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Malibu iride


skikid

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Hi

I was wondering of anyone could give me some input. We are going tomorrow to test drive and sign for a 2008 Malibu Iride. We have spoken to few people about this boat and they seem to like it. However other than those few people we cannot find any more information about the boat. Does anyone one have an opinion or comments about the boat? The one we are looking at is priced right in our market and so far seems looks to be the best choice for our family..

thanks,

Luke

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Might tell us what you plan to do with this boat (board, ski, surf, tube, cruise, etc.) and we can tell you how it will perform. I think it is decent at everything but not good at anything. Will be cramped with a crew of 6+ with gear and all. Also, if you can give us an idea of a price range, we might be able to suggest other options depending on your needs.

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Might tell us what you plan to do with this boat (board, ski, surf, tube, cruise, etc.) and we can tell you how it will perform. I think it is decent at everything but not good at anything. Will be cramped with a crew of 6+ with gear and all. Also, if you can give us an idea of a price range, we might be able to suggest other options depending on your needs.

We are planning on doing everything with it. wakeboard, wakeskate, wake surf, ski, barefoot, tube. This is the one we are looking at

http://www.gordonbay.com/searchengine/Details.aspx?diid=1464812&bvdid=8737&type=N&indid=1&sortCol=Length&sortDir=DESC&Make=Malibu#

price range is 30-40 thousand.

thanks

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We are planning on doing everything with it. wakeboard, wakeskate, wake surf, ski, barefoot, tube. This is the one we are looking at

http://www.gordonbay.com/searchengine/Details.aspx?diid=1464812&bvdid=8737&type=N&indid=1&sortCol=Length&sortDir=DESC&Make=Malibu#

price range is 30-40 thousand.

thanks

Just clicked on the link, shows as sold. If someone paid 30-40 large for a 2 year old iRide with an LCR and 150 hours, they got robbed (hopefully it isn't you). In this market, you can get a whole lot more boat on the used market for less than that.

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Just clicked on the link, shows as sold. If someone paid 30-40 large for a 2 year old iRide with an LCR and 150 hours, they got robbed (hopefully it isn't you). In this market, you can get a whole lot more boat on the used market for less than that.

Could you point me in a direction where I might find something of better value for that price?

Going tomorrow to look at the boat and potentially sign for it. (this comment has made me very nervous about doing that now..)

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There are lots of boats out there at least as good and many better anywhere from hight teens to mid 20's. You can no doubt find a Sunsetter LX from the early 2000's easily below 20K. You can find the first gen Response LXi (2003-2006) in the mid 20's. Or one of the greatest boats of all time, a Sunsetter LXi from '99-'04 for low to mid 20's. All with relatively low hours - many with less than 400 hours (which is essentially nothing, if cared for properly), and probably all equipped better than the iRide. From your list of activities, you might prefer a V Drive. I'm sure you can find similar deals in that arena.

I can't stress enough - you need to exercise patience here, or they will be selling you a bridge and some prime swamp land to go along with that boat. That is just waaayyyyy too much for an '08 iRide.

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Almost forgot - that trailer underneath that boat should scream 'DANGER DANGER WILL ROBINSON!!!' Looks like a real POS. #1 - no full bunks to support the hull. #2 - looks to be galvanized. Why? Did they need it because the boat was used in saltwater? #3 - Maybe the boat doesn't have a trailer, so they stuck it on that POS to move it around? #4 - Just looks like a real POS.

Bottom line - those price ranges I mentioned above should come with a top quality trailer underneath the boat. For that $30-$40K, you better be getting 3 primo Extreme or Boatmate trailers to go with it.

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he is in canada, tho... IIRC, bu's are harder to come by up there, right? Though didn't tricky nicky get a vtx in that price range?

[/quote

Yes bu's (by bu's i presume boats?? i'm a newbie to the forum..) are far harder to find up here as well as far more expensive. We have looked through onlyinboards multiple times and found a couple irides priced around the same as the one I previously posted. Any idea what you might price this boat at? We have also found a few responses which we were very keen on. However, the driving distance to some of these boats were ridiculous. Also the taxes we would have to pay to get across the border would simply make driving across the border for a cheaper boat worthless.

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Sorry to be such a wet blanket here Luke. Just trying to save you a wad of cash. This is definitely something you shouldn't rush into. Like Pete said, hang around here for a while, you'll see boats up for sale.

edit: Bu's is short for Malibu's...

