Muddy,
Malibu is a great boat brand, one of the best inboards. I’ve surfed behind two LSVs (23 foot boat). One was at a dealer sponsored surf event and the other at the 2007 Lake Norris Lake Ice breaker. Those two experiences varied greatly.
The dealer operated in a shallow part of the lake and didn’t know how to set up the boat. The surf wake was so bad I could hardly stay in the pocket. For my old boat I needed at least twelve feet of depth, more than twenty doesn’t make much difference. HE was in about 6 feet or water – not enough.
The LSV at the Ice Breaker was dialed in and Lake Norris is plenty deep. Surfing behind that LSV was a breeze. The boat was weighted with about 3,000 pounds. The wake was fairly tall, had lots of push but the pocket was a little short for my liking.
I’ve also used Malibu VLX (21.5 feet) boats in two tournaments. We used a VLX at the 2006 Scioto Wakefest in Columbus, Ohio. We had very good surf wakes in about every set up we tried. One thing we didn’t use was the Malibu Wedge. I don’t think that it helps the wake, it hurts it. At the 2007 Scioto Wakefest a promo driver brought a VLX and wouldn’t let us “help” him set up the boat. He used the wedge and I heard nothing but complaints.
One problem with Malibu boats and wakesurfing is CO exposure. Most Malibu’s are bought with the Wedge. The wedge prevents use of equipement like Fresh Air Exhaust to mitigate CO. I believe that Larry Mann at FAE is working on a Malibu system so maybe that’s a mute point now. Soon all new inboard boats will have catalytic converters that should meet the need. The LSV at Lake Norris had the 383 Hammer Head engine. The fumes were a bit much fore me.
Depending on what your interests are the Malibu LSV and VLX are great boats. If you’re in to wakeboarding then the VLX would be excellent. If you’re in to cruising and hanging out with a lot of people, you have light wake boarding interest, and maybe more surfing interest the LSV might be the ticket.
If you’re in to surfing and think that wakesurfing will be something you will do a lot then I’d take a close look at Centurion boats. Centurion is widely recognized as the wakesurf boat leader. The 23 and 24 foot Enzo models are simply the best. I just bought an Enzo and I’ve surfed behind an Avalanche. Centurion has a system called Side Swipe to mitigate CO.
We also used a Centurion Avalanche at the 2007 Wakefest and two Avalanches at the 2007 National Wakeboard League, Wakesurfing Nationals Championship. The Avalanches made excellent regular and goofy wakes. Not all boat can.
I don’t know where you are in Maryland. I used to live in St. Mary’s County in the 80s. If you’re in the pan handle and not too fart away from Tennessee we’d be happy to have you join us at the 2008 Lake Norris Ice Breaker this weekend April 25-27. Bring that board and surf with us.
