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M240 on a large lake or ocean?


ElleW

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My husband and I recently purchased a new 23LSV for our house in Tahoe. Although we LOVED 2016 VLX when we had it on Big Bear, we are finding the LSV too small and rocky for a bigger lake, especially since we rarely get out early enough to beat the wind (we have a potty training toddler)  

Has anyone had an M240 on Lake Tahoe or another big lake or even ocean? Is it noticeably more stable? Not that there aren’t other reasons to upgrade, but this is the big one for me.

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1 hour ago, ElleW said:

My husband and I recently purchased a new 23LSV for our house in Tahoe. Although we LOVED 2016 VLX when we had it on Big Bear, we are finding the LSV too small and rocky for a bigger lake, especially since we rarely get out early enough to beat the wind (we have a potty training toddler)  

Has anyone had an M240 on Lake Tahoe or another big lake or even ocean? Is it noticeably more stable? Not that there aren’t other reasons to upgrade, but this is the big one for me.

We have had two 23 lsv’s loved them both as well.  Boat traffic on our lake has increased considerably over the last few years so we decided to go with a 25 and happy that we did.  Increased freeboard in particular has made a big difference for everyone in terms of comfort and confidence in rough water.  
 

our lake is about 5500 acres so it’s a good size but there are certainly larger lakes.  Having said this I would not take our 25 into ocean like conditions.  

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8 hours ago, ElleW said:

My husband and I recently purchased a new 23LSV for our house in Tahoe. Although we LOVED 2016 VLX when we had it on Big Bear, we are finding the LSV too small and rocky for a bigger lake, especially since we rarely get out early enough to beat the wind (we have a potty training toddler)  

Has anyone had an M240 on Lake Tahoe or another big lake or even ocean? Is it noticeably more stable? Not that there aren’t other reasons to upgrade, but this is the big one for me.

We are on a fairly large lake, 41 sq miles compated to Tahoe at 191, seems small. The main body of the lake is open though, roughly 12 miles by 7 miles. A 10 mph breeze has us heading into the wind, looking for the quiet shore, which is usually the other end of the lake from our house. In our VTX or 23 lsv, we put the boat away on those days. In our 25 lsv, we just go find the quiet water. 

On a big lake, especislly one that can go from calm to 2 foot waves in a short period, i would recommend the biggest boat you can manage.  For us the 25 is great, though i would do a 26 Lsv if we could afford it. The m240 was great, puts out a better surf wave, but felt less spacious to us. We just turned the clock past 200 hrs this weekend, and have rarely found days we just couldn't use it.

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We are on a pretty decent size lake (35sq mi) (small compared to Tahoe) that gets very rough.  The m240 handles it without any issue but as a surf boat I almost never go out when it’s rough as what is the point?  

Edited by RCorsa
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On 9/5/2022 at 1:11 PM, ElleW said:

My husband and I recently purchased a new 23LSV for our house in Tahoe. Although we LOVED 2016 VLX when we had it on Big Bear, we are finding the LSV too small and rocky for a bigger lake, especially since we rarely get out early enough to beat the wind (we have a potty training toddler)  

Has anyone had an M240 on Lake Tahoe or another big lake or even ocean? Is it noticeably more stable? Not that there aren’t other reasons to upgrade, but this is the big one for me.

When it's that rough, watersports are definitely secondary (it's not like folks want to wakeboard then).  There's a reason there are so many cobalts on tahoe.  I'd consider one of the surfgate equipped cobalts if the priority is rough water ride but you want to still be able to surf.

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The only time it struggles on rough water is when all of the ballast is full, will take water over the bow if you hit a larger wave.  On smooth water the wave is impossible to beat and WAY better than the 23 foot Paragon in my opinion.  

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We are on a 50 sq mile lake with a 23 LSV.  I would say it's biggest down fall is rough water ride qlty.  The added freeboard and weight of anything bigger will certainly make the ride qlty better.

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37 minutes ago, Five Cent Worth said:

We are on a 50 sq mile lake with a 23 LSV.  I would say it's biggest down fall is rough water ride qlty.  The added freeboard and weight of anything bigger will certainly make the ride qlty better.

25LSV Shines here.

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Definitely the 25LSV or new 26LSV would do fine in large rough conditions assuming the driver knew how to drive the boat properly by modulating the throttle according to wave size.  In big 4 ft waves you will still get tossed around a little bit but it should handle it fine.

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1 hour ago, Stevo said:

that being said I think the deeper V of the 240 performs better in the chop, but will have more water sprayed inside the boat when the wind is up based on the pickle fork type bow.

Why would spray on a windy day be dependent on traditional vs pickle fork bow?  do you just mean the hull shape overall or amount of freeboard?  I can't picture in my head why it would be a big difference

related note/question: any early reports on how the T250 handles chop vs the 25LSV?  i'm sure there are folks who dream of the 25LSV, but will be curious if similar handling is possible in the more affordable T250.

