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1987 Malibu Skier Engine Hatch Mounts


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Still putting back together the 1987 Malibu that I have been working on this fall (bought with a frozen motor). One of the questionable areas was the floor area that has the engine hatch hinges / rear exhaust hatch hinges. Seems like a bad design to me. On my boat it had four wood screws the went into the stringers. Lots of weight pulling straight up when the motor hatch is opened fully. The two 3/4" pieces of plywood (sandwiched together) had the corners rot, which appears to be from the screws backing out a bit. Stringers and floor are very solid . . . only this strange hinged section has issues. I question if the plywood was even marine. . . but I am no expert.

So . . . instead of just replacing with more marine plywood and relying on those wood screws, I bought a 3/4" piece of aluminum, some aluminum angle, 1/4 aluminum which I used as spacers, and went to town with a drill, tap and stainless fasteners. Now the hatch pulls against some 3M sealed lag screws (screwed horizontally through the aluminum angle and into the stringers). Pictures attached. Total cost was right at $65 dollars . . . and a bunch of time. Total weight is 10 pounds . . only about 8 pounds more than the wood.

Pictures below. Curious if others have had issues in this area of their boats.

2chqftf.jpg

vdcz87.jpg

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Very nice. I agree - that has to be one of the weakest and worst parts of the older boats. The weight of the motorbox pulls on the screws and eventually begins to strip them or destroy the corners of the 3/4" wood support. I like the aluminum plate idea. Heck, you could even carpet the plate if you wanted! Thumbup.gif Good work. Rockon.gif Looks like it turned out really nice.

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Very nice. I agree - that has to be one of the weakest and worst parts of the older boats. The weight of the motorbox pulls on the screws and eventually begins to strip them or destroy the corners of the 3/4" wood support. I like the aluminum plate idea. Heck, you could even carpet the plate if you wanted! Thumbup.gif Good work. Rockon.gif Looks like it turned out really nice.

:plus1: I would carpet it. Nice work!

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To really show off the work, and nice job by the way, you should polish the aluminum to a nice mirror finish! That would actually look quite nice. To lighten you could mill the backside of the plate to a thinner section thickness in the center away from the mounting attachments. You could remove quite a bit judging by the pictures. Don't feel alone, many newer (non wood!) boats suffer the same issue.

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  • 2 weeks later...

To really show off the work, and nice job by the way, you should polish the aluminum to a nice mirror finish! That would actually look quite nice. To lighten you could mill the backside of the plate to a thinner section thickness in the center away from the mounting attachments. You could remove quite a bit judging by the pictures. Don't feel alone, many newer (non wood!) boats suffer the same issue.

Lets take it a step further, leave it black, but hit with the CNC machine to cut in "Malibu Crew" in scripted lettering across the open top section . . . . I need to fix my goofy trailer set up first. . .

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Lets take it a step further, leave it black, but hit with the CNC machine to cut in "Malibu Crew" in scripted lettering across the open top section . . . . I need to fix my goofy trailer set up first. . .

Is that powder coat or paint? Bet that can get pretty hot in the sun

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