vRide Vinyl Tears

[Minnesota1]

Anybody else having problems with the quality of the vinyl in your Bu or specifically your vRide?

I purchsed a 2008 vRide this year. It was a demo and I noticed a few small tears in the vinyl. The dealer told me to make note of these and they will repair at the end of the season. However, I have noticed 6 tears in the vinyl! A couple on the sundeck (1 by the locker handle, 1 by the pylon), the rear middle seat cushion where people step in is splitting at the seam, a couple small tears on the seat cushion corners and 1 seat back.

I had a Glastron for more than 20 years and never had any problems with the vinyl tearing.

Question is - should I be worried about this? Even after they are repaired, will this just happen again?

What is your experience and advice?

[Lance B. Johnson]

I can tell you that I don't think it is normal. My 05 with approx 200 hours.......I have to look REALLY hard to find any damage at all.

[The Voodoo Cowboy]

Anybody else having problems with the quality of the vinyl in your Bu or specifically your vRide?

I purchsed a 2008 vRide this year. It was a demo and I noticed a few small tears in the vinyl. The dealer told me to make note of these and they will repair at the end of the season. However, I have noticed 6 tears in the vinyl! A couple on the sundeck (1 by the locker handle, 1 by the pylon), the rear middle seat cushion where people step in is splitting at the seam, a couple small tears on the seat cushion corners and 1 seat back.

I had a Glastron for more than 20 years and never had any problems with the vinyl tearing.

Question is - should I be worried about this? Even after they are repaired, will this just happen again?

What is your experience and advice?

I too have an 08 vRide but have had no issues with tears in the vinyl or the stitching. If it's a quality issue I have no doubts that it can and will be warrantied by Malibu.

[cruzhm]

I am seeing something similiar on my '05 VLX. I only have 160 hours and the boat has always been stored inside. I just noticed a tear on the seam of one of the back cushions where people usually step into the boat. Seems odd that it should be tearing already.

Unfortuantley unlike yours mine is out of warranty. Does anyone one know if this is easily fixed, being it is at the seam?

John

[Bill_AirJunky]

I can tell you that I don't think it is normal. My 05 with approx 200 hours.......I have to look REALLY hard to find any damage at all.

Ditto. Pushing 300 hrs on mine. Stored outside in the summer, inside in the winter. And no tears.

I'm curious what everyone is cleaning their upholstery with. Babes Seat Soap here. Seems to make the vinyl softer everytime I do it.

[wakeup]

Never a problem with a 06 Vride and no problems on our 08 VLX. We use 303 after each day of use and that's about it.

An 08 is way too new to be worrying about vinyl problems IMO. Even if covered under warranty, it makes you wonder was this a bad day at the factory or did someone abuse the interior while a demo, aka "dealer sponsored wakeboard tourney's"?

[johnsvt]

I had a cushion seam seperate, but it was covered under warranty.

[Minnesota1]

Thanks for your comments on this. I hope that it is not a quality issue. I will keep you posted on what happens.

BTW - I use Babes Seat Soap at least 1/wk.

[cruzhm]

I use 303 cleaner and 303 protectant. Maybe that is my problem. I may make the switch over to babes as I hear a lot of good things about that.

-John

[diefaster80]

I recently bought a used 1996 Four Winns and some seam tears in it, I went down to the local canvas shop or you could go to a fabric store and pick up what they call bobbins of polyester thread for a couple of bucks and a j-hook needle from a dollar store and just rethread this thru the existing holes, It is time consuming if you want quality, and some you may have to unstaple portions of the cover in order to hide the stitching well but it is worth it because if left alone thay only get worse then moisture get in under the seats and thing go down hill fast from there. They said the worst thing on the stitching is the sun.

[ADDICTED2WAKE]

I have an 07 V-Ride and it too was a demo...had 195hrs on it when I bought it. It did have a couple tears in it, but I also had them fixed at the end of the season. Since then I had one hairline tear (which I superglued) from a jagged aluminum edge from a wakeboard fin...No big issues otherwise tho...