Siouxcitysmitty

I have the '04 LXI with the 340hp Monsoon. Love the slalom wake. 500 hours and no problems whatsoever. No wedge on the boat you're looking at, which may or may not be an issue. One item, however, that you should probably research...when I was shopping for my boat, I seem to recall some issues with the Hammerhead burning oil. I recall it impacting some years and not others. Probably worth understanding, especially with this one just off a rebuild.

for what it's worth, i have an '04 RLXI, and i'm pretty sure there's always have a slight vacumn release when unscrewing the tranny dipstick, not, a pressure release.

very strong preference for LFF which matches my skiing

A big inhibitor to the engine transferring mussels is the temperature of the water that is reached while flowing thru the engine. If coming from Powell, the inspectors at my lake would hook up the fake-a-lake to your boat, and take a thermometer to your exhaust output, and confirm that exhaust water reaches 140 degrees, which is apparently enough to kill mussels. One might argue that this is unnecessary, as I believe any of water that is remaining in the engine from a prior trip to Powell, has already been heated to >140 degrees.

Love it! Wish I had that "stack"!

I've had the vectors for about 4 years now and like them. However, I don't have the perspective of having tried anything else, other than some old school rubber bindings. I will say that mine are a little bit of effort to get on/off. I find that dish soap doesn't provide any benefit sliding them on like it does with rubber bindings.

When they cut my hair it seems to die and turn color (grey) by the time it hits the apron in my lap!

I went from a '93 SN196 to my '04 LXI about 3 years ago when my kids were 7 and 11. Unfortunately, I can't comment much on the slow wake comparison, as my older one didn't start slalom until we had the LXI. The LXI wake looks pretty big to me in the 20-25mph range, but starts getting pretty reasonable above that. I love the wakes for my rec skiing at 34. I think they're a little better than my '93 SN at that speed. Definitely seems like the wake quality degrades less as the passenger/cargo load goes up. And, although the OP didn't ask, there's a huge benefit over the 19ft boats in room and versatility. Just the moderate extra width and length, along with ski locker and tower for stowage, makes a huge difference. And, although the OP only asked about the slalom experience for the kids/slow-speed, my younger guy loves surfing and wakeboarding for which the wedge is great. And, who even knows if kids that age are ever really going to want to slalom? So, it's probably not the right boat if you're just trying to optimize for 20-25 mph slalom speed, but, it's been great for our family of 4 for a whole bunch of other reasons.

Love the ball cap flying off somebody's head at 2:20 :)

Or maybe the cure for bad stacks?

They're lots of fun, but, not the best on the boat uphostery!

0 - 500 hrs 2004 Malibu RLXI with 460 trouble free hours

I think the biggest key for the driver is to be cognizant enough of what they're doing, so that on subsequent attempts, they can take the skier feedback, and, actually adjust in the direction/quantity desired.

Constantly reaching for our balls!

As part of the prep work before heading to the ramp, I'd strongly recommend crawling under the trailer with your wrenches and making sure you can loosen all the bolts. All it takes is one nut that won't come off, and, you'll have gone to all the trouble of heading to the ramp, launching/mooring the bolt, only to not be able to complete the job.

Googled it. 6 frames per second. That a smoking fast camera...but, clearly needed to catch the speed of their skiing.

Horton - Love the pics! One question....how many frames per second is your camera shooting to get your photos in that tight of a sequence?

Love the pic! Not only for the incredible skiing, but a phenomenal pic! I love the composition and the alignment of his body along the bow/windshield of the boat. A real keeper!!!

FWIW - I had a '93 nautique with the 285 hp engine. It was carbed and when I got the Holley dialed in for my 8K elevations here in Colorado, it ran reasonably strong. Certainly more top end and hole-shot than my current EFI '04 Malibu RLXI with high altitude prop. Memory is fuzzy, but, around 44 at WOT. Think my prop was stock, and, sorry, don't remember RPMs at WOT. - Best of luck figuring it out, and, once fixed, it should run fairly strong IMO, at those elevations.

I noted the term "power grip" above, and, also noticed Terry holding both hands over the top of the handle. This approach/term is new to me. Is this the recommended grip? Make much of a difference compared to an over/under grip?

Lots of valid points, but, comparing the photos with Terry Winter, and referring to the "ski shouldn't be this far under the rope", isn't a very valid comparison. When the snapshots are taken from the spotter's seat, it's always going to show the ski on the1 ball side further relative to the rope than on the 2 ball side.

Congrats! Precious pics, love her name! As mentioned it doesn't get any better! Your pic brings back fond memories of my own from that age, and, now they're 10 and 14, and, my ski/board/surf/barefoot buddies! It starts out great, and just gets a little better everyday!

I wouldn't get too caught up in dealer cost. The goal, of course, is to get the best price you can out of the dealer, and, that's going to be based on market demand, as much as anything else. Auto dealers mark their price above MSRP if they can get away with it on a hot item (add pin strips and running boards to hot truck and mark it up $5K). And, they take a bath if they have too much inventory of the wrong thing. There's no substitute for a little market research, word of mouth research with fellow boaters, and shopping a few different sellers.

Definitely gives me the heebie-jeebies, and, I can't help but think that if those were my kids, I'd slap them so silly, they'd be wishin' they had a building to jump off!

When I checked mine at 1300 hours, all were in the 155 to 162 range. The range of 1-3 psi recommended above seems a little tight to me. Maybe 5-10 from lowest to highest. You'll also get lower readings if you're at higher elevations.