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Broken Tracking Fin


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I have a 2007 Malibu response LXI. I hit a log that was floating about 1 foot under the water this past weekend. The log ripped out my front tracking fin including the embedded bolts. The tracking fin ended up on the bottom of the river and the boat started taking on water. I got the boat out of the water but now am trying to figure out how to repair. Does anybody have experience with replacing a tracking fin? What do I have to do to install the new fin? Thanks for the help!

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I am already going down the dealer/insurance path. Unfortunatly, the dealer is backed up about 4 weeks and my kids are in training for a tournament in 2 weeks. I am looking for something I can do to get the boat back in the water ASAP so the kids can keep training. Any other advice is welcome.

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First...sorry about the damage and the bad timing! That sucks!

I hope you can get better news from someone else who has an idea that I haven't thought of... From me though...I'll apologize in advance...but I'll recommend that there is no proper fix that is also fast for that kind of wound. If you live near an area with marinas (like...big boats in slips kind of marinas...the marinas typically have service departments that include fiberglass repair. And the great news on that...for fiberglass repair folk...this is their slow season. They are busy when the cruisers are blocked up on land. Middle of summer, with all the boats in the water, they are twiddling their thumbs waiting for a boat to come in with running damage (like you for instance).

I don't think that a fiberglass repair will affect warranty or anything like that. It's the same process no matter who does it. And it involves cutting, grind, grind, grind, chop, fill, chop, fill, glass, fill, glass, fill, mat, mat, mat, a couple of hours of sanding, some more fill to get it perfect, sand it some more and more and more, then gel coat layers 1 - 3 or more...and cure time between each step. Then redrill the holes and remount new fin. It's not fast - no matter who does it.

[edit - forgot to mention - all of this done while upside down under the boat with the boat in a sling.]

Having had a boat damaged similar to what you may have on the bottom of your boat (my anchor broke free from the windlass while I was cruising at 30knots...anchor kicked back when it hit the water and punched a hole in the bottom of my boat and tore up my running gear), I can say from experience that I can't imagine a fiberglass guy agreeing to temporarily patch the wound. If the patch fails - your boat sinks. That would be a really bad liability issue for the patch-guy.

Edited by JeffS
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Lucky for you it's a direct drive! I had this happen many years ago and it took off "ALL THREE" fins! Yep! Filled with water in minutes! I had a VLX, so it involved removing entire interior, fiberglass repair, etc. Cost $3500! First tracking fin and gel coat will have to be ordered from factory which will take a week. Finding a good glass person on short notice this time of year will be the lucky part. Mine took three weeks to get repaired. Sorry for your bad news and good luck on repair. Hopefully you didn't damage anything else.

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It sucks that others have had the same damage, but thanks to all for the information and guidance. I am taking the boat to the dealer today and he said he will try and get it back to me within 2 weeks..but no guarentees. As for keeping the kids training for the tournament, I have a friend that lives about 1 hour away and has a Mastercraft Prostar. He has 2 boats and said I can use one of them anytime I want. It's not a Malibu but it will it will keep them training until I get my boat back. Thanks again to all!

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This seems to be a common problem with the Malibu product. You would think they would use some hardware (washers or backing plates) to keep from having the bolts pull through. This problem seems easily avoidable by adding more fiberglass or just simple hardware!

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Or you really tear up the boat.

If the screws are just screwed in from the bottom with no backing plates or nuts you just lose a fin and no water comes in.

If you bolt it solid with backing plates lock-washers, nuts and all you can really do some damage!

  • Like 2
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If you are desperate to get on the water you could silicone the holes up and layer some plastic on the inside of the hull for some insurance, that would keep the water from getting in. I wouldn't recommend it, but hey, if you have the other ones in place you won't loose that much stability and if there is no water coming in you should be ok until you can get it fixed properly.

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When mine was repaired my guy put some extra strong PLEXI I think he called it on the inside, but I agree if it was on harder, it breaks harder and this isn't just a malibu problem. My friends MC had it happen also.

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I am already going down the dealer/insurance path. Unfortunatly, the dealer is backed up about 4 weeks and my kids are in training for a tournament in 2 weeks. I am looking for something I can do to get the boat back in the water ASAP so the kids can keep training. Any other advice is welcome.

Seal it off and run with just two tracking fins! I've done it for customers before so they could use their boat for a vacation or during nice weather then fix it when they didn't need it as much. The boat will track different but it still gets you on the water!

Best of luck with the repair

- Paul

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  • 7 years later...

Ha that happened to me. I just sanded the bottom a bit and put a couple layers of glass over the holes went boating a couple days later. I'm going to reinstall the fin in a few weeks. no big deal.

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8 hours ago, Viduka said:

Ha that happened to me. I just sanded the bottom a bit and put a couple layers of glass over the holes went boating a couple days later. I'm going to reinstall the fin in a few weeks. no big deal.

You do realize this is a 7 year old thread, right?

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