Edited by SunriseH2OSkier
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he is in canada, tho... IIRC, bu's are harder to come by up there, right? Though didn't tricky nicky get a vtx in that price range?

[/quote

Yes bu's (by bu's i presume boats?? i'm a newbie to the forum..) are far harder to find up here as well as far more expensive. We have looked through onlyinboards multiple times and found a couple irides priced around the same as the one I previously posted. Any idea what you might price this boat at? We have also found a few responses which we were very keen on. However, the driving distance to some of these boats were ridiculous. Also the taxes we would have to pay to get across the border would simply make driving across the border for a cheaper boat worthless.

No, bu is short for malibu, therefore not all boats are bu's :biggrin: www.nadaguides.com is a good resource for getting an idea of what a boat is worth.

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Hey mate, i would stay away from that boat if i were you, besides from the fact that an iride is supposed to be a "budget" malibu, that price is fairly high for an 2008 iride and it litterally has no options on it besides the fibreglass platform and the deck being painted, if you want to wakeboard with a nice wake behind an iride u atleast need a wedge of somesort, be it power or manual. we have a 2008 vride, they are so much better for wakeboarding than irides, vrides are vdrive, this means the engine is at the back, (out of the way and opens the lounge area up so much more). but for 40k if you are willing to spend that much u can get maybe if you play your cards right, a 2007 vlx wth aprox the same hours, or a 2008 vlx. those boats with boat out perform the iride in wakesize, lounge, since it is for the family, with the centre mount there will be limited interaction because the engine in the middle of all of you.

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Also the taxes we would have to pay to get across the border would simply make driving across the border for a cheaper boat worthless.

I have no experience on that front, but there are others on the board here who have done exactly that. Maybe they can pipe in with some advice.

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he is in canada, tho... IIRC, bu's are harder to come by up there, right? Though didn't tricky nicky get a vtx in that price range?

couple thoughts:

yep they are harder to get up here in Canada at a good price, I got mine in the US and saved a ton over buying in CAD.

You have to be willing to travel once you do alot of online research as opposed to seeing in real time via a short drive

re taxes - you pay GsT / PST or a I guess HST now or soon as you bring it in, so there is no diff buying in US or CAN. there is no dutie on the boats

getting a boat with a warranty left is good as there always are thigns that need to be sorted out

re direct drives if you are skiing and footing they are the way to go, if you have wakeboarding and surfing then vdrive and I agree with the previous posting u get a better layount for people with the vdrive.

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Luke,

one more thought, not sure where u r located but I was at my dealer here in Vancouver (Performance water sports) and think he had one or two irides, you might want to ping them and see what their prices are. Couple months ago they sold a used i-ride for a very fair price.

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Is the boat new or used? If it's new as the ad implys then the price range for Canada seems right as I recall smooth water had a stimulus price for one like it a few years back!

That trailer is not junk as I had the same one under my sunsetter! You should get guide posts.

The iride is basically like our old sunsetter and it's a great all-in-one boat.

Let us know what you did!

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Is the boat new or used? If it's new as the ad implys then the price range for Canada seems right as I recall smooth water had a stimulus price for one like it a few years back!

That trailer is not junk as I had the same one under my sunsetter! You should get guide posts.

The iride is basically like our old sunsetter and it's a great all-in-one boat.

Let us know what you did!

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The Sunsetter is a great all around boat, no question. Don't mean to imply otherwise. But so is a 2001 Sunsetter that will cost a lot less.

The boat is listed with 150 hours on it. Not to say that is a lot of hours, but it is certainly not 'new'. And that trailer? Maybe it isn't junk, but I would want full bunks under my boat supporting the hull. And I still have to ask, why galvanized? If those 150 hours involve use in saltwater, then that 150 hours is a LOT harder than a freshwater 150 hours. Maybe the person just wanted galvanized, fine. But if I'm gonna drop that kind of cash on an iRide, I'm going to be very critical of the boat before I sign on the dotted line. I'd sure as heck want to know if the boat has seen salt.

Again Luke, just pointing out some things you need to be looking out for. This is a major purchase, something you shouldn't rush into. I don't know how long you have been looking, but it just comes across like you are anxious to bite on an offer from an infomercial ("And if you call in the next 10 minutes, we'll throw in this wonderful set of steak knives - that's a $450 value, absolutely free!"). I appreciate that it might be a PITA to travel to the States to find your boat, but if it were me, I would think saving $10K would pay for an awful lot of headache. There have been so many deals on used boats in this down market, I just find it hard to believe you couldn't find your dream boat at the right price in relatively short order.

