The New 24 Ve'

[Wake Havasu]

Malibu's nice but the only other boat that really captured my attention was the Master Crafts. I am unwilling to spend 80K on a boat that barley breaks 50 MPH.

[Wake Havasu]

[i]

There is another sweet 24Ve sitting in the bays at Tige Water Sports right now with a stereo that surpasses mine by a long shot owned by another member of this board... I will let him talk his own rig up...but let it just be said that the Navy is doing studies on his boat to determine if sub woofers of that substantial a size and wattage can be used as a new weapon system!

[/B]

I am doing the four cans on tower- dual amp- dual battery route with an IPOD port.

What have you added to the interior of you boat Wrangler?

Pls tell me your colors: boat and tower.

Who is and what has the other member done that you have not?

I did finally see my boat at Tige!

It looks great even though its torn apart.

The trailer wheels came out nice.

[wrangler]

I'm glad you got to see your boat!!! I am really excited for mine to come in as well...

Like you, we went with four cans welded to the tower powdercoated red to match the phatte budde tower. 8 speakers inside plus a sub woofer. Three amps, three batteries and a built in battery charger. Four speakers in the main cabin area, two in the walk through and two in the bow.

The color scheme is red white and grey... We went with the grey snakeskin, white elsewhere and the red tubing to accent... The deck and hull are white as is the main hull...the transom and "swoop" from back to front is red with the red tower.

The other member, Justin, has another amp, a bigger sub woofer and is the one who came up with the trick battery charger idea... The plug comes up and through the top of the cover for the batteries and has a false plug for the cord to plug into. Then you just run an extension cord out when you have it out of the water and charge everything up over night... He also has four huge military batteries...very cool...

We also added the ipod adapter, heater and shower. Should be fun!!!

[talltigeguy]

Placing speakers in the walkway between the main cabin and bow seems like a foreign concept to me. I worry about the grills poking out and catching on everything that goes through the walkway, including my tall bony legs. Do you have any pics of this? Will you try to mount them flush? Have you heard speakers there before? I wonder if the sound will help by reverberating off of the opposite side 18 inches in front of the speaker. I could even see this as compromising sound quality overall.

I'm always looking for more things to do to my stereo system and would like to hear more about this, if people are confident that it helps.

[wrangler]

When doing this, you place one speaker towards the aft end of the walk through and one towards the bow end of the walk through. I have heard one boat with a speaker set up like this...and any number of boats without... The one with the walk through speakers sounded great and there was a difference... When the new boat is rigged up, I will post some pix...

[Wake Havasu]

Originally posted by wrangler

The color scheme is red white and grey... We went with the grey snakeskin, white elsewhere and the red tubing to accent... The deck and hull are white as is the main hull...the transom and "swoop" from back to front is red with the red tower.

[/B]

WOW!!
Sounds really nice looking red and gray would be my alternate colors for a boat and I almost choose them!

I hope you get yours in soon wrangler.

[wrangler]

Thanks...I am thinking it should be here in the pretty near future... If it get's delivered this week, I will have to make a run to Corona to sit in it this weekend!

I think we have it loaded up pretty nicely without getting out of hand. My CFO - and lovely wife....wouldn't let me get too crazy!!! Despite some of the earlier comments on quality etc... It is still a better value, in my humble opinion, than the Malibu and I don't see anyplace that it is of significantly less quality...in fact, there are plenty of areas where I think Tige is better made... I guess time will tell... So it goes... When does your get out of the shop and into your hands???

[Dan]

[Dan]

Here is my update from my test drive weekend. First off, what a beautiful weekend to be on the water.

Got to Elsinore at 11am. Saw Tom from Tige and a new 24V sitting at the ramp. Earlier in the week Tom had stated to me that he would have a boat delivery at 10am and then a test drive with a potential customer after that. We had planned to test drive after the last test drive. While Tom was with the other people, we would drive the Malibu. Did not work out that way. After we got back from test driving the Malibu, Tom and the Tige we nowhere to be found. I called Tom and he said the first test drive customers wanted to go back to Tige and work out a deal. I understand wanting to sell a boat, however I was a little pissed that he did not give me the courtesy to tell me this in person considering I have already bought a boat from him in the past and will be purchasing another this winter. Was not professional IMO. Anyway......

The Malibu 23LSV- Chris from Malibu had the Orange/ Charcoal model gassed up with a half tank and ready to go. The crew consisted of myself, my girlfriend, and Chris.

First impressions- Love the lines of the Malibu and their gelcoat is better looking than Tige. (Most notes are of personal preference, to each his own).

I pulled it off the trailer and while Chris parked the truck my girlfriend and I shared the same thoughts on the interior. Much higher quailty than the Tige. The cushions feel more comfy, the vinyl feels like a higher grade, and the carpet as well. The wide seating surfaces are great.The driver seat wrapped around you a bit more than the Tige. I love the dash and the gauge layout. The LCD display was awesome, easy to view and informative. And the indirect LED lighting is a very nice touch.

The cupholder placement seems more practical on the Malibu. They are in the gunnals, off the floor, easy to reach , and out of the sun. MMMMM COLD BEER

I love the huge cooler built into the seat. I can keep all the drinks in that and bring the softside cooler for food.

I thought there was plenty of storage until I read the "What do you Bring?" thread, I need to go back and verify that all will fit. I think so!

It was weird to drive the "fly by wire" throttle, Very smooth, took some time to get use to. The boat was very well behaved at all speeds, and was very easy to maneuver. The 340 Monsoon felt very solid, even with Wedge down and full ballast. It popped out of the hole very nicely and top speed was sufficient. I plan on one more test drive, but I will be bringing extra people and gear to weigh her down.

