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Just Ordered My New VTX Need Some Advice!


newtoBU

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Well after 27 years of owning a Supra Comp TS6M (bought it New in '86), I finally pulled the trigger on a new boat. The old girl still runs like a champ but with a growing family and friends space became a serious problem. So I purchased the 2013 VTX with Surf Gate, Power Wedge, PNP, Malibu Launch and Bow ballast.

With a young family the water sport of choice was Tubing (I know blasphemy!), but hey Tubing is fun for participants and spectators alike. With all the capabilities of the VTX, I need to get some new water toys and would welcome any advice on the following:

Wake surfer for beginners, primarily the kids ages 11, 13, 15 and friends.

Wake Boards for beginners (kids)

Additional Ballast for the PNP system. Will I need it this year? or is the stock ballast enough for the kids to learn with.

Any other essentials I need to start the season off right?

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

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Congrats on the new boat and welcome to the crew! where are you located?

yes on PNP ballast! It is not an expensive option and it will help out in the future if you want it. Stock ballast is plenty for beginners, but they will progress quickly and the PNP comes in handy. For wakeboard, my 10 year old uses a Hyperlite Motive 109cm. Great board for kids! As for youth surfboard, I am still looking for one as well. you need wakeboard rope, surf rope (with knots, not a handle). We love telling people how to spend their money! LOL

we tube and kneeboard as well.

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Congratulations and welcome. Check craigs list in your area and the watersports gear section on this forum for good lightly used equipment to see what toys your family will like to use. After the first year or so you will have a bette idea of riding style and what your kids will want in a board as well as what type of board, knee/wake/surf? Buying new gear for kids gets real expensive for teens when they outgrow a $300 pair of bindings half way through the season.

Have fun you will not find a better bunch of guys and girls anywhere. especially when it comes to helping you spend your money on upgrades/toys etc.

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We spend summers at Lake Sunapee in New Hampshire. The season is short but we spend a lot of time on the lake. The kids promised if I got a new boat they would get off the tube and learn to wakeboard, ski, surf, kneeboard. If I had my way I would take a knife and slash the tubes. But there is not much more enjoyable than seeing kids grinning ear to ear as they screaming on the outside curve thinking they are about to die! Pure fun.

Thanks for the advice!

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Congrats on the purchase and welcome to the crew. You will find a lot of information here that will help you in all areas of ownership. The people are great.

For beginners, I would not worry about the extra ballast that can easily be purchased and added later. Learn the basic fundamentals of riding and progressing with the wake that is offered behind the stock boat - It will meet all of your needs this year. As your kids progress and get more comfortable with riding, then look to add additional weight. I personally don't have the skills to warrant the need of additional weight for wakeboarding. Surfing, now that is a different story unless I have a boat load of people - no pun intended.

As far as equipment, if you are on a budget, look at boards that will fit a range of sizes and have the family learn on those boards and then as each kid starts to define their riding, get a specific board for each kid. I have a boat board that is used for friends and a personal board. The same holds true IMO for a surf board. Ronix has a decent beginner board.

You sound like you have a great understanding of the purpose of boating and that is to enjoy time with friends and family. Again, welcome to the crew and to a great boat!

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We spend summers at Lake Sunapee in New Hampshire. The season is short but we spend a lot of time on the lake. The kids promised if I got a new boat they would get off the tube and learn to wakeboard, ski, surf, kneeboard. If I had my way I would take a knife and slash the tubes. But there is not much more enjoyable than seeing kids grinning ear to ear as they screaming on the outside curve thinking they are about to die! Pure fun.

Thanks for the advice!

i grew up on the lakes in NH so i understand the short season. We had a place on Monomonoc. you will definitely need more ballast for surfing, but you may not need it for wakeboarding. i enjoy pulling tubers more than anything, my brother and i used to try to kill each other, good times.

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Welcome to the crew! IMHO skip the PNP for extra ballast, except for pros no one needs more than the stock ballast and wedge. Though for surfing in can be useful, but can also just manually fill bags in the trunk and cabin as well, if you have surfgate option it’s less important and isn’t mandatory to additional ballast. The fundamentals are extremely important to execute and most importantly start off w/o creating and bad habits.

