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Which boat would you choose?


Cuhleb

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Hi everyone, I'm new to the Malibu Crew (even though I've referenced the site plenty of times now). Making my first post to see which direction you would go with this boat choice. 

I spent a lot of time growing up going out with friends and family on the lake. We used to take out a 06 vride. Now, I'm looking to purchase my first boat and am stuck weighing out the pros and cons of a 2008 vride and a 2010 wakesetter vlx. I've done my research so I'm aware the 08 vride sits on a 04 wakesetter (SV23) hull with a 93.5" beam and the 2010 vlx has the V25 hull with a 100" beam. Here are the details:

vride ($32k) - 410 hrs, interior looks mint, wetsound speakers inside boat and tower, plumbed ballast operating on factory switches with 750's in the rear, 500 belly ballast, and 120 bow, hull is in great shape with only 1 scratch in the gel coat, illusion X tower. The vride is a private seller and I have only seen pics up to this point, no 3rd party inspection has been done, yet.

vlx ($46.5k) - 310 hrs, interior is mint, rockford speakers, standard 1250lbs of hard tank ballast, 6.5" maliview screen, illusion g3 tower, padded walkthru. The vlx has had a new engine installed already bc the first owner forgot to winterize the boat... The swap was done by my local malibu dealer and they have all the maintenance records. The dealer now has the boat under consignment and is selling for the second owner. During their inspection, the engine checked out good, but 3 things came up - (1) brake cylinder on trailer needs replacing, (2) water pump needs replacing on engine, (3) the rudder is slightly bent. Hopefully the owner agrees to honor the price after fixing these 3 items.

Based on the above, which boat do you think is the better deal? To me, the vlx is much more stylish given its newer and has the improved hull, but is it really worth the extra 15k...? I'll mainly be wakeboarding and surfing.

thanks!

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If the 15K isn’t a deal breaker, I would lean that way for the wider beam and G3 tower.   But that v-ride hull is a classic for wakeboarding.  

The 2010 should set up better to surf too if that is in your plans.  

You cant go wrong with either but I would lean toward the VLX.  If rudder is bent, make sure the rest of the running gear and shaft is good.  I think 2010 avoids the Malivue screen failure issues. You may research that a bit to confirm.  I think starting in 2011 folks just need to budget for that screen to fail.    

 

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Everything about that VLX tells me stay away.

If one "forgets" to have a boat winterized, what else have they ignored about the boat? The rudder is bent? That indicates a strike to me. So now the rudder has been hit, the engine has been replaced, has the rest of the running gear been checked / replaced? And the water pump has already gone bad in a significantly less than 310 hour dealer installed engine - why are they telling you instead of replacing it before trying to sell it? Frankly, my guess is the second owner is selling it in that condition because they don't want to spend more money on more headaches.

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44 minutes ago, smileysteve said:

Everything about that VLX tells me stay away.

If one "forgets" to have a boat winterized, what else have they ignored about the boat? The rudder is bent? That indicates a strike to me. So now the rudder has been hit, the engine has been replaced, has the rest of the running gear been checked / replaced? And the water pump has already gone bad in a significantly less than 310 hour dealer installed engine - why are they telling you instead of replacing it before trying to sell it? Frankly, my guess is the second owner is selling it in that condition because they don't want to spend more money on more headaches.

If they have all records and these were the only problems I would go for it. If it is in and out of service, nickel and diming. Walk away. Why is the second seller getting rid of it?

Questions need to be asked.

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Thanks Steve. I appreciate that perspective. Sometimes its hard to step back and consider everything when you see a good looking boat right in front of you. But from my knowledge, the current seller is getting rid of the boat because his kids are off to school and it seems like they aren't really getting much use out of it based on the hours. I am going to review all the maintenance records this week like you guys suggested. Luckily the dealer has serviced it from day 1 so I should see records from both owners. 

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I am partial to the VLX if you are wanting to primarily surf, just for the little deeper hull.  The wider beam, G3 tower and no Malivue like on the 2011+ is a plus too.

Depending on your location, if the seller does not want to fix the rudder, etc., I would look at other options if you decide to go in that budget range.

Here is my old 2010 that I traded in for my '18 LSV:

https://www.texasmalibu.com/default.asp?page=xPreOwnedInventoryDetail&id=6575535&p=1&s=Year&d=D&year=2010&fr=xPreOwnedInventory

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16 hours ago, jwl019 said:

I am partial to the VLX if you are wanting to primarily surf, just for the little deeper hull.  The wider beam, G3 tower and no Malivue like on the 2011+ is a plus too.

