The Boat must be glowing yellow

Ok so my blog is pretty long and if you didn't see pictures you'd think their is no way well yesterday I went to take more pictures for my list of problems and found new ones while photographing old one .  I go to try to capture a picture of the gauges to show off the many false readings from the Depth gauge that either thinks it's .05 ft or 240 ft crazy or the ballast indicators showing fully tanks as empty and the wedge gauge that is either all up half way or all down. So I go to shoot it and the laughingly I have to say this chrome started peeling off the dash.

In the previous post I went to take the tower down and the chrome on the rope knob was peeling . I have to laugh because then I went to take pictures of the bilge holding water and found the carpet in the rear compartments discolored and event found mold on the (ejector) center seat cushion covered in either mold or discoloration.So this should do till I have time to go in detail on the gauges and updates on the cover.

Let's Talk about the most poorly thought out Tower Design EVER!!!

While shopping for my new Malibu I was informed by the local Master Craft dealer of  a problem concerning Malibu's Illusion x tower landing on the dash and over the drivers seat. When I confronted my dealer about this in Pre-sales I was told in front of witnesses that the tower can be adjusted to land above the dash and not on while still allowing the boat to be driven. This was a very large concern since I have a preexisting boathouse and can't add height so the tower has to go down easily and be able to be done by one person. Well they say a picture is worth a thousand words check this out first no way a single person can do this, like on a conventional tube construction tower. Since the pins won't even come out unless you can put upward pressure on the tower at the same time. Picture one shows me putting upward pressure on the tower, but my arms are to short to reach the nearly 5 ft to the pin and have any leverage to pull it out. (now Laughingly Malibu and Metacraft tried to pass of a pole with a rubber part on it to hold the tower than to support it when it's down. First the rubber thing fell off the pole and I haven't seen it since. Number two how am i going to put the cover on the boat with a pole sticking up and if I do manage to put the cover on and then insert pole from the bottom WOW that's like putting the cover on in a windstorm Third and this was the best they wanted to sell me this supposed fix , are you kidding)

The next few frames show different angles with the tower down sitting on one corner of the dash. Now who goes through the trouble of putting together a beautiful dash like this then wants to put a heavy tower on it????

On a final note putting the tower up has caused me a minor nreve injury using my sholder to hold it up and try to reinsert the pins.  

Suggestions : 1) maybe have tower go backwards on to the cover and maybe move the pylon popup to the rear with a seat for the tower to land and set on. 2)maybe a like safty clasp to catch and hold tower like the old convertable top casp catch then lever down tight. 

Oh and if you look at a 2009 VTX I belive it now has the illusion xs tower that might fix this but make your dealer prove it....

Ok so we are working on video, but for now let's update

Now on my list of issues currently is some strange discoloration on my 3d diamond upholstery as shown here. The discoloration only affects the 3d pattern and no signs of mold show up on any of the smoother materials. Now I have contacted G&T Marine directly since my dealer claimed to have cleaned it but didn't supply me with or offer to sell me said solution. Also can't find spot he claimed to have cleaned. it is all over the boat and is disgusting.

G&T VINAL TOLD ME NEVER USE MAGIC ERASER ON YOUR MALIBU INTERIOR IT WILL BREAK DOWN THE VYINAL AND VOID THE WARRANTY.

Change of format coming

While pictures are good video is much better. So I have the missing Malibu videos in the works. I will be posting them here,youtube,and as a podcast. With topics like Cover on,Cover off ?(Going over their weaknesses and best practices for removing, folding and storing or the swimming pool above the rear seat. Thier will be a special segment on blind engineering or stupid pole placement.) New mold, no more like a stain?(See what mold resistant vinyl looks like with mold that won't come off) Tower ups and downs ?( This one will be a special interest section showing you their is no way to store a Malibu on the water in  a lift with tower down and drive it in. (Alternate title my dealer deceived me) Another option would be is their a height requirement to operate the  tower showing poor engineering again) Gauges who needs them stinking gauges?(Presently Malibu gauges should not be considered accurate not ballast,wedge,depth,or fuel and hour meter all of which are malfunctioning after 4 visits 4 repairs. Now on to some investigate reporting finding out why their is water in my bilge with dripless packing.  Another hot topic on my investigative reporting is the popcorn popping noise from the engine that happens after a few runs and the neat noises in the tranny and the chatting in the steering wheel after 4 visits 4 attempts to repair.  Special Note: I will also do segments showing off other quality items like a sliced and diced wiring harness with but connectors which over time will cause electrical problems and just plain stupid stuff like storage trays with no drain holes and no easy clean out for the cooler compartment. So I want to thank the 5,000+ visitors this info is going to get a lot more detailed and more helpful to owners and shoppers. don't let dealers ever tell you you are the only one to ever do that.......

