Worst day ever on the water :(

[Steve B.]

Like others have sails thank goodness no one was hurt. Think I'd check the engine alinement too.

Hopefully you'll be back in action soon.

Steve B.

[zhensley]

I was not very close to the shore line. I don't believe that if I were to have thrown a rope out that it would have hit the shore. It was a completely sandy shoreline for quite a ways, with no visible rocks within probably a few hundred yards. No one was thrown in the boat. My wife got a bit of a fat lip, my daughters head hit her, but honestly think that was more from me immediately pulling off the throttle.

I heard back from Tommy's slalom shop and was not to pleased with the response. The person I talked to really had no clue what they were talking about and think he was making things up as he went. Upon visual inspection they said all the hardware needs to be replaced. When I inquired further to see if they measured anything or took anything off they insinuated that they had but didn't sound like they really did. When I inquired about the skeg holes he mentioned that they would have to GRIND off the fiberglass and reglass it because of the stress fractures in the gel coat.

I am confident that the fractures that you can see are a 100% cosmetic. That's not to say that there was damage to the glass below the gel coat but I wanted to know how they were able to determine that and why it needed t be grinded out to be repaired because of the stress fractures. Their response was that they didn't know and that was Mountain Marine informed them.

I would have expected some sort of explanation on the glass, and would have liked to have thought that if I am going to spend probably 3-5K to fix this they would at least give the time of day to measure some of the hardware to makes sure it wasn't square, or at least give me someone that knows what they are talking about.

I had an absolutely terrible experience with the Malibu dealership here in Denver. Prior to this It took me 6 weeks to actually talk to someone about ordering a tower. 6 weeks of messages, emails, and voice mails with no return phone call.

If anyone has a recommendation for a marine here in Denver would greatly appreciate it. Thinking about taking it to the local Mastercraft marina or potentially another.

Edited July 10, 2013 by zhensley

[racer808]

I was not very close to the shore line. I don't believe that if I were to have thrown a rope out that it would have hit the shore. It was a completely sandy shoreline for quite a ways, with no visible rocks within probably a few hundred yards. No one was thrown in the boat. My wife got a bit of a fat lip, my daughters head hit her, but honestly think that was more from me immediately pulling off the throttle.

I heard back from Tommy's slalom shop and was not to pleased with the response. The person I talked to really had no clue what they were talking about and think he was making things up as he went. Upon visual inspection they said all the hardware needs to be replaced. When I inquired further to see if they measured anything or took anything off they insinuated that they had but didn't sound like they really did. When I inquired about the skeg holes he mentioned that they would have to GRIND off the fiberglass and reglass it because of the stress fractures in the gel coat.

I am confident that the fractures that you can see are a 100% cosmetic. That's not to say that there was damage to the glass below the gel coat but I wanted to know how they were able to determine that and why it needed t be grinded out to be repaired because of the stress fractures. Their response was that they didn't know and that was Mountain Marine informed them.

I would have expected some sort of explanation on the glass, and would have liked to have thought that if I am going to spend probably 3-5K to fix this they would at least give the time of day to measure some of the hardware to makes sure it wasn't square, or at least give me someone that knows what they are talking about.

I had an absolutely terrible experience with the Malibu dealership here in Denver. Prior to this It took me 6 weeks to actually talk to someone about ordering a tower. 6 weeks of messages, emails, and voice mails with no return phone call.

If anyone has a recommendation for a marine here in Denver would greatly appreciate it. Thinking about taking it to the local Mastercraft marina or potentially another.

Try Best Marine, not sure if they work on hulls or not but I hear good things about their service. Tommys makes me leary about buying a Malibu as all I hear is bad stories about them.

[TheHardWay]

It was on a lake that I am not familiar with, Navajo Reservoir in southern Colorado and northern New Mexico. I didn't ask the locals for any intel on the lake, and in fact got a response at the Marina of "did you hit that place where everyone is hitting?" So definitely a lesson learned there to ask around a bit first.

A depth finder was actually scheduled to be installed this week Which might have helped. but think it was more like a 16 foot rock in 17 feet of water..

Sorry to hear about your misfortune. I spend a lot of time on Navajo, as it is my home lake.

For my information, where on the lake were you when you hit the rock? Arboles side or Navajo Dam side? The lake is extremely low this year, as you know, and it has greatly changed the landscape. I try to follow the channel markers when on the main channel just to be safe. The side canyons are a crap shoot now. La Jara canyon can be a little sketchy even when it is full because of the "prop getters" at the mouth of the canyon.

