Malibu 23 LSV Boats For Sale

The Malibu Wakesetter 23 LSV is a 23-foot V-drive towboat built around watersports, with LSV standing for Luxury Sport V-drive. It runs 23 feet long with a 102-inch beam and seats 15 to 16 people depending on model year, making the Malibu Boats 23 LSV a mid-sized hull that handles slalom skiing, wakeboarding and surfing from the same platform. Malibu has positioned the Wakesetter 23 LSV as its best-selling towboat for more than 20 years, and the 2024 redesign carried that hull forward with updated body lines borrowed from the 26 LSV, contoured sides and a curved rub rail. Buyers shopping the 2019 Malibu Boats 23 LSV through the 2025 Malibu Boats 23 LSV will find the same core dimensions with steadily evolving electronics and ballast capacity.

Power has varied across the run. The 2020 Malibu 23 LSV came with the Monsoon 6.2L producing 450 horsepower, while other examples carry the Indmar 6.2L rated at 410 horsepower; the 410-horsepower setup planed in 2.8 seconds, reached 30 mph in 8.2 seconds and topped out at 36.3 miles an hour. Earlier 2008 boats ran the 350-horsepower Monsoon. Fuel capacity is 65 gallons on the 2024 boat and 57 gallons on older examples, and the 6.2L engines run on mid-grade fuel, while the supercharged LT4 option makes roughly 650 horsepower and requires premium. Handling is nimble for a 23-footer, with a tight turning radius and a hull built to cut through chop and larger waves.

The wake and surf performance comes from a large hard-tank ballast system specific to the model. Total available ballast reaches over 4,400 pounds for 2024, listed at 4,435 pounds including Power Wedge 3, and one earlier setup combined two 250-pound rear hard tanks, a 500-pound center tank, a front tank near 250 to 300 pounds, and two 475-pound fat sacs in the lockers. Surf Gate shapes an ocean-like wave on either side, and Power Wedge 3 lifts and trims the wake; set to wedge 3 at 11 mph the boat produces a deep, powerful surf pocket. Surf Band lets the rider control Surf Gate, boat speed and tower speaker volume from the wrist, and fast-fill, fast-drain ballast with rider presets speeds the changeover between sports.

At the helm, the Malibu Command Center anchors the dash, with a 12-inch touchscreen on the redesigned boats showing speed, RPM and ballast, plus a second 7-inch touchscreen for lighting, music and functional controls; the 2020 boat used a single 7-inch command center. Options include RGB lighting that syncs to a playlist, wireless phone charging and a sport dash keypad with a rotary dial for tactile watersports adjustments. Older boats relied on analog gauges paired with Perfect Pass speed control and multi-function button panels rather than physical switches. Audio runs a Wet Sounds package with Rev 10 tower speakers, DSP-tuned tower cans and a protected subwoofer.

Deck features make the Malibu boat 23 LSV easy to live with. A flip-down soft-grip step lets passengers reach the dock without standing on the vinyl, a transom walkthrough keeps the rear bench clean, and a flip-down swim step eases reboarding and works for dogs. The redesigned transom seats lounge back to face the action, and the bow gained added gunwale height for a more secure feel with kids aboard. The standard G5 tower folds on gaseous shocks and holds up to four speakers, with the electric G10 Plus available to raise or lower with a dial; earlier boats used the G3.5 tower. Newer interiors add the Natalie bow seat for three adults up front and an optional max pivot seat that converts to a bed or rear-facing table.

One known item to weigh when buying a used Malibu 23 LSV is the aluminum exhaust manifolds, which can develop stress fractures in the cooling channels past roughly 1,000 hours because manifold cooling water is routed after the thermostat, and a cracked manifold can let water into a cylinder. Otherwise the boats hold up well, and examples from this generation are widely available for sale across the 2019, 2020, 2022, 2023 and 2025 model years, each offering the same proven Wakesetter hull with versatility across surf, wake and ski.