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22 LSV vs. 23 LSV


rjlewisii

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1 hour ago, rjlewisii said:

I'm on the fence between these boats. Does anybody know if there is a significant difference in the size of the wake between them? Thanks

Go check them out.  The 23 feels much bigger than the 22 and it's only 12".  We have a 2017 22 VLX and are ordering a 23 LSV.  In terms of wake, the difference is nominal, but in terms of function, size, and storage, the 23 is much better, IMO.

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IMO, the only two reasons to get the 22LSV:
- Lake restriction, as there are some that have a 22' limit.  My local water is one of them
- Storage issues, where that extra foot is the difference between fitting and not fitting
- Price, though I'm not sure how big of a difference they really are, equally optioned.  I haven't looks at the resale price difference either, which is even more important

 

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My local dealer who I've been buying Malibu's from 2004-2018 is lending me a 2019 23 LSV because my SAN 230 is down for maintenance. They were selling both Malibu and Nautique until last year. In 2018, I left Malibu for Nautique due to a couple of Malibu "lemons." (2015 & 2016 22 VLX) I could not be more satisfied with the dealership and don't want to leave them so I'm ultimately going back to Malibu if I want to buy a new boat. A friend has a new Malibu with 60 trouble free hours so my reliability concerns are diminishing. I have no restrictions so sounds like the 23 LSV is the way to go. Any idea how the Malibu reliability is, has been? I know they had some problems  during my ownership years but hopefully have ironed them out. Thanks for your replies!

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9 hours ago, Nitrousbird said:

IMO, the only two reasons to get the 22LSV:
- Lake restriction, as there are some that have a 22' limit.  My local water is one of them
- Storage issues, where that extra foot is the difference between fitting and not fitting
- Price, though I'm not sure how big of a difference they really are, equally optioned.  I haven't looks at the resale price difference either, which is even more important

 

Completely agree. Get the 23... unless it doesn't work for your situation (garage, lake ect.)... then get the 22 and be happy that you still get 90% of what the 23 is, but in a boat that actually works for your situation.  I've own 23LSV's since 2008... never once have wanted a smaller boat.

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31 minutes ago, rjlewisii said:

My local dealer who I've been buying Malibu's from 2004-2018 is lending me a 2019 23 LSV because my SAN 230 is down for maintenance. They were selling both Malibu and Nautique until last year. In 2018, I left Malibu for Nautique due to a couple of Malibu "lemons." (2015 & 2016 22 VLX) I could not be more satisfied with the dealership and don't want to leave them so I'm ultimately going back to Malibu if I want to buy a new boat. A friend has a new Malibu with 60 trouble free hours so my reliability concerns are diminishing. I have no restrictions so sounds like the 23 LSV is the way to go. Any idea how the Malibu reliability is, has been? I know they had some problems  during my ownership years but hopefully have ironed them out. Thanks for your replies!

There's been some growing pains as Malibu ramped up volume over the last few years but I follow the other brands and see each one seems to have had issues with their own growth too. I'm in a similar setup as you with a dealer selling Malibu and Nautique, as well as Supra, and I plan to keep buying a Malibu.

The recent 2020 impeller issues have my attention but it seems those will be addressed for 2021. I've also seen that those issues seemed to only recur in certain boats for some reason, with most of the fleet not having issues. My 2020 has run over 100 hours on the same impeller but then I know another member on here from the same dealer has burned through 3 now. 

While not diminishing some of the screen or impeller issues that get attention online, so far so good for me as far as trouble free boats for the 2018-2020 model years. Knocking on wood but my cumulative troubles have only been 2 screen freezes (one each 2018 and 2019), no impeller issues and a few too many dings in the interior gel than I could stand. And warranty covered the gel work.

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59 minutes ago, NWBU said:

There's been some growing pains as Malibu ramped up volume over the last few years but I follow the other brands and see each one seems to have had issues with their own growth too. I'm in a similar setup as you with a dealer selling Malibu and Nautique, as well as Supra, and I plan to keep buying a Malibu.

The recent 2020 impeller issues have my attention but it seems those will be addressed for 2021. I've also seen that those issues seemed to only recur in certain boats for some reason, with most of the fleet not having issues. My 2020 has run over 100 hours on the same impeller but then I know another member on here from the same dealer has burned through 3 now. 

While not diminishing some of the screen or impeller issues that get attention online, so far so good for me as far as trouble free boats for the 2018-2020 model years. Knocking on wood but my cumulative troubles have only been 2 screen freezes (one each 2018 and 2019), no impeller issues and a few too many dings in the interior gel than I could stand. And warranty covered the gel work.

I had the screen freeze issue on my '15 & '16 22 VLX's. I shutdown, turned off the batteries and that fixed it. Is that your experience as well? Thanks for your input.

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56 minutes ago, Ronnie said:

The 23LSV is the top selling towboat for a reason. 

That's exactly what the owner of the dealership, who's become a good friend over the years, told me. Agreed.

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1 hour ago, rjlewisii said:

I have no restrictions so sounds like the 23 LSV is the way to go. 

Why not a 25LSV then?  And since you obviously upgrade often, entry price isn't the concern, it is resale price.  Even if an equal 25LSV costs 10k more, if it sells for 10k more 3 years from now, it's pretty much a wash yet you got to have the bigger boat for 3 years.

