Opinions on 1st Gen XLV

[volfo]

Thinking of upgrading my '01 LS. Looking for a bigger boat in v drive. Trying to think of what boats to target. What are the board's thoughts on the first gen XLV. I want a boat mainly for wakeboarding and surfing and just a bigger boat for having other families on the water with us. Have an almost teenage son and younger daughter so they also like to tube and I don't want them scared by the wake. At slow speeds, can I get the wake clean back to 65 feet with no ballast? How does this boat surf?

I have a moomba so no need to sell me on the brand - I'm happy with my boat but just wondering what to upgrade to. Probably won't go new or else I would be asking about the Mojo!

[volfo]

Any thoughts? I'm betting someone here has owned or been in or boarded or surfed behind one of these and now has a different boat and can comment?

I've tried searches but can't find much. I seem to recall some discussion that the wake was hard to get clean except at high speeds. I see this from the archive for the 2008 model, which seems to indicate maybe there were some issues with the 2004-07 models:

The XLV has been updated from the hull up, with significant tweaking of its design to increase the size of the wake it throws while cleaning up the wake lip. One pull behind the XLV will make certain you will never underestimate its wake shaping capability.

I'm trying to decide whether to go look at two of these that I've found for sale or hold out for something else.

[jpetty3023]

I can't help ya much other than saying that I'm pretty sure an 08+ will be a huge difference in your 01 LS. The wake on the xlv will take some gettin used to but once you get her dialed in I don't think you can go wrong. Take a lake test in an 09+ LSV also, little smaller but the general consensus here is its the best bang for the buck that's a great cross over for all water sports


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[volfo]

thanks for the response. I'm thinking about an 06 but I'd hate to get it to only find out the wake is washy unless I'm at speeds my kids are uncomfortable with. Also, my primary purpose in getting it is to surf and just have more room in the boat. Honestly, the wake on my 01 LS is just fine for us wakeboarding at 21ish mph! We aren't pros and I can easily go w2w and don't have any intention of advanced tricks! So I'm most concerned about impressions with the boat, how clean the wake is at say 20 mph with no ballast and how it surfs with stock or gravity ballast.

[jpetty3023]

Your gonna need a ton of weight for a good surf wave but the wakeboard wake should be acceptable with lil to no ballast for you and the families level. Have you considered an LSV, won't need near the weight to get a nice surf wave but of course you lose a little of the interior room your looking for


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[KG's Supra24]

won't need near the weight to get a nice surf wave

Either way its just going to be a sack in the rear locker.

[jmvotto]

I love my new 12 xlv. Don't have much to compare wakes with yet as I have only been out once. So far. My girls ran at 15 mph and washed out but was choppy. I was able to surf with about 400 in the locker and center. I never adjusted the timers for the 750 and 1180 in the center, thought I could hit the fill button twice o get about 8 minutes but no go, CPU is too smart.

Sorry you said first gen xlv.... Can't really say but I love our '12

https://forum.moomba.com/showthread.php?17509-The-new-Ride/page8&highlight=ride

[volfo]

Thanks for all the responses. I'm interested in the idea that you would need less ballast weight in an LSV to get a good surf wake than you would need in an XLV. The XLV is a lot bigger boat and it weighs a lot more. So, I would think the opposite would be true. Is it just because of the shape of the hull?

I'm looking for a used v drive to move up and getting very confused! I get on wakeworld and hear about how the Tiges and Centurions are the best, and those guys are even talking about putting thousands of pounds of ballast in them. I can get ropeless (barely and another boat wake will destroy it) in my 01 Outback LS with two 400 pound bags in an L shape around the motor box and with just my wife driving. Maybe I'm overthinking it . .

[Boonejeepin]

I have a 10 XLV and it takes a ton (2800 lbs) of weight to get the wave how I like it. The boat is so big and stable that it takes a lot to lean it over.

I don't think it has to do with the total weight if the boat at all. More about the resistance to leaning over on it's side for surfing due to the stability.

I really enjoy the surf wave on my boat and it takes me about 15 minutes (Max) to load the ballast up.

[Ian Brantford]

I have a 2005 XLV, and a buddy (who's on here but doesn't post much) with I believe a 2007 or 2008 XLV GG. He loves to surf. I can confirm that it's hard to get a clean wake below 20 MPH. It starts to clean up about 18-19 and then gets good 20+. If your crew and gear don't weigh much, you might luck out and get it clean at slightly lower speeds, but don't bet a boat purchase on it. I am adding a bow sac because the boat really needs about 300 lbs in the bow to clean it up (at any speed) when you fill the rest of the ballast. If I don't have enough spare crew to sit in the bow, I have to carefully set less rear ballast to keep the balance correct at 20-21 MPH. At 22+ MPH, things get much better and we actually turn up the trim about 1/4 to shape the wake, and the ballast balance is less of an issue. Basically, the hull is made for intermediate-to-expert riding. I take lots of beginners at low speed, but carefully set the rope length (typically 70') to let them slip around the biggest washy crests.