Don't rember the pool option on my cover

So today we will discuss the cover of my dreams.... not

I ordered the factory cover in blue for my boat with the extra advertising for malibu at no extra charge. So I first get the cover and the dealer treats me like a 5 yr and tells me start from the back and fold sides in and roll to the front then to put it back on do the opposite. that 's great except if it's on a trailer ( like it was most of the summer at the dealer) and you put it on at the nose and the wind gets it half way back well start all over and over and over. Once you do finally get it started  the guys who designed where the poles go couldn't have put a pole holder or shaft insert like the table . Man I think ever 3rd time i put that cover on I get to go dive in under the windshield to push poles into place. Then their is a secret about the engine cover pad section you are suppose to pull the center pylon up to keep water from

 siting on the cover. While I'm here if malibu reads this why didn't you just make an adjustable pole that fit in the table post hole? duh?

Anyway if it can happen it did to this boat check the picture of the

 two pools in the bench seat area sweet if you  want mold build up. Check the wear on the cover less than 5 months old in a covered boathouse the rest at the malibu dealer for repairs. Also not to sure of the water repellence of the cover either water didn't exactly bead up.  Now to my favorite part if I put the tower down to store it and want to keep it covered how do i do it with that pole thngermajig( just call it the rig or duct tape) or let it sit on my dash and dimple it? Hummmm?

Let's not forget the Bimini ? where can we stow that?

So It's been a while ,not that it's all good just more of the same

See during July I traveled and we had a few big storms,kinda limited boat use. 

You guessed it we start to enjoy it and then things started to fall apart again.

Later I will attach the video and pictures. Below are some of the problems an

d repairs.

1) The fantastic tower would clank back and forth like a 10 year old boat with the

 gaskets totally destroyed and squishing out.  A couple of side notes discovered a)if you are shorter than 5'5 you can't put the tower up by yourself,see you can't lift it and reach down to put the pins in. b) The fix for the tower landing on the steering wheel is a pole with a plastic hook on it(yea kinda seems like duck tape ) c) Now when the storms were coming this problem showed up ,you can't put the cover on and lower the tower with out it resting on your dash(woops kind of a huge problem since I'm sure Malibu is going to say the dashboard damage caused by the tower is your fault)

2)Next issue is also great the steering wheel would clank like an old bus , later it was sorta fixed with a rudder dampener. I still have it at low speed power randomly

3) Now we move on the the state of the art mux switches I have mentioned earlier. Well beside it's short comings no open aux  switches apparently they fail completely and leave you with no controls for the wedge.( they did and  Malibu replaced it)

4)Which now leads to the next group of problems the gauges well I was told the Wedge gauge will not accurately represent the location of the wedge. Hey even bought the power wedge which is under the dive platform I guess I better form a psycic connection to so i can guess where it is.  Now apparently the ballast gauges should be considered best guess as well. See this is important since Malibu brags in thier brochure about the ability to program profiles . The only part of the profile I can program is the speed since, the gauges are guesses then how would the computer know where to stop?

5)Oh and this one was great the depth gauge died and the dealer actually try to tell me it had to be calibrated.(lol) it would read 2ft or 400ft in the same location I will attach video later. They supposedly repaired it now my lake is .5 feet everywhere.