Chris took over driving for a while and really put this boat through the paces. I could not believe how well it turned, on a dime. Keep in mind I am familar with excellent handling boats (I have a 22i direct drive), and was still impressed.

No wind chop, however there were a number of boats in our area and I made sure to plow through their wakes at various speeds and angles. The boat was very solid and no rattles to speak of. As we were checking out the wake sizes I simulated going back around and picking up a fallen rider. I could not get the hull slap Wrangler mentioned. I did this at several different speeds to try and induce this but no luck. My girlfriend was in the back most of the time and said she did not get and spray or water on her. I am hoping the next test drive is in more severe chop, but all in all I was pleased with the ride.

The wake was great for wakeboarding, nice and rampy. I have only wakesurfed once(current boat not feasible and I still like to surf REAL waves) so I have little to base it on, but the wake was curling and looked fun for that. After looking at the wake with the power wedge in different positions, I would step up and pay for the Power Wedge. I know it's easy to engage and disengage the manual wedge but imagine dealing with that after a full session, arms tired, and boat chop slapping the back of the boat. I like the guage reminding you if you forget to pull it up. Besides, I could then get my teak swim step!

Overall I was impressed with Malibu, as someone mentioned, they really have put some thought into their boats.

I am still going to drive the Tige and give it the same run through as the Malibu. I will give the same report on it when that happens.

Hope this report helps others as much as the other reports have helped me.

BTW--Sorry for no pic's, between Wrangler and JohnB, I had nothing new to shoot. If you guys missed something on your outings and would like me to get it on the next drive, let me know.

[johnbandrews]

Dan, Thanks for a great review. I want so badly to like the 24V, but I'm really drawn to the Malibu 247 LSV for the same reasons you mention. The fit and finish, comfort, dash, cup holders, cruise, you name it, I like it on the Malibu. Keep us posted when you drive the Tige. Thanks again!

[Wake Havasu]

[i] Despite some of the earlier comments on quality etc... It is still a better value, in my humble opinion, than the Malibu and I don't see anyplace that it is of significantly less quality...in fact, there are plenty of areas where I think Tige is better made... [/B]

More important to me than where the cup are holders , is rough water handling.

Everyone I have chatted with on this board has continually stated the Tige with its V bottom excels in this.

Lets face it most, of the time it’s rough in Havi, Powell, and Meade en route to a smoother area.

[Dan]

Wake Havasu-

I agree, rough water handling is very important to me, hence my upgraded from a direct drive boat to a V-drive. That said, the Malibu performed quite well in chop with a very solid feel. The Tige may have a better ride, but is it THAT much better? I would think for many who have driven both boats, there would be an overwelming consensus that refeclts that. I haven't seen or heard it. I plan on driving the 24Ve soon and I will give it the same unbiased test drive I gave the 23LSV.

I spend more time in smooth water, cruising around, and just chilling out on my boat than I do driving in rough water. This is why overall interior comfort is important and of such focus.

Now, if I were making my decision on cupholder placement, the Malibu would win.

After all my recent posts you may think I am done on the Malibu, but I am not at all. In my heart I hope the Tige blows me away. I have been extremely happy with my 22i, their service dept, and the product in general. I paid around $30-32k for my 22i new and never regretted it. I am now in the market for a boat 3 times that and want to have the same ownership experience as the last. So I am going to do three time the homework and look at the details magnified three times.

[Zacky]

Am I missing something? Your Tige dealer punked you. In my book, that is completely unacceptable. You saw him before your SCHEDULED demo, he knew you were there, and then blew you off to make a sale? That's total BS in my opinion...

[Dan]

Zacky- I agree on the B.S.

Saw him at the ramp, shook hands and confirmed the plan. He would take out his 11am demo while I drove the Malibu. When he was done with the 11AMer, I would then take my demo in it. Came in and no Tige! I understand things come up, but at least have the courtesy to tell me. I'm am easy going guy, but my girlfriend was pissed and wanted me to buy the Malibu right there out of spite. I told her to hush it, or the Malibu guy might hear her and ruin my negotiations.

I guess it's reflective of how much he values my business. I still plan to give the Tige it's proper dues, just now I may ask to work with another salesman. Seems like most on this board have been happy with Daniel.

[wrangler]

Dan...great review... Sounds like you drove the exact same boat we did. You are absolutely right...it's a nice boat to be sure.

Glad you are still going to give the 24Ve a try...check the storage issues...that was one of the deciding factors for us... Check the access to the storage areas under the dash and the storage up front in the bow area. You loose that with the Malibu...but it might be an issue for you all... We wanted all the room we could get. We were impressed by the turning abilities of both boats as well...the v drives really perform...

As for rough water handling, I would say there was that big a difference. We boat at Havi 90% of the time and for better or worse, we have to be there on weekends most trips. Feeling safe and comfortable in the bigger water was a big issue for me and my wife. I didn't want to get pounded and the Tige did seem to have a much better ride and ability to cut chop than the Malibu.

On the upholstery etc....It will be interesting to hear your review after talking to Daniel and getting the whole picture on their seats. I think they are too hard to start and another couple of inches wide would make them more comfy...but they, after listening to customers, made changes to increase room and storage etc... The seats are reported to hold up better for longer etc... Everything said and done, it is a series of trade offs that requires you to figure out which small compromises make the most sense for you and your family/friends etc...

As for the salesman taking off, from what you have described, it doesn't sound good. Daniel rocks and goes out of his way to be helpful. Very class guy...I don't know the other sales folks although I have spent some time with Chris, the owner there. Also a very good, class guy and he would want to make sure you are happy from what I have seen. Give either Daniel or Chris a call...I'm sure they will want to help out...

Looking forward to your Tige review after riding in the 24Ve...