Always look at play-it-again locations it’s amazing what you can find there.

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newtoBu,

You are my demographic! I have four kids (13, 11, 9, & 7). Guess what... I HATE TUBING! Mainly because I think it's dangerous, and I don't like being "that guy" weaving back and forth along the river. It's "bad etiquette" imho.

Definitely get PnP option from Malibu. All you are paying for is the plumbing, and it's a cheap factory upgrade (aprox. $400). You don't get bags. You have to add them later, and I suspect you will for surfing (a couple of bags will cost you another $300). Stock ballast is plenty for wakeboarding with a crew like yours. Trust me... as beginners you will likely be pulling your kids at low speeds (e.g. < 20mph) with no ballast at all... you will LOVE the clean low speed wake of the Malibu. Here's a quick video clip of my daughter (then 12 years old) getting up behind our VLX at 18mph with no ballast or wedge.

As for gear, we started our kids on a 119cm Liquid Force Nemesis. I would not buy anything smaller than that. It's tiny!! All our kids started on that board at around the age of 7. In fact, that's the board you see my daughter riding in the video above and if you look closely you can tell it's way too small. The small kids boards are are not good when the kids get to 80+ lbs. It's not the just the size of the board, but also the fact that the boots are VERY close together. Now she's 13 years old, 5'2" tall, and weights 90lbs. I didn't want to waste my time with a new board in the 120's that she'd grow out of after one year, so this year she's moving up to a 132cm Ronix Faith Hope Love (I know... she's spoiled).

My son is 11 this year. At 5'5" tall and 100 lbs. he's a string bean. Unlike his big sis, he didn't show interest in wakeboarding until the very end of last year (as a 10 year old). We couldn't get him up on the 119cm kids board last year and it was frustrating for him. So we let him borrow my wife's 134cm Liquid Force Angel just to see if it helped. On the bigger board he popped right up. It was way too light/unstable for him, but the extra surface area was good. So this year I bought him a 134cm Ronix Vault, which is a good, stable board. Here's a video of his very first ride on the LF Angle. I share this so you see how exciting that moment is for a parent! Probably the highlight of our season last year. His wipe out is funny too (0:50).

You mentioned kneeboarding. I am a BIG fan of kneeboarding for three simple reasons...

  1. it's easy for kids to do,
  2. it get's them off the tube
  3. it teaches them wakeboarding fundamentals (e.g. edging, leaning back, going in and out of the wake, etc.).

In the beginning you are going to want a kneeboard with "the hook" up front. Like this one. That hook holds onto the handle so the kids can pull themselves up into position without worrying about the rope (I usually only tow at 8-10mph while they are getting situated). Once they are in position, they simply reach down and gran the handle away from the hook, and I speed up to 18-20mph. Away we go! My 8 year old son has gotten to the point where he's edging hard and trying to jump. The beginner boards are not great at this because they have rounded edges. So this year he'll be on an HO Joker, no hook and much sharper edges (more like a wakeboard). Having two kneeboards this year will be fun because the kids can ride double.

I'm so excited for you guys! Good times ahead!!

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I think you will want PNP + at least 400lb bags in the back for surfing. Can you surf without extra ballast? Yes, but you will have much more fun with a bit more weight. This is true for beginners too, the smaller the wave the harder it will be to stay on it without the rope.

At very least get PNP and add bags later.

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Congratulations on your new purchase...

Would also consider the diamond hull for the VTX, its a great crossover boat for skiing.... can perform all three disciplines very well.

And if you are handy and like basic projects on your boat, skip the Malibu PnP its not a great system, you will have to turn valves manually on and off.... plus its a gravity fed system for draining, which is pretty ineffecient. Install an Impeller pump system for a couple hundred extra dollars and get something that will always work and drain and fill the bags properly. There is a GB ending tomorrow for a complete impeller ballast system, PM me if you want more information.

