21 VLX with Diamond Hull OK, or No?

Want crossover boat, and am considering 21VLX w/power wedge, 340 Monsoon, and full ballasts and going with the diamond hull instead of the wakesetter hull. I know the pro's would notice, but how much would anyone else notice if ballasts are full etc.....

for crossover, i don't think you can go wrong with a sunscape 21 lsv.

I would say no, but I only wakeboard. My friend bought a 06 vlx at the end of the year and the accidentally shipped it with the diamond hull. I caught it when it was at the dealer. It would have been pretty easy to catch on the water too. The wake is definitely not as good as the wake hull. If you want some more input find Brooke (dizzyg) on the message boards and talk to him. He was the one that got the boat.
I have never been a fan of the diamond hull though. I have another friend with a direct drive sunsetter with the diamond hull and we load 3000lbs + in it and the wake still blew.

I assume when you say crossover you're looking to slalom as well? Assuming that's true for a vdrive it does a fantastic job as a crossover. The LSV will take more weight, than a VLX, but will produce top quality wakes and would take a pro or a side-by-side comparison to notice.

Yes, slalom is an option, since the kids are young and might want to do it, but we are boarders (very avg talent, nothing crazy). Let me rephrase- would the wake hull be a better slalom hull than the diamond hull would wakeboard? Make sense? Which is the worse/better trade off..

The DD would certainly would be a better choice for slalom, but the wake for boarding would suffer and require greater amounts of weight to achieve if at all the same wake size. The I-Ride would be a good choice for 50/50 ride and slalom. If you're looking for the seating and greater than 50% boarding to slalom ratio then the v-drive would probably be the best choice. The LSV is OK for some recreation slalom skiing but not until you reach 31-32 mph, otherwise there is a noticeable hump. This may make learning to ski much more difficult, although a footing boom can help w/ that. I would certainly suggest driving and boarding behind the LSV and I-ride as that will be the best information, you can get. If you're looking used IIRC the 01' VLX was on a diamond hull and the SLX (now called the I-ride) in 02' was on the diamond hull. Just remember it's easier to create more wake than reduce it. For recreational use either will work just a bit more technique is required behind a DD.

we have 03 vlx and my brother in law has a 03 Lsv, are they on the same hull

tingey, i'm almost certain pre-'04 lsv's were on the sv23 diamond and pre-'05 vlx's and current v-ride's are on the sv23 wake hull. from 2004 on for the lsv and from 2005 on for the vlx, both boats are on the v25 wake hull, with the only difference being the dimensions. how malibu hulls get their name/number is beyond me.

(Message edited by JcV on February 09, 2006)

(Message edited by JcV on February 09, 2006)

I'm the one stan mentioned that got an '06 and they gave me the diamond instead. We had the pleasure of test driving it for a few weeks while they rushed us another with the correct hull. I didn't slalom behind it but the wake looked pretty acceptible for a non-competition wake/boat when it wasn't loaded down. That being said, we loaded that thing with the stock ballasts (rear, mid and front) and then another 500-600lbs in each trunk and an additional 300 or so in th enose and it was alright for wakeboarding at best.

Now for some reason, when you threw the wedge down all the way, it got really really wide and I just didn't like it, however if you put that wedge half way down on the diamond hull it was alright. I rode a lot shorter on the rope than I usually do, but it worked I guess. I wouldn't advise you to get one if you board more than you ski, but I guess you should probably test drive a sunscape with the diamond and ballast. If the dealer isn't looking, bring some extra sacks for your boarding run, you're going to need them!

oh right, so my vote for the "OK or No" is NO!

Jeff,

03' both the Sunsetter and Wakesetter LSV's we're on the diamond hull. 04- the Wakesetter LSV is on the nondiamond hull while the Sunsetter LSV is still on the diamond hull.

I've been behind the LSV diamond hull versus VLX on two 2003s that were weighted pretty much the same. I and the owners of the two boats thought it was a HUGE difference. So much that now that the owner of the LSV doesn't ski anymore, he has traded it for an 05 VLX.

Up until last year we only got the dimond hull on all our VLX's here. They suck poop for boarding, you need to put a lot of weight in the rear of them to get the wake to stand up and they take a stern wave over the back if you don't feather the throttle when stopping.

Another vote for NO.

That said a friend has a new hull 05 VLX and his mom likes sking behind it, she has skied behind their response prior to that so it can't be that bad.

So the ski wake behind the wake hull is better than the board wake behind the diamond hull? If that's the case, my question is answered.

