2013 Options - Opinions Needed

[thtrog]

Isn't the dripless shaft seal (brochure calls it the water cooled shaft seal) standard equipment now (i.e., not an upgrade option)???

Isn't the dripless shaft seal (brochure calls it the water cooled shaft seal) standard equipment now (i.e., not an upgrade option)???

Yes, it's standard. As far as covers, if you go with the Great Lakes factory cover it's made with Sunbrella.

[TexasWakeRep]

Thanks for all the help guys. One other question: What is the average time from placing order to delivery?

[Bawshogg]

Depends on your dealers build slots and how soon they have one from the time your order is placed with them.

[JoeA]

Thanks for all the help guys. One other question: What is the average time from placing order to delivery?

Malibu is running the factory five full days a week right now due to the high demand. On average boats are being built in 11 days currently.

Check with your dealer on spray dates. If a stock boat is being built for your dealer they'll bump that date for yours.

Edited March 15, 2013 by JoeA

[JoeA]

One more thing, actually two If you buy a MXZ buy the LS3 as well as the third set of cleats. Two cleats may not be enough for your comfort level.

[TexasWakeRep]

Lots of great info here, appreciate the help. Most seem to favor doing their own stereo. I think I'll do my own sub/box/amp and a pair of Rev10s/amp for the tower. For the interior speakers, which Sound Pack gives me all the stock interior speakers possible? Do I have to get other things I don't want to get all the stock interior speakers possible?

Anybody have a break down for each Sound Pack?

[Cory]

sound pack 1 gives you the black box head unit and four interior speakers. There is an option to have the factory install the other four additional interior cabin speakers without an amplifier. Unfortunately, if you want their sub, you have to get their sub amp too.

[Brett B]

I did sound pack 2 which is 6 interior speakers with the head unit, black box, and all the inputs in the glove box. I also added the factory sub and amp, and added the factory tower speaker amp (3 amps total), but no tower speakers. That way all of the amp and speaker wiring, including the tower speaker wiring, is done at the factory. The wiring is all clean and hidden, and you already have the sub box and amp mouting board.

At that point it's just a matter of bolting on the tower speakers of your choice, or swapping out components when you want to upgrade them. For example after a few months I sold the factory tower speaker amp on here and without too much work bolted the Exile harpoon in it's place using the original wiring. Installing the Exile XM9 speakers took about 15 minutes total including the time to open the boxes.

Wiring a full stereo in an already-built boat is a major pain which is why shortcuts usually get taken and you end up with a rats nest of wires. You also have to take apart enough of the boat to do it that chances of interior rips or scrapes are increased. The interior is so nice right from the factory I didn't want to risk it getting damaged either by myself or a stereo shop. If you have a trusted stereo shop that gives you good deals then you can save some money, but I don't have a good one near me so I had all the labor intensive stuff done at the factory. I also didn't want my brand new boat sitting in the shop for 1-2 weeks waiting on a stereo when I could be out using it instead!

Just my 2 cents.

[kiter861]

One more thing, actually two If you buy a MXZ buy the LS3 as well as the third set of cleats. Two cleats may not be enough for your comfort level.

everyone keeps saying to get the LS3 yet the big 24MXZ review by Tyger states that the 410 was more than adequate with the boat slammed. Are these suggestions that everyone is giving to upgrade the motor based on experience or something else?

Edited March 19, 2013 by kiter861

[TrickyNicky]

Options I have and couldn't live without:

Bow ballast

wedge

board racks

Options I wish I had:

surf gate

Heater and/or heated seats

Power Wedge

GPS cruise

EQ for stereo

Tower Mirror

Options only in dreams:

automatic rope reeler/releaser/lengthener/storer

23ft boat that skis like the 20 ft VTX

Edited March 19, 2013 by TrickyNicky

[TrickyNicky]

everyone keeps saying to get the LS3 yet the big 24MXZ review by Tyger states that the 410 was more than adequate with the boat slammed. Are these suggestions that everyone is giving to upgrade the motor based on experience or something else?

My bet is it's based on size ....

[bamabonners]

monsoon 350 will do most loads. if you are running large loads (couple thousand extra) often, then upgrade.

[kiter861]

I'm am referring to the stock mxz motor with 410 hp

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

[IXFE]

What do folls think of the seat heater?

I had it in my '12 VLX and I was not impressed for several reasons:

1) It is controlled by an old school rocker switch below the throttle. I don't understand why it's not wired into MTC like everything else? Malibu spent all that time and money getting rid of rocker switches but somehow forgot this one??

2) It is very easy to leave the rocker switch on even when the boat is off... this can drain your battery.

3) Worst of all, I could barely even feel my seat heater. It's weak sauce.

On my '13 build I decided to skip the seat heater and save $200. The only thing that gives me pause is the resale value. It's kind of cool to tell a buyer the boat has seat heater... most don't expect that.