I do wish you the best of luck, whatever you decide. Please keep us in the loop.

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Wow, thanks everyone for their input.

Today we went to the marina and test drove the boat. We were very impressed. Our previous boat was an early 90's supra comp ts6m. The supra's wake is SO minimal and we knew from the get go not to expect a slalom wake like that. After playing with the power wedge and ballast we were convinced on both an adequate wakeboard wake and a pretty good ski wake. We were amazed by the power wedge and its ability to change the wake drastically. The boats handling was superb and overall a very comfortable boat.

We realize it has 150 hours on it. It was a demo boat last summer on our lake at one of the resorts. Our family knows many of the watersports staff of the resort on a personal basis and they gave us the complete no BS rundown of the boat while it was in their hands. In short they only had it a few weeks and those hours were spent dragging tubers in circles. They noted a couple very minor issues which when we questioned at the dealer had already been fixed. Also, the listing on their website doesn't give full details but the boat has far more accessories then noted. We were happily surprised when the sales guy starting pressing butting and showing us an array of things we didn't expect!

We did some searching in both the US and Canada and this boat still was one of the cheapest of the newer irides. These two http://www.onlyinboards.com/Details.aspx?ID=70596 and http://www.onlyinboards.com/Details.aspx?ID=819661 were the closest we found. We decided that the pain in picking up and then taxes were not worth saving a couple grand.

After talking with the sales rep it boiled down to this.. 37 tax in and delivery. It comes with a 3 year full warranty (a major part of the deal).

No trailer so looking for one if anyone knows of any that are suitable for this boat please let me know. Also, we asked about the trailer we see in the pictures. That trailer is just a yard trailer for the marina. We are in Southern Ontario so no salt water on either boat or trailer.

Thanks again for everyones input

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I just recently sold an iRide that was my first inboard ski boat. I think Ndawg hit it on the head when he said that it does a lot of things well, nothing great.

Price: I didn't look at the ad, so I don't know what the one you're looking at is listed at. I bought my '06 brand new in June of '07 for $33k. Sold it a month ago (just under 3 yrs of ownership) for $28k, with 80 hrs. I bought it strictly on Price. I got a brand new boat with full 3 yr warranty for much less than anything else in the Malibu lineup at the time.

Wake: I like to recreational ski. The boat was fine for it, but I didn't have access to a Response, so my frame of reference is nil. I don't wake board much, but my 18 yr old neighbor was doing back rolls with the center ballast filled and wedge filled. Once again I don't have much to compare to. My 130 lb wife could surf rope-less all day with the wedge, center ballast and (2) 400 lb sacs in an L configuration in the back corner. I (175 lbs) needed about 300 extra pounds of passengers to go ropeless.

Location: I bought my boat away from my local area. This next time I'd like to support my local dealer. They've treated my well, even though I didn't buy from them, so I'd like to give them my next business and support the local economy. I understand that people looking for a specific boat need to be willing to travel, but I don't think you need to be seeking out an iRide.

Overall: It was a fine boat, but I didn't like the inboard layout. With 3-4 adults and 3-4 kids in the boat, it was too cramped and hard to get to the back to change riders, check rope, etc.. I hated manually filling ballast bags for surfing, and it made it more cramped. Inevitably I'd soak the boat at least once per weekend. I thought about doing a custom ballast install by building into the rear locker and seat, but ultimately the motor was still going to be in the middle.

My next boat will be a V-drive. Either a VTX or an older 21' Sunscape. I'd like to improve my slalom skiing, and I hope that either of those wakes will be as good or better than the iRide. I'll love the room of the V-drive and I will immediately add automated ballast.

Badger

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I was typing my response while your were posting that you bought. I think that you'll be happy. I agree with buying locally is worth paying a bit more. If you're used to an inboard Supra, the configuration of the iRide will be as good or better for you. The power wedge would have been a great addition to mine. That was one other frustration...1/2 the time I'd have to jump back in the water to raise the manual wedge.

Congratulations! Post up some pictures of the family having fun and don't look back.

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Congrats on your purchase, I'm sure you will enjoy the boat. Hopefully you will hang around the site moving forward - there is a ton of experience/information with the membership here.

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