6)When I mentioned the bilge had water in it the dealer once again offered me the opportunity to repair my boat by clearing the float and I did and that wasn't it. Yes you can guess they claimed to fix it and now it works randomly

These are just some of the July issues. I actually made arrangements to bring it in and made sure they could schedule time to complete all of the items on my list I included a detailed list with pictures and even a DVD with the bigger issues. The above only a broad stroke I belive they tried and I feel the clanking in the tower is gone and the chatter in the wheel is basicly gone. In closing if the manufacture brags about it in their brochure then I belive it should work.

Now for the Saga of my overheating VTX

When purchasing my VTX I opted for the the Monsoon from Indmar since, my previous boat had the Indmar 350 carburated engine in an I-drive Moomba Outback. Now I had the Moomba for 10 years with a seasonal replace battery,starter,shaft packing and pump the boat always started and had very few issues till year 9 when I had the carb rebuilt. 

So now to my less that 25hr old Malibu that overheated all the time and had a surge in startup

 to add to my issues. On my 6th launch( probably the boat's 10th) from the worst trailer ever built into my lake which is admittedly low. While throttling it off the trailer as described by a manufactures customer service rep. the boat overheat blinking screen of doom came on saying OVERHEAT. So I shut it off as I float off in to the middle of my lake waiting for the boat to cool down . Now to review the boat has overheated 3 other times and I mentioned it in the first service ticket to the dealer(where they claimed to have changed a sensor???) Now I go to the dealer and call Malibu Customer service where I was blessed to have the good fortune to talk with Stephanie J who

 claimed in a second phone conversation with me where she says it was some how my fault and sides with my dealer who is telling me I must have destroyed my new boats pump. ( the Dealer says the same ) so I fold even knowing that I couldn't have, I play along. I get stuck buying it then pulling it and checking it on a new boat . This is like buying an new car and the dealer telling you to fix the water

 pump(just not right) Well the the pictures tell the story(not an easy picture to get) looked like when they built the boat.((A must have is a inline sediment filter thankfully I am smarter than the dealer and had one installed it gets the grass algie before it gets in the engine and is in a clear cylinder so it can be visually checked quickly.)) We checked it as well a little sand nothing more.

Now, After a not so funny e-mail from my dealer I call them where the dealer sends one of his best techs to do a dock side repair. His tech arrives and looks into the over heating and a new problem a random popping(sounds like popcorn) when the boat gets warm not hot. First as I had told the dealer the 90degree elbo hardware on the exhaust was loose and could be the problem(note made of plastic and I believe will be an ongoing issue) and it was part of it. Then we plug in his pc and motor around for a while to recreate the popping noise and we do as well as check for overheating. The Tech spent 3 hrs on this and felt it was fixed and recorded the data from my boat popping to send to Indmar support.(I think they may want to switch to mac since the data collected on their pc was corrupted no help from Indmar)

Then my nephews arrive and of course they want to go on the boat not more than 10 minutes on the water it starts with the Doom notifications of overheating and add a new one which I 

expected from the beginning ECU(electronic control unit)failure. Oddly the boat would be hard and at one point had to be tricked into restarting to allow me to get back to the dock. On one occasion in the same session the boat started ran and would have the screen flashing the above message.

Well as with everything on this boat it's a fight, I take my nephew and his friend with me to the dealer and discuss the issue and he then tells me well we as a industry have had many issues and a high failure rate with these MMDC

 modules and it controls everything on the engine and gauges. 

So he sends a tech out late on a saturday to his credit and they replace the module and feel they have it right. Except now apparently a missing gasket on the afore mentioned filter may cause more problems. I found the missing gasket and wasn't sure where it came from but later installed it as instructed by the dealer.

After 4 weeks of this I'm happy to report  the boat seems to run great still a little uneasy about the throttle surge at start up. Once again the dealer says that's normal but the last time I started any of my cars none of them surge up and down. 

For the Repair ........ Not even close

Now below in red is the first E-mail sent directly to my service advisor at my dealer with problems and concerns before my first service along with a short group of questions that were latter sent to Malibu Corperate on the Mux Switches.  I also outlined issues with the Mux controllers that had no options or aux switch openings. Worth noting once again calling around finally led to the document with instructions on how to change around controls. Why Malibu doesn't put that film crew to work on a DVD showing how to adjust and use everything on this boat is a mystery to me instead a fluff dvd of pros wakeboarding.

