I got towed by an '09 LSV Malibu today

A friend of mine at work has an '09 LSV Wakesetter 23' Malibu, we went out boarding today and it was a great day on the water. After riding in his Malibu which is a beautiful boat, I was more and more happy with my Supra.

Dont get me wrong, the Malibu has some great features, the ballast system is top notch, electronic gauges for each ballast that can be filled to all different levels, throttle by wire is real smooth, and great visibility when you drive the boat because of the eliptical tower. The mali-view has an awesome display screen, very comfortable bolster seat, and the Malibu throws a great wake for boarding and I was only at 75% full on the ballast system. The sit down seat to put on your wakeboard is a nice feature along with a larger swim deck than my Supra. The 102" beam and 23' length is noticeably bigger and roomier than my 100" beam and 22' length.

However I was surprised, for a boat of the price range, it was missing some items. For one, the trailer did not have 4 wheel disc brakes, two wheel disc brakes with standard chrome wheels. No swivel board racks, no heater, no snap out carpeting. I brought my surfboard and kneeboards along with my wakeboard and he had no way of storing any of these items. We had to walk over them the entire day (No Z5 cargo rack). The eliptical tower pushes the tower speakers way back in the boat, which does two things, it blasts out the people sitting in the boat and I could not even hear the system on the wakeboard. This was the upgraded system Malibu sells with the boat. Another strange item, the rear view mirror is mounted on the center windshield, if you open the center windshield you cant see or use the rearview mirror while towing someone. Not a huge fan of the eliptical tower, I will take the rad-a-cage tower for looks and it feels stronger to me and does not wobble as much when driving the boat. I missed my rear facing seat to watch people, sitting sideways for a couple hours starts to get a little tiring. Also had no useable ice chest like my Supra, which was also missed. And I am not a "bling bling" person, Malibu does deck there boats out with a lot of chrome and bling inside the boat.

It was a great time and was cool to ride on a different boat, I was happy to know that by saving $30k I have a boat that fits my needs more than the malibu. I honestly thought to myself, I dont think I would buy one of these even if I wanted to spend the extra $$$. Now if we could just get Supra to improve the ballast system! Malibu would be a great model for that....

Fman, I picked up an '09 and Supra has already improved their ballast system with 3 seperate pumps (although they do use those stupid ballast timers like MC has). From rumors on the message boards it looks like they are improving the 2010's even more by adding a tank level readout on a digital dash similar to what some of the other manufactuers are already doing.

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Originally Posted by Fman

However I was surprised, for a boat of the price range, it was missing some items. For one, the trailer did not have 4 wheel disc brakes, two wheel disc brakes with standard chrome wheels Is there really a need for 4-wheel disc brakes? My $65K Supra that weighs 5,500# does'nt have 4-wheel either. No swivel board racks, no heater, no snap out carpeting Your Supra doesn't have snap-out carpet either, probably doesn't have a heater. Swivel boardracks are gonna be standard this year, but they ALSO have the option to have 4 board racks, where you're boat doesn't. IMO, I wouldn't want a heater. Never had one and if it's that cold, I'll just stay home.. I brought my surfboard and kneeboards along with my wakeboard and he had no way of storing any of these items. We had to walk over them the entire day (No Z5 cargo rack) Supra (I think) is the only company that even uses the Z5 Cargo Rack, that's why you change tines for the surfboards.. The eliptical tower pushes the tower speakers way back in the boat, which does two things, it blasts out the people sitting in the boat and I could not even hear the system on the wakeboard. It does 3 things, it gives you more headroom than any other boat. You can walk anywhere in that boat and not have to duck out of the way to keep from bumping your head on the speakers. That's one of the complaints with my boat. My speakers are eye-level and even with the stock junk there wasn't that much headroom. This was the upgraded system Malibu sells with the boat. Have you seen the upgraded system on the Supra's? What a joke. They're a total waste of time and money. I'm sure the Malibu system smoked anything Supra's have had. Another strange item, the rear view mirror is mounted on the center windshield I've personally never seen one like that. Most Malibu's use the Samson mirror that mounts to the tower and you can mount it on either the drivers or passengers side., if you open the center windshield you cant see or use the rearview mirror while towing someone. Not a huge fan of the eliptical tower, I will take the rad-a-cage tower for looks and it feels stronger to me and does not wobble as much when driving the boat. My Rad-a-cage wobble's like crazy. I wear my kill switch in rough water because I'm scared it's gonna come down on me or something's gonna break. I missed my rear facing seat to watch people, sitting sideways for a couple hours starts to get a little tiring. Also had no useable ice chest like my Supra, which was also missed Don't you mean a melter? I have to buy 5 bags of ice to get through the day in mine, and by the nightfall it's all water. Then the carpet in the compartment behind the melter is wet from where the melter leaked. Mine was not sealed at all from the factory. First time I filled it, the whole rear compartment got soaked. And I am not a "bling bling" person, Malibu does deck there boats out with a lot of chrome and bling inside the boat.

