thor_64

Got out of college in spring of '03, married in late summer '03, found this 2001 Malibu Sportster that fall/winter. I was in the boat before the tow vehicle crowd..... borrowed my parents old full sized van for the first year. It had no A/C, the lake was a 90 mi round trip most weekends, but we did pull it about 1100 mi. that summer w/ the van too. Fun, fun! Really enjoyed that boat. It had the 325 Hp EFI motor and made for a quick boat with the light hull. I will never forget I pulled a 235+ lb guy deep water start BF start and never needed full throttle, his MC 205 was full throttle from the time he said go to the time he dropped back in. Spring of '07 we pulled it out to the lake and were setting up our campsite. We set our 14 mo. old in the boat to keep her contained and with the low freeoboard we saw her fully looking over the side and decided that probably wouldn't be the safest on the water. Just happened that some friends were moving that had a 2002 Wakesetter LXi that they didn't want to take with them so we moved into that.

How were the parameters for ski fly set? Who pushed for it when it originally started?

If you haven't settled on something I will throw in my to cents. The first boat we owned was a 01 Sportster LX and then traded to a Sunsetter LXi (w/ Diamond hull). I have also been pulled by a Mastercraft 205 quite a bit, '06 SN 196, and had a little wakeboard time behind a ~96 Sport Nautique (I think this would be the same hull as that vintage SNOB, but I am not sure.) I am primarily slalom, some wakeboarding. The Sportster was great for slalom, but will get pulled around some. I think some have 2 fins and some have 3 fins for tracking. It was pretty decent for wakeboard because with a smaller hull it will sink down nicely w/ a little weight. The downside is that having such low freeboard it will take on water pretty easy. If you are on public water you would definitely want to consider this. Nostalgia wise, I loved this boat and might look for one when the kids are old enough to not fall over the side. The Sunsetter LXi is much better for slalom than the 205 or Nautique. Best big boat for slalom I have ever been behind. I knew this when I bought it as a friend had it before I did. You probably could get use to the wakes on the 205 or Sport Nautique but I found that coming from the Sunsetter LXi or '196 as the normal slalom pulls I found scaring myself on the 205 because it was enough larger/different and ended up only wakeboarding behind it.

Wife is looking for a 0.888" arc handle. It looks like there are options with In-tow and Masterline. Are there any other options available? Thanks

I have a 2002 Malibu Sunsetter LXi w/ a 325 Hp Monsoon. At the end of the season in 2011 I replaced the fuel pump; at that point it had 400 hrs. The boat now has 500 hrs on it. A couple of days ago I was skiing at 36 mph, the engine stuttered and came back. At that point I tossed the handle as I was about spent.....so it just happened once. It seemed very reminiscent to what I remember as the first signs of trouble w/ my pump in 2011. I have skied two sets since then and haven't had an issue, but I put more fuel in since the "event". I got a loaner pressure gauge today and connected to the fuel rail. It was ~10 psi at idle (in neutral) and would slowly & smoothly climb to ~35 psi as I was idling across the lake (it would take at least 30-45 seconds to climb). When I was at WOT it would push 45 psi, but it was fluttering. When I would bleed pressure off the gauge it would seem to climb back fairly slowly, but eventually would get back to 45. When I was pulling my wife at 28 mph it was more like 40 psi. .......Is it time for me to get a pump on order? It seems like my overall pressure is at or above what I think is typical for this motor, but I was surprised at how slowly it would build pressure.

I had a running joke w/ co-worker I had a couple years back........there was a small middle eastern country that depended on my skiing & camping every weekend to support their family and it was my duty to keep their lifestyle at the level they had become accustom to!

@Sethro Just curious - why does the 99-04 SS LXi appeal to you if it was in a CB version?

Don't the tubes of the tube and weight style fill w/ silt, etc and work less effectively over time? (assuming they are starting to limit the range the bouys need to move)

@gator1, @DW ........thinking about the fogging comments. Is fogging through the air intake (with the arrestor taken off) adequate to get the cylinders coated? ....or do I really need to be pulling the plugs? (I have a 325 Hp Indmar Monsoon (throttle body (?) EFI) if that makes a difference.) Thanks.

Back in late high school & college I had a Jet ski as my pull. Mid-way through college I got my first set of gloves ever, drove about 40 min to the lake, had a decent run and take my gloves off when I get back on the Jet ski. I just them down on the "running boards", was talking to my buddy and totally forgot about them until a couple days later....so I drove back out the lake and I was lucky enough to find them blown up on the shore along that only area that had public access. I was pretty happy that day.

I have always been a mesh liners in my swim shorts guy...... question to the crowd that goes w/ compression shorts - don't they stay wet and pretty much kill the quick dry benefits of some of these shorts?

