Bought a 2020 Malibu 23 LSV off rubiautosales.com, summer report

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LKN_dadbod_mikeOP

Boat Owner

Posts 164
Joined Mar 2021

Lake Norman NC

Sep 23, 2025 · 9:14 PM#1

long time reader, first real thread. we are a lake norman family, three kids, 14, 11 and 9, and all three of them surf now, which is the whole reason this happened. we had a 2008 Four Winns bowrider with a 5.0 I/O that we tubed behind for years, and once the oldest two got up on a surfboard behind a buddy's Axis they were done with the old boat. i was too honestly, that I/O prop is not something i want three kids swimming near.

we wanted a Malibu 23 LSV. that is the boat everybody on our cove runs and the wave is the reason. i spent most of the spring on the carolina dealer lots and the used 2019 to 2021 23 LSVs were running 126 to 130 with 200 plus hours and the dealers would not move. then a guy at the ramsey creek ramp told me to look at rubiautosales.com because he had seen wake boats going through there.

they had a 2020 Wakesetter 23 LSV, Monsoon M5DI 410, about 165 hours, Power Wedge III, Surf Gate, plug and play ballast, the Wet Sounds tower, on a tandem axle trailer, listed at about 112. that is 14 to 18 grand under the dealers for a boat with fewer hours. i called expecting a runaround and got a guy who knew what a wedge did.

here is the part i want to write down for the next dad reading this. i was not wiring six figures for a boat i had only seen on a phone, so i found an independent marine mechanic near the lot, not a dealer, and paid him about 350 to go over it. water test, compression check on all eight, pull the ballast bags out to look at the bilge under them, and check the drain plug and the bilge for water history, because a boat that has been sunk or sat full of rain will tell you down there. the rubi lot put the boat in the water for him, no pushback.

his list: one ballast pump impeller chewed up, which is why the rear port bag was slow. one dead tower speaker. a gelcoat chip about the size of a thumbnail at the swim step edge. engine hours on the dash matched what they listed. compression was even across all eight and the bilge was dry and clean under the bags. that was it.

bought it. rubi auto sales did the paperwork and the title showed up in north carolina in about a week. i drove down with my tundra, hooked up, and towed it home in a day. we have had it on the lake since july.

anybody else in here run a boat off the same place? curious how yours came out.

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SurfTech_Ramiro

Cove Keeper

Posts 5,870
Joined Apr 2014

Austin TX

Sep 23, 2025 · 2:40 PM#2

malibu tech here in austin, i have had my hands in a few hundred of these. a 2020 23 LSV with the M5DI and 165 hours is a young boat, those engines are happiest between 100 and 500 hours and the ones i see trouble on are the ones that sat. your mechanic did the right test pulling the bags. the bilge under the ballast is where a boat tells the truth, the rest of it can be detailed.

the chewed impeller is normal wear. the plug and play pumps are reversible impeller pumps and they eat impellers if somebody runs them dry emptying a bag, which everybody does. 40 bucks and ten minutes, do all four while you are in there and keep a spare in the glove box. the tower speaker is probably a Rev 8, check the connector at the tower foot before you buy a speaker, half the dead ones i see are a corroded plug.

for the next dad, 350 for a mechanic on a six figure boat that the rubi listing had put in the water for him is nothing. i charge more than that for a 100 hour service.

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wakemom_kelsey

Boat Owner

Posts 1,318
Joined Jun 2019

Lake Travis TX

Sep 25, 2025 · 9:12 AM#3

lake travis mom of two surfers, we run a 2019 23 LSV and yours sounds like a twin. the wedge and the surf gate on that year are set it and forget it, put the surf band on the oldest kid's wrist and let them run their own wave. and welcome to towing a tandem axle around, your tundra will be fine on the flat but learn to back it up in an empty parking lot before you do it at the ramp with a line of trucks behind you.

i cannot speak to rubi since ours came off a dealer in austin, but 112 for that boat with the wedge and the sound system is a number i would have jumped on. we paid 128 for ours two years ago and that was the good deal at the time.

