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Best boat for staying dry


SCMike

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I demoed a new 22MXZ yesterday and loved almost everything about the boat. My biggest complaint was on two occasions we took on water over the bow. We had all of the factory ballast full, and two kids (about 140 lbs total) up front. The other issue was the spray coming over the back while driving and wetting the anybody sitting in the back seat.

We had 2 Kids, and 4 average sized adults in the demo.

Two questions...

1. Is this normal for the 22MXZ?

2. Is there a model (23LSV, etc) that is better for keeping the passengers dry?

Malibu is at the top of our list for purchase, and this was the only downside from what i could gather in the demo. Any advice from the crew on which current Malibu would be best to keeping water out of the boat and off of the passengers.

Thanks!

Edited by SCMike
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/How are you taking water over the bow? your own rollers, other boats , lake wind chop?

If its your own rollers when picking up the skier , STOP POWER TURNING. when rider is down pull throttle back to neutral (i like to reverse a bit to start my turn) then motor idle back to rider.

If its from other boats throwing rollers, position you boat to take be brunt of the wave toward the back corner of the bot (i.e turn away from the wave) if you cat turn away you have to time your throttle to bring the bow up at the right time so you don't come down and eat the 2nd wave.

I ride a fair amount in the delta and some of the channels are on the narrow side so navigating waves from nearby boats is a regular occurrence. no expert by any means but this is what i found keep as much of the delta funk out of my boat.

Wind Chop cant always be avoided, but its best to take the wind head on, to disburse the spray on either side of the boat. with a across wind the spray will just get you wet.

hope this helps

  • Like 3
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Probably more related to ballast,conditions, and driving than the boat. All that said, with any of these boats loaded down you have to manage the situation when driving. Sometimes slowing down is the best way to get wet. Keep the bow up...

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Probably more related to ballast,conditions, and driving than the boat. All that said, with any of these boats loaded down you have to manage the situation when driving. Sometimes slowing down is the best way to get wet. Keep the bow up...

Disagree. Yes, you can hit a roller while under power and keep the Jose up but that is going to create more waves that don't dissipate as easily. Do as Stevo suggests. Always be vigilant of the water conditions and keep your boat in a position to not take rollers over the bow. Sure it happens on occasion but with the correct driving skills, it should not be the norm.

Edit: I may not have read your response correctly. "Keeping the bow up" to me equates to powering through a wave. That is not the preferred way to take on roller, especially your own.

Edited by isellacuras
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my 2011 MB 23' never took a drop over the bow in 300 hours of ownership.

Demoed a 2015 MXZ22 last year, and the salesman took the biggest roller I've ever experienced in any tow boat during our demo. full on wave over the windshield.

Edited by shawndoggy
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Any boat loaded is gonna take it over in any sort of chop. Unless i am in huge rollers in lake michigan with a full boat, i don't take them over the bow in my vlx. Pickle forks are a bit easier to take it over the bow. Spray over the back i am wondering how it is coming in. if it is coming from the transom, that is really weird. i have never seen that. If you are talking the side spray is going back into the boat, then it is most likely wind. Any boat that planes is gonna have spray pushed back into the boat by the wind. if you ride on flat water with no wind there won't be that issue. It is a watersports boat, i always tell people they may get wet.

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my 2011 MB 23' never took a drop over the bow in 300 hours of ownership.

Demoed a 2015 MXZ22 last year, and the salesman took the biggest roller I've ever experienced in any tow boat during our demo. full on wave over the windshield.

I guess this is the point I'm trying to make. I spent about 500 hours riding and driving behind a 2004 Super Air 210, and can remember only one instance of water going over the bow, even when loaded up. I also demoed a 2016 MB Tomcat F24 in similar conditions and didint get one drop of water in the boat. During the demo I try to push the boats in all types of scenarios to see how they perform. Driving over one of my rollers was a simple test that the MXZ didint do to well with. I really love the Malibu, and trying to figure out if this is a Malibu thing or a 22MXZ thing. I'll likey buy a Malibu anyways, but if there is a model that would be better suited for the rough stuff, I'd love to know.

