I got towed by an '09 LSV Malibu today

[Fman]

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.

What did you think about the wake quality of the Malibu compared to your Launch? If you are doing swoop combos you are obviously much more advanced of a wakeboarder than me. Sounds like the tower was not as strong as the Supra??? It was strange, we were using a much shorter rope than I do on my Supra and I was clearing the wake easily on the Malibu. I was almost getting sprayed by the prop wash I was so close, he said this is the normal length they ride at. I was riding at 75% full ballasts/50% wedge and the wake was nice.

Would you rather have a Malibu or a Supra and why?

[FoiltechLaunch21V]

What did you think about the wake quality of the Malibu compared to your Launch? If you are doing swoop combos you are obviously much more advanced of a wakeboarder than me. Sounds like the tower was not as strong as the Supra??? It was strange, we were using a much shorter rope than I do on my Supra and I was clearing the wake easily on the Malibu. I was almost getting sprayed by the prop wash I was so close, he said this is the normal length they ride at. I was riding at 75% full ballasts/50% wedge and the wake was nice.

Would you rather have a Malibu or a Supra and why?

I'm actually talking about swoops on a hydrofoil.

The wake is big but a lot softer than the Supra Launch 21V wake. For what I ride now the Supra wake is better (Nice ramp with a 8" vertical wall at the top) I guess if I was still hitting wakes with a wake board I would like the Supra wake better still.

[kporsch]

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!

I agree that a tank system would be better but only if it was under the floor like Epic is doing (even though I don't like the Epic wake). As for comparing to MC or Malibu (never been in an MB so I cant compare it) - they both need more weight so you end up adding sacs to the back lockers anyway. The X-star comes with less than 1000 lbs of ballast and the stock wake is a joke (although the x-star wake is one of the best in the buisiness when sacked out). Buy an MC or Malibu you end up with front and rear lockers full of bags and less storage than a current Supra.

[kporsch]

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.

My '09 has a stock system that is way better than most competitor's stock steros. Is it going to win any boat stero competitions or blast out every boat at party cove? No. But it does have good clean sounding bass and tower speakers you can hear while riding. It is the only factory boat system I've seen that actually has a box for the subwoofer (not just free air crap that many others are using).

Jonyb, I have read you're negative posts about Supra here and on Wakeworld and I feel bad you got such bad boat, but I have had an opposite experience with Skier's Choice. I have owned 3 Skier's Choice boats so far (one Moomba and 2 Supra's). I have also owned a MC which had more problems than all 3 Skier's Choice boats I've owned combined. I have had very little issues with the Skier's Choice boats at all and when I did have issues I was taken care of quickly. I put 600 hrs on the new '00 Moomba and never once had to take it to the dealer. In fact all I ever had to do on that boat was standard maintenace and oil changes. I had a 21V that I bought slightly used with 39 hrs and lived 4 hrs from the closest dealer at the time. I put well over 300 hrs on that boat and only had a minor issue with the perfect pass. The closest dealer shipped me parts no charge and no questions asked and I didn't even have the warranty transferred when I bought the boat. My 09 24SSV has been good and so far I absolutely love the boat. I have ridden and spent a good deal of time in many of the other manufactuer's core wake boats and I think the 24SSV wake is one of the best in the buisiness (I like the X-star wake too, but the price difference made my decision easy).

Every company can have its problems and I hope you realize that there are people who bought MC's, Malibus, and others that have major problems with thier new boats. For example a good friend of mine bought a brand new X-2 in 07 and has already had to replace the trailer because the wheel fell off going down the interstate. It was on the standard MC single axle trailer (tandem would have been std on Supra) and was just over the 1 year warranty period. The trailer was totaled and MC did absolutely nothing to help. It ended up costing him an arm and a leg. (5K for a new trailer and over 1K for towing). After searching the teamtalk message board he found out that he was not the only one that had this same exact problem with that year trailer.

I'm not trying to bash MC just saying that each company can and will have lemons.

[jonyb]

I understand they all have their problems, but they also have the company or dealer support to get that stuff worked out. I haven't

You've had a dealer to work through the minor issues that you've had. I haven't

I had trailer issues as well, but Boatmate stepped up and rebuilt the trailer for no charge, and even cut me a deal on extra parts that I requested (spare wheel/tire, and carrier).

I've had issues with the Roswell parts on my boat, but they stepped up and replaced them free of charge. The swivels were the first thing, and the billet mirror arm was the second. Scott said today that he was shipping the mirror arm out tomorrow for me.

Boatmate and Roswell has been excellent, but other people have had problems with them (fman). Good service comes and goes, but in my case, it never did happen with Skier's Choice.

Before you people say I'm bitching, remember that I'm only replying to what was said.

[Fman]

I understand they all have their problems, but they also have the company or dealer support to get that stuff worked out. I haven't

You've had a dealer to work through the minor issues that you've had. I haven't

I had trailer issues as well, but Boatmate stepped up and rebuilt the trailer for no charge, and even cut me a deal on extra parts that I requested (spare wheel/tire, and carrier).