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Thanks for the insight the boat is already ordered and scheduled to start production late April. The waiting is killing me. I ended up getting the Diamond Hull, power wedge, surfgate, Hi flo MLS, Hi Flo Bow MLS, Hi Flo PNP, 3-outlet heater, Silent Tip Exhaust, Flush Kit, Sound Pack 1, Grey GL boat Cover, removable center pylon, pull up cleats, pop up bow light. I went with a Charcoal, Black and White color scheme.

I was way over my budget so I had to forgo the Bimini, Shower, blue tooth, Tower sound, subwoofer, LED's, etc....

photo-thumb-21330.jpg?_r=1362778639

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Congratulations on your new purchase...

Would also consider the diamond hull for the VTX, its a great crossover boat for skiing.... can perform all three disciplines very well.

And if you are handy and like basic projects on your boat, skip the Malibu PnP its not a great system, you will have to turn valves manually on and off.... plus its a gravity fed system for draining, which is pretty ineffecient. Install an Impeller pump system for a couple hundred extra dollars and get something that will always work and drain and fill the bags properly. There is a GB ending tomorrow for a complete impeller ballast system, PM me if you want more information.

There are no valves on the PNP and it still drains by pump, only gravity-involved process is the top bag draining into the bottom hard tank and with surfgate, a quick side to side weight switch no longer matters. I've had two boats with it now, great system.

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The boat is ordered and is expected to start production in late April. I went with a Charcoal, White and Black color scheme(see avatar). My options as follows:

Monsoon 350

Silent tip exhaust

Flush Kit

Hi Flo - MLS

Hi Flo - Bow MLS

Hi Flo - PNP

Diamond Hull

Pull Up Cleats

Surf Gate

Power Wedge

Heater - 3 outlet

GL Boat Cover - Grey

Sound Pack 1

Center pylon - removable

Wall to wall carpet

I was way over budget so I needed to forgo the Tower Speakers, sub woofer, Bimini, LED's, Mobil Device Gateway, GPS charting, shower, ETC... Also had to opt for a single axle trailer. I do not trailer much it is only for storage.

Hope it all works out!!

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There are no valves on the PNP and it still drains by pump, only gravity-involved process is the top bag draining into the bottom hard tank and with surfgate, a quick side to side weight switch no longer matters. I've had two boats with it now, great system.

Here is the information I received from a couple different people who have seen the PnP.

There is a valve on each fill line to shut off filling the bags from thehard tank overflow. This will allow you to just either use the hard tanks or turn on the valve to overflow and start filling the bags.

Is this not true?

There have also been multiple people on this site talking about how the bags will not completely empty when draining.

The Johnson pumps are a much better system, I installed this same system on my 11 and it will drain the bags much more efficiently. Aerator pumps do not create there own draft, this is the reason the bags gravity drain back into hard tank. The impeller pump will literally suck the bags pancake thin when draining.

Another advantage over the aerator malibu pnp is the impeller pumps fill and drain from the same line, less lines running all over the storage compartment.

Plus with a seperate system you can fill the hard tanks and bags seperate from eachother.

For the extra couple hundred dollars, imo, you cant beat the efficiency of the Johnson impeller pumps. Yes, the PnP from Malibu works, but not sure if its worthy of calling a great system. Just my. 02..

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I tend to agree Fman, but I think the PNP system is pretty dang good.

The Malibu system with Straight Line bags and 1" lines is much faster to fill / drain then my piggy back last year. The bags still don't drain all the way but they get 90% of the way there. There are vent lines that start pushing water out when the bags are full, so you don't actually need to open the hatches to check them or drain air.

If you have someone who can install a better or system or can do it yourself then I say go for it. I like the idea of getting the bags completely free of water, and be able to control filling the bags and factory tank separately. Those are the only downsides of the factory system I can think of. Being able to control everything through the MTC is probably the only advantage.

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One more thing - with Surf Gate its not nearly as annoying ending up with a small amount of water still in the tanks at the end because everything is even weighted.

I could probably write a whole separate post on how awesome it is to not have to lean the boat and have everyone pile into one side. Me + crew are loving it.

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