Malibu Wakesetter VLX 2010

Malibu Wakesetter VLX 2010 official teaser photo released.

Sweeet.

Malibu Boats have released a photo teasers for the Illusion G3 Tower… Yes the 2010 Malibu Boats Illusion G3 Tower.

Malibu Wakesetter with Malibu's 2010 Illusion G3 Tower

The original Illusion tower wowed the wakeboard boating community and still mesmerises those new to boating, the structure and style of the illusion has now grown up with a new muscle design.

Malibu Illusion G3 Tower

Malibu Illusion G3 TowerThe Illusion tower was always a design masterpiece, however like most towers was often criticised when trying to fit into the garage due to the weight, height and rigidness common to wakeboard towers. Until now… The Malibu Illusion G3 tower also contains a dual gas-springs, making folding down the tower after a hard day wakeboarding effortless. Heck, even your grandma could do it, but we don’t recommend you bring her along on a wakeboarding session… that would be awkward.

Illusion G3 Tower with dual gas-springs (compact isn't it?)

The Illusion G3 tower also features spinner wakeboard racks as standard.

Malibu Illusion G3 Tower with Spinner Racks

All these photo’s are from Malibu Boats flickr Channel, check out the official photographs of the 2010 Malibu Illusion G3 Tower at the Malibu Boats flickr channel.

Dallas Friday Malibu VLX 08 Boat

Amongst all the pro personalised boats we have forgotten about Dallas Friday’s Malibu VLX boat, aka ‘the Pink Ribbon’. So here’s to you Dallas and Malibu Boats for a boat that maintains the edge between feminine and craftsmanship, and provides instant recognition for a female truly deserving of a pink boat.

Dallas Friday (yes we know it’s last season’s board… but the crew loved this picture).

BlackDiamond leaves Air Nautique Boats and signs with Malibu Boats Australia.

BlackDiamond wakeboard school which has been operated by Scotty Kell since 1996 on the shores of Australia has now signed with Malibu Boats Australia taking on the 2009 VLX Wakesetter.    BlackDiamond was previously well represented by Air Nautique and was pictured in many Australian wakeboarding competitions and magazines.

Malibu VLX Wakesetter

BlackDiamond is home to many famous Australian wakeboarders, some of which are; John Henson, Dean Smith, Chris O’Shea, Scotty Broome and Amber Wing.

More Details contact BlackDiamond Wakeboarding or Malibu Boats Australia.

Boats that look like cars?

Malibu Corvette Boat:

Many of you know of the Malibu Corvette boat, officially known as the Malibu Corvette Limited Edition Sport-V (if you really care).  While functionality with wakeboarding or even waterskiing in such a boat may be a little impracticle with it’s car like design, especially under the hood, where the Corvette-styled closed bow opens to reveal LED lighting, dual subwoofers, dramatically reducing storage or people space.   having said this if you’re acar enthuiast and want to turn head on the water Malibu did a great job at the design.

The wake-crew, being a mindless bunch decided to research further boats that looked like cars.  We found it quite hillarious and thought we’d share them with you- check them out below:  Be warned none of these boats can be used for wakeboarding, although one attempts to, which is why the Malibu Corvette comes up trumps for winner of ‘best boat replicating a car’ award!

Donzi 22 – Shelby GT Boat:

Ferrari F440 Boat:

Something Boat:

Lamborghini Boat:

Mercedes Boat:

Glastron FireFlite: Nice color combination!

Watercar Camero:

Nissan Boat: (Clarkson from Top Gear)

Malibu Boats release there 2009 video for dealers titled The Truth is on the Water- got get it, or watch it here (remember it’s slightly over-rated it’s really just marketing material).

Malibu Boats 2009 Dealer Video

The Video:

After watching this movie you realize the broad range of owners of Malibu Boats from families, wakeboarders, slalom skiers, and bare-footers, why can’t we all just get along on the water – oh that’s right it’s the wake.

