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07 Hammerhead


Eyekahn

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have 06 hammerhead

have had no oil burn off

been hammered on from day one 140hrs

never had a over heating problem

I have ran the boat flat out fully ballasted for 3-5 minutes no problem

gas is moderate full tank about day and a half running fully loaded wake and surf 8 hrs total run time

Edited by my malibu
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07 VLX with hammerhead

I've burned a very little amount of oil in 2 yrs/180 hrs. I think twice I've had to put 1/2 quart in before oil change time rolls around.

Fuel consumption wakeboarding seems to be not bad at all, but I haven;t tried to track it. Barefooting, you can basically watch the fuel gauge drop, but that's to be expected.

Overall, great motor so far.

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Sounds good I have heard a lot of good and bad things. I think with a 1235 the fuel consumption will be less than with the monsoon. Also, has anyone ran their monsoon in salt water a few times?

Edited by Eyekahn
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Sounds good I have heard a lot of good and bad things. I think with a 1235 the fuel consumption will be less than with the monsoon. Also, has anyone ran their monsoon in salt water a few times?

I have a hammerhead in an 06. The owners manual says not to run it in salt water.

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Sounds good I have heard a lot of good and bad things. I think with a 1235 the fuel consumption will be less than with the monsoon. Also, has anyone ran their monsoon in salt water a few times?

I have a hammerhead in an 06. The owners manual says not to run it in salt water.

Could be because of the fast burn aluminum heads.

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i have 106 hrs on the boat and havent had any oil problems. love the hh. plenty of power even with the the 4 ballast tanks full wedge down and 5-6 people. i have had 16 people in the boat with the wedge down and ballast full and it did pretty well for the weight it had in it. fuel consumption i think is pretty good if your not teaching people all day. i would recomend this motor.

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I have an 07 Hammerhead and have been very happy with it. 68 hrs total. Had the first oil change at 15 hrs and had to add 1/2 quart at 62 hrs. Fuel consumption seems about the same as the monsoon for wakeboarding. Burns a little more if you are having fun and getting on the throttle. It's fun to see peoples faces when running at 3500 rpm and then open it up. :)

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I ordered couple of months ago a new 2009 VLX with the HH and the Saltwater package. I did no research on the engine --> I just wanted enough power to do pretty much everything. I hope this engine will deliver. Have I understood right from your answers regarding saltwater use that Indmar has not allowed saltwater use previously and not offered the package before 09? I had previously a 05 X-Star with the MCX 350hp Indmar engine and it worked really well, but really still wanted more power (it was a heavy and big boat).

Great to hear that you people have liked the engine, makes me more confident that I might of made the right choice :)

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Sounds good I have heard a lot of good and bad things. I think with a 1235 the fuel consumption will be less than with the monsoon. Also, has anyone ran their monsoon in salt water a few times?

I have a hammerhead in an 06. The owners manual says not to run it in salt water.

Could be because of the fast burn aluminum heads.

Dissimilar metals, galvanic corrosion. Nothing like having your motor eaten from the inside out.

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So your saying the hammerhead should never be put in salt? Even once every few months then flushed immediatly?

My personal opinion, boats should never be in salt water unless they're specifically designed for them. Salt water can corrode like a mother-in-law....

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of course you can put the hh in salt water like everything else???? the aluminum parts are not in contact with saltwater.

From the owner's manual:

The following engine must not be operated in brackish or salt water environments unless it is equipped with a closed cooling system which allows the use of antifreeze coolant in the engine instead of raw water. --Malibu Hammerhead 383 -- This engine uses aluminum cylinder heads and will be severely damaged from slat water corrosion if operated in brackish or salt water. See your Indmar dealer to install a closed cooling system if you have this engine and will operate it in brackish or salt water.

