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Start with the firmest. Give them a squeeze test. Work your way down to softer and ultimately the wax or whatever coating you’re putting on at the end. I will say, that after 10 years of no polishing, you will possibly need a rotary buffet with a wool pad.

Start with yellow with a heavy cutting compound to remove oxidation and work down to a finishing pad from there. Gel coat takes quite a bit more than what paint does, a wool pad is often my choice for starting out.

Shipped!

If I could swap a manual wedge on, I would. Was not aware that was even an option anymore. Why swap platform? Can't live with door?

My 24 T220 came with an incorrect manual wedge (vs power) and different surf exhaust and swim platform due to the mix up. It sounds like Malibu is only covering the power wedge and exhaust swap and my dealer says they have to eat the swim platform cost which is absolutely nuts to me they would have to eat that since it was entirely Malibus fault.

After 10 years of ownership, my hull cleaning got a little lax. Starting to see some oxidation on the black, so I ordered a chicom DA buffer and some 3m light cutting stuff. The buffer comes with a bunch of colored pads. How does one decide which to use? Up until now it has been all arm power and collinite cleaning paste.

For a non mechanic like me, pulling the engine is one of those things you get to talk about for years. (This photo was in 2018)

Bought a 2004 Malibu Response LXI and and in the process of restoring it. It did not come with a swim deck or brackets for it. Looking for a few things... - What bracket I need to order - If anyone has one that would fit, I would consider buying one - Looking for dimensions of the deck itself and I could possibly build one - Interested in seeing pictures

This is why I love this site...you guys are awesome! Thanks for all the feedback it's much appreciated!

Good time to clean the bilge good too!

And the fuel and exhaust hoses, too!

Good intuition, Woodski. I just calculated the deflection of a 1.25" stainless shaft held 9" away from a 3,000 pound load. The deflection would be about 0.22 inches or so, which is no doubt way under the amount needed to induce plastic deformation (i.e. create a permanent bend in the rod after the load is released).

Typically, in a bank owned sale like this, the dealer (or some other entity if repossession was to occur) would retain possession of the items (under close scrutiny of the bank) and someone would be available to show the product to potential buyers with the understanding the bank will reimburse the selling agent if that isn’t a bank employee. The financial discussions will happen with the bank instead of through F&I at the dealership. Realistically, you would very likely be able to take financing out on your own for this boat too. I doubt you could do a trade in on it because the bank isn’t in the boat business and they are offloading assets, they don’t want another. The dealer is definitely not going to take it on trade, they would have a harder time selling it. Jeff, you bring some interesting points up. I had no idea dealers had to get preapproval for warranty work. I’d have hoped they would be empowered to make that call for most things and just document it in the warranty claim. Seems less efficient to have to adjudicate a blame before it’s completed. Full disclosure, I work for an automotive OEM as a service engineer and deal with warranty spend as part of my daily activities.

I am working on dewinterizing and getting my 2011 23LSV back out on the water for summer. In doing so, I noticed some sloshing around when I jumped into the port side locker where the rear ballast tank is. Tank is empty but the entire section around where the hard tank is full of water. I was able to take part of the flooring out and access where the rear ballast tank pump is located and water is filled to the top. The entire section is filled with water. The starboard side is dry and the hull is completely dry as well. My assumption is that there are drain holes on each side of the stringers and my portside is clogged up. Does anyone have any idea where these drain holes would be located? I have not had any success in figuring out where these are.

This may feel like an unpopular opinion, but I've been on both sides of this and have seen 3 dealerships up close and personal, including my own at one point. The dealers don't always get reimbursed for work that is viewed as warranty in the customer's eyes. Dealers will often have to "eat" a lot of the cost and labor associated with warranty work, which is why they have to make money on the sale of the boat. And in order to quickly get you back out on the water, will often do it by purchasing parts in advance to swap out knowing they might get questioned and fought on the claim. Imagine the flip side if the dealer decided to sit on your boat for a week in July just trying to get an authorization approved before they would even touch your boat for fear of not getting reimbursed. If you went out somewhere to find a killer deal, then arrive at a different dealer expecting them to do all the warranty work for you, some of which would likely cost them money to do, you'd view it a little differently. While there are some dealers that have shown themselves to do some shady things, there are also plenty out there just trying to make an honest living in an industry that constantly paints them as criminals. Everyone want their dealer to have 30 techs just sitting at the shop waiting to turn your new boat in and out for service the same day in the middle of the summer, but also wants to be able to buy it at 3% over invoice. That just isn't a sustainable business model for a seasonal, luxury item that requires stock in the showroom. For cars, you are correct. They make most of their money on service and warranty claims are much smoother and consistent. Not the case in the marine world.