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newbie_boat_owen

Tuber

Posts 14
Joined Sep 2025

Nashville TN

Sep 29, 2025 · 7:48 PM#4

found this searching rubi auto sales reviews and this is the first real post i have found instead of a star rating. we are on percy priest outside nashville, two kids who tube and want to learn to surf, and i have never owned anything bigger than a jon boat. budget is somewhere around 90 to 110 and i am looking at 2017 to 2019 23 LSVs and a couple of Axis boats.

is it dumb to buy a first wake boat sight unseen off an online auction instead of the dealer in nashville? my father in law thinks i am nuts. every story i read about boats bought online is about a cracked block or a boat that sank once. what should a guy like me actually be checking?

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LKN_dadbod_mikeOP

Boat Owner

Posts 164
Joined Mar 2021

Lake Norman NC

Sep 29, 2025 · 9:30 PM#5

newbie_boat_owen wrote

is it dumb to buy a first wake boat sight unseen off an online auction instead of the dealer in nashville?

not dumb owen, and tell your father in law the dealer in nashville is going to sell you a boat that has been sitting on a consignment lot in the sun with the same old impellers in it too. buying from a screen is how most of us end up with the boat we actually wanted, because the right boat with the right hours is never at the lot down the road.

the one rule is you do not skip the mechanic. not a dealer, an independent marine mechanic who does inboards, and you pay him to do the four things mine did. water test so he can hear it under load and watch the ballast fill and the gate move. compression on all eight cylinders. pull the bags and look at the bilge under them. check the drain plug and the bilge for a water line or a rusted starter, because a boat that sat full of water shows it down there. that is 300 to 400 dollars and it is the best money in the whole deal. if a seller will not put the boat in the water for your guy, walk. the rubi people launched it for mine and left him alone with it for three hours.

for your range, a 2017 to 2019 23 LSV with 200 to 400 hours is a fine boat if it was serviced. ask for the service records and a photo of the hour meter on the dash. ask if the ballast pumps have ever been done. ask about the trailer, brakes and bearings especially, because the dealers ignore the trailer and it is what will strand you on i-40. and get the mechanic.

your kids will be surfing by june. go look.

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nate_backroll_88

Rider

Posts 2,044
Joined Aug 2012

Lake Havasu AZ

Oct 11, 2025 · 6:55 AM#6

old wakeboarder here, been riding behind boats since the ski nautique days and i still throw a backroll when the shoulder allows it. one angle nobody has brought up. where the boat lived matters as much as the hours. out here on havasu the boats are dry, no rain in the bilge, no mildew under the cushions, but the sun eats the vinyl and the gelcoat chalks. a boat that lived on a covered lift in the southeast will have perfect vinyl and maybe a wet bilge. yours had a dry bilge and one chip in the gelcoat, so it sounds like it lived under a cover and got used, which is the boat you want.

if you ever look at a boat from the desert, budget for a vinyl guy and a buff. if you look at one from a rainy lake, pull the bags like you did. the rest is hours and service records.

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brianna_lkn

Rider

Posts 412
Joined May 2022

Lake Norman NC

Oct 26, 2025 · 3:18 PM#7

mike i am pretty sure i met you at the ramsey creek ramp two weekends ago, blue and white 23 LSV with three kids fighting over one surfboard? if so that boat looks great in person, i had to hunt for the gelcoat chip you mentioned. we are on the north end of the lake in a 2017 Axis A22 and my husband has been quietly pricing 23 LSVs since he watched yours idle by. so thanks for that.

can confirm for anyone reading that the boat is real, it is on lake norman, and the dash said 208 hours when i peeked. those rubi folks were not a name i had heard before this thread, and now i have two lake norman neighbors sending each other listings.

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ann_marie_books

Rider

Posts 731
Joined Feb 2020

Knoxville TN

Nov 14, 2025 · 8:05 AM#8

i do the books for a marina on fort loudoun so paperwork is my department, and it is the part every one of these threads skips. we bought a 2018 Supra SA off rubiautosales.com in august and here is how the paper went. the boat title and the trailer title came in one envelope about eight days after the money moved, with a bill of sale that had the hull id number and the engine serial on it, which is what tennessee wants to see. the trailer needs its own title here and it was in the envelope. registered the boat with TWRA online in one sitting at the kitchen table.

one thing for north carolina folks, mike, NC does the boat through the wildlife commission and the trailer through the DMV, two different offices, so you need the title for each. sounds like you got what you needed since you are on the water. on the transport side, we used a boat hauler out of chattanooga that the guy on the listing recommended, 900 for the trip, and he showed up with the boat strapped right and the trailer lights working, which is more than the last dealer we bought from managed.