I would say that is exactly how is is Muffintop
SKi wake is good because the wake is smaller, boarding wake stinks unless you can find room for a few extra fat sacks, a few really really large sacks.

muffintop, I think people just like saying/writing muffintop... great handle man... puts a smile on my face.

muffintop... Wakesetter hull all the way dude! There must be something wrong with you for even asking that question in this forum...you must be hungry... go get yourself something to eat

My 53 year old boss ran the course at 22 off/34 mph behind my VLX, non-diamond. Other than taking a bunch of heat from his buddies at the ski club for bringing in a v-drive he said the experience was "pretty good" but it was no RLXi. Me I just don't ski behind my boat, kinda sacrilege.

If slalom skiing is sacrilege... tubing should, at the very least, be punishable by a kick in the junk

Main reason for asking is all I do is the easy stuff(surface junk and jump wake- nothing in the backroll or other flip families..), and I'm coming from an I/O, so whatever I get will be awesome- it's a question for the future. My kids are 6-8-9, and the older two have been boarding for a couple of years, but some of their friends on the lake that are same age slalom almost every day and mine might end up being skiers, so I wanted a boat that was at least serviceable as a slalom wake. I'm looking at wake surfing as my future if the power wedge VLX combo is as good as the pictures look, so wakeboard wake is important, but not if the wake hull makes the slalom wake totally sucky.

muffintop,

I was just giving you a hard time... no such thing as a stupid question... every once in a while I like to lighten the mood with a joke or two.

I think you will be just fine with the wakesetter hull... it wont be any worse than the ski wake from an I/O thats for sure.

Also, IMO... virtually every 21' vdrive wakeboat out there will provide a serviceable ski wake at +/-33MPH as long as there isn't 10 people in the boat and 2000# of ballast.

Enjoy muffintop and keep the posts/threads coming... thats how we all learn

No such thing as a stupid question, just stupid people that ask questions. By the way, my guy at the Bu dealer told me that boards have fronts and backs. Is he FOS or does it matter how you set up your bindings....

Some do actually have front and backs but they are few and far between. The temet/murray was directional as was the Hyperlite state.

Don't you want your board grafics going the right way?



I say let your kids ski behind a friend's ski boat and board behind your new VLX, non-diamond of course. That way you can start practicing backrolls.

Interesting thing happended at the boat show this weekend.

My buddy ordered a 2006 VLX... I left him alone to do his paperowrk... but at the end I walked back in and noticed "diamond hull" on the paperwork. Keep in mind that he is a wakeboarding guy... not a skiing guy.

Upon seeing the word "diamond" and almost having an uncontrolled bowel release... I asked my buddy why diamond? The dealer said that the extra lift you get from the diamond hull only kicks in above 28MPH and below that is exactly the same as the wakesetter hull.

Not satisfied with that answer... I asked the Malibu rep... who supported the >28MPH thing but said below 28MPH the Wakesetter hull would produce a slightly taller, better shaped wake with less weight.

Who is right? Both dealer and rep are supposed to be Malibu experts... but even their opinions differ.

Are we splitting hairs on this one?

Does it really matter which hull you get?

All I know is that... sometimes... ignorance really is bliss

Kevin-
If all you do is board do not even consider the diamond. You will be buying a 50K+ piece of crap IMO. The diamond should not even be offered on the VLX. Read the above posts and you will see this is the case.

(Message edited by sbt3 on February 13, 2006)

I agree... and keeping things simple... if you are wakeboard oriented... buy the wake board oriented Wakesetter hull.

It's just a little strange... when I got the Bu guys separated... they couldn't agree on how their hulls perform.

Like I said maybe we are splitting hairs... maybe were not.

Either way... just weird.

I told my BU guy that I was being steered away from the Diamond hull, because it's board wake was worse than the wake hulls ski wake, and he claims it's just the opposite. If I go bu, I'm going with wake hull- if my brats end up being skiiers, they can use one of the 500 MC 197's on my lake.

Kevin, as I said above, I had both. The diamond for about 3 weeks and then right after the wake hull, there is a huge difference! I didn't ski behind either, but that wake on the diamond was very very different. We loaded it down with a bunch of extra sacks and it still was smaller than the wake with the factory ballast and the wake hull.

hey, ask your reps if they've actually boarded behind both boats set up the same way. I bet they haven't or they'd be saying, the diamond hull is a pile for boarding

They actually say that they can set up a respones Lxi with the wedge and some fat sacks that would make the pros happy. I kind of doubt that. I think I'm going wake hull, power wedge, monsoon, and see what happens at the boat show

visually, how do you tell the difference between the v25 wake hull and the v25 diamond? i know the diamond is supposed to curve down a bit more on the outside edges, but unless you had a sunscape and a wakesetter side by side, it would be hard to tell.

http://malibuboatowners.com/viewArticle.php?id=148

a vlx + diamond hull= FakeSetter

white is the diamond hull
black is the wake hull
both '06 VLX's

thanks brooke, i was getting worried there for a second. my '05 vlx turns down slightly on the edges, but now i see they all do, just not nearly as much as the diamond