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I have a 20 MXZ and I do not have issues with spray in the back. If you look at videos taken from above as these wake board boats are underway you will notice how far the water sprays out to the side on all of them. It always amazes me. Wind can certainly blow that spray back into the boat. The 20 MXZ is a short boat, so maybe that is why I don;t have the problem.

When I first got the boat, there were a few times when either I or my wife were driving and we were turning to pick up a surfer, and we took some water over the bow. It basically just took some time to learn how the boat behaves.

So when turning around to pick up a surfer that has just fallen, I do have to be careful and let the rollers dissipate a bit. But basically that is not more then doing a slow turn and a slow return to the surfer down in the water and watching the angle I take towards the waves. This is with full ballast. Also, the 20 MXZ has an anchor compartment at the bow of the boat, the front center bow cushion back hinges upward to expose the compartment. I keep a 20 pound anchor in there and 80 pounds of steel shot, for surf weight and to keep the bow down. Even with that weight in the front we never take water over the bow now that we have learned how to handle the boat.

We love our MXZ, we love the pickle fork bow. If that is the boat that you like because of the deck layout, you we learn how to handle the boat and the water over the bow will not be an issue.

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Any boat loaded is gonna take it over in any sort of chop. Unless i am in huge rollers in lake michigan with a full boat, i don't take them over the bow in my vlx. Pickle forks are a bit easier to take it over the bow. Spray over the back i am wondering how it is coming in. if it is coming from the transom, that is really weird. i have never seen that. If you are talking the side spray is going back into the boat, then it is most likely wind. Any boat that planes is gonna have spray pushed back into the boat by the wind. if you ride on flat water with no wind there won't be that issue. It is a watersports boat, i always tell people they may get wet.

You take your VLX on Lake Michigan?

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Any boat is good it's the driving technique as mentioned by the other guys. Sitting still or even reversing away from them will keep the water out of the bow. Powering through them just pushes the bow through the wave and can sink your boat.

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Thank you everyone for the responses so far. I think the point of the post got away from me. I have a lot of experience on tow boats. I know and practice all of the above driving techniques. I've had to master them having spent the majority of my time driving a 2000 Tige 21i. The bow on that thing was about 8 inches from the water, and took water over the bow on almost every day out on the water. Tige's are know for taking water over the bow due to the downward slope of the nose. On the other hand, i have spent a considerable amount of time on a 2004 Super Air Nautique 210, which again, i can only recall water coming over the bow once in the 500 or so hours i logged on that boat. So I think it is safe to say that certain boats are just more prone to take on water over the bow (due to the design, etc.)

Again, i think im all but sold on Malibu. I really like the MXZ due to the size of the bow and the overall performance of the boat, but if the 23LSV is going to be better in rough water, and is less prone to take water over the bow, i would strongly consider one. I plan to make a few trips to Tahoe and Powell each year, so I want to pick the right boat for the conditions I will encounter.

The 24MXZ and 25LSV are out of my budget, so those are the only models that I will not be considering.

So, given all things equal, is there a current Malibu (2015 or 2016) that is less likely to take on water then other models? If not, that ok, i'll likely just go with the MXZ.

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I think it's fair to say that any picklefork of a given brand is MORE likely to take water over the bow than the corresponding traditional bow. Just look at a pic of the bow of a picklefork out of the water -- the "pickles" are not part of the running surface of the boat and they stick out from the bow. Under the right conditions they turn the nose of the boat into a big scoop. the MXZ (IMHO from limited experience) is more prone to this effect than say the MB F24 you referenced because the MXZ is lower to the water to begin with.

The LSV will definitely do better in this regard. It's not impervious to taking water, but when you do it'll be one of those times where you say to yourself, "yeah, that one was my fault." We've taken a few rollers, but probably no more than a gallon of water at a time. Definitely not the tidal wave I experienced in the MXZ.

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I think it's fair to say that any picklefork of a given brand is MORE likely to take water over the bow than the corresponding traditional bow. Just look at a pic of the bow of a picklefork out of the water -- the "pickles" are not part of the running surface of the boat and they stick out from the bow. Under the right conditions they turn the nose of the boat into a big scoop. the MXZ (IMHO from limited experience) is more prone to this effect than say the MB F24 you referenced because the MXZ is lower to the water to begin with.