Got a two page doc from the my Malibu dealer's lead tech showing how to modify the mux controls( not in my owners manual I checked) . Ok here are a few short comings
1) No instructions on how to add switch to blank spot
2)Switch options disappeared all together prior to editing I saw a front tower and rear tower switch only one shows up now.
3) No open aux switch options? for adding other powered accessories(lights on rear swim platform/other mood lighting(since tier is no place for other regular switches) ( I could use the switch called vent,I guess? still no documentation on your site or any where else)
4)No instructions on how to exit programing mode?
5) Why not add horn button to the steering wheel and free up 3 possible switch modes since the factory lighting options end up on 2 pages ( I gota believe every one would know where it is).

Hit list of problems not pictured
1)Dummy screws in table post
2)Dummy screw in rear compartment for 90 deegre brace
3)Loose nuts in right side gunnel area
4)tower super loose rattled like a 20 year old tower towing 300lbers instead of the hot little Arwyn weighing in at 103lb.
5)Same no tower stop needs adjustment other wise it sits on dash
6)Believe it or not one of the 2 screws holding the Led up in the storage area below glovebox is loose( I'm sure it's not alone)
7)Tons of butt connectors everywhere felt like they clipped down a harness from a vlx to fit
8)All of the accent lights joined with but connectors
9)When I removed malibu lit logo on right side,plastic was cracked before I got to it(very thin not very impressive). (can any one point me to your Led supplier so I can order blue leds to replace the red ones and since they are butt connected I know I will do a better job)
10) I expect Malibu to run and connect tower power leads into the medalion unit so all I need to do is install my bar and put fuses in.(I think it is inexcusable that the wires are not pulled and loomed to their desired locations like speaker wires from tower to stereo area and to medalion control box.
11) I also believe it is Malibu's responsibility to supply a solid place to mount my aftermarket head unit wether it be Sony or Alpine or Pioneer if i choose not to  get the JBL black box as well as a universal connector to control all major head units with the mux switches( since the only place to add third party controller is the glass). If you do get JBL Black box you need add a Mute on the remote  Mux controller so when you come around to verify rider is ok or offer instruction it's a simple tap away.
Fix the air tube hanging down in the front right gunnel in plain sight(it's just sad)

I have a few other issues
1) While the windshield is super cool I have a huge collection of dead love bugs in a place I can't get to but can see.
2)Trailer cover sucks ( if you try to put it on from inside the boat , many of my attempt have left me crawling under the cover going to the front and having to get the nose of the cover back on  and pulling it over the windshield is just plain hard. Once you get to the tower it's done as long as the wind doesn't blow) 

So that was the list and other than a service and a few token newer style heat shrink butt connectors.

What makes it worse is I went to pick it up and the service manager went into the boat and the few loose screws I actually mentioned weren't even touched as demonstrated in front of him. Then the tower issue he claimed was all-ready adjusted as best as it can be.  As my pictures will support the tower was over tightened and the gasket is worthless now, as well as being able to lifting it up and down I will video tape and demonstrate in latter blog entries. The dealer fix for the Loose tower rattle was a piece of foam and then they didn't even bother to put it in. the Dive platform lights were rewired to a switch called heater on the right bank. The tower lights were wired at an expense to me of a 150.00. Where Malibu clearly has slipped and is in denial since most of these features have existed for years on previous VLX's that had the mux controller.

Quality for which Malibu Based their reputation On

Now I have a refund check for my JBL in hand and want to install a radio/IPod controlled unit in my Malibu. Of course Malibu made no provisions for this so you guessed it either I kiss my glovebox good by or get creative with my storage locker where the my amps are.  

