LSV vs. XLV

[you da man]

One thing I was really considering when buying a wakeboat was that my favorite lake has alot of open water, a few miles worth at a couple points. Running in open water with the south wind Texas is known for in the summer can whip up some serious chop. I wanted a boat with size and freeboard.

[Membrain]

We got our ’08 XLV for the handy-dandy inboard cooler within arm’s reach! Plus I got tired of having to walk around the external ballasts on our old LS so that my son had enough wake to board on!!! We upgraded to 1,100 lbs bags all the way around.

[cab13367]

The LSV is just the right size for my purposes. Sure, there are times when I wish I had a little more room in the boat but 95% of the time, the LSV is just fine. I also wanted it to fit in the garage and it was hard enough to find a house with a garage that the LSV would fit in (in our price range), never mind the XLV. The Outback V is a little too small for our purposes and does not have enough rated people capacity for those times when we want to take a lot of people.

But a big factor is that the LSV can plane out at a lower speed than the heavier XLV. This is important if you have small kids or a timid wife. This means they can ride clean wakes at a speed that is comfortable for them. With a larger boat, the wake is all washed out at those speeds.

My brother bought a 24' Tige and he has to go at least 23-24 mph or so with no ballast to get a clean wake so his kids are always riding in white wash, even with the rope at 60' or 50'. They've never seen what a clean wake looks like because they are afraid to ride at 23 mph+. Also, my brother says his boat drives like a container ship compared to my smaller, more nimble LSV.

Al

[501]

I have an 08 XLV and I do have to agree that is you want to go slower speeds you need to have the ballast empty and the plate all the way down to help clean up the wake, but with a lot of weight you need more speed. Also even with full ballast we never take the plate up past 1/2 way.

I think that is really the only drawback to the XLV. With the 340 Cat motor there is plenty or acceleration, people who have never been in my boat are always very impressed with the acceleration their first time on. With 2650lbs its a bit sluggish, but show me a wakeboat with that kind of weight that isn't.

The playpen bow was a big seller for me. I was unsure at first but now I won't be without it. When it's cool out we leave the front cover on and turn the heaters on. It makes the whole front bow into a heated tent for the kids and they love it. It keeps them busy for hours. I also like having the seat right next to the driver for my daughter to sit right beside me while I drive.

[Razzman]

Al and i are of the same mind it looks like. I'm happy with mine 99% of the time i'd say. My crew averages 6-8 when we're out as we've always got at least a couple other boats with us so we play musical boats anyway, adults and kids shuffling between them depending on what boat is doing a particular activity.

We almost cut a deal on an a real sharp '07 Supra 21V at the '08 boat show but the wife was hesitant at that time as we hadn't even thought of selling the old one. Wouldn't you know three months later we're buying the LSV instead due to the great deal offered. I looked at the XLV but she nixed it as she doesn't like the playpen seating at all. How she missed that on the 21V is beyond me?

Funny thing is late that year who's camping three spots down from us? The guy that bought that Supra! And he anchored next to the LSV! I remember looking at it thinking how i'd made a great choice for the money as even discounted the Supra was $43K+