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hopefully new boat owner


malibudreamer

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Hello All

Ive been reading the fourm for about a month now ever since I fell in love with the Malibu. We are wanting to get a ski boat and have been looking around and when we walked into the Malibu dealer we stopped looking around. Are any of you guys first time boat owners with a Malibu? Does a first timer deserve this amazing machine. I dont think anything will happen till next season, but to top it off at the dealer he was placing he new stock order and askes my 10 year old son what colors he likes so they design one to prefectly match our avalanche. Last night we are in there again and he tells us the boat has been ordered and may be there early sept. What a way to tease us.

Ron

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First time boat owner and it was a new VRide. Man it must be easy to be a boat salesperson at a Malibu dealership. The dang boats sell themselves. Once you drive one, you'll never like how any other boat drives.

So far I'm loving our boat. The only thing I hate is I have to go to work to pay for it instead of living on it!

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Hello All

Ive been reading the fourm for about a month now ever since I fell in love with the Malibu. We are wanting to get a ski boat and have been looking around and when we walked into the Malibu dealer we stopped looking around. Are any of you guys first time boat owners with a Malibu? Does a first timer deserve this amazing machine. I dont think anything will happen till next season, but to top it off at the dealer he was placing he new stock order and askes my 10 year old son what colors he likes so they design one to prefectly match our avalanche. Last night we are in there again and he tells us the boat has been ordered and may be there early sept. What a way to tease us.

Ron

You have a clever dealer! Next time you go there don't take the Avalanche or you may just take it home w/ you.... Clap.gif

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Dreamer,

Welcome to the site. You deserve the boat especially if you have kids. I have never found a better family activity. I look at it from a how many hours of work to pay for boat vs. how many hrs on the boat with the family ratio. The boat wins hands down every time I do the math.

Joe

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Welcome to the site. I'm also a new boat owner, as of Oct '06. I bought a used 2002 VLX & love it. So glad I didn't get an I/O or anything smaller. My suggestion is not to wait. Water is too high here right now so I sit in the boat in the driveway w/ a cold one...SAWSOME!

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Make sure that same great dealer comes out and gives you extensive training on the operation of your new boat. Inboards are incredibly simple boats mechanically, but handling-wise, they can be a little tricky when approaching docks, lifts, etc at slow speeds. If you're used to driving outboards and IO's, it'll take a little practice. That's certainly not enough to sway you away from owning a Malibu as your first boat though! If you can afford it, go for it! :)

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I grew up with an underpowered 17' outboard runabout that my folks sold after I went to college. 20+ years later my first boat was a Malibu and was a great decision. I'm on my second Bu now and considering trading in for an 08. No doubt it's a great decision for your family and like everyone here - you'll have no regrets.

I do think getting some careful lessons on handling an inboard is important. They can be pretty tricky at slow speeds - I remember ordering one of those poles with the rubber bumper to help keep from banging in to docks. I still own it, but I'm not even sure where it is at this stage. If you're not an experienced boater, ask a friend to help you out the first weekend as there's lots of little lessons that you can learn from others experience (it can be very expensive to learn the hard way!).

Welcome to the site and hope to see pics of your new Bu in September!

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My first boat was a Malibu Tantrum that I bought back in 1995. It was a great boat that I never had a single problem with. Many say that it is easier to drive an inboard (especially around the dock) if that is all you know. Many outboard/I/O boaters have trouble docking an inboard since it behaves differently than what they are used to.

Good luck and welcome to the Malibu family.

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Very carefully interview the dealer prior to your signing the contract or you might end up like myself. After twenty years owning Malibu and seven different model my last deal is an absolute disaster. Not so much with the factory but rather the dealer. Continual misrepresentations, incompetence etc. such that even after having the boat in my possession for over a month I still cannot get them to follow through enough to get the necessary paperwork to me so that I can register it. This after multiple phone calls( most of which never get returned by dealer), multiple calls to Malibu customer service, two calls to the zone rep for the dealer (whom also does not return phone calls) and so many messages left with the dealer's live answering service that they now recognize me by my voice. So after a promise by my selling dealer last Monday to actually overnite me the required paperwork so that I can repair the damage done to my registration process caused by you guessed it, a dealer screw up on incorrectly reporting the VIN number on the purchase contract; I waited all afternoon to recieve this important information so that I can rush down and get the now required boat inspections completed by the sheriff, pay the fees for this inspection, drive one hour to the correct state office for completion of paperwork process for registration so that we can then leave and drive five hours to join our friends on vacation for the 4th of July. The Response LXI was purchawsed as the perfect crossover boat to enjoy the larger lake we are chooisng to vacation at with it's increased fuel capacity, better rougth water characteristics and the ability to accomodate more people than the smaller Euro we have used for years on the smaller and private lakes we typically ski on. The Euro in our family is an awesome boat, but it does not like the rough water all that well. Our other boat an outboard Flightcraft, is used for our barefoot ski school these days and lacks the ability to throw the big wake that our family and friends were looking forward to for what was to be essentially a wakeboard vacation. If you've teenagers, then you've got to have wakeboarding! Well guess what! I did get that overnite package, but unlike as promised, I did not get the one thing I needed to get the registration complete so guess what? Yet another vacation that I miss out on. They check carefully for registration, safety equipment insurance at the ramp of the lake we were going to. This is the second one I have missed as a result of this dealer lack of concern, competence what have you with regards to this boat purchase. I am continually told by these guys (dealer) that they are busy with other boat customers. So much so that they apparently have no time to complete the transaction that they certainly profited from. I apid the full asking price for the boat and then added another four thousand plus in accessories

The problems and excuses go on and on with me becoming more disappointed and angry every day. I am so tired of disappointing my family due to their incompetence. The aggravation just continues without resolve. So do yourself a huge favor and make absolutely damn sure that your dealer has a solid reputaion of completing the transaction and the people who who are his customers are generally satisfied. No one dealer is perfect but many are better than others. I could write twelve pages of the problems associated with my selling dealer and this boat purchase with the necessary backup to sunstanciate my claims. The boats are awesome as they have been for the twenty plus years I have owned them. But as good as the boat itself might be the dealer and their efforts throughout your ownership have a much stronger imapct than any technology built into any boat. If the dealer is a louse or your gut tells you something is not right, pick up your things and leave. Good judgement is imperative here or you will suffer the same fate like myself. That is continually disappointing my family and friends with very little control over getting it rectified. There are three Malibus in my driveway as I write this. Could not be happier with the first two owned and operated for many years. The new one? Well it could leave tomorrow for all the aggravation and disappointment it has brought to our family. Use your good judgement and not your romantic allure when evaluating your selling dealer's competency. Forewarned!

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