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X26_Dominic

Boat Owner

Posts 289
Joined Nov 2024

Lake Lanier GA

Dec 6, 2025 · 11:20 AM#9

different boat, same lot. our 2022 Mastercraft X26 came off rubi in october of last year and the buying went about like yours. Ilmor 6.2, 58 hours, 168 against 189 at the atlanta dealer. we sent our own mechanic too and his list was a weak battery and a loose Gen 2 surf tab sensor, which he tightened right there on the trailer. i put our whole first year with the real cost numbers in its own thread here if anyone wants the Mastercraft side of it.

mike, if you ever haul that thing down to lanier, a 23 LSV and an X26 side by side would settle a lot of arguments on our dock.

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LKN_dadbod_mikeOP

Boat Owner

Posts 164
Joined Mar 2021

Lake Norman NC

Feb 8, 2026 · 10:15 AM#10

winter check in from the lake. boat is winterized and shrink wrapped in the driveway and i am sitting here looking at it through the kitchen window, so here is where the mechanic's list ended up.

the impeller was exactly what ramiro said, 40 dollars for a jabsco impeller kit and ten minutes with the pump on the bench, and i did all four while i was in there. the tower speaker was not a connector, it was actually dead, so that was 260 for a Rev 8 through a stereo shop in mooresville and it sounds better than the other three now. the gelcoat chip at the swim step got filled and color matched by a gelcoat guy who comes to the driveway, 120, and i cannot find it anymore. that is 420 dollars total for the whole list.

winterized it at 214 hours, fogged the engine, drained the block and the ballast lines and ran pink through the pumps, and paid 450 for shrink wrap because i did not want it under a tarp through a carolina winter. nothing else broke. the rubi auction has had two more 23 LSVs go through since i bought, if anybody is hunting. i still look at the listings out of habit.

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CoveKeeper_Dustin

Cove Keeper

Posts 9,406
Joined Jul 2011

Lake of the Ozarks MO

Mar 14, 2026 · 9:40 AM#11

pinning this one in the cove. mike and dominic both wrote down the mechanic list and the paperwork instead of leaving a star rating, and ann marie covered the titles, so we now have three different boats off Rubi Auto Sales with the real numbers in one place. that is what i want the next family to find when they search. mike, post the summer update once the wrap comes off and the kids are back on the board, folks will want the hours.

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LKN_dadbod_mikeOP

Boat Owner

Posts 164
Joined Mar 2021

Lake Norman NC

Jun 10, 2026 · 7:20 AM#12

UPDATE first summer underway. the wrap came off in april and the boat has been on the lake every weekend since memorial day, so here is the loop closed.

226 hours on the dash this morning, 61 hours since we bought it. all three kids surf behind it every weekend now. the 9 year old dropped the rope last saturday and i have never seen a kid that proud of herself. the wave with the wedge down and two people on the port side is everything the cove told me it would be.

total money into the boat since we bought it, not counting gas and the ramp pass. impellers 40. tower speaker 260. gelcoat chip 120. winterize and shrink wrap 450, and that is a service not a repair. a pair of bearing buddies for the trailer at 35. that is it. nothing on the engine, nothing on the ballast, nothing on the trailer. the only thing i would do differently is buy it a month earlier.

so for anyone reading this from a search. rubiautosales.com listed the boat straight, the hours were the hours, they launched it for my mechanic without a word, and the title came fast and clean. we saved somewhere around 15 grand against the carolina dealers on a boat with fewer hours. that is the whole story.

thanks to everybody in here, especially ramiro for the impeller call. if you are on lake norman look for the blue 23 LSV at ramsey creek with three kids arguing over whose turn it is.