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Malibu boat back from the dead


rugger

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This might only interest a small handful of you... but I just finished a 4 month project of refurbishing a Malibu Sunsetter from the ground up. I posted pics of most phases, from an empty shell (aka bathtub) to completed. It might be helpful for those wondering what the old boats look like underneath. I've gotten some good help on this site so hopefully someone will get something out of this -- ideas for old 'bu's if nothing else.

Originally I planned to just fix a few soft spots in the floor, but I then found extensive wood rot when I took it apart. Since we still love the boat (slalom/board/tube) and my kids wouldn't let me sell it, we took on the project. I did as much of the labor as possible to keep the costs to a minimum, and paid a shop for help on the stringers. Chee and Daniel at Malibu hooked me up with new interior, carpet and composite flooring. I then added a new dash and several other mods.

I'll never grind fiberglass again -- but it turned out great and didn't cost nearly what it could have. Now it's basically a new boat with a classic Malibu hull. After overcoming a few stupid mistakes on wiring, it even fired right up and runs/performs great.

It's no VLX of course, but I'm holding out on a newer model until my kids get a little older and more into wakeboarding. They're just as happy surfing the jimmy-jam board for now.

http://picasaweb.google.com/myfourday

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  • rugger

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Very nice, I had a Sunsetter very similar to that one and I loved the boat. It needed a floor and stringers and I didn't have the time to put into it. Where did you get the emblems on the combing pads?

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Much like restoring an old classic car, that thing is probably worth more now than when you bought it new. If it looks half as good in person as it does in the pictures, it's an amazing boat. Excellent job!

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Thanks for the kind comments. I hope the pics are useful for anyone else working on some aspect of updating. When all said and done, it was nice to take something from yuck to new. There was more I wanted to do, but I threw in the towel so I could work on my faceplants on the lake instead. :) I love the boat, but I hope the next project is updating a classic corvette or something.

srh99vlx -- I got the emblems from Chee. I stopped by the Malibu factory on my way to southern california, and Chee was gracious enough to give me a tour of the factory. Since he was working on the upholstery component, we went over my sketches and I was able to pick the colors and add a few extras like the emblems. I originally intended on using the all stainless ones, but the ones I ended up with work fine for my boat and I thought looked great considering the original didn't have any emblems or colors.

greenworks -- I can email you the cost of interior if you are serious. I know Chee's pricing has been discussed here before and it is basically different for every boat. Mine was different because we added a new drivers seat and new foam. But Chee gave me a very favorable deal in my opinion. Especially considering that he couldn't just pull from the original patterns since I changed it all. I wasn't even going to change the seats after the ridiculous price quotes from my local upholstery shops, so I'm glad I called him. Plus it was kind of cool to use Malibu vinyl.

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No, it already had a ski locker. But the lid was remade out of the material used for the flooring. The old one was a bit worn/warped.

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Wow. I'm floored. Great job.

The boat looks great. Not only will you and your family have fun with it, you'll appreciate it even more knowing that it's your baby.

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