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Ok that is most definitely clear then, I thought all the HH engines come equiped as standard with the closed cooling system, hence my answer. In New Zealand they at least came as standard with the CC system. Very good that you clarified it for everyone.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I have a 2006 Hammerhead with just about 225hrs and have had absolutely no problems with it. It runs great, has lots of power and does not burn any additional oil. I haven't had it out for a few months but can't wait to take it out in January for its "midwinter walk and exercise". Here in Arizona we can get out anytime of the year, but the water is a bit cold to actually get in right now. My children just like to get out for an afternoon boat run. When the boys are a bit older, I will have to get them dry suits for Christmas. I have no regrets getting the Hammerhead. The salesman from the dealership here went out with us after we purchased it to compare it to the same year Monsoon they had on their demo boat and he claimed he noticed a significant improvement in the power of the Hammerhead. The only time it really sucks up the fuel is when my wife takes a boatload of youth out for tube rides on our three person tube, she will do this for whole afternoons when we are at Lake Powell--this really puts the boat and motor through a beating. It has never flinched.

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of course you can put the hh in salt water like everything else???? the aluminum parts are not in contact with saltwater.

You can but you can cause all sorts of problems, Hammerheads have GM Fastburn aluminum cylinder heads with a cast aluminum exhaust manifold. In a catalyst exhaust manifold set up the water is not introduced into the manifold until the exhaust dump (tail end of the exhaust which is stainless) on a 2007 hammerhead the motor only had a ETX manifold which salt water did flow thru. It will run in salt water but the point is how long, salt attacks aluminum really bad and i would give it a season or two before there was issues. Now if the engine had closed cooling that would be a different story the motor would be protected but the exhaust manifolds would not. If it was going to be a full time salt boat i would swap out the exhaust manifolds for cast iron manifolds. We've done this for a number of customers prior to the full salt water series boat systems. The salt water pkg from Malibu is worth every penny so if your shopping new, make sure to get option if your thinking about riding out in the salt or brackish water.

Hope this helps!

-Paul

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There are some people that have low oil pressure & oil burning issues with their 383s. *I think* that this isn't the norm though, most people seem to have had good luck with them, including me. Mine has never burned a drop, & I think that I've overcome the low pressure warning issues by running 20-50 synthetic (after 100 hours). I seem to have had the best luck with this combo, especially toward the end of a 50 hour span.

Good luck with the purchase.

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There are some people that have low oil pressure & oil burning issues with their 383s. *I think* that this isn't the norm though, most people seem to have had good luck with them, including me. Mine has never burned a drop, & I think that I've overcome the low pressure warning issues by running 20-50 synthetic (after 100 hours). I seem to have had the best luck with this combo, especially toward the end of a 50 hour span.

Good luck with the purchase.

Tracie,

What synthetic are you using?

Oil consumption has been a 50/50, i think it has a lot with how the boat is broken in and used. On a hammerhead GM uses a limited slip piston ring to reduce friction and pick up some more horse power. If it is not broken in right it's suspect to not seal the cylinder wall correct. If the motor doesn't get run a lot or hard (engine is babied) the same problem where lots of carbon build up on top of the aluminum pistons and rings allow oil blow by again.

The low oil pressure warning was resolved when Indmar changed the specified oil to 40 weight. They put a windage tray in the oil pan to avoid oil getting sloshed by the crank, when they did that the design of that oil pan allowed the oil to be pulled away from the pick up and sensor for a few seconds causing the alarm to go on then right back off. I haven't had anybody complain about that issue for over a year + now.

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It depends on what I can find, but I've been going between Valvoline (whatever their most expensive stuff is seems to be all that I can find in 20-50) or Amsoil, which is even pricier. I'm not sure if it's the synthetic or the viscosity that's doing the trick, but I haven't had a low-pressure warning since going to this combo.

I was told to run straight 40w in it from the start & I did that for a while, but it just seemed like in colder temps that it started harder. I was then told by Indmar that 20-50 would be fine in my conditions, so after trying it I've been happy with the compromise.

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Just as a reference, I have over 600 hours on a set of Fast Burn cylinder heads with a set of Stainless Marine aluminum exhaust manifolds. No problems to date, including going through a couple of impeller failures and temperature spikes. I have an open cooling system but do not run in salt water. Comments are correct, make sure if you use in salt water to have a closed cooling system and cast iron exhaust manifolds. I would also make sure you have the zinc plugs in the system since they are easy and cheap to replace.

Small blocks tend to run low oil pressure particularly at idle, so running a little heavier oil will help. The extra crank stroke makes the idle oil pressure at the rod bearings lower than on a standard crank 350.

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