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I'll agree that they're overpriced. There's no argument in that, BUT, I have a customer that just bought a barely used 08 23LSV for $50K. I did'nt pay much more than that for mine 2.5 years ago, but it still makes me sick. This boat had a cooler built-in, and it wasn't so big that you had to use a ton of ice, like mine.


Another thing about the tower is that when you fold it down, you pull 2 pins, and can drop it down with your pinky finger because it's cable assisted. To fold mine down it takes at least 15 minutes, and I have to do this everytime I pull in my shop. Boards are already off if Im coming back, but leaving, I have to remove boards from racks, swivel racks in, remove Z5 Cargo rack (which is a PITA for 1 person), remove the 4 hand bolts from tower, put 1 towel on each side, drop each support laying the still swiveling board rack on the towel, then lower the second support while trying to hold the tower (most of the time my speakers are off, but if not, then it's about 60 extra pounds), drop the tower hoop down to a cargo bar. Back boat in or pull it out, then put it all back together. With the Malibu I'd pull 2 pins, drop the tower to the cargo bar, then pull out or back in. Tell me now that the rad a cage is better.....

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Originally Posted by kporsch

Fman, I picked up an '09 and Supra has already improved their ballast system with 3 seperate pumps (although they do use those stupid ballast timers like MC has). From rumors on the message boards it looks like they are improving the 2010's even more by adding a tank level readout on a digital dash similar to what some of the other manufactuers are already doing.

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That will be an improvement, but in my opinion the bag system needs to be eliminated in order to compete with Malibus system. I think Supra is asking for problems trying to time and fill with bags with no actual gauge sensors in the tanks. It was sweet to fill his ballast up and not loose any space in the compartments. You can even program each riders ballast settings into the perfect pass system, awesome. Supra needs to go with the hard tanks and re-design there hull to accomodate them. The bag system is out dated and has very little pro's and a lot of problems.

Just my .02, the bags will get the job done, and you can get a nice wake from it.... but to compete with Malibus/MB Sports/Mastercraft's ballast system they need to step it up!

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Originally Posted by jonyb

I'll agree that they're overpriced. There's no argument in that, BUT, I have a customer that just bought a barely used 08 23LSV for $50K. I did'nt pay much more than that for mine 2.5 years ago, but it still makes me sick. This boat had a cooler built-in, and it wasn't so big that you had to use a ton of ice, like mine.


Another thing about the tower is that when you fold it down, you pull 2 pins, and can drop it down with your pinky finger because it's cable assisted. To fold mine down it takes at least 15 minutes, and I have to do this everytime I pull in my shop. Boards are already off if Im coming back, but leaving, I have to remove boards from racks, swivel racks in, remove Z5 Cargo rack (which is a PITA for 1 person), remove the 4 hand bolts from tower, put 1 towel on each side, drop each support laying the still swiveling board rack on the towel, then lower the second support while trying to hold the tower (most of the time my speakers are off, but if not, then it's about 60 extra pounds), drop the tower hoop down to a cargo bar. Back boat in or pull it out, then put it all back together. With the Malibu I'd pull 2 pins, drop the tower to the cargo bar, then pull out or back in. Tell me now that the rad a cage is better.....

