Upgrading Boat soon. Question?
 

I'm finally in a position to upgrade to a VDrive but I am facing the decision of what I should be looking at. I know most of the in's and out's of most manufacturers on wakeboard wakes but I'm struggling to figure out what the best all round boat for me will be?

I'm 34 6', 220lbs and my wakeboarding career is starting wind down a bit considering the 19 years or so of wakeboarding and snowboarding so my knees and back don't like me as much as they used too. I need a boat that is good in rough water as the lake where our summer house is can get nasty quick. As much as I like wakeboarding surfing is going to start becoming more and more the usual. Most of my friends are all bigger guys like myself and have struggled on my small DD surf wave.

I have all brands locally so service isn't an issue or something I care about that much. I have a 2000 MB DD and it's been in the shop twice and was never an actual dealer.

Budget of about $ 40-50K Canadian
I'd like a boat that can fill ballast fast like an MB and put up a decent wave with little work.
I'd love a 226 or a MB TWB but I will probably have to wait another year or so for the prices to come down enough and there isn't too many near me. A local dealer just picked up MB last year.
VLX . Great wakeboard wake and boat. What's surf wave like?
LSV. Same thing.
Nautique 210,220. Steeper wakeboard wake. What's the surf wave like?
Tige. Great wakeboard wake and boat. What's surf wave like?

A local dealer is suggesting a Supreme V208, 232 or older Centurion Enzo. I know they put out great waves but honestly the styling of these boats aren't really my favorite.

I know you can pretty much surf behind any of these boats and none of the waves need to be the ultimate wave. Something that is large enough to allow people to surf with ease and relatively simple setup is more important.

Suggestions?

here is a vid of me surfing on a vlx, only one driver in the boat, adn we have the plug and play option with two 750 sacs filled on top of the hard tanks. it puts out a great wave, hope this helps in your decision

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7uNWA3NrA8

Tige z3 or a mb 23 twb. Can't beat their surf waves

yes, you are correct; the reality is most of them all share the same parts that would ever need replacing, except for the electronic dashes and a few special parts. However, these are all available for any repair shop, if needed.

Try to stay away from boats that require you to fill bags or give up storage space. As you will see if you do a search of slammed boat here, a lot of them sit very low in the water. Ask yourself if that fits your criteria. FWIW, I have no extra sacs or lost space in my boat, but some people don't like the flat nose. The double foam/honeycomb hull is very rigid and rides very well in rough water with the higher freeboard, except for a bit of spray (but most of them spray in strong winds).

Start looking in the NW US or even as far sooth as Utah and Nevada. When I was looking there were a few good deals that came up a bit further south. Unless it is a smoking deal, wait a while; the boats are slowly being moved into winter storage. That will typically be when the deals start to show up. You never know when a divorce settlement or repo boat will show up.

2011 or newer Enzo with the quick fill ballast, rough water ride is amazing

First off, I know what you're talking about being a bigger guy and struggling with a d-drive surf wave. They typically don't have the hulls and weight designed for making big wakes and while you can surf them, it is more difficult than on a boat made to make wakes. Here is my input and comparrison on the matter.

Recently I have been riding a VLX. Now I haven't surfed a lot of boats, 2 actually, but the difference in push, length, and wave quality is night and day comparing the d-drive wave to a v-drives. Also another friend we ride with has ridden the same d-drive and v-drive as well as several others and says the VLX has more push than any of the boats he's surfed behind as well.
Here is a video of me out behind the VLX this weekend. Keep in mind I'm about right about 6'0 and 235ish and I am riding a 4'0" board here and I am very far back on the board.
<iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/k8vwg_QuhfI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Riding the d-drive I typically ride a 4'8 or 5'6 board and have my body positioned a lot closer to the nose to get the push to stay in the pocket. If I'm back on the board or even centered it's like I'm always leaning back putting on the brakes and fall out easily. This works for smooth water, but with choppy water the nose gets buried easy.
<iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/PLLet9BP_7s" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

So there you go with videos of the two wakes of a bigger guy (me) riding them. I hope they and the rest of this post help out a little bit.

The VLX was weighted with stock ballast on the port side with a piggy back 750lb sack in the back, a 80% full 750lb sack on the rear port seat, and a 400lb sack in the port bow with wedge up and 2 passengers on the port side besides the driver.
The d-drive is weighted with 250 under the rear seat, 350 on the port floor, 750 on top of the 350 on the port rear seat, and a 150 on the rear center seat with typically 1 or 2 passengers on the doghouse and/or observer seat. This configuration is pretty maxed out and it is SLAMMED.
There is obviously a big difference in weight, with the stock weight of the VLX already weighing more than the d-drive. Of course the VLX has more freeboard, is designed for more weight, is about 2 feet longer, and the hull is made to make wake, not to reduce wake as compared to d-drives which are typically designed for skiing where you want little wake.