Malibu Boats, one of the world leaders in the waterski and wakeboard boats, have a cow-skin vinyl.  

Malibu Boat Cow Wrap

Actually, true recognition goes to Etco Marine, a Malibu boats dealer, who showcased the cow-skin at the Tulare Farm Show. The Farm show as you can guess relates to agriculture related products. 

If farmers get to ride boats like this.  Heck, I wanna become a farmer!  I say Raw Hide… or should it be ride hide.

Malibu Boats

From the head company of Malibu Boats comes Axis Wake Research! A new wake boarding boat targeted at the price-sensitive market who still want quality but at a lower price.

With the economy going into dire straights, dream boats like Malibu’s and Mastercrafts with their extravagant pricing are swallowing every dollar- including your spare change.

So what does a multi-million dollar company like Malibu do? It conducts market research of buyer behaviors and realizes that buyers actually want to pay less for boats but expect more…crazy I know.
In Malibu’s mind this means they need to create another segment of the wakeboarding market; a discount boating market while still maintaining quality products.

So behold the birth of Axis Wake Research, Malibu’s new boat division dedicated to creating high quality low priced wakeboarding boats – primarily designed to capture wake boat buyers that want a Malibu, dream of owning a Malibu, but can’t afford the price tag.

Axis Wake

Hang-on a second I hear you say, hasn’t Malibu already tried to create a discounted Malibu brand from all its successful models… wasn’t this called the Ride Series? Well, yes and no. Axis Wake Research will not be built from the Malibu factory, it won’t even capitalize on the Malibu brand name, and it’ll be a more budget conscious boat than the Ride series.

Malibu Boats’ recent press release claims “by carefully sourcing components and materials, employing in-house fabrication, lean manufacturing, unique production processes and strategic sales and marketing practices, Axis offers low cost to the customer without compromising quality.” Like I said it’s a press release.

Ultimately, Malibu Boats is creating a new low-priced high quality wakeboarding boat company A.K.A Axis Wake Research and this has to be good news! This brand diversification is nothing new, it’s been used for years in car manufacturing, such as Lexus and Toyota or BMW and Mini.

The question you now have to ask yourself is; are you a premium wakeboarder or a budget wakeboarder? Personally, I’d rather drive a BMW.

Axis Wake are due to be released to dealerships in January 2009.

Ah, the Wakesetter 23 LSV a boat of dreams, a boat you admire, a boat that has earned seven consecutive Boat of the Year Awards.

This boat has more options then a SUV, with up to 1350 pounds of Ballast aka the Malibu Launch System (MLS), a ballast monitoring system, a collapsible Illusion XS wakeboard tower, Rider Presets (for the wedge and speed), Precision Pro Speed Control and even an available Patented Power Wedge. All of these wakeboard features including the bottom of the hull are specifically designed to displace water at wakeboarding speeds.

This boat oozes luxury through it’s fiberglass pores.

If you’re considering buying a wake boat I’d higher consider a Malibu Wakesetter 23 LSV. Rumors also have it on the net that people are slalom skiing behind Wakesetters, is it actually possible behind a monster boat of this size?

The ultimate wakeboarding necessity just became automated.

Malibu has once again stepped up the mark creating the auto wedge.  One of the biggest problems with wakeboarding today is high petrol prices and using the wedge while wakeboarding doesn’t help fuel consumption especially when your using excess fuel just in pulling up a boarder.

The solution!  Behold the auto wedge.

Malibu Auto Wedge, image from Malibu boats

So what is the auto wedge I hear you say.   We’ll, you set the riders speed, when the boat reaches the desired speed …. down comes the wedge!  Another advantage is the boat gets on the plane much quicker.

Malibu claims the auto wedge, allows the boat to get on a plane 34% faster, has less bow rise, and improves fuel consumption by 30%.

The video has a stupid mechanical noise, i hope the real thing doesn’t sound like this.