2020 20VTX In-depth Review

[Badger]

18 minutes ago, UWSkier said:

Wonder if you could increase prop pitch a bit to pick up some fuel economy at skiing speeds. 

Lol...gas is $0.99 / gallon around here.  Ahop will have traded out of this boat long before he pays off a new prop!

[ahopkins22LSV]

14 minutes ago, Badger said:

Lol...gas is $0.99 / gallon around here.  Ahop will have traded out of this boat long before he pays off a new prop!

Premium is a bit more, but yeah! Actually, I heard you were buying it.

[Badger]

13 minutes ago, ahopkinsVTX said:

I heard you were buying it.

Without any videos of you skiing at different line lengths and speed yet, you're doing a poor sales job.

[ahopkins22LSV]

3 minutes ago, Badger said:

Without any videos of you skiing at different line lengths and speed yet, you're doing a poor sales job.

Don't you want me to break it in properly and make sure all systems are good before you buy it?

[ahopkins22LSV]

Full and home! Everything went well at service and thanks to Tommy’s do getting through everything. To say they are swamped is and understatement and they are trying to dig out of the hole they didn’t create. 
 

Time to put some real hours on this thing! Full ski and surf review coming as soon as the weather cooperates! And if someone wants to come wake board, we can review that too.

Pictures because every post is better with pictures. 

[ahopkins22LSV]

Still a really slow go to the start of this season. The weather has finally turned but both my wife’s and my work have picked up. Well hers never lets up...

The lake has been a zoo since Memorial Day so even the surfing I've done has been in absolute garbage water but still went just to go. That said, I’m very impressed with the new hull and engine. Turning 3600-3700 rpms surfing with full PNP, wedge 2 and 300 lbs of lead in the bow. 3-4 adults. Wave feels better than our 19 and my friend with a 2018 T22 that surfs with me all the time says the same. We haven’t been able to pin point what we feel is better though. I do like that I don’t have to run as much wedge though. Yesterday was the first day we had good water to surf. Had more adults in the boat so actually only had to run wedge 1 which was awesome. Wave was great. Again, felt better than the 19. I think it’s the overall shape and length. Here are some pictures, not the best pics, but still something to chew on. I do think I can tweak this set up a bit more and run closer to 11mph which would be a huge plus from the 2019. 

I really can’t wait to ski this. Maybe this weekend. I hurt my arm two weeks ago skiing. I think I pulled something. It’s been feeling good through biking, yard work and surfing this past week so I think this weekend I’ll give skiing a go. Just don’t want to push it and delay skiing even longer this season...

[Badger]

7 hours ago, ahopkinsVTX said:

I really can’t wait to ski this. Maybe this weekend. 

If you're looking for a third, I can drive my new Miata over and park in your driveway.

[ahopkins22LSV]

1 hour ago, Badger said:

If you're looking for a third, I can drive my new Miata over and park in your driveway.

Let’s do it!

[ahopkins22LSV]

Here is a bit more detailed surf review. Finally had time to mess with it. We only had goofy surfers with us, my friend and myself. Just my wife and daughter additionally in the boat. All setups were the same ballast, full ballast, full 550 PNP, 100lbs of lead in the observer compartment, and 200 all the way forward in the bow. 
 

I wanted see if we could surf 11. The M5 is so much better than the 6.0 409 so far that I figured it was possible, and it was. Didn’t really even struggle. Was ok at wedge 2 and actually got worse at wedge 3. I think it would get worse at wedge 3 because of the slight list I probably had to the port side and I didn’t think of that until just now... I should have tried draining some port rear ballast. Next time..

 

Tried 10.8 next. Wave improved. Super long and lots of push. Good shape IMO. Was a bit taller and nearly just as long. Wedge 3 did the same thing as above but honestly 2 was super good and if I can surf at 3500 rpms and have half throttle left, I’m happy! 

 

Factory preset is 10.6mph so we tried that last. Very very similar to 10.8. Maybe a bit taller and a tad bit less push. Was honestly hard to tell though. Factory also set the wedge at 2. Honestly this is the first time I can say that I’d be super happy with the factory preset. 

I might just roll with the factory preset. That’s probably a lie, I’ll continue to tweak lol! Definitely a sweet spot between 10.6 and 10.8 right now. Maybe it’s 10.7 that is the money shot. Will also have to try draining some port rear ballast to see if that opens up the wedge settings a bit more. And will have to tweak depending on crew because the shorter boats are more sensitive to weight but it’s a great wave, better than our 19 Id say. It’s incredibly impressive what they have been able to do with the VTX. The surf wave is on par with the T22 and 22VLX/LSV’s that I’ve been behind. 
 

I need some regular surfers to come out so we can dial the regular side wave in. @Raimie?

Should be skiing it Saturday. Full report after that! 

[Raimie]

8 hours ago, ahopkinsVTX said:

Here is a bit more detailed surf review. Finally had time to mess with it. We only had goofy surfers with us, my friend and myself. Just my wife and daughter additionally in the boat. All setups were the same ballast, full ballast, full 550 PNP, 100lbs of lead in the observer compartment, and 200 all the way forward in the bow. 
 

I wanted see if we could surf 11. The M5 is so much better than the 6.0 409 so far that I figured it was possible, and it was. Didn’t really even struggle. Was ok at wedge 2 and actually got worse at wedge 3. I think it would get worse at wedge 3 because of the slight list I probably had to the port side and I didn’t think of that until just now... I should have tried draining some port rear ballast. Next time..

