$79,995 - The Official 2017 21VLX Thread

[dmoreton]

11 minutes ago, River Monsters said:

Kudos for following this crazy thread, i only read every third or fourth page.  welcome to the crew. 

 

LOL, thank you. It is quite a thread.

Funny thing was that I had my new boat choices down to either a Moomba Mojo or Axis A22 as I am a relative "newbie" as you say to the wake and surf boat side of boating but me and my kids want to get into the sport. The lake we live on is a smaller ski lake so i wanted to keep the boat 22' or smaller.

Then my local dealer I had been speaking to regarding an Axis asked me if I had looked at the 21 VLX as he said it would be "comparable" to the axis in wake performance but give you a nice set of upgrades at an affordable price.

So here I am..................trying to find out everything I can about this 21 VLX and see if it is worth the extra cheese vs. staying with one of my original choices.

Thank you all for your takes on this boat.

[67King]

Ah, so the Response is getting a new engine.  Wonder if it'll be the Ford or one of hte new DI GM's.  I bet it'll be a GM.

Edited August 12, 2016 by 67King

[85 Barefoot]

I would highly doubt the Ford.  Too much weight and too big....but what led to that rumor anyway 67?

[NWBU]

56 minutes ago, dmoreton said:

LOL, thank you. It is quite a thread.

Funny thing was that I had my new boat choices down to either a Moomba Mojo or Axis A22 as I am a relative "newbie" as you say to the wake and surf boat side of boating but me and my kids want to get into the sport. The lake we live on is a smaller ski lake so i wanted to keep the boat 22' or smaller.

Then my local dealer I had been speaking to regarding an Axis asked me if I had looked at the 21 VLX as he said it would be "comparable" to the axis in wake performance but give you a nice set of upgrades at an affordable price.

So here I am..................trying to find out everything I can about this 21 VLX and see if it is worth the extra cheese vs. staying with one of my original choices.

Thank you all for your takes on this boat.

You can read up all day on these boats but you really need to go demo them before you decide. There's 16 pages here on the 21VLX but nobody has been in one on the water yet, and that's what you're really going to care about, so ask your dealer to set you up with some demos.

[oldjeep]

20 minutes ago, 67King said:

Ah, so the Response is getting a new engine.  Wonder if it'll be the Ford or one of hte new DI GM's.  I bet it'll be a GM.

Seems like it would be since Malibu is already buying engines from Crusader (PCM)  for the current Response line and the 2016 Nautique ski boats have the new DI engines.  They can piggyback off all the work that Nautique has done with Zero Off  and not have to start from square 1 with the Ford engines. (Yes I know that there is a version of ZO in the wakeboats, but it isn't the 3 event version)

Edited August 12, 2016 by oldjeep

[DarkSide]

Certain costs are fixed, lease, property taxes, marketing, and to a certain extent admin, etc.  So dividing these fixed costs over 3700 vs 3500 absolutely makes every boat less expensive to build.  

Edited August 12, 2016 by DarkSide

[dmoreton]

4 minutes ago, NWBU said:

You can read up all day on these boats but you really need to go demo them before you decide. There's 16 pages here on the 21VLX but nobody has been in one on the water yet, and that's what you're really going to care about, so ask your dealer to set you up with some demos.

Great advice for sure. I have demoed the Moomba and Axis but not the Malibu yet. Still trying to figure out if I want to jump up to 80k for a boat. No need to waste the dealer's time for a demo if I have no intention of buying it.

[oldjeep]

Just now, DarkSide said:

Certain costs are fixed, lease, property taxes, to a certain extent admin, etc.  So dividing these fixed costs over 3700 vs 3500 absolutely makes every boat less expensive to build.  

Not to mention vendor discounts for buying x+ 200 engines rather than just x engines or more gallons of resin, larger quantities of custom machined parts, etc.  But those all require that you can forecast that additional demand and place the order.