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[zhensley]

I was on the north side of the lake going back to the Marina on the Colorado side of the lake. Here is a picture of roughly where I was, see the yellow line. It's hard to tell from an Arial. If I were on the lake I could probably point it out pretty easily. Honestly at the rate the lake is going down now, the place that I hit is probably visible or going to be visible soon. When I look at the picture now I think that it is probably closer to Colorado along that yellow line.

Zach

[Sixball]

I hat to say it but I think Tommy's is on the money. You want this fixed correct and to leave glass that is compromised is a bad deal it could bite you down the road.

You have a #1 ski boat get it fixed so it stays a grate boat.

[Chattwake]

Do you not have insurance?

[zhensley]

Thanks for the input!!

It's not necessarily that I am disagreeing with Tommy's. It's really more about the level of service and my level of confidence with them being able to do this well. I am not getting a high level of confidence that they are really experts at this. The techs that i spoke with at Tommy's before it was sold were fantastic, but I don't even know if they are there anymore.

It's not really about the cost, it's about getting it done right. We've actually got our deductible reduced to $0 because of no claims over the past 7 years with the previous boat, so I will likely not be out of pocket at all on this repair. I would go out of pocket if I have to just to get it done right.

[TheHardWay]

I know the exact spot you are talking about. It's almost back to the Colorado state line. The sand bar sticks out quite a ways there. I just never realized there were any big rocks in that particular area.

I know of a guy who actually ran ashore there when trying to make his way back to the marina in the dark. I guess he got real lucky!

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[BSUBU_Kris]

On an inboard I don't believe the key that fits in the slot on the shaft and the prop acts as a sheer pin. I have had a lot of experience with sheer pins in my younger days when my family had a marina. We rented small fishing boats with smaller outboards and the pin is designed to "sheer" in half if you hit something. Those pins go though the middle of the shaft and the ends of the pin sheer off so hitting pretty much anything will sheer them off. On our props (inboards) those pins will not sheer in half. In fact once the prop is secured to the shaft the key doesn't do much which is why those props are so hard to get off using a prop puller. With a sheer pin the prop will just slide on and off the shaft and the pin is the only thing that keeps the prop from spinning freely.

I only bring this up so people don't think that key is going to protect the transmission or shaft if the hit something, it won't.

Hope you are back on the water soon and never have to deal with this type of issue again. Glad it wasn't worse to the point you were taking on water as that could have been much, much worse.

I am not sure how the skegs are attached to the hull on our boats. If they are through bolted I wouldn't think you would have to cut or grind out fiberglass to replace one but if they are just screwed into the fiberglass I could see them redoing the fiberglass there if the screws were ripped out of the fiberglass.

[UWSkier]

With that much impact, I suspect you're looking at a full running gear replacement save for the rudder. All new tracking fins, new shaft, strut, and prop. You might be able to salvage the prop nut.

[water_junky]

I had an absolutely terrible experience with the Malibu dealership here in Denver. Prior to this It took me 6 weeks to actually talk to someone about ordering a tower. 6 weeks of messages, emails, and voice mails with no return phone call.

If anyone has a recommendation for a marine here in Denver would greatly appreciate it. Thinking about taking it to the local Mastercraft marina or potentially another.

I have not had any problems with Tommy's in my boat purchase or service with the exception of about 1 1/2 months ago I was having trouble getting some service work scheduled and had been talking to a new person that would not call me back when she said she would. I had to keep calling and talking to her and nothing was getting scheduled, the next time a called back, she had been let go and they got me in right away.

[zhensley]

On an inboard I don't believe the key that fits in the slot on the shaft and the prop acts as a sheer pin. I have had a lot of experience with sheer pins in my younger days when my family had a marina. We rented small fishing boats with smaller outboards and the pin is designed to "sheer" in half if you hit something. Those pins go though the middle of the shaft and the ends of the pin sheer off so hitting pretty much anything will sheer them off. On our props (inboards) those pins will not sheer in half. In fact once the prop is secured to the shaft the key doesn't do much which is why those props are so hard to get off using a prop puller. With a sheer pin the prop will just slide on and off the shaft and the pin is the only thing that keeps the prop from spinning freely.

I only bring this up so people don't think that key is going to protect the transmission or shaft if the hit something, it won't.

Hope you are back on the water soon and never have to deal with this type of issue again. Glad it wasn't worse to the point you were taking on water as that could have been much, much worse.

I am not sure how the skegs are attached to the hull on our boats. If they are through bolted I wouldn't think you would have to cut or grind out fiberglass to replace one but if they are just screwed into the fiberglass I could see them redoing the fiberglass there if the screws were ripped out of the fiberglass.

