Malibu Cruise

[stewart]

Once it engages, the rpm mode at skiing speed is pretty decent (not as good as PP, but decent). RPM was designed for those speeds & using speed mode wouldn't IMO work as well. It's just a matter of getting the system to take control.

WG, Have you tried the full throttle trick on the cruise control in mph mode?

[WakeGirl]

I haven't tried leaving it there. The thing with skiers is that they like a different type of pull than speed mode typically gives. RPM mode is geared for that, speed mode typically isn't. But I'll give the full throttle trick a try & see how it does. I find that overall mph mode varies more than I'd like to see, so maybe a new prop is in my future.

[Woodski]

Wakegirl, you asked if the miss I mentioned was prop cavitation, no it is not. My other thread (engine miss LCR320) details the miss. We shortline ski and noticed the miss on hard turns when the cruise requests more throttle during the turn as the hull drag has gone up slowing the boat and nessessitating more throttle to hold speed (we have been using speed mode, the logic being wanting to hold speed through the course). My conversations with some knowledgeable calibration engineers indicate that the problem appears to be a communications problem from the paddlewheel to the Malibu Cruise or from that to the ECU. Makes sense due to some of the responses on the other thread that indicate that the problem does not occur in RPM mode. We also noted that in speed mode we needed to set the speed up ,2mph to hold good times through the course.

[68Slalom]

I haven't tried leaving it there. The thing with skiers is that they like a different type of pull than speed mode typically gives. RPM mode is geared for that, speed mode typically isn't. But I'll give the full throttle trick a try & see how it does. I find that overall mph mode varies more than I'd like to see, so maybe a new prop is in my future.

Yes, pulling a wakeboarder and pulling a skier are two complete different styles.

[WakeGirl]

Wakegirl, you asked if the miss I mentioned was prop cavitation, no it is not. My other thread (engine miss LCR320) details the miss. We shortline ski and noticed the miss on hard turns when the cruise requests more throttle during the turn as the hull drag has gone up slowing the boat and nessessitating more throttle to hold speed (we have been using speed mode, the logic being wanting to hold speed through the course). My conversations with some knowledgeable calibration engineers indicate that the problem appears to be a communications problem from the paddlewheel to the Malibu Cruise or from that to the ECU. Makes sense due to some of the responses on the other thread that indicate that the problem does not occur in RPM mode. We also noted that in speed mode we needed to set the speed up ,2mph to hold good times through the course.

Gotcha. Sometimes in a hard turn cavitation can sound & feel like an engine miss, but it sounds like you know the difference.

[White Lightning]

We have an 07 VLX with the Hammerhead engine and the Malibu Cruise. I was wondering if there are any settings you can change like PP to make it hold speed better? It holds decently well but there is still a variance of +/- 1 mph in either direction when riding in a straight line. Our old 01 VLX with PP and the Monsoon held speed much better. Any suggestions or does anyone else have this same problem?

There are 2 ways to set the Cruise control and get good results. I use to get a variance, but since I started doing this the variance has decreased.

1. Bring the boat up to speed, once you hear the speed control beep the black bar along the bottom of the speed control LCD will open up with a gap and a black square will appear. Once you see the black square (it could be overlapping at one end of the gap or the other) center it in the gap. Once it is centered the cruise control should work fine. Many peeps don't do this and the cruise doesn't take over properly, heck when we started we didn't even see it saying more throttle (we thought it was just letting us know it was giving more throttle ) Once you start getting the black square centered in the gap it should run better.... It may go over by about 1-2 mph dependent on you holeshot but eventually it drops down to the proper speed. I get a variance in most cases of about +/- .3 at the most. The biggest thing is if you can actually hear a surge in the engine vs. just seeing the variation on the LCD.

2. 68Slalom showed me the second way of doing it last weekend. He said just bring the boat to full throttle. The cruise control took over and maintained speed quickly. The bar with the gap, in this case, was all the way to the right and the black square was stuck there with it. It seemed to work, the only thing I found that was weird was that the engine seemed a little stifled, kinda like it was hitting the rev limiter or something, but it maintained speed properly.

If you hear the engine surging a bit and your doing the above, you may just need to re-prop.

Agree completely,

I also found if the bar is not centered and especially when it is to far left the cruise doesn't work well. When I put it in the center no problem. Just one of the quirky little things me thinks.

W.L.

[WakeGirl]

Okay, I learned a bit more about my system this weekend.

1. Re-propping definitely helps it hold speed better. With our stock Acme 537, it would vary by as much as 2mph in either direction, & occasionally a little more with a rider that has really good edging skills. Testing a new OJ 475 over the weekend I don't think that I ever saw it deviate by more than 1mph at worst. So we'll be re-propping to help with that.

2. You can disengage the system in the middle of a hard turn & take control, on my system you just have to pull back a lot more than on a PP system to get it to disengage. This could be helpful in an emergency type of situation, but I have more testing to do on that to see exactly what it will & won't do.

3. You can turn the system on at about 14mph. I was pulling Mrs. Malibudude & forgot to turn it on. I wanted to drop her to turn it on, but she wouldn't let me. So at the end of the lake at the turn around, I tried it in the middle of the turn when we were at our slowest & it turned on at about 14-15. That's a first, I've never been able to get it to do that before.

[White Lightning]

Okay, I learned a bit more about my system this weekend.

1. Re-propping definitely helps it hold speed better. With our stock Acme 537, it would vary by as much as 2mph in either direction, & occasionally a little more with a rider that has really good edging skills. Testing a new OJ 475 over the weekend I don't think that I ever saw it deviate by more than 1mph at worst. So we'll be re-propping to help with that.

2. You can disengage the system in the middle of a hard turn & take control, on my system you just have to pull back a lot more than on a PP system to get it to disengage. This could be helpful in an emergency type of situation, but I have more testing to do on that to see exactly what it will & won't do.

3. You can turn the system on at about 14mph. I was pulling Mrs. Malibudude & forgot to turn it on. I wanted to drop her to turn it on, but she wouldn't let me. So at the end of the lake at the turn around, I tried it in the middle of the turn when we were at our slowest & it turned on at about 14-15. That's a first, I've never been able to get it to do that before.

Thanks for the tip. I will try that. I had a situation this weekend where I forgot to turn it on for my 8 year old son who skis at around 18. He would have got mad if I dropped him back in but this would have solved the problem.

Thanks,

W.L.

[WakeGirl]

Not sure if it works on all systems. Different calibrations for different motors may play a part. But I think the point should be to get out & play with the system because there is no instruction manual for us to go by.

[Sunapee]

The speed to arm it is different in speed vs RPM modes I can turn mine on @ 25 mph in RPM mode!