What would you like to ask Malibu Boats if you could?

[WoodyBC]

Dear Malibu,

Seaching the used boat market, it appears the Sunsetter lxi 99-04 model is extremely popular. Its size, appearance, wake, open bow, storage, and performance makes this one of the greatest boats ever produced. It does most everything on the water very well. Ever consider bringing this model back into production?

Thanks!

[bamabonners]

Malibu, many of your competitors have gone to a one piece deck construction and use this as a selling point against you. You still make your deck and floor separately on majority of your boats. Is one way more beneficial than the other?

Surf gate seems so simple. How did you come up with it and where do you see it in the future? Any plans to sell or as an officially licensed kit from the factory that could be used older models?

[Afun]

By the way, my Malibu dealer sells two other wake boat brands, so I will not be boatless. Have you seen the new Centurion Enzo? Uh huh.

I have seen it...do you think it's a nice boat? I do not know how to feel about it.

[NHolladay]

Just one question answered. I do have a factory installed power seat and it has at least 6" of up and down adjustment. Is this not common?. I saw a question about why it is not offered?.

[85 Barefoot]

Just one question answered. I do have a factory installed power seat and it has at least 6" of up and down adjustment. Is this not common?. I saw a question about why it is not offered?.

No, it is not common. I had a boat that had it too, but I havent seen power seat as a factory option in some time.

[wakesetter8796]

I think it was an option on the 04-06 23s and 06-07 247s. Expensive option and it only raised it a couple inches or so.

[Sunapee]

Dear Malibu......I am still waiting. Yes, the warranty thing. No, I am not going to go away.

I have an awesome dealer who I buy from every time and always will, so this is not about me. It's about those who cannot get legit work done under the written warranty for WHATEVER REASON. What is more important to Malibu .....honoring a warranty the same way every manufacturer on the planet does, or engaging in price fixing by punishing those who do not play along with the local dealer who enjoys a same brand competition free environment due to territory selling? How about we just stop buying Malibu boats while Malibu gives this some thought? Seriously. I'll gladly go first. I just sold my 2010 and plan to buy a 2014 in the spring. I will state here and now that I will not place an order until this warranty thing has been addressed by Malibu. Game on.

skyskier started to open a door regarding 'local dealers'. Why would you force people to buy a boat from their 'Local dealer' when the buyer's preferance is to spend his $70K at another dealer? This is perticularly frustrating when the local dealer has failed to deliver on commitments and promises in the past, or the buyer simply likes another dealer's reputation better. I am certain that Malibu has lost business to MasterCraft in our area because of this policy

[Bawshogg]

^ This isa very good point. If a customer with an issue that lies with a certain dealer is in the new market, rather than put them in a Malibu from another surrounding dealer, you are basically forcing that customer to another brand if they don't want to by from said dealer. Seems backwards to me, but then again what do we know?

[shawndoggy]

Funny thing is I know that a certain dealer that has been complained about recently for not doing warranty work on a boat they didn't sell will also sell into a territory with an existing dealer. I know several folks who have purchased their boats there even though we (allegedly) have a malibu dealer here in town.

[Brett B]

Any plans to have quad tanks and bow storage design?

Does any manufacturer offer both a hard tank in the nose for ballast and underseat storage in a 21-23 foot boat?

why no tower design that fits under a standard garage door?

Um, my G3 tower with the straight hoop fits under a 7' garage door. None of the modern Nautique or MC towers I have seen will fit under a 7' door.

Edited August 6, 2013 by Brett B

[SethJoe]

You guys don't believe this is malibu specific do you? EVERY brand prefers that you buy your boat from your servicing dealership.

[Bawshogg]

You make a thread about "What would you ask Malibu?", people respond with ideas or improvements and you reply back with its nothing but crap.... I purchased two boats from Malibu in the last couple years, I think any ideas or improvements are totally valid. There are some flaws in the boat that could definitely be improved that "Malibu Corporate" should be aware of.... I should have started my post with "This is what I would ask Malibu, could you add or improve these features of the boat?"

