V drive vs. Direct Drive

other than the fact that v drive is at the rear of the boat and d drive at the middle, i don't know much more. please help me with pros/cons. im looking at getting a used wakeboat for next year, and i want a boat that is more wakeboarding specific than skiing.

def go with a V drive. I dont know much about Direct drives, do you mean like an I drive?

But def go with a V drive no question especially if your looking for a wake specific boat. The weighting with the engine in the back gives it a better wake, adding ballast makes it even better. and to me i would not want a hump in the middle of my boat! Direct drives DO NOT hold their value like a Vdrive does. Once you start looking around alot you notice that. I have a used tige and its great, amazing value and runs great.

I have a Ddrive and I bought it because it drives and handles much better than the Vdrives. If you are going to pull some skiers, the DD is great. If you are only going to wakeboard, then I suggest the Vdrive. They're much more readily available and probably easier to sell when you want to get out of it.
There is also a difference in the width of the wake, a DD wake is much wider than a Vdrive wake.

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quote:

a DD wake is much wider than a Vdrive wake.

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I have to disagree with that statement.

I also disagree. Using common sense, don't you think boat speed, and the beam of your boat is what makes the wake wider?

A V-drive puts more weight in the back of the boat, which if the manufacturer takes advantage of it will allow them to make a better wake.

That said, any drive, be it V-drive, direct drive, I/O or outboard could make a good wakeboard boat. Key word there is "could".

In general, a boat built for multiple purposes does none of them as well as a boat built for a specific purpose. If you want to slalom then get a leight weight direct drive boat that was built with a narrow hull intended to throw a small wake.

If you want to wakeboard then get a boat that was built to throw a bigger wake with a nice shape to provide you with the "pop". While any drive could do that, the specially built wakeboard specific boats will usually have a V-drive.

Rod

Hmmm.... sorry guys. I guess I was comparing my boat to the 21vdrive Supra. That wake is narrower but maybe the beam is narrower on the vdrive I was behind.

I disagree with the Disagreer's.

I owned a malibu VLX, and have relatives with V drives and the wake on my Supra Direct Drive is wider than the V Drives. It also feels steeper which I prefer. It seems to me that the design of the V drive (engine in rear) causes the boat to trough the water in order to form the wake, whereas the direct drive having the engine in the middle does a ploughing of the water to form it wake when weighted. Maybe that and the flatter hulls of DD's is why the wake is wider?

Mostly agree with leonard on the width. Direct drives handle a million times better, and are usually better boats unless you are good enough to require more weight in the rear, or would rather have a more open, wrap around seating configuration. I prefer direct drives because they can split everyone up and utilize the room a little better imo. The natural weight of the motor in the rear of the v-drive makes the wake bigger, and narrower close to the boat, but the angle that it is sent out at makes it wider once you get a ways from the boat. Hope that makes sense.

Yeah, I am still debating the roominess of one vs the other. When running, the rear 30% or so of the boat on the Vdrive is not usable for passenger mobility. Whereas when stationary you have the roomy deck for everyone to hang out on. One thing I have noticed with the DD though: is that for some reason, everyone seems to gravitate to sitting or sprawling on the center hump. Especially Ladies. I wonder why is that?

I think Vdrives are better for actual space. if you have a Ddrive, and want your wake to get bigger, you tend to have sacs lying around everywhere. at least with a Vdrive, you can put that stuff in to the ample storage space available. to each his own though. I had a Ddrive, and loved it. I did outgrow it pretty quickly though. my next boat will be a Vdrive.

"I dont know much about Direct drives, do you mean like an I drive?

But def go with a V drive "

You guys are comparing different boats on wake width. If you compare a 205DD to a 205Vdrive(same hull) the wakes basically identical width wise. I am sure if you got out the tape measure(good luck with that) you could find a small difference, but nothing you are going to notice riding. I use to own both boats.

I have owned both and an I/O, I would say the V-drive is the best all around boat. Handling is not much different from the V-drive to the DD. I plan on keeping my V-drive for a long time....

You must have had a hauss of a dd then....


and Paul you're probably the most correct, it's more about the hull than anything else.

(Compare apples to apples)

If you take a DD Sanger with the 210 hull and a Sanger V210 the width of the wake will be the same. I can't say I noticed that much of a difference in the handling between the two Sangers either.

haha an i drive?

OK so now I am confused! if the two sangers are weighted the same, and the width of the wake is the same; then why is the wake on the V drive more preferable for wakeboarding then the DD? Seems to me there must be a considerable width difference in order for this to be true

Its not. In that case the advantage of the Vdrive will be room and storage. I could get the same wake out of my 205dd as I could my 01 Xstar(same hull). The only difference was, that it took a lot of weight and room to get it there.

(Message edited by psudy on August 09, 2007)

You can get just as nice of a wake with DD as you can with a V-drive. It all comes down to convenience. If you take the 60/40 rule of thumb most people use for weighting a wake boat (60% of your weight in the rear and 40% up front), with a V-drive you already have a head start on getting 60% in the rear because of where the motor is located.