Depending on your location, if the seller does not want to fix the rudder, etc., I would look at other options if you decide to go in that budget range.

Here is my old 2010 that I traded in for my '18 LSV:

https://www.texasmalibu.com/default.asp?page=xPreOwnedInventoryDetail&id=6575535&p=1&s=Year&d=D&year=2010&fr=xPreOwnedInventory

Good looking boat, I really like the red and black on it!

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I just got done reviewing the records dating back to 2012 (details below). 

Dec 2012 - winterization (including heater), oil change, impeller, transmission fluid, spare tire mounted to trailer

Nov 2013 - winterization (including heater), oil change, transmission fluid

May 2014 - install lights on G3 tower, install new bimini canvas (no comments about prior bimini being ripped/torn)

Note: I noticed there's no record of winterization from 2014

July 2015 - oil change, engine making high pitch sound at higher speed, front ballast tank not draining (blown fuse, pump working properly), cruise pre-sets not activating ballast pumps - noted to be a user error with customer not using the pre-sets correctly although Maliview was updated to latest software version, found that the wedge was not deploying (bad ram), trailer winch stripped and replaced, driver side fender grip replaced, spare tire rim on order

Takeaway questions - (1) is this updated Maliview software an issue since a lot of you mentioned issues with 2011+ models? (2) What happened with the trailer to need a new fender grip and new spare tire - considering a spare tire was added in Dec 2012?

Aug 2015 - Wedge rams/actuators and sensor replaced

Oct 2015 - winterization (including heater)

Dec 2015 - NEW motor installed

Takeaway - it seems odd the boat was not winterized in 2014 (unless done outside of this dealership) but then used all 2015... But with the engine making sounds in July I assume the engine finally broke down... But it was then winterized in Oct 2015 prior to the motor replacement in Dec.

I assume the boat was then sold in 2016 to the 2nd and current owner

Dec 2016 - winterization (including heater), oil change, alternator replaced (was not charging batteries)

Dec 2017 - winterization (including heater), oil change

Nov 2018 - winterization (including heater)

April 2019 - I'm looking to purchase the boat. Not too surprised the water pump needs replacing considering it seems the impeller has not been replaced since the new motor was installed. 

Is it typical to change the oil at the end of the season? I was thinking winterization at end of the season and then a fresh oil change in the spring before it goes back out on the lake.

I appreciate all the comments guys. If there is anything blatantly obvious I'm not seeing or questions I should ask let me know!

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16 minutes ago, Cuhleb said:

Good looking boat, I really like the red and black on it!

On the '10 VLX if you are going to surf, you will want 750-910# bags in each rear locker and 600-650# bag in the bow with a Nauticurl or Swell suction gate on the side and they make a great wave.

Just something to think about, the 1,250# stock ballast is not going to be enough to surf very good.  You will want to add or have extra ballast pumps installed to fill those bags too since throwing a pump over the side of the boat for 3 big bags is not fun.  I installed 3 reversible pumps on the '10 VLX and it made my day so much more enjoyable just flipping switches going from surfing to stock ballast for wakeboarding to emptying completely for tubing with the little kids.

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From what you have been posting, it seems there has been at least the basic maintenance done by the dealer "annually". The new engine and the associated actions in regards to it seem kind of odd, timeline wise. But if the dealer replaced it you should be good for up to @2500-3000 hours of use from what I have read in the past. The software update(s) for my "10 LSV/350 Monsoon, at least IME fixed a weird/false depth gauge reading and everything else if updated was transparent to me. ALL of the other things you describe were things that I had personally experienced on my '10 except the engine replacement. I sold mine this past January with 1024 hours with never an engine problem. I replaced the raw water pump @ 800 hrs, bad output shaft seal common issue. ALL of the Piranha aerator pumps were working, but were either making crazy noises or were slowing down when I sold it so expect to replace some if not most of them. Understandable for what they do especially if you run in crunchy water. I had the front and RR ballast tank sensors start to act up, but an easy and relatively @ $50 fix per sensor IIRC. For oil changes I always changed mine at 33 hours in season and put in fresh engine, trans and VD when winterizing. I have read that used oil has the by products of combustion in it and can be corrosive to internal engine parts and it is best to change it before storing. Too easy to do it when I can let the hose drop through the bilge and gravity drain for as long as it needs and come back in and fill it up at my leisure with a cold one in hand. :biggrin:

Edited by wdr
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