Now, this will probably start a fight, but you have to be a serious surfer or wakeboarder to want a Vdrive. That's the only thing a Vdrive's good for, honestly. Wakeboard/Suft Wake: Great. Handing: Average. Mainteance access: Lousy.

-- Mike

Pre 2005 V drives, I agree. I never liked how the early VLXs drove, especially weighted down.

But when they changed to the Gorilla fins, they really changed how the boats performed. The VLXs, Vrides & LSVs made after like 2004 or 2005 really drive a lot better than the older ones.

I had a 94 MC 205 for 7 yrs. Loved how it drove..... like it's on rails. Even with 800 lbs of ballast on board. We did Around the Boats, DOUBLE Around the Boats, Around the Boat & Back, and hot picks all day long. Every one of those tricks takes a boat that really performs to do them, especially to do them consistently in front of a big crowd. And we had'em dialed.

In like 2004 I happened to drive my buddies new VLX & realized how much better it drove than his older 2001 VLX. It was huge. And that was when I started looking for a new boat. :rockon:

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We did Around the Boats, DOUBLE Around the Boats, Around the Boat & Back, and hot picks all day long. Every one of those tricks takes a boat that really performs to do them, especially to do them consistently in front of a big crowd. And we had'em dialed.

Got any vid. of that?

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Not much. Most everything is all on Hi8. It's a hard shot to get. I always wanted to shoot it from a really high bridge.... looking down on the trick as it all took place. Would be cool to show the boat & skiers paths.

One year, Jake found out that Grafton Smith was in town, he was one of Waterski Mags hot shot photographers. His assignment was to go check out the talent on Sammamish. This is back in the days Shapiro, Murray & Lavelle were living in the 3060 W Lake Sammamish house..... birthplace of the old 3060 bindings. Anyway, Kevin, Jake & I went out to hunt him down & show him what we had. Sure enough, with me driving & Jake & Kevin riding we nailed a double around the boat, one guy goes one way, the other guy goes around the other way, meet on the other side. But they threw in air rolls & gainers going in & out of the trick. Grafton was shocked & ended up going for a ride with us. He ended up publishing one of the shots of Jake in the piece called The Lake that never sleeps.

Funny thing was a few months later we were down in Parker, AZ. Just got there, walked down to the dock & Grafton was walking up. He'd been there shooting pics of Murphy, Klarich, Mack & Stack for like a week & he was done & buggin out. A month or two later there was a big story about the Parker Strip in Waterski Mag.

Heres a shot of us doin the double ATB behind Jake's old Prostar 190. I'm on the far left, just rode the whip behind the boat. Blaine is on the far side & just rode across the bow. Jake is driving.

AJdoubleRTBLarge.jpg

Sorry, Firefox tanked & had to restart.

Edited by Bill_AirJunky
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Not much. Most everything is all on Hi8. It's a hard shot to get. I always wanted to shoot it from a really high bridge.... looking down on the trick as it all took place. Would be cool to show the boat & skiers paths.

One year, Jake found out that Grafton Smith was in town, he was one of Waterski Mags hot shot photographers. His assignment was to go check out the talent on Sammamish. This is back in the days Shapiro, Murray & Lavelle were living in the 3060 W Lake Sammamish house..... birthplace of the old 3060 bindings. Anyway, Kevin, Jake & I went out to hunt him down & show him what we had. Sure enough, with me driving & Jake & Kevin riding we nailed a double around the boat, one guy goes one way, the other guy goes around the other way, meet on the other side. But they threw in air rolls & gainers going in & out of the trick. Grafton was shocked & ended up going for a ride with us. He ended up publishing one of the shots of Jake in the piece called The Lake that never sleeps.

Funny thing was a few months later we were down in Parker, AZ. Just got there, walked down to the dock & Grafton was walking up. He'd been there shooting pics of Murphy, Klarich, Mack & Stack for like a week & he was done & buggin out. A month or two later there was a big story about the Parker Strip in Waterski Mag.

Heres a shot of us doin the double ATB behind Jake's old Prostar 190. I'm on the far left, just rode the whip behind the boat. Blaine is on the far side & just rode across the bow. Jake is driving.

AJdoubleRTBLarge.jpg

Can't see it either.....

Me tinks a good boat driver is key..

Sorry, Firefox tanked & had to restart.

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Yea, it's tough to see in a still picture. Look at the boat wake & you can see he just turned a hard right & the bow of the boat was facing Blaine just a split second before the pic was taken.

I looked it up on Youtube & it looks like everyone has a tough time getting a shot so you can really see the path the boat & skiers are taking.

And no one is doing it on foils either. :rockon:

Heres one that claims the world record, 8 skiers going the same way around:

I was thinking the record was actually 10 skiers but I can't recall where that came from. Still really impressive. Check out how fast the farthest out skier has to go to make it around in time.

Heres one we used to call Barf-o-rama:

We were only ever able to do it with 1 rider at a time. But you just do them back to back to back till the whole lake is blown out. :crazy:

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