You really think that they will seriously address all your little nitpicky "you should do this, and you should change this, or you should add this so my boat is better"? Not at all. Go read the G23 prop shaft thread. maybe you will understand more of what we are getting at. They will not take those type of suggestions seriously. They have a r/d team for that, and hate to break it to ya......YOUR NOT ON IT. This is for real, anwerable questions that would be presented in a professionl manner from our MOD crew. Not your wish/want list. From the sounds of things, you would buy another without those improvements anyways.

Not to one up you, but I am on my fourth Malibu , going way back to 2004.I have been a Bu' fan for many many years beyond that. I thought it would be nice if we could have some of the old school feel given back from the company that we all love and support.

Maybe that ship has indeed sailed per say, but figured it was worth a try.

[pkh]

Malibu question:

It seems like all the boats have their strengths and weaknesses throughout the entire lineup. Why not chart out the various boats and rate their ability against others. Some categories could be: ski performance, wake performance, surf performance, rough water handling, maneuverability, storage, fuel efficiency, etc.

Edited August 6, 2013 by pkh

[Fman]

You really think that they will seriously address all your little nitpicky "you should do this, and you should change this, or you should add this so my boat is better"? Not at all. Go read the G23 prop shaft thread. maybe you will understand more of what we are getting at. They will not take those type of suggestions seriously. They have a r/d team for that, and hate to break it to ya......YOUR NOT ON IT. This is for real, anwerable questions that would be presented in a professionl manner from our MOD crew. Not your wish/want list. From the sounds of things, you would buy another without those improvements anyways.

Not to one up you, but I am on my fourth Malibu , going way back to 2004.I have been a Bu' fan for many many years beyond that. I thought it would be nice if we could have some of the old school feel given back from the company that we all love and support.

Maybe that ship has indeed sailed per say, but figured it was worth a try.

For clarification, I do not think I am part of the Malibu R&D team, and you are correct about Malibu not really taking customer input seriously. I have filled out two surveys that were mailed to me and requested a phone call or email back, crickets.... still waiting and that was over a year ago. Maybe both of my surveys got misplaced and I was one of the few that were never contacted. Asking a question about potential improvements on a boat can be presented in a professional format to be taken seriously at the corporate level or passed along to the r&d team. When you see new boat production every year and they remain to be unresolved it makes you wonder if they really have any idea these items are needed for improvement or modified. I would hope Malibu would be more than interested in getting customer feedback from current owners to help improve there product.

So another question "Does Malibu read customer surveys and actually get in contact with customers?"

[TrickyNicky]

What is the breakdown of boat sales you are currently experiencing? How many ski boats vs wakeboard specific boats are sold? Where applicable what is the break down to diamond hulls vs wake hulls on certain models? How have you seen this change over the years and do you see any unique direction it may be moving aside from bigger equals better.

From malibu corporate, how are the diamond and wake hulls designed to function?

for:

all things warranty and dealer territory related

vinyl issue (I understand they don't want to admit problems, but how about a corporate mumbojumbo of a solution)

[TrickyNicky]

For clarification, I do not think I am part of the Malibu R&D team, and you are correct about Malibu not really taking customer input seriously. I have filled out two surveys that were mailed to me and requested a phone call or email back, crickets.... still waiting and that was over a year ago. Maybe both of my surveys got misplaced and I was one of the few that were never contacted. Asking a question about potential improvements on a boat can be presented in a professional format to be taken seriously at the corporate level or passed along to the r&d team. When you see new boat production every year and they remain to be unresolved it makes you wonder if they really have any idea these items are needed for improvement or modified. I would hope Malibu would be more than interested in getting customer feedback from current owners to help improve there product.

So another question "Does Malibu read customer surveys and actually get in contact with customers?"

Fman I hear ya and agree but this is NOT the place. Every year we have a thread along the lines of "what would you like to see improved by Malibu" It is one of my favorite threads and I can GUARANTEE you in one way or the other that that thread gets to the R&D team.

As stated this thread is the result of a post in the G25 sheared prop shaft thread and is meant to be more formal questions that we actually hope to post in direct communication with someone from Malibu.

The individual requests on what we would like to see are not going to produce any exciting responses.