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1 hour ago, rjlewisii said:

I had the screen freeze issue on my '15 & '16 22 VLX's. I shutdown, turned off the batteries and that fixed it. Is that your experience as well? Thanks for your input.

Yes, that was the immediate fix and then it didn’t recur for me on either boat. I don’t tend to run my batteries down much, which I think helps minimize issues.

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44 minutes ago, Nitrousbird said:

Why not a 25LSV then?  And since you obviously upgrade often, entry price isn't the concern, it is resale price.  Even if an equal 25LSV costs 10k more, if it sells for 10k more 3 years from now, it's pretty much a wash yet you got to have the bigger boat for 3 years.

Definitely can't argue that logic although I've heard that 22 and 23 are the sweet spots for a surf wave. Having dug a little deeper, the redesign for 2021 is only on the 23 which is a clincher. Love the walk through.

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1 hour ago, Five Cent Worth said:

The 25 has to be getting the same walk thru / update in 2022.  The 25 with the walk thru will be the ticket!

If size isn't an issue, the 25 lsv is the way to go. I had a 2016 and 2017 23 lsv and I didn't keep them long. Now I have a 25 lsv and I will hold on to it for a long time. It just gives you everything better: spectator capacity, storage, larger wake and waves, plus you are the beast of the line up. 

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2 hours ago, Five Cent Worth said:

The 25 has to be getting the same walk thru / update in 2022.  The 25 with the walk thru will be the ticket!

Do you know if the 22 is getting the walk through in 2022? Looking at the drafts, the 22 draws 27" and the 23/25 are 32". Currently I'm at 29" and just make it on the lift at low tide, usually. Sometimes I have to moor it for a couple of hours until the tide rises. Would be nice to have less draft in my game of inches. I'm meeting with the Malibu dealer today as he's lending me a 23 LSV, I'll see if he knows. Pretty pumped to try it out.

Thanks

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28 minutes ago, bbattiste247 said:

If size isn't an issue, the 25 lsv is the way to go. I had a 2016 and 2017 23 lsv and I didn't keep them long. Now I have a 25 lsv and I will hold on to it for a long time. It just gives you everything better: spectator capacity, storage, larger wake and waves, plus you are the beast of the line up. 

I haven't seen the 25 for a while but I do remember it being a beast! Did you stay with the 430HP or move up? In my 2015 22 VLX we had the stock engine and prop, added 1100 lb sacs and it struggled. Went to a more aggressive prop with the same engine and it performed much better.

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1 minute ago, rjlewisii said:

I haven't seen the 25 for a while but I do remember it being a beast! Did you stay with the 430HP or move up? In my 2015 22 VLX we had the stock engine and prop, added 1100 lb sacs and it struggled. Went to a more aggressive prop with the same engine and it performed much better.

I have the M6Di (450) engine and we surf at 1100 feet. We have never had issues getting on plane or lack of power even with 600lbs of lead and 12 people. 

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5 hours ago, bbattiste247 said:

I have the M6Di (450) engine and we surf at 1100 feet. We have never had issues getting on plane or lack of power even with 600lbs of lead and 12 people. 

I bet that threw a massive wave!

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On 9/11/2020 at 12:49 PM, rjlewisii said:

Do you know if the 22 is getting the walk through in 2022? Looking at the drafts, the 22 draws 27" and the 23/25 are 32". Currently I'm at 29" and just make it on the lift at low tide, usually. Sometimes I have to moor it for a couple of hours until the tide rises. Would be nice to have less draft in my game of inches. I'm meeting with the Malibu dealer today as he's lending me a 23 LSV, I'll see if he knows. Pretty pumped to try it out.

Thanks

I don't.  I am only extrapolating the current models and the trends.  

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  • 3 years later...
GregoryB21
On 9/12/2020 at 2:27 AM, Five Cent Worth said:

The 25 has to be getting the same walk thru / update in 2022.  The 25 with the walk thru will be the ticket!

Towing capacity of your vehicle also worth considering. The dry weight plus gear and everything else really add up. My Discovery has a 3500kg tow rating so the 25 would be a stretch 

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We just moved from an "OG" 2008 247 LSV and ended up with a 2022 23 LSV.  It's a foot+ smaller than our old boat, but still feels really big inside.  We usually have 8 with us on the water and I hate not having stretch out room.  We looked at the 2024 22 LSV at our local dealer and it felt much smaller - a foot makes a huge difference.   

We also sat in a Nautique GS22 right next to the 22 LSV (our dealer sells both brands) and the GS22 felt huge in comparison.  I think it has a lower freeboard/gunnel height and also a more squared off pickle-style bow area.  We actually loved the GS22 "feel" in the interior.   It was just way out of our price range.  

Good luck!

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

I've got an opportunity to swap from our 2019 22 LSV w/ 409 to a 2019 23 LSV w/ 450 with minimal out of pocket (almost identically optioned otherwise as far as I can tell). Our main motivation = bigger fuel tank + more power (we are at 6k elevation). Storage and towing capacity are not issues. This seems like a no brainer to me. Given my 2019 22 LSV was a new model that year, are there any features that I have now that I would be giving up that I'm not aware of? Seems like from my research the "guts" are pretty much identical?

 

Thanks!

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2 minutes ago, shawndoggy said:

which "450" are you getting? M6 or raptor or pcm?

PCM I believe....engine cover is red labeled Monsoon 450. My current engine has a red cover labeled Monsoon 409. The different brands confuse me haha!

Edited by dshack
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