[Bawshogg]

Seat heater kits are cheap and you can install one fairly easy in the stock seat. Is only the back heated? I can't imagine the flip up bolster being heated. Thats a short waiting to happen.

[JoeA]

everyone keeps saying to get the LS3 yet the big 24MXZ review by Tyger states that the 410 was more than adequate with the boat slammed. Are these suggestions that everyone is giving to upgrade the motor based on experience or something else?

You get one chance to order the engine so why not do it right the first time. Regret is tough to live with when you're on the water.

[Fman]

I also skipped the seat heater this time around. For $200 its a fair price from Malibu. We just never used it on our 11. Same with hotwater shower, never turned it on with last two boats, so we skipped the $550 upgrade. They are easy to install aftermarket if you ever want one.

[absken]

We placed our order today for a 24MXZ.

things we skipped becouse we never use:

seat heat

heater

shower

table

Things we skipped so we can add our own:

transom LED's

Things we went big on:

555 HP

3 axel trailer

Ordered today, build date April 3rd. Yahoooooo

[saidainc]

Its too bad they dont offer a 4 axle trailer. I want one even if I was rolling a MXZ 20 just for the bad a** effect.

[Rcraighughes]

I got the ls3 in my mxz 24 and couldn't imagine having anything else

I did the mxz sound system and added wet sounds after (2 sets of rev10s and sub)

Then all normal

Pnp, surfgate, quad ballast, docking and transom lights

Did not do heaters (I'm in az so no need) shower or mobile gateway (kind of wish I did this to control ballast and music through Bluetooth

Edited March 20, 2013 by Rcraighughes

[absken]

We did order the full out factory sounds system, Im thinking os scapping it it (dealer will buy it back) and doing a Wetsounds system. Im very close to pulling that trigger from the reviews I have seen.

[TexasWakeRep]

More great input, thanks to you all. OK, now the nitty gritty....what are folks paying for a 2013 VLX? Yes, depends on options and location...understand completely. But what is base price before all the goodies? Just not wanting to get raked over the coals.....

[Bawshogg]

Area dependant. Can't compare a west coast price to a Midwest price. Go to. WWW.seedealercost.COM. The site will allow you to build a boat with the options and get a rough cost estimate of what the dealer pays for the boat. Not sure how accurate it is, but I will say from what I deducted in my months of shopping and how far I could push the dealers price wise, It's very close.

The general rule has always been if you can get in the neighborhood of 30% off MSRP you are getting a decent deal.

[TexasWakeRep]

Area dependant. Can't compare a west coast price to a Midwest price. Go to. WWW.seedealercost.COM. The site will allow you to build a boat with the options and get a rough cost estimate of what the dealer pays for the boat. Not sure how accurate it is, but I will say from what I deducted in my months of shopping and how far I could push the dealers price wise, It's very close.

The general rule has always been if you can get in the neighborhood of 30% off MSRP you are getting a decent deal.

Good stuff, thank you

[Brett B]

everyone keeps saying to get the LS3 yet the big 24MXZ review by Tyger states that the 410 was more than adequate with the boat slammed. Are these suggestions that everyone is giving to upgrade the motor based on experience or something else?

The 410 just doesn't offer any real torque increase over the 5.7 Monsoon in the RPM ranges that matter for a wakeboat. So if you think the 5.7 Monsoon isn't enough for the weight you are going to run, don't waste your money on the L96 6.0, but get the LS3 6.2 as it does offer a worthwhile torque increase over the 5.7.

Here is an overlay of the power and torque curves from the GM marine website. Unless Indmar is changing major components like the heads/pistons/crank etc (highly doubtful), the torque curve shapes will be nearly identical to what you see here. We know Indmar puts a cam in the 5.7, so it's likely they do it in the other engines as well so they should all see a similar bump in low-end torque from a cam. The intake and exhaust manifold changes that Indmar does do will mainly effect the volumetric efficiency at the higher RPM ranges so the peak horsepower curves will be different than these numbers (blue labels).

When trying to get a boat with a heavy load to plane out the torque curve is what's important, not the peak HP. I don't know about you guys, but when my boat struggles to plane because of too much weight (I do have an extra 2500lbs plumbed in) it's typically in the 2000-3000rpm range. Once I cross that rpm range it has no problems.

From 1000-2000 the Monsoon makes much more torque than the L96. From 2500-3000rpm the Monsoon and L96 have identical torque values (red labels). Once you get to 3500rpm the L96 makes about 15 lb-ft more torque than the Monsoon.

From 1000-2000 the LS3 makes the same torque as the Monsoon. From 2500-3000rpm the LS3 makes about 20 lb-ft more torque than the Monsoon. Once you get to 3500 the difference looks to be closer to 30 lb-ft and then really jumps up.

In terms of planing out more weight to wakeboard speeds the LS3 looks like a decent torque increase over the Monsoon. However the L96 doesn't look to be measurably more powerful than the Monsoon in that RPM range, and in some cases the L96 actually makes much less torque.