The LSV will definitely do better in this regard. It's not impervious to taking water, but when you do it'll be one of those times where you say to yourself, "yeah, that one was my fault." We've taken a few rollers, but probably no more than a gallon of water at a time. Definitely not the tidal wave I experienced in the MXZ.

Thanks for the insight Shawndoggy. This is what i was trying to figure out. Next step then is to demo an LSV and test it for myself.

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I can't speak to the chop comparison (between LSV and MXZ) but I think the LSV does well, night and day better than my 01' vlx, but not as well as my friends X-30.

Where are you located? SoCal?

I live in South Orange County (San Clemente). I move down here from the Bay Area 6 years ago. I spent my childhood, all the way to my early thirties riding mainly at the Delta and Lake Don Pedro; although I have probably been to every major lake in Northern California. My favorite is Shasta, where my family and I would do an annual houseboat trip every year.

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The 24 MXZ does fairly well. I take a bit of water over the bow on rare occasions. I also have the Pickle areas filed with bomb wake. So my bow is a few inches lower than normal. This is also different than a bow bag. A bow bag distributes weight throughout entire bow area. I have 500 lbs in the very front, much more leverage.

As for spray i get this on windy days. I actually think the MXZ is worse than other boats for getting driver and observer wet. The reason being the driver/observer are much closer to midship than on lsv/vlx, due to oversized bow.

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^^^ so you've ruled out the F24? Did you ever post back up on the other board about your review? I'm just curious how it went.

Yeah, I think I've ruled it out. The issues I had with it was the wake quality and ease of use. The wake was beautiful at 23mph, which I ride at, but I could not get it to clean up in speeds lower than that. My kids and wife would have to deal with the wake curling over. The surf wave seemed really good, but I didn't get the chance to wakeboard or surf, this was purely an observation from inside the boat. The other issue was the usability. I had zero confidence that my wife would be able to set up the wake on her own, or make on the fly adjustments. The ballast, pnp, and trim plates made it super confusing, even for me. Malibu checks all the boxes, but the rougher water performance. I think It will be a compromise I wil just have to make

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You're on a wakeboard boat in the water - expect to get wet.

I've seen the most experienced drivers take an occasional chili dip.

I consider it extra ballast until that pesky bilge pump clears it out.

Have fun and get wet

  • Like 2
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You're on a wakeboard boat in the water - expect to get wet.

I've seen the most experienced drivers take an occasional chili dip.

I consider it extra ballast until that pesky bilge pump clears it out.

Have fun and get wet

My bilge pump isn't bolted to anything. When I'm running fully tanked out, I'll slide it over to the side and "up out of the way" so it doesn't kick on. lol

But yeah, my bow area gets a good rinse once every 50-60 hours of riding, if I'm running a lot of extra sacks. The way my bow slopes down, I'm shocked I don't do it more often. But whatever, it's a boat. I've dripped just as much water off of life vests, wakeboards and ropes as I have splashing stuff in the boat from taking a roller while adjusting the radio or something

I just make sure to prop the spotters seat open, the two side seats I run a bunjee between the handles and keep them open, and I have two blocks of wood that I use as "props" for the rear lockers to prop them open about 6 inches - just do those couple of things and leave the wet stuff handing on the rack forks, it's all nice and dry by the next outing.

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My bilge pump isn't bolted to anything. When I'm running fully tanked out, I'll slide it over to the side and "up out of the way" so it doesn't kick on. lol

But yeah, my bow area gets a good rinse once every 50-60 hours of riding, if I'm running a lot of extra sacks. The way my bow slopes down, I'm shocked I don't do it more often. But whatever, it's a boat. I've dripped just as much water off of life vests, wakeboards and ropes as I have splashing stuff in the boat from taking a roller while adjusting the radio or something

I just make sure to prop the spotters seat open, the two side seats I run a bunjee between the handles and keep them open, and I have two blocks of wood that I use as "props" for the rear lockers to prop them open about 6 inches - just do those couple of things and leave the wet stuff handing on the rack forks, it's all nice and dry by the next outing.

Well played w/ your avatar

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