What would the purchase of a Malibu from Tommy's look like right now? Presumably, the boat could be located at any of Tommy's 15-16 locations. Would the buyer be dealing directly with an individual from M&T bank? Seems unlikely, but I don't know, hence the question. Would there be a boat sales person / broker involved? Does Malibu corporate have any say in the disposition of Tommy's inventory? I have purchased foreclosed real estate before and there was still a real estate agent representing the bank/owner. And in the late 90's I almost purchased a Nautique from a dealer in the pacific northwest (I am in SoCal) that lost their dealership arrangement with Correct Craft and was looking to unload the last 8-10 boats they had in inventory in advance of that effective date. The dealer provided me with their invoice and supporting details of their floor financing as assurance that the prices were rock bottom. But that dealer was not in default with their lender. Just curious.

That said, I'm like Woodski, pulling a boat motor is very easy (nothing complicated) if you have access to something to lift it safely. Pulling it would let you change both the timing cover and oil pan gasket and give you a much higher chance of a leak free result. When I dropped the new engine in the Sunsetter my picture of the engine hanging on the chain and the next photo of it in the boat mounted with the exhaust, throttle, and driveshaft coupling alignment left to do is 14 minutes apart.

Yeah, if its the timing cover gasket I would certainly try it myself in the boat. You are right, a SBC, the timing cover should go on first, then the oil pan gasket mating surface is actually on the timing cover gasket groove. Check out YouTube, there are some creative fellas out there that have done it. The tough part is the room you'll have between the transom and the front of the motor.

Ouf... riding a board that -looks- too big for him. looks to be about 10? Did that to my cousin 15 years ago. took the board edge to the head after loading the line to a air backroll. 7 staples. Ride the right size board!

I don't think it is an issue of whether a dealer would service a Malibu that was bought elsewhere -- it is how the jobs are prioritized when it's July 3 and everybody wants their boat fixed ASAP.

The parts or gasket set would set you back in the ball park of $50 for the pan/seals/timing cover and available from numerous suppliers. If you have some tools, you could rent a cherry picker, bribe a couple of buddies with a case of cold beverages and do the job in a weekend. You are about 2 hours of labor each way in pulling / replacing. If it is truly only the front timing cover (which incorporates the front crank seal), you can do that in the boat. Do you have any insight as to why it suddenly started to leak after your spring start up? How much oil is it leaking? Are you sure that the oil level is correct and not overfilled thus creating a leak? Or even simpler, if there was an oil change, a spillage during the process?

Front main seal is pretty easy. May be kind of tight with the muffler in the way. If it were me I'd pull your sun deck off, pull the muffler off, then get after it. Even if it's the timing cover it can be changed with just loosening the oil pan. No doubt you will be bust some knuckles a little and be in some tight spots. But doubt you need to pull the engine.

No doubt, it's not a lot of fun, but when you're done you will have eliminated a fair amount of future maintenance. Just get a nice Class D life preserver (or 2) and use that as a firm pillow to lay your chest onto against the seat rail and get comfy while you do it. Absolutely have a helper handy since it's a bit of a pain to get in and out of position and grab tools, nuts/bolts, etc. IIRC I had to buy a specific socket for the shaft nut. My only other firm advice is to use the socket trick to remove the coupler. I bought a fairly expensive (non-refundable) coupler remover (as in this video) and due to the design of the v-drive it wouldn't fit in the area of the coupler, so that became a nice paperweight. The alternative socket method that he mentions worked great and only cost the amount of a few bolts and nuts. You simply put in the largest socket that will fit into the coupler and using your new longer bolts tight it up to push the shaft out. Below is a short video to demonstrate it. Also, while you're down there it's not a bad idea to put a wrench onto the nuts that secure the shaft log. It's a long blind reach with very low clearance, so a ratcheting closed end wrench with a pivoting head is the ticket here; I can't recall the size. I just happened to think to do this when I did this mod and mine were ridiculously loose.

I believe it's the front main/crankshaft seal or timing cover. I was told the oil pan gasket lays down in the groove in the bottom of the front cover so the engine needs to come out. Someone mentioned a speedy sleeve might be worth a try.

Thanks Dalt! It was cool browsing through mine last night. I geek out over little things like this. It also made me realize my boat was optioned very heavy for that year. Transom & docking lights, and heated seat I think are the only things missing.