I think you guys might be getting distracted by the all bright light here and missing training power / slalom understanding......no question about the ski path in that time delay photo! : )

What about a Malibu FXi? Pretty sure they were aimed at the type of market you are talking about, not sure if they gave up much ski performance to the LXi.

Clinton Lake in IL, basically all in a state park, no bouys, but does make for some nice early & late year runs......footing in 3' of steam in Oct. was pretty cool. Water can be in the 90's at the first publically accessible portion of the discharge point.

Sta-bil on the last tank into winter, sea foam first tank in the spring has treated me well. It has also worked very well to get a lawnmower, etc running well again after someone has not winterized it.....ie all the fuel has evaporated out of the carb & lines and left a bunk of gunk.

Have owned a sportster '01 LX, currently have an '02 wake setter (sunsetter) LXI, was w/ a club that a member had '97 sport nautique...and a different member had a MC 205..... I would shy away from the LX's (step overs), just not very usable space, the sport nautique was never used for skiing if there were other options and I only skied the 205 if I had to. ....of course the club member w/ a SN 196 had the best ski wake, but the LXi seemed to treat him ok too.

I will start by fully admitting to being ignorant on the real data.....,but it seems that most times that the topic of the tournament scene and $ get brought up there are comments about how much cash and how many people wake boarding events bring in.....like that pro scene hardly can figure out to do w/ all the money. Personally, I don't see really see it. Last summer I was able to make it to the WB stop in Indianapolis and there were no means tons of spectators. ......what really are the numbers? I do understand that the masses are buying WB boats and that is driving much of the cash in the industry, but especially "per capita of pro" is wakeboarding really in much of a different situation much different than pro skiiers?

Not bashing the Response LX, but the Sportster was so fun to drive it made a Response feel sluggish

Hello, My name is Hector Matthys I am 31, married, have four children (5 yrs to 1 month), and addicted to lurking in addition to watersports……. I have been lurking for quite awhile, probably upwards of ten years when including “thewaterskiforum”. I guess I only post when I actually have something constructive and there are too many talented skiers for my to provide much input there and being a consistent lurker questions I have typically are answered in due time. Thanks to everyone along the way as I have definitely improved from the discussions on the boards over the years. Anyway, started out skiing once or twice a year behind relative’s random boats from about 6 years old until I was 16 when I convinced my parents to let me buy a jet ski as my tow boat. I had the chance to be in a slalom course for one set at the OWC during college. We got married the summer after college, my wife gave me quite the wedding present…. she hadn’t ever tried skiing since some failed attempts as a kid and the day after we were married said the wanted to try slalom (deepwater start) and she gave herself seven tries and made it on the seventh! Having real job and a new home (Illinois vs. Minnesota) after college we joined a fairly recreational ski club where we would ski & camp most summer weekends. It had a ski course on basically private water. We were members for six years, during the last our oldest was diagnosed with Leukemia and trying to camp wouldn’t have been the best thing. (Shameless plug: She is a St. Jude’s patient and I am involved in a 465 mile relay style fundraiser for that great organization. If you would like to support a good cause please send me a “conversation” message or e-mail “hector matthys at hotmail dot com”). She is doing great now, but still finishing up the treatment protocol. For the last two summers we have scaled back on the watersports some but do still get a chance to hit the water with some friends now and then. We are hoping to get a job & move back to MN, so I may need to look a few BOS members up if it works out. Skiing stats: never been in a tournament out side of out club “tournaments”, I just enjoy improving against myself and the chance for everyone to have fun as a family at their own level. PB’s are 1.5 @ 35’ off, 34 mph and 0.5 @ 35’ off 36 mph…..0.5….that hardly counts : ) I ski on an D3 X5 w/ double approach bindings. When we started in the club we bought a 2001 Malibu Sportster LX – fun boat! When the oldest was two we had the opportunity to move into a 2002 Malibu Wakesetter LXi (22’ DD), so we didn’t have to worry quite as much about the kids jumping overboard. I also wakeboard, take the old garage sale combos out from time to time (including it the course – exciting!), barefoot, wakeskate a little & surf a time or two.

I am a guy with a young family and don't have access to a lake with a course at this point. So I know what a day on public water means....   The last time I was in the course the season before last I got through 32' numerous times and into 35' once. I also wake board & 'foot a little.  So I really thought this was going to be the boat that I would come home from the boat show convincing myself I didn't need to have (read = don't have that kind of money for a boat right now) as my next boat and get to a place where I can get back to the course and that just wasn't the case. I am sure this boat has a great wake, but it come up short big time on storage for a day on the lake. My current DD has just as much. Sure the V-drive layout is nice, but by the time wife, kids and a couple of friends are on this thing all we would have is a big pile of stuff to trip over were the motor use to be........at least I can lean/sit on the motor box when we are lounging.