[85 Barefoot]

6 minutes ago, oldjeep said:

Seems like it would be since Malibu is already buying engines from Crusader (PCM)  for the current Response line and the 2016 Nautique ski boats have the new DI engines.  They can piggyback off all the work that Nautique has done with Zero Off  and not have to start from square 1 with the Ford engines. (Yes I know that there is a version of ZO in the wakeboats, but it isn't the 3 event version)

Piggy back what work?  Zero off is like ppass digital pro back in the day, which was the same as wakeboard pro, you just "unlocked" digital pro in the software holding down some buttons.  There is but one zero off, the slalom boats just allow a higher degree of configurability and course mapping due to the committed control module.  There would be no "starting from square 1" with the fords, they could do it right now, they just don't have the interface on viper 2.

[bamabonners]

@oldjeep @DarkSide  Good points that I hadn't thought of.  That's why I'm in IT support and not manufacturing... LOL

 

Maybe I'm the only one left, but I would love my next boat to be a 20 to 21 foot ski boat that is big enough to pack friends and goodies on when you are out messing around with a nice comfortable interior.  Good ski wake to dump the people and ski behind . We really gravitated more towards skiing than any other sport so I don't need the deep surf boat, the ballast tanks, etc...  I just need a wedge and cruise control. I understand that I am in the minority here.

I'm really wondering how good the ski wake will be behind this boat.  Diamond hull maybe?  who knows...

 

 

Edited August 12, 2016 by bamabonners

[oldjeep]

Just now, 85 Barefoot said:

Piggy back what work?  Zero off is like ppass digital pro back in the day, which was the same as wakeboard pro, you just "unlocked" digital pro in the software holding down some buttons.  There is but one zero off, the slalom boats just allow a higher degree of configurability and course mapping due to the committed control module.  There would be no "starting from square 1" with the fords, they could do it right now, they just don't have the interface on viper 2.

On the ski forum it sure sounds like they have been making software updates this year to deal with new engines

[85 Barefoot]

9 minutes ago, oldjeep said:

On the ski forum it sure sounds like they have been making software updates this year to deal with new engines

That's a different issue.  Slalom tweakers are always doing that.  When zero off first came out everyone hated it.  "too hard off the ball", "entrance gates too hot", whatever.  So zero off allowed some fine tuning of its reactivity to the GPS input but that/those are zero off software issues/updates not a hardware/integration issue with the engine...unless you know something I don't.  

Heck I remember days on TWSF people arguing about the perfect pass "switch" and whether if you didn't run the switch, how much more kx you needed if you had the 350 v 383, and if you did run switch whether it should be px5 or 10.   blah blah blah.  Engine integration is there across all the engines.  

[67King]

1 hour ago, oldjeep said:

Seems like it would be since Malibu is already buying engines from Crusader (PCM)  for the current Response line and the 2016 Nautique ski boats have the new DI engines.  They can piggyback off all the work that Nautique has done with Zero Off  and not have to start from square 1 with the Ford engines. (Yes I know that there is a version of ZO in the wakeboats, but it isn't the 3 event version)

I really just think that the industry has moved on from the old school small blocks.  So what are the options?  I personally like the Ford engine better.  It is a technically superior engine (won't rehash that).  But when you look at this application, there are 2 things that make the GM a better fit - packaging and weight.  The Ford is wider, which would be bad in a direct drive, and it is probably a good bit heavier (the things that make it better add weight).  In a V drive where you want weight, the opposite is true.

 

I would imagine that calibration work will be required, regardless.  The difference in hulls is likely going to drive so much work as to negate any ability to copy anything anyone else has done.

[95echelon]

2 hours ago, dmoreton said:

LOL, thank you. It is quite a thread.

Funny thing was that I had my new boat choices down to either a Moomba Mojo or Axis A22 as I am a relative "newbie" as you say to the wake and surf boat side of boating but me and my kids want to get into the sport. The lake we live on is a smaller ski lake so i wanted to keep the boat 22' or smaller.

Then my local dealer I had been speaking to regarding an Axis asked me if I had looked at the 21 VLX as he said it would be "comparable" to the axis in wake performance but give you a nice set of upgrades at an affordable price.

