MALIBU
WAKESETTER 23 LSV
DESCRIPTION
Vibe: Behind the boat, you’ve got a wake that’s big yet manageable. The boat itself is just as big. We’ve seen Darin Shapiro launch amazing moves with the LSV he uses at his school, Ride the Spot. He’ll have like 14 amazed students on board. Seriously, the interior is bigger than most high-school classrooms.
How it’ll make you a better rider: Think you’re not ready for the wakes of a 23-footer with a 100-inch beam? No worries. Yeah, you can turn up the volume on this wake when you’re up for it. Load up with the LSV’s huge factory ballast or all those Shapiro students. But for you intermediate riders, the transitions are super smooth and long. Landing zones give you plenty of room. This is a big boat that’s gonna grow with you.
Custom look: Malibu has a little rainbow action going with 20 gelcoat colors to choose from. There are six different places to splash them on. Do the math. No, seriously, do the math – we can’t. Then you can tell us how many color combos there are.
Features to keep you on board all day long: Check out the legroom. You could be 6-foot-6 and still completely stretched out from that passenger seat. Sit on the left or right side, and it’s about the same thing. There’s just so much room. If you’ve got a lot of friends heading to the lake, automatically your LSV is the one that everybody’ll want to be on. The seats themselves are comfortable, comfortable, comfortable. Thick vinyl, thicker cushions. That sun pad gives you a better nap than most beds.
House party: Storage is a must the more people you have. Look in one of the two trunks, and the space seems like it goes on and on, all the way under the passenger seating. The rear ballast tanks don’t take up any of that space either, since they’re under the floor. Jam all your gear, food, clothes, obnoxious friends in here. Then everyone can relax in the wraparound lounge and grab something cold from the cooler, a big 96 quarts. Pop in the table, too, if you need it. If we have to tell you how important it is to get the full-on Sony stereo to go with all this, you aren’t the partying type anyway.
Fast fact: Malibu got inspiration from luxury cars for its hand-wrapped vinyl dash with a chrome accent piece. Wherever the idea came from, it’s pretty deluxe.
CORE COMPONENTS
The Monsoon engine comes standard on Malibu 23-footers. That’s 340 horsepower from a 5.7-liter engine. Indmar customized the Monsoon to make the most of the LSV’s hull.
The Wedge, Malibu likes to say, can add what seems like 1,000 pounds of down-force. It changes the shape of the wake to make it easier to edge up and edge through.
SPECS
Length: 23 ft.
Beam: 100 in.
Seating capacity: 14
Fuel capacity: 55 gal.
Stock prop: 13.5″ x 16″
Stock engine: Malibu Monsoon 5.7-liter 340 hp from Indmar
Ballast
Tanks: Two rear, 200 lbs. each; one center, 500 lbs.; one bow, 350 lbs.
Capacity: 1,250 lbs.
PERFORMANCE
Top speed: 48.9 mph @ 5,300 rpm
Noise: Neutral 69 db
Gerry Nunn
Malibu Wakesetter 23 LSV
The thing that impressed me most is the wake. It’s awesome. It just never gets bad. The key is the 23 LSV’s hull, which keeps the wake consistent. Some boats, you move over a couple of inches, and all of a sudden the wake gets washy and just real touchy. With the LSV, it’s solid when I’m cutting hard or turning back into it. And it’s just a big boat, so whether I have four of my friends or 14, there’s always room to chill. Since it’s so big, the ride is always smooth. Average rollers on a lake aren’t going to toss it around. It just pplows right through them. For clinics it’s great also, because it has a built-in cooler and continuous storage. That way I can bring everybody out and not have to worry about heading back because we couldn’t fit everything on the first trip.
Wakes
Mellow and meaty. Drop down the Wedge hydrofoil, and the round peaks will mellow even more. Try filling the center ballast tank half full. Stuff like that will help you dial in this wake shape exactly the way you want it. There is no dialing in the size when the Quad Malibu Launch System is full – it’s just BIG. The MLS supplies 1,250 pounds of meat-making madness. What?