Also the VLX handles the chop like it's nothing, very comfortable ride.

^^^^ And the VLX cost over 8x what the DD cost. :banghead:

^Very true, but he's the one shopping for one and wanted to know what the surf wave was like. Since he's coming from a DD, just wanted to contrast a bit.
Personally as long as I can surf I'm happy regardless of what boat it's on so long as it's an inboard.

Where in canada are you? A lot of canadians come down here to buy boats.

my video up top is on a VLX i dont think the video above has the boat at its best settings

If you want a surf boat, get one with a deep v hull. Centurion, tige, supreme, mb are some of proven surf boat with deep v hull. You'd also appreciate the ride when your lake gets rough in the afternoon.

The flat bottom hull like the Malibu will give you a cleaner wakeboard wake but you need to put a ton of weight for surfing and you'll likely need a kidney belt when it gets rough.

Where in canada are you?

I agree. This was the wave on the exact same VLX on a different day... Looks more impressive here:
(and the rider is way better looking!) :p

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-g...134324_277.jpg

Thanks for the comments everyone. I'm just outside of Vancouver. I have already been looking in the US (ie: Washington, Oregon, California, Utah, Wyoming). I've noticed not all boats are really any cheaper in the states but there is more to choose from for sure. I have always leaned to the newer MB's as I do really like the boats and the pure vert fill but, I would probably have to wait another year for the boats to drop a bit more in price before I can get in to one.

One of the other dilemma's I have been racking my brain about is I don't get out as much with having a 18 month old and will be going for number two next year sometime. All of my friends have young kids as well so getting out can prove to be tough. This year has been my worst year for hours. So far I have only put on 22 hours for the season although a lot of that is also related to the fact that my wife and I bought a new house and moved so everything that goes along with that killed my free time. Typically we run at least around 50 hrs. I know I need a bigger/safer boat so I can take families out but at the same time I also wonder if it's worth it right now as this is how the next few years will be for me. At the same time I know if I had a newer boat it would also make it easier to get the kids and wives along for the ride. First world problems I guess.lol.

Thankfully my Malibu came with a kidney belt, or I would really be unhappy. Because my favorite thing to do it go out when it choppy and drive around as fast as I can.

lol. I'm sure it is.

No one likes driving in choppy water on a wakeboat but a lot of times it's not really an option when the wind picked up in the afternoon. Just some hull designs are better than the flat hull on other brands but there's a trade off. Not sure why some malibu owners are pretty touchy when someone made a comment about their boat.

I had a VLX before and the wakeboard wake is very nice and clean. The surf wave is pretty good with enough weight.

the vlx puts out an amzing wave and as fas as weight all you need to do is order the plug and play option and this will be plenty of weight. as far as families go you will find not haveing to list the boat will be a huge bonus and keep all the familly happy. not sure what anyone means by kidney belt as i have had no problems putting out a great wave in any conditions. i cant say how it will perform if you are on a lake that has rough waters that looks like an ocean, but as far as normal off days on a lake i have never had any issues.

there are lots of good boats out there but if worrying about keeping the familly ihappy s one of your concerns then surfgate is the way to go, i know plenty of people who upgraded to keep thier wives happy not only for when they sit in the boat but also for when you want your wife to drive

I don't doubt that surfgate or NSS is a great system but I also don't have +80K to spend on a boat. As I mentioned before. I'm looking to be in around 50K and that's after any applicable taxes/shipping whatev so that would be a couple year old used boat.

i love my axis a22. and you can get a good one a year or so old for that price.

axis is owned by malibu and all 2014 models will be coming with surfgate im not sure of the pricing but i know its definitely significantly lower the malibu and may be in your range

Can someone clarify the difference in hulls on the malibus between the VLX and the LSV? Which is the crossover version that needs mass weight? I have a friend with a wakesetter but takes a lot of weight to get a big wake and its soft. Is the VLX better?

First off there are two hull choices on both boats, there is a wake hull for wake boarding and wakesurfing and there is a diamond cut hull which is for waterskiing. So it's more then just looking at the boats you need to know what hull they have. Both hull designs are the same ion the lsv and the vlx. The difference between the two is just the size.

As far as weighting all u need is the hard tanks and the plug and play option that adds 2 x 750 soft bags, on in each rear compartment. The hard tanks with the plug and play option include two rear, one middle and one front.

Not sure what year the wake setter you were on so it may not be the same, that being said both ethe vlx and lsv when dialled I are throwing up a great clean wave. Obviously the lsv is better but I have spent a lot of time on a vlx and it has been awesome.