So here I am..................trying to find out everything I can about this 21 VLX and see if it is worth the extra cheese vs. staying with one of my original choices.

Thank you all for your takes on this boat.

Just make yourself some vinyl covers for the dash fiberglass and walkway and you have a 95k boat! I gotta make some templates and get on ebay.

[River Monsters]

I thought these comments on team talk were interesting:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shaun R 

Why did you grow tired of the nxt20?

Elbows, shins, back and knees. There is a lot of exposed fiberglass and grab handles that seem to always be in the wrong place which has a bit to do with the beam being so narrow. My kids are 10, 13 and 15, they take up more space now. And if they bring friends it's great for the wakes but tight in the boat. The family is pushing me to buy a pontoon boat since I sold our Cobalt in July. I'm not even 40 yet, I am not ready to own a pontoon. I had a deal to sell the NXT but the buyers wife flipped out and wouldn't let him borrow money from his retirement to pay for it (wives are great huh). I'm not actively selling the NXT but I do have a deposit on a GS20 that should deliver in late January. We will see what happens, we have about month of summer left here in VA.

[Raimie]

Can someone please explain to me why speakers sit on little shelves on Malibu's? Honestly, I don't get this.

[ctvandy23]

7 hours ago, dmoreton said:

Great advice for sure. I have demoed the Moomba and Axis but not the Malibu yet. Still trying to figure out if I want to jump up to 80k for a boat. No need to waste the dealer's time for a demo if I have no intention of buying it.

I would still demo just to compare. You never know! I originally was looking at the Axis.  My mistake...letting the wife see the Malivuew touch screens.  Axis, what's an Axis?  The rest is history!

[DarkSide]

12 minutes ago, ctvandy23 said:

I would still demo just to compare. You never know! I originally was looking at the Axis.  My mistake...letting the wife see the Malivuew touch screens.  Axis, what's an Axis?  The rest is history!

Exactly, I took my wife in to get approval on an A22, unfortunately the dealer had a 24MXZ on the floor....rest is history. 

[hethj7]

Funny, I couldn't convince my wife to go Axis either.  I would probably be happy in an Axis-I may miss the power wedge but I would remind myself of all the extra coin in my pocket whenever that happened. That being said, the overall "wow" factor of a Bu is tough to beat!

[ejj]

New ski boat could be an affordable "VLX" version DD...  $40-50k?

[oldjeep]

1 minute ago, ejj said:

New ski boat could be an affordable "VLX" version DD...  $40-50k?

Isn't that what the Response LXR is?

[boardjnky4]

On 8/12/2016 at 6:49 PM, ctvandy23 said:

I would still demo just to compare. You never know! I originally was looking at the Axis.  My mistake...letting the wife see the Malivuew touch screens.  Axis, what's an Axis?  The rest is history!

 

On 8/12/2016 at 7:06 PM, DarkSide said:

Exactly, I took my wife in to get approval on an A22, unfortunately the dealer had a 24MXZ on the floor....rest is history. 

 

HA, you guys are lucky. My wife sees the Malibu touch screen and says, "That looks expensive to fix when it breaks. Definitely do not ever want a boat with a touch screen".

[ejj]

28 minutes ago, oldjeep said:

Isn't that what the Response LXR is?

Lol good point!  

Maybe a Vdrive version?

[ahopkins22LSV]

37 minutes ago, oldjeep said:

Isn't that what the Response LXR is?

Except next year there will just be 3 "levels", or the ability to option down to LXR prices, of the TXi. All on the same running surface.

Edited August 15, 2016 by ahopkinsTXi

[85 Barefoot]

47 minutes ago, ejj said:

New ski boat could be an affordable "VLX" version DD...  $40-50k?

Not likely, see exhibits 1) 2005 sunsetter lxi, or 2) response fxi, and to a lesser extent, iride and sunsetter lx

Not to mention product cost on these boats is higher than that too.