Wakesetter or Sunsetter

I've seen plenty of discussion on here regarding the different hulls that Malibu has put out over the years. For 2001 VLX's there was the SV23 for the wakesetter and the SV23 Diamond for the Sunsetter. Is there a way to visually determine which hull is on a boat? I have a 01 VLX and the registration says Wakesetter but the Coast Guard card in the cockpit says Sunsetter. Which is it?

Have you asked this at www.themalibucrew.com?

They can help you.

there was a thread on this earlier and from what I gather is that the SV23 hull is round on the back opposed to dipping down a little at the side of the boat is.Hope that makes sense.

I can help with this, they got our '06 VLX in with the diamond hull accidentally! Ouch, it has been replaced, they even let us use the wrong one as a loaner for a month or so.

White is the diamond hull, you can see the lip, black is the wake hull, not nearly the lip

Diamond Hull





Wake Hull

Brooke, great comparison photos. Was there a dramatic difference in wakeboarding wake?

Yeah it was pretty nuts how different it was. I had ridden an '05 for the demo to see if I liked the hull and it was nice without any nose ballast. The day the '06 came I convinced the dealer to come with and ride it when we took delivery, I knew it was the wrong hull and thought we'd just try it out. He rides with us quite a bit, so we wedged it, filled the stock ballast and we were both like "that's it?"

We had it for a month and added 500 in each trunk and another 200-250 in ballast in the nose. We still rode with the wedge down and it was alright at best.

The day our correct '06 came we loaded it with stock ballast and no wedge and it beat the one with the wrong hull easy (even when it was loaded down with extra and the wedge).

We now ride with about 500 in each trunk, another 400 in the nose in lead and no wedge, plus full MLS. I love it! HUGE difference.

My hull seems to be somewhere in between these...was it different on the 2001 hulls? I have a slight lip but nothing as pronounced on the pics of the Diamond hull.

yeah, yours is different, they changed them in '05 as far as I know. I would guess you'd still be able to tell by the lip, just like you said it may not be as defined.

This is on an '06 (the pics above)

Brooke - Where do you guys keep 400 lbs. of lead in the bow? I'm assuming you have the bow tank.

I have a bunch of those 40lb pop bags, so we stuff a few in the side compartments next to the seats and the rest just on the seats this summer. Next summer I'll probably stash them under the seat on top of the bow tank

yes we have the bow tank

There is a complete hull list by year for all the models on themalibucrew.com.

Note: In 2001, the VLX was on the SV23-Diamond, not on the SV23. Diamond has the "chines" that make the hull better for ski, NOT wake. So you want to stay away from the 2001 VLX.

That is not entirely correct...the Sunsetter was on the SV23 Diamond but the Wakesetter was on the SV23. The Sunsetter has the chines whereas the Wakesetter did not.

Thanks Brooke!

We run 400's in the trunks and 750 in the bow in sacs on our WSLSV. The sac in the bow doesn't bother me that much, but I was curious how you could hide lead up there. I know about those side compartments, but I didn't think you could fit 10 in there. Thanks for the update!

What engine and prop are you running?

we've got the monsoon with an acme 1235.

The ones in the bow don't all fit really well in those compartments, I think we've got 3 in each and then the rest I just move around as needed depending on how many people we have that day and where they want to sit.

Do you have the bow tank that's built in, as well as the 750? or just the 750?

The bow tank and a 750 lb sac. If we only have a couple of people, then I won't fill it up all the way. If we have 4 people or more sitting in the back then I'll fill it up all the way.

We still are running the stock prop but I want to change to either the ACME 1235 or the 14.25 x 14 OJ prop. Can you compare them?

I bet your wake is really nice. Ours is awesome and with about the same amount of weight you have less boat to sink.

I got my fittings today to rig up my rear sacs as tparider has done. This should be a great alternative to extra pumps and holes in the boat.
http://www.themalibucrew.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=5965&st=40

I didn't read too much about how they did it, but it sounds like they're using the existing pumps. I went with 2 simers, well one died out of the box and i ended up with a simer and a waynes pump.

I did a T off of the raw intake and put one pump under each rear seat for fill/drain. On the Pro-X bags I put an overflow on the bow most portion of the bag on the top and T-d right into the existing ballast system overflow! It works really well and was pretty painless. It's more expensive than the way they did it but it works great. I put my switches in the compartment in the walkway, mounted near the top on the inside of that compartment kind of behind the spotters seat and right above the batteries. I didn't have a free spot on my console, so that was the easiest to do.

I can't compare the OJ because I've never used one or been on a similar boat with one, but the 1235 was a HUGE upgrade from the stock 537? I think that's what we had. Burn less gas, corners better, faster out of the hole, holds speed great. I don't know how much we lost exactly, but a few MPH off the high end, that we never used anyway.

The wake is nice with just a driver and spotter, but really really nice with any extra!

OK...back to my original question ...I spoke with Paradise Watersports and gave them the VIN. The 4th digit is a 'K' which indicates that it is a wakesetter with the SV23 hull. He said the way to tell is that it has reverse chines or cupped chines aong the edge. I'm not sure what this means si I snapped off a picture of my hull...



Any thoughts? I just want to confirm what the dealer told me about the VIN. Thanks!

Here is a shot of the SV23 Wake Hull on my 98 Sunsetter VLX:



FYI, the indicator in my VIN is "Z" for this boat.

Here is a closer in shot of the area in question:

That is the SV23 hull, aka Non Diamond. I have the same hull on my 96 Sunsetter which they used up till 03 I belive on the wakesetter/sunsetter VLX's. go to www.themalibucrew.com and you can find information on every hull design and every option malibu ever had, on the main page

Brandon

Those pics are definitely SV23. According to WG on themalibucrew, The ONLY exception was on the 2001 Wakesetter VLX which used the SV23-Diamond, however the chart says different. I consider WG to be in the know though...

Check this discussion:
http://www.themalibucrew.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=6454&hl=

The Sunsetter Vlx was on the sv23 hull from its beginning to 2000. In 2001 Malibu introduced the wakesetter vlx. This was the first year for the Sunsetter and Wakesetter in the same model year. From 2001 and up the Sunsetter Vlx was on the sv23 diamond and the Wakesetter was on the Sv23 wake hull.

Here is a shot of an 04 wake hull