[Bawshogg]

Trav, now that's something that would likely be submitted. I could not agree with you more that one would think, US, the core group of owners would be a valuable tool to use towards building a better product. NO doubt about it. I think they do pay a little attention......not enough , but you have to rememeber how Capital groups opperate for the most part. Profit and money is the #1 motivating factor. Malibu is hot right now. But the others are catching up if you look at it objectively.

It would be nice if we could open the doors of communication per say and not bombard them with problem after problem and it may possibly work out into something greater in the future.

[TrickyNicky]

Dear Malibu,

Seaching the used boat market, it appears the Sunsetter lxi 99-04 model is extremely popular. Its size, appearance, wake, open bow, storage, and performance makes this one of the greatest boats ever produced. It does most everything on the water very well. Ever consider bringing this model back into production?

Thanks!

Does a TXi and/or VTX not cover this? No need to respond as I wanna keep this thread on track but I would think it does.

[TrickyNicky]

Malibu, many of your competitors have gone to a one piece deck construction and use this as a selling point against you. You still make your deck and floor separately on majority of your boats. Is one way more beneficial than the other?

Surf gate seems so simple. How did you come up with it and where do you see it in the future? Any plans to sell or as an officially licensed kit from the factory that could be used older models?

I would be curious to know the story of how it was come up. No trade secrets just a good old story of we accidentally did this and that happened, woohoo. That would bring the old small company feeling back.

[TrickyNicky]

^ This isa very good point. If a customer with an issue that lies with a certain dealer is in the new market, rather than put them in a Malibu from another surrounding dealer, you are basically forcing that customer to another brand if they don't want to by from said dealer. Seems backwards to me, but then again what do we know?

Not to mention if your house and boat location is not the same and there are two potential dealers. You ca buy from either but end up only getting service from one. So to reiterate dealer territories and warranty work issues.

[Afun]

Malibu question:

It seems like all the boats have their strengths and weaknesses throughout the entire lineup. Why not chart out the various boats and rate their ability against others. Some categories could be: ski performance, wake performance, surf performance, rough water handling, maneuverability, storage, fuel efficiency, etc.

Looks, clean lines, ability to attract chics, etc....I agree Edited August 6, 2013 by Afun

[ryangb]

IMO, the warranty question is on the right track. Now lets reasonably think about asking the vinyl question that a few have experienced. If they were to address that question in an public online forum, it would be admitting online that there is an actual problem with the vinyl (although I suspect, IME, that it's the dark boat covers getting the vinyl too hot). Can you imagine the flack that would cause them? Lets see, first ALL the other boat makers would be quoting them saying their vinyl is trash and they know it (even though it's not). Second, how many new buyers would be turned off of Malibu because the vinyl is going to turn brown on them. They will be 100% sure that it will happen to them if they buy a Malibu that they will look elsewhere even if they don't know another Mfg might be using the same vinyl. Think of all the warranty claims that would show up if someone from Malibu posted there is actually a problem.

We have to be honest with ourselves. The questions that they will entertain publicly will not be questions that will damage themselves in any way. Put your self in their shoes and think about how the question will effect them if they answer it publicly. If there are questions that they feel are damaging in any way, they aren't going to answer those or maybe even refuse to cooperate at all. We all have questions we would like to express to them about issues with the boats, it's not going to happen publicly. Your kind of seeing why the interview that Ryan posted in the other thread contained little real info.

Yeah, definitely wouldn't look good on them. Didn't really look at it from their perspective.

[RoscoeYo]

malibu not having some one monitor this forum would be stupid, that being said there are people from malibu who monitor it i guarantee you that. they are people of passion for what they do just like us. Some of us log on 15+ times a day when we get a spare monent.

Do you think of all their employees even if not paid to do it some people don't log on and view the forum. I personally would if i worked there building boats. I would be hoping to see what i have built for people and their families.

[Faceplant409]

I guarantee that Malibu has read this thread. If they have not then things have gone way down hill since Mr. Alkema left.

[Bawshogg]

I'm pretty sure if they read this forum regularly they will be paying me to get into another brand by next season. .........