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Any slalom skiers who wake surf?


DanSchutt

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I am an owner of a 2001 Sport Nautique and am looking at getting a Malibu. I am old school and still love to slalom, but am gaining an appreciation for the new school, wake surf. I am trying to find a boat that can do both. I test skied the Mastercraft X10 and thought the slalom wake was still a bit too big.

My question... does anyone own, or frequently slalom behind, a 23 LSV or a 22 VLX? Is the wake something that you can take through a ski course? I realize it will not be a perfect slalom wake like a Ski Nautique or a Pro-Star, but curious as to if anyone has any experience behind one of these boats.

Thanks.

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My wife and I slalom behind our boat. Like you... we wanted a boat that we could do both in. She's started skiing at the age of 4 and has been slalom skiing since she was 7. I started slalom skiing about 5 years ago. We're in our 40's now. Our boat has a pretty good slalom wake and a pretty good surf wake. Some boats that we test drove had a better surf wake but also had a lip on top of the slalom wake. The best thing to do is test drive (and ski behind) a boat before you buy it (this is what we did). Our boat is a 2011 VLX (and IIRC it has the diamond hull).

FYI -

Since we got the Malibu we surf ALOT more than we slalom. We'll run 1 or 2 sets of slalom when the water is calm and spend the rest of the day surfing.

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Find a diamond hull instead of a wake hull and keep your speed 34 or above for best results.

But as you found on the MC best to get a test pull for yourself to make that decision.

Edited by jk13
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ahopkins22LSV

I would highly suggest demoing a 2015 VTX both slalom and surf then waiting for the 16 to come out and do the same. I have a feeling the 16 is getting slightly larger but will still be marketed as a decent slalom boat. I would assume the VLX and LSV will ski similar to the x10 you demo'd.

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I'm in the same situation you are. I can't comment on the surfing aspects but have used my 21.5 Sunscape LSV with the Diamond hull for slalom and wake board. In slalom there are two "hits" at full length that will likely bump you out of your cut enough to miss the buoy but it is much better at 15+ off. I've yet to have my fin pop up enough to lose it and crash but I have a bit more than normal down angle on the wing. As said above, you need at least 32 mph to flatten wake. All that being said, we love the room in the V drive boat. Would not go back to direct. If you run a course every now and then and are not competing then the diamond hull is good compromise.

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I am amazed at the slalom wake behind our 2013 VTX - a little bump at 15 off and better when the boat is not full of people (like any ski boat). For a V-drive it has a great slalom wake. Our last boat was a 20' Sunsetter, direct drive, the wake of the VTX is very comparable. And, everyone loves to surf, we spend more time surfing than anything else now.

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we love our VTX, its a 2011, so we dont have surf gate, but we get our slalom sets first, then take everyone out for the daily surf. stick to the diamond hull as others have said, add extra ballast for surfing, half fill the front tank for the best slalom wake at 32-34 mph and you wont be disappointed. we had a 2002 23 lsv before, and its slalom wake was ok, but the VTX is so much better.

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I had a x14 direct drive and was disappointed with the slalom wake and had too much work to fill the sacks to get a decent surf wake. We bought our VTX last September and are very happy with the slalom and surf wakes. As someone else said, we ski when the water is smooth and surf the rest of the time. It is so easy to switch back and forth now. I love the boat.

Edited by WeekdayBoater
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Thank you all for your input. A lot of you are making comparisons with the 20 foot VTX. I guess I am learning that the 22 VLX might be a little bit too big and I might need to stay with a 20 footer to get the slalom wake.

Any other thoughts on the 22 foot VLX? Thanks again

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You will not be pleased with slalom wake on the 22VLX for open water skiing, let alone in the course. We have a diamond hull and have played around with line length and filling front ballast. It gets decent around 34/35mph, which is now too fast for our 60 yr old bodies. Our solution was to buy a 94 Prostar 190. Otherwise the 22 VLX is the finest boat I have ever had.

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we bought our 2013 VTX in April, we ski behind it all the time. I ski 28-32 off and the wake is amazing for a v drive. I have had 2 prior direct drives and the VTXs' wake is better than both. Surf and wakeboard as well so its a perfect match for us.

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ahopkins22LSV

we bought our 2013 VTX in April, we ski behind it all the time. I ski 28-32 off and the wake is amazing for a v drive. I have had 2 prior direct drives and the VTXs' wake is better than both. Surf and wakeboard as well so its a perfect match for us.

What speed do you ski at and what did you own prior if you don't mind me asking?

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The more I look into this the more I think you need an older ski boat for slalom and a nice new 25lsv for wake sports. Best of both worlds, done and done!

  • Like 2
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I own a 22vlx and it is not a slalom boat by any strech of the imagination. The VTX diamond is an ok slalom boat if you ski fast, but not so good if you have wife/kids skiing under 30mph in the course. The VTX is the best slalom/wakesurf single purpose boat out there. To me the wake is similar in size to the sport nautiques one generation before yours. (I ski 15-22@34mph, sometimes 28)

Another issue with the 22vlx is if you prop it for max wakesurf wake, which you eventually will because it is just too much fun no too, your top speed is like 36mph, which means you probably can't ski much faster that 30-32 without redlining the engine.

The diamond hull on the Vlx is not good for the wakeboard wake, not sure if that matters to you, but it creates a wide, washed out wake instead of the rampy wake like the wake hull when you load up the boat with ballast. I am not a wakeboarder, just repeating what the riders have told me.

To summarize what I think of the 22vlx for couse skiing,I bought an older 2000 ski nautique to run the course.

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I own a 22vlx and it is not a slalom boat by any strech of the imagination. The VTX diamond is an ok slalom boat if you ski fast, but not so good if you have wife/kids skiing under 30mph in the course. The VTX is the best slalom/wakesurf single purpose boat out there. To me the wake is similar in size to the sport nautiques one generation before yours. (I ski 15-22@34mph, sometimes 28)

Another issue with the 22vlx is if you prop it for max wakesurf wake, which you eventually will because it is just too much fun no too, your top speed is like 36mph, which means you probably can't ski much faster that 30-32 without redlining the engine.

The diamond hull on the Vlx is not good for the wakeboard wake, not sure if that matters to you, but it creates a wide, washed out wake instead of the rampy wake like the wake hull when you load up the boat with ballast. I am not a wakeboarder, just repeating what the riders have told me.

To summarize what I think of the 22vlx for couse skiing,I bought an older 2000 ski nautique to run the course.

Thank you for all the input. I did not think about the negative effects of the prop change.

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The more I look into this the more I think you need an older ski boat for slalom and a nice new 25lsv for wake sports. Best of both worlds, done and done!

Agreed, but not sure I can get that past the wife.

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What speed do you ski at and what did you own prior if you don't mind me asking?

I ski at 32-33 mph behind a 2001 Sport Nautique. I almost never run a course as I do not have one nearby, although I do like to free ski fairly hard.

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Absolutely. We recently traded our 2013 vlx for a 2015 vtx,( both diamonds ) vlx surfs great with stock ballast and has a respectable slalom and vtx skis great with respectable surf but needs fine tuning with the ballast .Demo them both its all really personal preference one will only outshine the other in your own taste.

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I chose an oj 905 for my vlx. It is a 14.75 x 15.25 or 15.5 I forget which. I run 30 mph at around 3300 rpm since I like to slalom and the diameter according to Eric at oj should give me a good pull for wakeboarding and surfing mildly ballasted.

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