The skegs are through bolts but there is not a nuts on the other side, so I guess a bit of both. It's almost as if they were designed to rip off. It was taking on water through those holes.

Should I make sure that the transmission also be inspected?

Thanks!!

[zhensley]

With that much impact, I suspect you're looking at a full running gear replacement save for the rudder. All new tracking fins, new shaft, strut, and prop. You might be able to salvage the prop nut.

Lol, whew. I think that prop nut is in fact ok

[WakeGirl]

z, I'll say it again, you need to make sure that they check that HDS box. It could easily be overlooked & it likely won't be covered under your hull warranty down the road if it's leaking because of this hit. Make sure.

[zhensley]

z, I'll say it again, you need to make sure that they check that HDS box. It could easily be overlooked & it likely won't be covered under your hull warranty down the road if it's leaking because of this hit. Make sure.

Thanks, I will certainly do. I don't know if I know what that is and I have never inspected the location where the shaft comes into the boat. I am assuming it something different then the shaft seal?

[WakeGirl]

The HDS box is where the shaft comes through. It's a bit complicated to explain, but the short of it is that a hit like that can separate the box & cause it to leak. Usually HDS leaks are covered under the hull warranty, but in the event of a hit like this it often won't be. Which would be the case if you mysteriously found it leaking down the road, you'd be SOL. Vdrives don't have HDS, it's just a direct drive thing.

Malibu came up with this "unique" system many moons ago & refuses to go away from it, stupid, complicated system that is prone to leaks & isn't used by anyone else in the industry. If you search, you'll find that there are plenty that have converted their HDS box to a traditional shaft log setup after fighting HDS leaks that they couldn't cure. </rant>

[built2rev]

[jk13]

Malibu came up with this "unique" system many moons ago & refuses to go away from it, stupid, complicated system that is prone to leaks & isn't used by anyone else in the industry. If you search, you'll find that there are plenty that have converted their HDS box to a traditional shaft log setup after fighting HDS leaks that they couldn't cure. </rant>

I was almost going to question if they still used in in 2012 when you first posted to check it. Can't believe they won't get rid of it either, especially on an all-new hull. Baffling.

Edited July 10, 2013 by jk13

[WakeGirl]

I've never seen anything indicating that they don't, but maybe z could check that for us. Now that I think on it, it's not something that they're likely to advertise going away from, since they pimped it for so long as being so great. It would be akin to admitting that they were wrong all of those years.

Good pictures of what it looks like on this page.

[zhensley]

It looks like I am going to cost me about 5 grand. Replace all of the hardware and the glass work is going to be isolated to really taking off the gel coat to inspect for any defects in the fiberglass and repair the holes. It didn't sound like a big deal. After talking to someone that was qualified to talk about this I felt a lot better about working with Tommy's so going to stick with them.

They had not checked the HDS box but they plan on checking it when they do a lake test. So assuming that they are still putting these in the 2012 models.

[TheHardWay]

The HDS box is where the shaft comes through. It's a bit complicated to explain, but the short of it is that a hit like that can separate the box & cause it to leak. Usually HDS leaks are covered under the hull warranty, but in the event of a hit like this it often won't be. Which would be the case if you mysteriously found it leaking down the road, you'd be SOL. Vdrives don't have HDS, it's just a direct drive thing.

This talk of a HDS box got me thinking. I didn't recall seeing such a thing on my boat when I had the floor pulled up to replace the steering cable. My curiosity got the best of me, so I removed the seat cushion and stuck my phone down in the bilge, behind the transmission to snap a pic. My memory was correct as this is what I found.

The boat is a 2003 XTi 23 which as most know is a DD. Maybe Malibu did stop using the box in DDs? Or maybe my boat is a freak of nature????

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[UWSkier]

This talk of a HDS box got me thinking. I didn't recall seeing such a thing on my boat when I had the floor pulled up to replace the steering cable. My curiosity got the best of me, so I removed the seat cushion and stuck my phone down in the bilge, behind the transmission to snap a pic. My memory was correct as this is what I found.

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1373506417.208909.jpg

The boat is a 2003 XTi 23 which as most know is a DD. Maybe Malibu did stop using the box in DDs? Or maybe my boat is a freak of nature????

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Some DDs don't have them (essentially any DD build on a VD hull).

This means 247 RX, 23 XTI, and Response FXi do not have HDS.

[zhensley]

Got the boat back and on the way to the lake.

[danadog]

Got the boat back and on the way to the lake.

Congrats and enjoy!

Let us know how it goes.