I've had issues with the Roswell parts on my boat, but they stepped up and replaced them free of charge. The swivels were the first thing, and the billet mirror arm was the second. Scott said today that he was shipping the mirror arm out tomorrow for me.

Boatmate and Roswell has been excellent, but other people have had problems with them (fman). Good service comes and goes, but in my case, it never did happen with Skier's Choice.

Before you people say I'm bitching, remember that I'm only replying to what was said.

It would be nice to have a SC employee on this board to answer questions and reply to messages. I have yet to see anyone from SC on here. I have sent them a few messages via email on there website and have never recieved a reply back. Kind of a bummer.

For a while Matt Brown was a great contact for me at SC, but he informed me a few weeks back he is no longer in the same division and would not be able to answer emails. He was great, spent about 500+ hours a year on a Supra boat. Had a lot of great information, we need someone like that on this board.... that would be a great resource.

This is my first boat, so I dont have much to compare to. My dealer has been helpful for me, but so far SC in my opinion has fallen a little short just because I never hear back from them.

[jonyb]

That's why my attitude is so poor around here. It's not hard for 1 of their customer service employee's to spend less than 1 hour on here representing their company, but what am I thinking? They don't answer the phone, emails, or anything. And when you show up in person at their place (after driving 6 hours through the mountains with a boat in tow) they say "you'll have to call a dealer".

[enolten]

i have done my share of complaining on the lack of quality with the supra boats and i gez you can have lemons among boats...my 09 22 ssv was one of those(have had 2 supra's prior to this boat)...everything rattled, squeeked...was not worth the $65,000 i spent on it...not even close...i was so disappointed with my boat i decided to trade it for an x-star(within 9 months!!)...i could not be more happier with my boat than i am right now!!
that boat has got everything that i can ask for and more...feels very, very sturdy, the quality of the components, how it is built, totally worth the extra money.
A friend of mine has also an 07 24 GG ssv just like jonyb...and his boat is falling apart...screws just come undone out of the fiberglass..that is what happens if you don't use backingplates...he wants to get rid of his boat, but he is stuck with it...so much for enjoying time on the lake with a boat you dislike...

[jonyb]

Thanks for the post enolten. I'm sure there are a lot more people around here like that, and they just won't admit it. Maybe I'll take pics of all the screwed up stuff on my boat and post them. I haven't done that because it's been for sale. Since it obviously isn't gonna sell anytime soon because of these issues, what's it matter>.....

[Fman]

i have done my share of complaining on the lack of quality with the supra boats and i gez you can have lemons among boats...my 09 22 ssv was one of those(have had 2 supra's prior to this boat)...everything rattled, squeeked...was not worth the $65,000 i spent on it...not even close...i was so disappointed with my boat i decided to trade it for an x-star(within 9 months!!)...i could not be more happier with my boat than i am right now!!
that boat has got everything that i can ask for and more...feels very, very sturdy, the quality of the components, how it is built, totally worth the extra money.
A friend of mine has also an 07 24 GG ssv just like jonyb...and his boat is falling apart...screws just come undone out of the fiberglass..that is what happens if you don't use backingplates...he wants to get rid of his boat, but he is stuck with it...so much for enjoying time on the lake with a boat you dislike...

kporsch just posted a full page message about all the problems he has had with mastercraft boats. Not knocking mastercrafts, but I think what it comes down to is all boats have there problems.

If you follow wakeworld, there are plenty of posts about problems with other boats, and yes, mastercraft, malibu, nautiques, etc... are on the lists. I do see on wakeworld, excessive posts about the Supra ballast fill systems having problems, which from '08 back was a piece of junk. I think more people are happy with there '09 fill and drain systems, and I think 2010 will have an even better system.

I have 118 hours on my Supra this year, with little to no problems. A few loose screws, but everything else has been rock solid. I have had 10+ people (teenagers) giving her a workout many times. My only two complaints have been the ballast fill system which I have redone for about $400 and it works great, and the swivel racks from Roswell which I just recieved a new set today for no cost.

I dunno, maybe I am in for a surprise, but I believe Supra makes a nice boat for a great value. People always comment on my boat when they are out on it how well made it is, and how user friendly the boat is. After spending a day in an X-15, and Malibu LSV, I would not trade my boat for either. The Supra just has to many nice features MC and Malibu dont offer or charge an arm and leg to get them put on there boats (rear facing seating options, Z5 cargo racks, rad a cage tower, pull out heaters, large "useable" ice chest/steps/air filler storage, great seat heights for taller people, stowable ski pylon. The Rad a cage tower is so much more solid than the X15 and Malibu swoop tower. The LSV did not even have swivel board racks.... all the drive trane on these boats are basically identical.

Just my .02.... bottom line, you should feel good about being in your boat when on the water... thats what it is all about.