My next move

[EchelonMike]

I did a boat upgrade myself at the end of last season.  Moved to my first V-Drive.  Slalom used to be my thing, but as I got older my kids wanted to board and now love to surf.  I was initially thinking a similar budget, move up to a 2008-2010 type model.  I was also looking for a 23 footer (LSV) initially.  Anyway, I looked at a million boats, and ended up going much cheaper and finding a one owner 2005 VLX.  It had all the boxes checked...quad ballast, monsoon, PP, wedge, etc.  The rear lockers are HUGE if you want to add PNP-type setup for more weight - I have not but it would be very easy to do.  We added a home-built surf wedge set-up and with 6-8 people in the boat and the wedge stuck on the side, the stock ballast allows it to throw a pretty good surf wave.  I wish I surfed goofy, the starboard side wave is much bigger for some reason...I attribute it to prop rotation.  I went from a 23 Ft XTi to the 21 VLX and don't miss the extra length - we boat with a similar crowd as you do.

The only thing I really wanted was power wedge, but I am not so old I can't bend down to flip open the trap door.  :-)

Good luck, enjoy the window shopping and prop...errr...tire kicking.

        -- Mike

 

[DarkSide]

On 8/15/2016 at 5:23 AM, Levi900RR said:

Agreed, I just don't have as much time for messing around with my ballast system as I used to... 

 

Full transparency here, I'm not going to pull the trigger on something else right now, just contemplating my options. I really want to surf behind one of these forward facing outdrives. If I could get a 28 footer that would handle the chop like a champ and had a decent wave... 

I too am intrigued by them.  Just for argument sake here is t22 wave pic from this thread and a cobalt R5 surf wave  they don't look that different.  Nice lip knee high wave from both.

[shawndoggy]

@DarkSide -- look at the angle to the horizon on both photos.  The T22 wave is much bigger and at least a board length longer.  The bottom photo is shot from a very low and to the side angle to give the appearance of bigness.

IMHO etc etc.

 

 

[DarkSide]

Absolutely  looks longer, and as noted not slammed either.  The other T22 wave in this thread that is slammed looks way better than the cobalt.  So I agree the potential for T22 is fantastic.   I have ridden Anderson24 t22  and I love the wave.   Too hard to tell too much from simple pics camera angles can distort things dramatically 

Just commenting levi should be able to find a reasonable wave in what he said he was looking for.

[AussieSkier]

14 hours ago, DarkSide said:

Absolutely  looks longer, and as noted not slammed either.  The other T22 wave in this thread that is slammed looks way better than the cobalt.  So I agree the potential for T22 is fantastic.   I have ridden Anderson24 t22  and I love the wave.   Too hard to tell too much from simple pics camera angles can distort things dramatically 

Just commenting levi should be able to find a reasonable wave in what he said he was looking for.

Happy birthday dark side

[racer808]

18 hours ago, shawndoggy said:

@DarkSide -- look at the angle to the horizon on both photos.  The T22 wave is much bigger and at least a board length longer.  The bottom photo is shot from a very low and to the side angle to give the appearance of bigness.

IMHO etc etc.

 

 

How is the Axis wave compared to the MB wave?  

[shawndoggy]

17 minutes ago, racer808 said:

How is the Axis wave compared to the MB wave?  

Hmmm... It has been two years since I rode the MB so I'm going from memory not back to back experience...

i personally prefer a long wave over a tall wave every day.  Will willingly give up height for length. 

MB listed goofy wave was one of the very best I have personally ridden. Very long. The axis wave is probably half a board length shorter. The axis wave is a bit more powerful from the back and on the flats, I think. The axis also has a bit more vert/lip. But just a bit.  Neither wave is "tige steep"  with a huge vert wall.

Both waves are very very fun just a little different. 

17 minutes ago, racer808 said:

How is the Axis wave compared to the MB wave?  

Hmmm... It has been two years since I rode the MB so I'm going from memory not back to back experience...

i personally prefer a long wave over a tall wave every day.  Will willingly give up height for length. 

MB listed goofy wave was one of the very best I have personally ridden. Very long. The axis wave is probably half a board length shorter. The axis wave is a bit more powerful from the back and on the flats, I think. The axis also has a bit more vert/lip. But just a bit.  Neither wave is "tige steep"  with a huge vert wall.

Both waves are very very fun just a little different. 

[granddaddy55]

My wife surfed that cobalt with stock ballast st Surfest 2015, good boat, bad to ok wave

good surfer no problem challenged surfer problem 

Edited August 20, 2016 by granddaddy55