Echelon lx vs. Prostar 205

[bstphen24]

Getting closer to pulling the trigger on a "newer" boat. The Prostar 205 seems to fit my needs and price. Would love to have a Sunsetter lxi, but those seem fairly hard to come by and a little out of my price range. I have recently come along a couple of Malibu Echelon lx's that have sparked my interest. The problem is I have never been in one and can't really seem to find much online about them. How do these compare to the 205? Any information is greatly appreciated.

[DW]

The Echelon LX is a great boat, it really is targeted and was compared to the PS190 in the mid '90's when that boat hit the market. It got excellent reviews in all the magazines and won several boat of the year awards. It had an excellent slalom wake (remember mid '90's) and also has an excellent barefoot wake. The LX is an open bow. I think one would consider the two boats you are talking about pretty comparable although I consider the LX wake softer than the 205 I have skied behind. The Echelon is reliable and rides on the SV23 hull which carried Malibu right through to the TXi. It put Malibu on the map and in to the top tier group. I suggest you also hit the "Malibu Crew" website for additional insight. There is also a link to a specifications page.

[bstphen24]

Thanks for the response. I put a post up over there as well, just figured I might get a slightly less bias answer here.

[jcamp]

I'm looking for one of either of those boats. Can you send me the links to whichever boat(s) you don't buy? :-)

[andjules]

I know I've written this before on other threads, but it's important to note there were two 205 hulls: 1992-1995(?), and 1996-2001(?) or so (not sure if 1995 was the last year for the first hull or first year of the latter one). The older 205s are nicer slalom boats (I ski behind one often) than the newer ones - which are excellent crossover boats, but probably better for wakeboarding (if you add ballast) than slaloming. I'd agree with @DW, the echelon wake should be a little softer than even the older 205s. That said, the 205s are roomier boats, especially the newer variant.

[MISkier]

The Prostar 205 hulls were based on the 1992-1994 Prostar 190 and 1995-1997 Prostar 190 for the respective years. They also continued to make the 1995-1997 hull into the early 2000s for the 205. I had a 2000 Prostar 205 with that 1995-1997 lineage. Good boat, but I believe the 1992-1994 hulls were considered to be better. The 205 has great room, but I would believe the Echelon to have the better wake. I traded my 205 in for a 2009 Response LX (SV23 diamond hull with step over open bow).

[rayn]

I have a 2000 response lx. It is a great slalom boat. I really like the walkover, makes it feel like a closed bow but with some extra room when my kids have friends over for non skiing activities. You can't go wrong.

[bstphen24]

Looking at the resource pages at themalibucrew I see that the sunsetter lx shares the same hull thru 1997. I was under the impression that these were less than desirable ski wakes. Does that only change for the sunsetter lx after 1997 when it goes to the SV23 wake hull?

[andjules]

No, I think you'll find the "SV23" and the "SV23 wake" are the exact same hull, so any modern (1995 and later) Sunsetter LX is basically on the same hull - which was introduced on the Echelon (in 1993?).

 

Here's the thing between the SV23 (wake) vs the SV23 "diamond": the former is pretty weight-and-beam sensitive. A wider/heavier boat on the wake hull makes for a hard slalom wake. A light/narrow boat on the wake hull is pretty damn nice. The Tantrum and Sportster are on the classic wake hull and have pretty nice slalom wakes, because they're light and narrow. The echelon is a little heavier, and if I recall correctly, is essentially the same as the 95-97 Response. Still a damn fine boat, but a little harder wake than the 98 and later Responses which were on the Diamond hull. The Sunsetter LX is considerably wider and heavier, and you start to feel it in terms of size/hardness of the wake. The difference between a Sunsetter LX (wake hull) vs LXi (diamond hull) is pretty noticeable.

[DW]

The Echelon LX was a walk through design from '93-'97 and later model ones were similar to the Response open box as a walk over design. A key difference between the Sunsetter and Echelon/Response is the actual hull size: Echelon/Response - 20' long / 90" beam, Sunsetter 21' long / 93" beam. The basic SV23 hull design is the same, just stretched to fit. It will be heavier and therefore the wake will reflect that although the extra surface area will help offset some of the weight gain.

 

Another key to the Echelon and the Prostar is full fiberglass construction so no worries over stringer rot.

[Sethro]

I will add some trivia to the Sunsetter LX vs Echelon LX in regards to hull size. Supposedly, the extra foot is utilized towards the front of the boat, while the sides are "flared" to gain the extra 3 inches of beam. This was done to create a bigger boat with the same wetted surface as the smaller boat while at speed. So, theoretically, you are utilizing the same hull at skiing speed with the only difference being the added weight of the Sunsetter. Mainly from a much higher freeboard and the extra foot in length...about 500 pounds. The Sunsetter LX skis very well for a big boat.

 

[inland]

I second Sethro's comments about the Sunsetter LX. I thought my old SSLX skied better than the PS205 I regularly ski. It's just my opinion however but the SSLX seemed much softer than the PS205 and a smaller and less firm -22 bump. I was very surprised at how well that boat did for its size as it's really a big boat.

[jcowan35]

I've never owned or skied either of these boats, but when we were looking for our current boat there was a 205 and a few Echelon's in consideration. Personally I think the Echelon and the late 90's Response's are some of the nicest looking boats on the water but from my memory there are a couple things to watch out for.

 

The Echelon used an in-dash computer system called "Computron" which was prone to failure. If I remember correctly this system stored and monitored engine vitals along with water and air temp. Pretty sure this was gone by about '96? However, the newer Echelons and a lot of the Response's used a different shaft log setup they called an HDS box which was prone to leaking and difficult to properly fix once the leaking started. I know any boat has its potential issues, but those were a couple that made me lean towards the 205 when we were looking (91-95 hull).

[bstphen24]

Nice to here some positive things about the sunsetter lx. There seem to be quite a few of those around for a fairly good price, but I have been gun shy cause of the wakes. Not that my '89 Ski Nautique is giving anything up on any of these boats in that department. Is the Sunsetter closer to the 205 or the Prostar 209/X-9?

[gregy]

I ski behind an early 205 regularly. It has a great wake at all line lengths and the quality was top notch on those boats. I have a 99 Rlx which I like and would recommend. It has an excellent wake and handles a little better on tight setups than the 205. It has a step-over to the bow seats which I was a little leary about but now like because of the extra storage.