On 4/9/2021 at 6:41 AM, BigCreek said:

Best suggestion I can give is to get your kids involved with the crappy end of owning a boat too. First and foremost, the responsibility of safety and the rules of the water. Then, a close second, of not screwing up Dad's boat. Then how to assist with operation of the boat in the marina/ramp area and on the water, then how to maintain the boat after every trip. How to get their visitor buddies in line. How and where to put the fenders and ropes when parking at a dock. A good 1st mate (or 2nd, 3rd, or 4th) is the absolute best thing any boat captain can ask for, especially one that is at the helm of a v-drive for the first time. 

With proper oversight of course - as soon as possible, get your 16 year old capable of backing the boat down the ramp, and parking the truck & empty trailer. Get your 12 year old capable of being his second set of eyes. Eventually get them at the helm of the boat with you in his ear teaching what he should be doing & thinking while underway. Believe it or not, one day, you will get tired of being the driver every minute.

One day, not so far in the future, when you are chillin in the bow, cruising with your lady and a couple of cold drinks, with your fully capable kid at the wheel, throw a cheers up for me!

Heck yeah bro some of the best advice I have ever read!  My 12 year old his able to help out and drive and even tow some surfers. He’s very capable! 
 

Great post!

Hey All,

First off thank you guys so much for all the help so far.  The old 2000 lsv had a bent prop strut for who knows how long.  the engine looks like it was aligned to the tweaked strut at some point, its sitting all the way to the drivers side on the trunnions.  should I center the motor on the trunnions to start the new alignment process?  

Again thanks for the help!   

On the boat purchase, we bought a new 22 LSV last year and ended up with just over 100 hours on it.  We really did not have a boat purchase on the radar, my wife's niece sent some pictures to the family group txt one Friday night, by Monday AM I was shopping, 2 weeks later we bought one.  We had an old faithful 18' 6" Key West so the Malibu was a big change.

Not knowing anything about surf boats the first one was not optioned the way we would have with experience so traded in on a 2021 23 MXZ ordered to suit us.  It is at the dealer being prepped for pickup in the next couple of weeks.  COVID boat prices helped with the trade-in value so not too unhappy with that.  The risk of first boat buying the way you are is that you might find you wish you had some option you might have purchased after 30 hours on the water.

I you want to burn some hours you could search on the forums for any options you are not getting and see what others have said about them.  Or you could ask in this thread and see what pops up.  Lots of people think for example that the fold down swim step is silly except for the very young and old.  Pretty much every lady in our crew sit there from time to time and chat rather than jumping in to relieve themselves.  Taking to others and reading in the forum that seems to be pretty universal.  Never thought of that when we were shopping the first time.  We ordered the power seat because I like to look over the wind screen to drive and can't with the STD seat without sitting on something (I am 5' 10"), but with the power seat I can sit flat in the seat and see over.  Things like that.

On the parenting sub topic I agree wholeheartedly about getting them involved with start to finish.  Anything legal and moral a kid learns to do on their own before they leave the house is a plus for them.  The time you spend with them helping with that journey at least for me generated precious memories.  My son asked me onetime why we let him do so many dangerous things his friends did not get to do.  It was an unexpected question but in the process of teaching him to accept responsibility and be responsible in his actions we had to let him get from under the skirt.  We try to be sure our kids are always well prepared, we are not reckless, but once prepared we let them try and do.

Back on topic, we has a blast with the boat, have no doubt you will enjoy yours.

12 hours ago, ahopkinsVTX said:

That is not what I said. Big dealers don't force other dealers out of build spots, they have the ability to swap their own build slots. The bigger dealers just have more build slots, I am pretty sure each location gets the same ratio for each model and then the dealers choose how they fill those. Malibu doesn't bump a smaller dealer because Tommy's or Minnesota Inboards wants a boat built.

And it works exactly the same in the auto industry though if you are ordering a vehicle. If you order though a giant dealership network then they are going to have more allocated build slots than a small mom and pop dealership. Just because it isn't geographically locked in, doesn't mean that the allocated build slots are even to every Ford, GM, FCA (or whatever they are now) dealer out there.

Sorry, I misunderstood you.  This is very good to hear, I certainly had the wrong perception.  Thanks for sharing this information.  

I will just have to keep "patiently waiting".........

1 hour ago, braindamage said:

Yep. Outside parked next to my garage under the blue tarp of sadness...same as the last 8 winters. Not sure why this particular squirrel was so insistent.

I'm thinkin' the supply/production shortage has reached the squirrels. Only a matter of time really,

Steve B.