Similarly, surfing is going to require more ballast, not less, than smaller boats. By buddy who surfs with his XLV runs it with 3000 lbs or so, and has the throttle flat out to barely maintain speed. He got the 325 HP engine and envies my 340. He probably wouldn't envy it so much if he saw how fast the gas gauge plummets when using that last little bit of power. Let's see... an 1100 in the rear locker, 1180 center full, my donated original 250's, plus a 400 on top. Yes, that's just over 3000 lbs. I'm upgrading right now, and I plan to get a single 1000 seat-top bag to do the work of his three. I don't plan to surf much, but I'll be ready. I also got a Fresh Air Exhaust. I am not a fan of breathing carbon monoxide.

[volfo]

Thanks for the fantastic feedback. This board is truly a great resource! I think I'm going to keep looking.

[501]

I kind of want to chime in on this. On my 08 XLV, we had a 750 in each rear locker. That was All we ever needed. Fill up one side and surf. You can surf all day long with no rope. No extra sack, pumps or anything. hearing people say 2-3k of ballast just to surf kind of seems overboard to me. If you aren't blasting airs and big tricks, why do you need soooo much weight? IMO it's not worth it for the extar 6" of wave if you are just trying to ride for fun.

For the wake, 750's in the rear and 1100 up front was dynamite. All the weight we ever needed for wakeboarding and the wake was large.

[Boonejeepin]

I have never really tried just filling the surf side locker only. It may be worth trying.

Here is the wave I get with my setup.
1502115022
Agree on the wakeboard wake. I am slowly figuring out how to clean it up. It is definately possible to get a clean wake on both sides at moderate speeds. Especially when the rider is on that particular side.

[Ian Brantford]

I kind of want to chime in on this. On my 08 XLV, we had a 750 in each rear locker. That was All we ever needed. Fill up one side and surf. You can surf all day long with no rope. No extra sack, pumps or anything.

I tried that once and it was quite unsatisfactory. However, I don't know what I had going in the 1180 center bag. What's your entire configuration?


hearing people say 2-3k of ballast just to surf kind of seems overboard to me.

That's what it's taken on my buddy's XLV. He was chatting with me earlier today and said that 3000 is probably more than needed, but we didn't get a chance to follow up. He's stated in the past that what he's got going still is barely there and needs at least one person piled on top. Possibly when I was riding with him, the extra passengers who weren't in that rear corner were offsetting the ballast too much.


If you aren't blasting airs and big tricks, why do you need soooo much weight?

... I can only think that you've crossed over the topic from surfing to wakeboarding here. I use 1180 full in center and only fill my rear 750's to about 500 for wakeboarding. The thing that I'd like to change for that sport is a bow sac, since I find it difficult get the wake shape that I want without a couple of adults in the bow.


IMO it's not worth it for the extar 6" of wave if you are just trying to ride for fun.

For the surfing that I tried behind my boat with a 750 in the read, another 6" of wave might have made the difference between being failure and success at letting go of the rope. It's not fun if it doesn't work at all. So, please let me know what you had elsewhere for weight (ballast or people). Maybe I'll skip some of the planned upgrade if I can replicate your success this weekend. Thanks in advance.


For the wake, 750's in the rear and 1100 up front was dynamite. All the weight we ever needed for wakeboarding and the wake was large. That's what I use (less a bit in the back). Just the bow needs weight. Everything else is great for wakeboarding when properly adjusted.

[501]

Maybe that is the differnec ebtween an 05 and 08 hull? When we surfed we didn't fill the front up at all, just the rear 750. Plate almost all the way down. This was all we needed. I taught many many people to drop the rope like this. Of course with more people it was a little bigger but I can honestly say that with 750lbs in the rear, the wave was totally to my satisfaction. I surfed ropless on this setup for like 20 min straight one time (bout 4-5 miles).

I will say that the surf wave on the new Mojo (and another nameless boat) that I have been riding lately are longer waves with better push. I found the XLV wave a little taller and steeper. But it was a fun wave and a great boat for surfing.

[wolfeman131]

Maybe I'm overthinking it . .

Getting a good surf wave results from the shape of the boat hull, with a deep V shape working best, and displacement. The more hull you get in the water, the more displacement. That's why it take so much weight for the XLV to throw a great surf wave.

[Ian Brantford]

Maybe that is the differnec ebtween an 05 and 08 hull? When we surfed we didn't fill the front up at all, just the rear 750. Plate almost all the way down. This was all we needed. I taught many many people to drop the rope like this. Of course with more people it was a little bigger but I can honestly say that with 750lbs in the rear, the wave was totally to my satisfaction. I surfed ropless on this setup for like 20 min straight one time (bout 4-5 miles).


Thanks. I might try filling the ballast this way as an experiment this weekend. I probably had some in the center sac when I tried it previously.