man, @csleaver that is really helpful.  I"m still open to other ideas if you think I should still be looking elsewhere.  I am concerned no water is coming out of the "pee hole" when running on the hose???  I will try to dig further into the potential air bleed issue, I really appreciate your guidance! 

Greetings, all,

So, I'm in Holland MI, and have surveyed and sea trialed the Sunscape mentioned in these pages previously. (https://www.coralgablesyachts.com/boats-for-sale/2002-malibu-sunscape-21-lsv-holland-michigan-8967585/)

It was pretty much as I expected, with a couple of surprises; the first was the virtual silence of the motor starting and running. That's the good news.  Along with that, based on the pictures in the ad, the interior was in fantastic shape, with only some incipient stitching failures at the various cushions ' welting as typical of older boats, but no actual failures yet.  It came with an unadvertised Skylon as well as both ski and wakeboard lines (but no toys) and the requisite brick full of horsecollar lifejackets.

That was the good news/surprising pleasures.

The not-so-good was limited to a couple of things, one potentially gnarly:

The next was the rectangular hole in the starboard rear of the trailer frame which, I discovered, was the previous location of the bracket for the guide arm.  That same arm (without the bracket attached to it) was in the port aft locker.  The bracket and arm which had been ripped off was lying on the stern cockpit deck... The frame didn't  appear distorted, and so I'm trustful that a skillful welder can reattach that, pretty up the weld, and match the black paint which is in generally fantastic condition,

and repair the damage to the fenders (one resulting in a small weld failure along with curled-under edges, and the other mere deformation and a smaller weld failure).

Finally,  however, and I'd love it if one of you had experienced and conquered the same issue, the Velvet Drive transmission dipstick had the screw-down part broken off and secured in the dipstick hole, leaving a small collar at the cap-end.  It may be that the screw-plug will yield to a gentle encouragement with a drift and a careful extraction, with a (hoped for) replacement easily sourced. It appears to be a dissimilar metals problem visually, with what I presume the solid screw-in having corroded to the aluminum.  It was last fluid-replaced (with no 'younger' service records indicating any later attention given to the transmission) in 2021.

On the way to the sea trial, it was noted that the left trailer tail light seemed inoperative (no blink or brake).  Maybe a dead bulb, maybe a wiring issue; the starboard worked just fine.  Small beans.

So, overall, I'm encouraged, but worried that resolution of the dipstick might generate trash into the works, which would definitely not be a good thing.

I sported my TheMallibuCrew shirt for the survey and sea trial, have acquired my 2014 Jeep Cherokee with factory ClassIII tow package, and will have moved to the lake by this time next month!

L8R

Skip, nervous but excited

Good luck on the new gig!

Great looking boat!   If I hadn't been in mine most of Sat I would've thought someone stole it and sold it to you.

on the cleaning of the bags, I've always wondered but never done anything about cleaning them out.   My boat is literally identical to yours and on occasion the bags have had a bit of mold around the connections on top but otherwise stayed pretty clean.   I have no delusions that they are totally clean inside, but have never seen it blow anything out and have never tried to flush them out.  I would be  curious to know if anyone cleans theirs routinely.  Mine stays on a lift under cover from April to September and in a garage the rest if the year and so far no real mold issues.  

Depth finder has always worked well, for which I am grateful since I go around some shallow areas going to and from my dock.  

No idea how accurate it is at deeper areas tho. 

On the stripped screw, not really surprised.   It seems pretty easy to do that with the laminated plastic "plywood" from my limited experience of adding an onboard  charger. I would either do the fix you described or find a nearby sport to reattach. 

One other comment based on where you got your boat - if originally ordered from Blue Creek, they tend to put a torque prop on them.  If M5 motor may want to keep that but with the M6 I just changed mine to a 2805 speed prop based on lots of reviews on here.   So far (1 weekend) I love it.  

good luck.  Hope you love it as much as I do.   

@COOP you have been a valuable member for many years.  Thanks for all the advice you have given.