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I might be wrong but the 250 and 25lsv are basically same hull . I have the 250 and had a 21 A24. The 250 handles rough water better and is taller . I did survive a horrible storm last year in the a24 with 6’-7’ waves that capsized a new 23lsv . I have dipped the bow in the 250 but that was captain error not the boat . It’s hard to imagine a wake boat more capable of handling rough water than the 25lsv or new 26lsv .

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8 hours ago, CaptainMorgan said:

Why would spray on a windy day be dependent on traditional vs pickle fork bow?  do you just mean the hull shape overall or amount of freeboard?  I can't picture in my head why it would be a big difference

related note/question: any early reports on how the T250 handles chop vs the 25LSV?  i'm sure there are folks who dream of the 25LSV, but will be curious if similar handling is possible in the more affordable T250

the pickle fork style boats disperse water off the hull farther forward and I would argue based on experiences in pickle forks and traditional V bows , the pickle has a wetter ride than the traditional. 
I believe there are a few threads here with the same sentiment 

 

 

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On 9/7/2022 at 11:26 AM, shawndoggy said:

When it's that rough, watersports are definitely secondary (it's not like folks want to wakeboard then).  There's a reason there are so many cobalts on tahoe.  I'd consider one of the surfgate equipped cobalts if the priority is rough water ride but you want to still be able to surf.

It’s more that we want a safer option to get off the lake when the wind picks up.  Or to pull my daughter’s unicorn. 

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22 hours ago, Stevo said:

New 25 handles the chop much better than my previous generation 25 and 23lsv,

that being said I think the deeper V of the 240 performs better in the chop, but will have more water sprayed inside the boat when the wind is up based on the pickle fork type bow.

I was just up at our cabin in Donner for Labor Day and when the wind/chop picks up we break out the tube for the kids. It got pretty busy and choppy but was pleasantly surprised by the boat’s performance vs prior boats I’ve had or been in.

also the LT4 is a must for that altitude, I loved the way it performed and will for sure check that box going forward on any other boats where I’ll be above 6k elevation 

187A7B6E-2236-4A43-BA23-7FB9E9E10353.jpeg

That’s exactly what we’re planning to do.  Labor Day was rough, not because of wind but because there were so many other boats on Lake Tahoe (dinner looks peaceful though).   My husbands the only one who wakesurfs, but I think my daughter would like to ride her unicorn behind the boat (obviously, with us also in it) and I think we’ll feel safer longer on the lake in a bigger boat. 

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36 minutes ago, ElleW said:

It’s more that we want a safer option to get off the lake when the wind picks up.  Or to pull my daughter’s unicorn. 

Yeah I'd look at a Cobalt R8Surf.  I think it's probably better oriented to your priorities and would make the rough chop / big rollers a lot less dramatic.

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Have never seen 4 ft waves, but my lake is small..measured in acres. Was caught in a bad storm one time and my 257 with 1k lead was being tossed about by the wind. Was hard to drive in a straight line ( could hardly see). Don't know what the waves were but less than 2 ft for sure. With the bilge running we took on about 100 gal of water. I shopvacced it out once we got the boat stowed in our boat shed. Had no idea there was that much water in there. My SIL said wife and I were calm. I thought..really!!?!

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On 9/10/2022 at 12:34 AM, Stevo said:

the pickle fork style boats disperse water off the hull farther forward and I would argue based on experiences in pickle forks and traditional V bows , the pickle has a wetter ride than the traditional. 
I believe there are a few threads here with the same sentiment

This is a fact.  My 2021 24MXZ even on calm days with a little bit of wind would spray us behind the windshield and is one of the reasons we upgraded to the new 25LSV.

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  • 7 months later...

You’ll definitely get more confidence with the 240/25/26lsv in rough water however not without some drawbacks that you should probably consider.  A couple that come to mind is that the bigger boats generally need more room to maneuver for docking or trailering - which can hamper you a little more than your 23lsv in weather at busy boat launches.  Another is the bigger the boat, the more wind generally affects it especially at low speeds - the extra weight of the 240 and 25/26 probably do ok in this but with that extra weight if you do get blown off course the “crunch” carry’s a bit more force.  In order to mitigate the low speed maneuvering struggles of the bigger boats, i would highly suggest opting for one with stern-turn.  

That said, if you were to call Malibu and ask them if the 23lsv was designed with Lake Tahoe conditions in mind I’m sure they would say it is a highly capable boat for those conditions.  With more experience under your belt I think you guys could do just fine with your current boat if you decided to stick with it.  I have a 23lsv and run it in the Columbia river gorge.  We have insane wind, swell, and current here on any given hour of any day.  Our wind is either 5-15mph or 35-nuclear, so I can’t see a 25 foot boat giving me any more days a year than I get already with my 23 lsv.

But in the end - if I could fit a 25lsv in my garage it would be there instead of my 23 haha! 

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