Now I proceed to remove the the Jbl and start working on my strategy for my stereo. Here where I get my first up close example of quality, Ready When I pull the panel in the storage area away their is the radio connected by what appears to be a bunch of butt crimp connectors(understand that this is still a unsealed electrical connection when moisture from the air gets in it can corrode and destroy the connection most marine installers will solder and heat shrink their connection) and then on top of that a huge ball of wire from the Usb/Mini audio connector at least 20ft of wire(see Pic) (someone didn't order the right length) Not excited so far then go to the drivers side to run a sub wire when I see even more butt connectors and even better a very large 4 ga positive feed wire sitting on the ground strip spade connectors ready to wear it away and eventually shorting out the entire electrical system(see Pic).

Along with this I find numerous loose screws all over the boat keep in mind the boat was only 5-7hrs old and I was already enjoying my new boat being on my back having to put a stereo in since the factory one was a dud and no fix on the horizon. This is only the start.....

According to Stephanie J at Malibu their is no misrepresentation

Let's start with the dock lights put on my boat,When I ordered my boat at the dealer I had discussed dock lights and was shown two boats on the lot with billet aluminum or stainless with a inset lamp. then at the factory where these incredibly cheap looking tinplated stick on huge fish eye shaped led lights . When I returned home to my dealer and pointed out that both the brochure and the web site still showed the old ones at his expense had swapped them out. The online brochure was recently updated and the site as well but the lights I wanted are sill on page 40 see pic of current web brochure. (oppps) Malibu boats online brochure

Now on to the next one the JBL BB3(Black Box 3 Radio unit) Shown on page 6 and in the back under options connected to a Apple Ipod nano one generations back from current. Listed as a IPOD CONTROLLER none of the ones at my disposal or the dealers nor any one on the malibu forums and other sites discuss this fraud it may work with one Ipod made back 7 years ago that no one has access to but it didn't work with the one pictured in their literature ( see online brochure listed above or pic)which is the one I have. After making calls to the manufacture and customer service and my dealer who was completely unaware of and had no ideal how it was suppose work  after a month of my time and effort gave me a refund and left me to figure out where to put a radio and a controller. Which will leave you with a very cool controller on the right side of the steering wheel that runs only the wedge and leaves you looking thru two screens of radio controls that do nothing. (this feature was so bad my dealer has decided to not offer the factory JBL units at all) If you call any of the dealers they will break down and eventually inform you of this major defect. Which lead to the next Item mentioned in their January blog (has been removed because of me )where the integration of the JBL BB3 would allow you to select a playlist to play under rider profile. Once again a huge feature I was looking forward to was the user profiles well guess what the Wedge is not controlled under the user profiles as described you have to manually put it up and down and the controls are very sketchy as to get it exactly where you want it twice. The power wedge was  a very expensive option and I thought would be great the dealer once agin has no way of fixing the switch and Malibu didn't think to have the wedge controller drop it at increments that a single button control could act on or their integrated Medallion controller could be set with like the balast tanks that fill in increments.

Now on to the tower where I was told putting it up and down would be a breeze since the guy who built my boat house built it low since  he had no tower when it was constructed.  So once again the dealer shows me the tower tells me it is a easy lift and lower and it is counter sprung for this purpose. Ok so I go to lower mine for the first time and the thing lies on my very cool stitched Marine vinyl covered dash had the tower been mounted inches forward or back it would have been clear of the dash. Now I was told by my dealer and his salespeople and found and article that the tower could be adjusted so it would stop short of the the dash. now I'm told that can't happen by my dealer and Malibu's own Stephanie J in customer service says their is an optional spring kit which is not on their site and I guess at birth I was suppose to know this. (Ok it took me two years of shopping to buy this boat and the dealer knew it had to be lowered to get in and out of my boat house why was this option never brought up and now they want to sell it to me) So the dealer is oblivious to this and gives me a support pole (made by the manufacture of the tower  (cost 75.00 he gave it to me to try yo solve the problem)that is going to make this all better. Not... 

