By now you have all probably figured out that I like to flip vehicles. In 22 years of driving, I have owned 13 different cars. The longest was a 1999 Altima which I drove for 3 years (the only car I ever bought for practical reasons… swear I’ll never do that again). The shortest was a 2008 Ford Mustang GT which I drove for 7 months. I've driven sports cars, suv's, trucks, even convertibles. I am all over the board. My wife calls my condition “Car A.D.D.”
Since I got into boating I have learned that the temptation it just as bad! This forum is partly to blame, ya know.
Moving to Oregon didn’t help my “condition” either because there is no sales tax making resale of big ticket items pretty easy.
So… I decided to test the waters on my 2012 MB F21 Tomcat to see if it would sell. It shouldn’t surprise anybody here that it did sell… it was such a sweet boat, a real eye catcher. We got compliments on it almost every time out.
My garage size is such that I’m pretty much maxed out with a 21 – 22 foot boat. So I really can’t make the bigger stuff work, as much as I’d like to.
MB’s are great boats, but after two of them I was feeling the itch to try something different. So yesterday I finalized an order for a
2012 Malibu Wakesetter VLX.
You may be wondering, why Malibu? So here goes...
- G3 tower is my favorite tower of all. Sturdy, sexy, easy to raise and lower with the gas shocks regardless of how much speaker weight is up there. The perfect combo of form and function.
- Maliview. Much has been said about screens on this forum. I have never had one, but I am anxious to try. The Maliview is intriguing to me because of all the presets: speed, ballast, wedge, and auto pull (more on that below). We have a big family, and I’m the main driver, so I’m anxious to try anything that makes the driving experience more automatic so I can focus on the rider and watching out for debris in the river.
- Ballast. I am really excited to try ballast in four different locations. And as much as I don’t like the idea of pumps after having Pure Vert, I think Malibu’s new pumps and wider hoses have reduced fill time to something like 2 minutes. Combine that with the Maliview presets and I basically won’t have to think about ballast at all after I get everybody’s profiles set up.
- Ski wake. Even with the wake hull, I am expecting better ski wakes at 30+ mph due to Malibu’s flatter bottom. My wife likes to ski on occasion. We don’t need a competition quality ski wake (we regularly boat with two families who have an Echelon and a Response LXI), but I’m always aware of what a boat change will do to the skiing experience my wife enjoys on our own boat. So it’s nice to be moving the right direction with this change.
- Auto Pull is a sweet new feature. Basically I can program the boat the memorize how I pull up my 12 year old daughter (light on the gas) vs. how I pull up a buddy (heavy on the gas). Then I can add that to their Maliview profile so regardless of how I throw down the stick, they will get a consistent deep water start every time! No more blaming Dad for not getting up! Ha!! Also, this makes so that Dad gets a consistent pull when Mom is behind the wheel (I hope she doesn’t read this!).
- Handling. The VLX drives like a sports car. I have always loved the feel of a Malibu when you are behind the wheel.
- Lots of other things I appreciate about the Malibu: super deep bow, no carpet in the storage area, speed sensitive volume, rampier wake, clean wake at speeds < 20mph, Boatmate trailers, love the board racks, etc.
- Friends. I suppose I am also influenced by those families we boat with… both are avid Malibu fans and I’ve seen how their older Malibus have preformed and held up over the years. They are both flawless.
- Finally the dealer… Active Water Sports is a big part of this decision. I bought my first boat there, and I am happy to be returning. They always treat me like family, even when I didn’t buy my second boat from them. They don’t pressure me, they listen to my concerns, and they seek to resolve them in a fair way. Everything is transparent, up front, and 100% professional. I never feel contention when I'm there. I love working with them.
So there you have it. I’m a little nervous to be stepping up like this, but excited at the same time.
The VLX should be delivered in mid-May.
I have to finalize colors by Monday, so I will post all that stuff when it’s set in stone. But since I don't like posting w/out pictures, I figured I'd show you some of the boats I keep looking at as inspiration. As you can see, I'm definitely thinking white trailer and white tower. Accent colors will be black and red (maybe). I might consider blue instead of red. Not sure. Feel free to post your ideas using
http://www.malibuboats.com/buildown.html
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