V-drives also tend to have more storage compartments that can accommodate ballast. This is a huge convenience when it comes to the time it takes to fill up the ballast as well as not having to step over sacs on the floor. For example, I have a Supra SSV V-drive and my buddy has a Malibu XTI DD. We have achieved the same size and similar shaped wakes on both boats. The difference is I have only 3 sacs that total 2400 lbs of fully automatic ballast all hidden in compartments. I flip a switch and they fill while were on the way to our riding spot. To get the same wake with his XTI direct drive we not only fill his 3 stock auto ballast tanks, but when we get to our riding spot we also have to fill up 3 more fat sacs with a pump that take up floor space.

The bottom line is that a V-drive lets you get a big wake with little effort or hassle. You can still get the same big wake with a DD, but it's a little bit more of a pain in the ass. I am more than happy to give up the nimble driving of a DD to have the convenience of a V-drive. That’s just my personal opinion.

Direct drive only handles better unweighted. When weighted properly, both boats handle equally poorly.

This is great info. In looking at botht he 'bu 247 LSV and the 247RX, I actually like the seating arrangement a bit better on the RX (DD).
How does the wake and handling compare for these larger boats, assuming the weighting is similar?

I would agree that depending on how you weight your boat a direct drive and v-drive should produce a similar wake, when comparing the same hull. I have a direct drive Launch 21 and can achieve the same wake as a 21V. The only major difference is I have fat sacs on the floor instead of in a locker.

OK so I am coming from the experience of having had the Vdrive first and am now going with the direct drive. Although I agree V drives have more storage compartments the problem is that they take up floor space. DD have 60-70% more floor space then a Vdrive which I am finding to be more useful especially if you have 5 or more people on a boat. My bro has a 04 VLX which has no in floor storage and with the compartments full, everybody's gear seems to pile up on that small patch of real estate in the center of the boat. So when I compare the same scenario in my Launch DD where I changed my factory center floor ballast from 400 to 600. I currently have no floor clutter, and running more ballast weight then he. My compartments are not full and I carry two slalom ski's whereas he can't. I realize that we are talking two different boats and everybodys application is different! I am certainly not razing V drives because I really dig my Bro's boat! but what I guess what I am saying is that in my experience with the two so far I am finding the additional floor space of the DD is more desirable. I would certainly agree the DD handles better. They act like Slot Cars on the water! I do both (board/ski) so I really like the option of being able to flick a switch and go from wake to no wake which I could not do on my old VLX V drive.

yeah aggreed the launch is huge

V Drive=More Room. Period

I understand exactly what leonard is saying especially when you apply the theory to smaller v drives. I think the dd spreads people across the boat instead of sitting knee to knee in the same sized v. I appreciate the big V's because if the space, but am partial to mid sized dd boats.

Here is link to a number of pictures that I posted from a 2004 Tige 22i.
http://www.wakeworld.com/MB/Discus/messages/1/478788.html?1185252897

Bill that DD puts out a nice wake. How much ballast do you figure you were using with those fat sacs and bricks?

The side sacs are supposed to be 260#'s each and the bricks 155#'s each so a total of about 800#'s. They were not totally full.

I have a 2005 22i, and I also notice that when you load the boat up with weight (people, gear, etc.) the wake is easily that size.

I admit I never have had 'ballast' in the boat, ie: sacks or lead, but have had 8 or 9 adults, and the wake is comparable....

The problem is, with no weight, say just my wife and 2 daughters, the wake is small, it is actually hard (for me) to go W2W without cutting really hard...

If I set the TAPS to say 6 or 7, and slow the boat to 18, the wake is pretty large, but also soft and at that speed the distance between wakes at 65 feet is like a football field (to me).

Just a few observations...

Sean

If you really want to wakeboard the v-drive is going to have a better wake for sure. I just rode behind an 05 22i with the same ballast as Biil's tige plus 8 adults. I thought the wake was really nice I was really impressed. However when everyone switched over to my v-ride the biggest difference between the two wakes was that mine was definately firmer. With that being said I would never want to ski behind my boat I can only imagine how hard the wake gets at 30 and the wake still looks to big to cut across with a flat stick.

Sean, I do use the bags to compensate for a lack of people weight. Usually it is my wife and son that go out. I mainly use the bags when the kids want something different for a wake. I figure the bags are equal to about 4-5 adults, and they do not complain as much.

I had a 2000 B52 direct drive...loved the boat. But like most have said I added sacs on top of the 1400# ballast for a nice wake. But the main negative was taking water over the front. I'm suprised this hasn't come up. Or maybe I just suck at driving...hmmm

boats with the same hull will give the exact same wake (dd or vd) as long as the weight is distributed equally. ive heard 60-40 for v drives, and 80-20 for direct drives. i think dd would probably have better handling, just because of the way the transmission is set up.

There is a reason wakeboard specific boats are v-drives. Just my two cents.