Now putting this tower  up "wow" If I was only 3 inches taller since at 5'5 I can't get the tower up and that wonderful spring mechanism won't keep the tower up enough to allow me to put the pins in and I certainly can't reach the pin insert locations and hold the tower up. Now that super fix all pole is about 2 inches short of holding the tower up so to finish putting it up I get to use my best quarterback moves and shoulder it up enough to put the pins in . Please go to the following link and read his review and ask yourself why are the two so far apart apparently his dealer knew about the secret spring and knew how to adjust it. WakeWorld Malibu Illusion X Tower review

All of this and their are other items I feel are inaccurately represented. Some of the features may work but, no solid instruction from the dealer or manufacture exists. Like their unified user profile presets very cryptic instructions and even funnier than that is that the dash lights up but the buttons that control the ballasit and unified controls in the center of the dash are not. You might think this is the first year they built this boat with that center dash control module NOT and ask yourself why no instructional videos showing theses great features and their operation.  Their are some very sophisticated controls here buried deep in menus and not as clearly marked as they need to be.  As an example the cruise control,well I've been driving ski boats for years and I take a gradual pull approach and over throttle by maybe 10-15%. So I never had a problem with this but when my room mate and my best friend tried to pull me they over throttled past the cruise control and until it was mentioned on a service ticket where I was informed about the fact even with it set you should try yo only throttle to the speed you want to go with in 10% a training video would have been a help their. While I understand using pro riders to market the boats why not have them show how to use the boats.

Now on to the JBL, just try to find that list of approved Ipods on their site or more detailed information on their $1,200.00 JBL radio that sells for $325.00 minus speakers on ebay. Not even the manufacture of the JBL BB3 Prospec Click on link to see manufactures site offer a list and once you get the boat denial time starts. Even talking with Sephanie J her aproach with me was that these units worked on sombody she knew in the office and I must be crazy (yea that's why it has 6 threads on the Malibu crew forum and even a couple of new articles on line on it as always just me)

So these are a quick over view of only some of the things that were misrepresented to me by the dealer and the manufacture. This in no way represents the hours of research calls and personal expense went into these problems which Malibu hesitates and even trys to deny and to date has not resolved

So the Problems begin

So I put the boat in my lake and it is really windy and actually looked like it might rain so I decide to pull it out and put it on my new Boatmate tailer. After many years of owning a Moomba and loading it figured it would be a snap. While the boat was aligned with the trailer a manufacture engineering screw up allows the prop to come in and hit the trailers prop guard and destroys my first prop with less than 3 hrs on the boat. Boatmate claims it is my fault and removes them self from blame. Now of course I get stuck with the cost of the prop and and damage on the trailer. For any future Malibu boat buyers don't let your dealer talk you into these or Extreme trailers unless you live on a wind free lake. Since the boat can move left to right one foot it can hit this poorly designed trailer and cost you an instant $600.00. While Malibu doesn't make a trailer for their boat they do show other manufactures that do and once you have damaged your boat they suddenly remember other manufacture that make better fitting trailers. The dealers will say no body gets their boats on crooked they lie... While at my dealer a ranked pro rider got their boat on crooked and Acme props who manufactures the OEM props acknowledged it happens. So Be very careful of your dealer they are in the business to sell stuff that may or may not be correct for your boat and once you ding it then suddenly everything is your fault. Notice though in the picture of the nautique trailer how the prop guard is way forward of the prop and the back of the trailer protector goes from rail to rail clearly designed for incident free launching and loading.  Now since Boatmate wants to stay neutral they offer no instructions with their trailer for launching and loading the trailer. But a conversation with them they suggest dropping it in as pictured wetting the bunks and hitting the throtel and punching the boat on the trailer as hard as you can ramming it into the eye loop on the front of the boat is the preferred method. While washing out the ramp behind it using all that force is ok.  But then this method should not be so strong as to wash up debrie around it so that it may get sucked into the boat and cause cooling issues which again is your fault.  Oh and if any of you have had this situation pleas contact me. The dealers and malibu belive I am the only guy who has ever done this.

The boat arrival is kept a mystery till the day before

Picture of the boat at the dealer

Pictures at the Plant of my Malibu VTX in the rigging stage

I was so Excited I actually went to the Factory

Should have been worried from the start when they couldn't even get my name right on the sign. Oh I mean on the sign, I mean put it on the sign(

they couldn't spell it Frierman but HUSTAK Yea