the plate looked fine and so did the contacts. There is a little spring that the screw goes through....so I guess it allows the plate to bend in the center and the edges would come up to break contact? I suppose if the calibration is off and the motor just keeps running, I could see how it could get hot. This certainly could have happened at some point and caused some melting...and ultimately a failure at that point in the picture. Although that point is a metal tab and a metal pin...that somehow got loose a bit so not making good contact.

11 minutes ago, MustGoFast said:

Which one?  Wonder if there's a deal to be had

MN Inboard

On 4/12/2024 at 4:04 PM, oldjeep said:

I have to say that the local Malibu dealership - the one that used to be #1 before Tommys started buying everything in sight, has a large inventory of 2024 24-26ft boats that according to pictures are sitting on their lots alrady.

Which one?  Wonder if there's a deal to be had

What does the contact side of the plate look like? And a person could maybe use a small nail file on the contacts on the brush plate to make sure they are not pitted at all. I can't tell from the pics but can the thermo cutout plate be turned over?

1 hour ago, CTSunsetter said:

Speaking of allegations? Do you have proof that Tommy's "pressed the button to make the boats show up"? Do you have proof that Malibu wasn't culpable? Have you read the filings?

Why only Tommy's? Maybe they were venerable. Maybe other dealers were smarter than Tommy's. Maybe Malibu couldn't pressure a dealer such as MarineMax because they are a public company. 

There is a dealer portal that all boat orders go through. There will be electronic signatures, authentications, IP addresses, etc stored for each order. You can't just phone in a boat order. And you have to sign for the boat upon delivery before the transport company will leave it. Every stock boat you see at a dealership is still a custom order from that dealership, not a bunch or automated builds that a factory pumps out.

Could they have been pressured to keep buying? Sure. Every dealer always is. Could they have been given additional incentives if they bought more? Sure! That's how the dealer agreement works. Could they have been forced to take more against their will? Hmmmm...Seems like there are lots of checks and balances in place to prevent that. Could Malibu threaten to cancel their contract if they didn't take boats in their contract? Sure. That contract is an at-will contract by both parties and that's how it works. You agree to a certain level. You don't like what they are pushing, you can walk away. 

But not paying off the floor plan for a boat that you have been paid for is a big no-no.  This puts the customer, the floor plan company and the manufacturer at risk. This one data point alone says a lot about a dealership in my mind. 

1 hour ago, CTSunsetter said:

If you think Malibu is going to be the same company on the other side of this, invest all your money in MBUU!

I'm sure this will have an impact, but the corporation has diversified over the years and Malibu specifically has moved lots of things in-house like towers, trailers, motors, etc. I don't see this completely wrecking the brand.