Sportster LX 2002

[Jess-797]

Hey

I'm

From Australia but looking to buy a Malibu. We recently went and looked at the sportster LX 2002 and were impressed. Does anyone have any recommendations or opinions on this boat? We use it in a fresh water river over summer and use it for family kneeboarding and skiing. (a little slalom! ) we have been waterskiing for the last thirty years so as decided its time for a Malibu!

We have also looked at the Malibu 2000 response today. Any thoughts?

The response has 280 hours and the sportster 580

Thanks

Jess

[Scotty's Sporty]

Hey there my friend, to some it up (I have a 2002 sporty lx) more on the Sporty than the Response, I am sure others will chime in The sporty doesn't have any glitz or glam it is all business with almost no storage, it will do anything you want it to do and do it well especially in the skiing world, I can load it down with 1450lbs. and the wedge and produce a pretty nice wake for wakeboarding or favor one side and even surf it. But strip the weight out of it and get the slalom ski out or the barefoot suit and look out that is when it really shines, it looks like a dance floor back there (almost NO WAKE) and has the power to rip someones arms out the socket if you choose to do so .

Now our views on our boat, for our situation: 95% wakeboarding, 2 kids (age 6 and 3), 100 lb. dog, and a wife who like to pack heavy, it is not ideal. the fact that it is not fuel injected and it has a carb sucks! but the fuel consumtion is awesome it hardly uses fuel and for the money they cost in comparison to a v-drive and what we thought we were looking for it has been an awesome time and alot of fun and don't regret buying it. Someone told me long ago but never listened "always buy your second or even third boat FIRST!"

[Toby]

Hi Jess, where are you located?

My vote is for the response. it is a better slalom boat, makes a better wake for boarding, however the most important addition is the rear locker. to be a river, family boat, the added storage you will appreciate. do both boats have a wedge? its pretty much a must have option i think.

Comparing the wakes between the boats, the general belief is that the sportster wake is harder than a response, yet as it is a smaller boat, the wake is probably smaller, but not significant. overall I like the response wake more.

280 hours on a 2000 year boat is nothing! providing it has been well looked after, the choice is easy I think.

[NorCaliBu]

I have a Sporty LX so take that for whatever it's worth. Given similar price and similar power plant I would take the Response. A Sportster is a great boat boat for slalom and footin'. It takes less weight to "sink" it for boarding too because of it's narrower footprint. The biggest problem with the Sportster is that it is very weight sensitive (because of that narrow footprint). I can get a slalom wake very close in characteristics to my buddy's Response if I take EVERYTHING out of the boat and run with 10 gallons or less in fuel. We can take extra people out and run a full tank in the Response and it still puts out that top notch wake.

Is the Response an LX as well? Do you need / want the playpen open bow?

[CumminsBu]

Response hands down.