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I agree, Malibus tower will collapse very easily, cant argue with that. The tower on the Supra is a little more difficult to drop down. However, I will take the additional 15 minutes of time to remove my Z5 and drop the tower to have the cargo rack and rad-a-cage. I just like the way it looks and it feels like a stronger setup. Guess I am not a big fan of the eliptical towers, even on the new Enzo Centurion's.

Like I said, the LSV is a sweet ride, but it is lacking a lot of stuff the Supra offers. For me, the Supra fits my boating style a little better. If Supra could redesign there ballast system, it would be a better boat than the LSV. That is where they are falling short. Get rid of the bags!

Something else I liked about that Malibu: The rear hatch opens with 2 panels, then there's a center plastic panel that covers the entire engine for storage. Perfect for shoes, t-shirts, towropes, handles, etc.... Then you still had the sides that were still pretty deep to put other stuff in there.

The one thing I didn't like about the bu I worked on, was the dual bolster option. This one had a bolster for the passenger instead of wrap-around seating. That's not standard though.

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Originally Posted by Fman

I For me, the Supra fits my boating style a little better. If Supra could redesign there ballast system, it would be a better boat than the LSV. That is where they are falling short. Get rid of the bags!

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I thought the same thing about the Supra fitting me, and the Malibu didn't, but after some time in both, I just don't feel that way anymore. The attention to detail in the Supra is what has killed it for me. You really see how well something is built after you've spent 2 years in it.

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Originally Posted by jonyb

I thought the same thing about the Supra fitting me, and the Malibu didn't, but after some time in both, I just don't feel that way anymore. The attention to detail in the Supra is what has killed it for me. You really see how well something is built after you've spent 2 years in it.

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Personally, I would take your boat over that Malibu in a heartbeat even with the soft bag ballast system. I still scratch my head why Supra is not offering hard ballast tanks in 2010, they are the only wakeboard boat builder that I know of that uses fat sacs for there ballast system. You would think they would take a look around and realize they need to step it up. Trying to put gauges on a bag system is a joke, what waist of time and energy! If you are going to build something, do it the right way and be done with it.

I can guarantee people will shy away from there boat because of the ballast system, I know I almost did not purchase my Supra because of this. They did have to many other good features to offer to counter the ballast, and my criteria was just to have a boat with some type of ballast system. The Tige 22Ve I almost bought in the same price range did not even have a ballast system, which kind of blew me away they were selling a wakeboard boat with no ballast system. I know Tige uses the TAPS but it cant possibly throw as big of a wave as a boat with a ballast. They do sell the 22Ve with a ballast upgrade but its only 600 lbs which I also thought was kind of light.

Guess fairly soon Supra will put of the specs on 2010 models, should be interesting.

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Originally Posted by jonyb

Something else I liked about that Malibu: The rear hatch opens with 2 panels, then there's a center plastic panel that covers the entire engine for storage. Perfect for shoes, t-shirts, towropes, handles, etc.... Then you still had the sides that were still pretty deep to put other stuff in there.

The one thing I didn't like about the bu I worked on, was the dual bolster option. This one had a bolster for the passenger instead of wrap-around seating. That's not standard though.

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Yes, the ski lockers were deep but would not fit my surfboard or kneeboards. I liked the tray you mentioned for gloves and misc items, although all the water drips down in the tray area after people are finished boarding and gets everything wet. I put my shirt in there and it was soaking wet at the end of the day :( would not keep any towels in there, they would be soaking wet by the end of the day.

I have friends with an '07 and '08 Bu the first thing I noticed are the seats are shorter than my 21V and the illusion tower has play in it from the removable pins. I can feel it give and snatch when doing swoop combos and wake inverts. (That makes it harder on the shoulders and elbows in case you are wondering) Other than that I liked it fairly well.