 

Tried 10.8 next. Wave improved. Super long and lots of push. Good shape IMO. Was a bit taller and nearly just as long. Wedge 3 did the same thing as above but honestly 2 was super good and if I can surf at 3500 rpms and have half throttle left, I’m happy! 

 

Factory preset is 10.6mph so we tried that last. Very very similar to 10.8. Maybe a bit taller and a tad bit less push. Was honestly hard to tell though. Factory also set the wedge at 2. Honestly this is the first time I can say that I’d be super happy with the factory preset. 

I might just roll with the factory preset. That’s probably a lie, I’ll continue to tweak lol! Definitely a sweet spot between 10.6 and 10.8 right now. Maybe it’s 10.7 that is the money shot. Will also have to try draining some port rear ballast to see if that opens up the wedge settings a bit more. And will have to tweak depending on crew because the shorter boats are more sensitive to weight but it’s a great wave, better than our 19 Id say. It’s incredibly impressive what they have been able to do with the VTX. The surf wave is on par with the T22 and 22VLX/LSV’s that I’ve been behind. 
 

I need some regular surfers to come out so we can dial the regular side wave in. @Raimie?

Should be skiing it Saturday. Full report after that! 

I'm down! Text me and we can set up a day

[mikewoods]

@ahopkinsVTX- you know where I'm at if you need some human ballast.

[ahopkins22LSV]

Ok, finally got to take a set behind the boat yesterday. 
 

Exceeds expectations! I know all the promo videos said it’s better and when I skied it in late November it seemed better but there was always some doubt for me. Could they really make it better? Until yesterday. 
 

My friend and I skied so it was hard to take videos, but I got a quick one of him in the mirror. I will get better ones later on. We were both amazing had how much better the wake was. We both skied it at -28 off, 34.2mph from the center pylon. We both felt it was much less of a bump than my 19. And there was no trough. The bump is firm but it is small and on edge, it is zero issue. 

Not only does the boat ski better, but it tracks on rails. I’ve made no adjustments to the rudder and it’s dead set. I don’t think I’m going to touch the rudder at all. 
 

Here is the video and some pictures. I plan to take a morning and ski pretty much everything from 30mph -15 off to 36mph -32 off to get a full review. Didn’t have the time yesterday but hopefully this helps some satisfy their curiosity as it did mine. 
 

Oh, yes a ski or two will fit in the port side storage:

[braindamage]

Wake looks great! Does the tower get in the way of the rope?

[ahopkins22LSV]

Just now, braindamage said:

Wake looks great! Does the tower get in the way of the rope?

Not at -28 off. When it does touch at -32 it’s at the apex of the turn and there is no load on the line so it has little to no affect. 

[braindamage]

How does the movement compare to your TXi? Assuming it doesn’t track as well, can you accommodate with counter-steering?

[ahopkins22LSV]

2 hours ago, braindamage said:

How does the movement compare to your TXi? Assuming it doesn’t track as well, can you accommodate with counter-steering?

Honestly, it’s on rails. Granted we were only open water but I had very little input to keep a straight line. The tracking is much improved. 

[UWSkier]

does that say 4670 RPM at 34.2?

[Eagleboy99]

10 minutes ago, UWSkier said:

does that say 4670 RPM at 34.2?

And 3379 RPM at 10.6 mph?

[ahopkins22LSV]

3 hours ago, UWSkier said:

does that say 4670 RPM at 34.2?

Yup. I’ll take it though because the hole shot is much improved and the surf rpms are improved. Can’t have low rpms on both and the m5 doesn’t sound like it’s turning 4600 so for the 1-2 minutes at a time, it’s all good. 

[UWSkier]

58 minutes ago, ahopkinsVTX said:

Yup. I’ll take it though because the hole shot is much improved and the surf rpms are improved. Can’t have low rpms on both and the m5 doesn’t sound like it’s turning 4600 so for the 1-2 minutes at a time, it’s all good. 

Will it run up against the rev limit with that prop at full whack? What is the rev limit of the M5 anyways? 

[ahopkins22LSV]

10 hours ago, UWSkier said:

Will it run up against the rev limit with that prop at full whack? What is the rev limit of the M5 anyways? 

Not sure. It runs up to about 5300 I think. I’ve only had it WOT a few times. The boat will touch 40mph with the bimini out, 300lbs of lead, 4 adults and 85% fuel though...

[LateNightSalami]

Is the wake good enough that you would take it into a course?

[ahopkins22LSV]

1 hour ago, LateNightSalami said:

Is the wake good enough that you would take it into a course?

That is a hard question to answer at the moment. I have taken 1 set, at 34.2mph and -28 off. At that speed and line length, yes I feel the lake is plenty good enough to run the course it. That said, my current preferred starting speed and length is 32mph -22 off because I don't spend nearly as much time in the course as I used to. I don't know what the wake is like at that speed. What I want to do in the future is take the boat trough multiple speeds and line lengths, even if it is just 3-4 turns per speed/line length. I'd start at 30mph 15 off then go from there. I might be able to do that this Sunday.

[Skicolorado]

Hey Andrew, I’m demoing a 2020 vtx on Friday. We will run it through the course. My wife skis 30mph 15 off and I’ll ski it at 34mph 28off. I’ll let you know what I think of wake and tracking through the course. Andy

[krward]

Skied that boat and the 2019, 2018...It is good and getting better, but not great in my opinion. If you ski 28 off at 34.2 in a course, it will not be a boat that allows you to progress if even run that pass consistently. Unfortunately it is why I own a 25 LSV surf machine for the family and own the Txi with 4 buddies we keep on private water.