Malibu needs to step up its game...bigger ballast ..new boat !

[Bobby Light]

Why hasn't anyone mentioned a crapper onboard, or did I miss that request?

[rennis]

Why hasn't anyone mentioned a crapper onboard, or did I miss that request?

+1 would love it if I didn't have to motor up to a yacht when one of the hotties on board needed to deuce and didn't have the huevos to use the floating wedge hatch like the rest of us.

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[Cory]

I'd like to be able to tow with the tower collapsed. Right now we plastic wrap the tower for long trips so we don't have a mess of bugs all over the tower to clean. Wrapping or clean bugs takes time.

The knobs aren't quick, cause you still have to tighten them with an allen wrench, if you don't want to worry about them rattling loose.

[Brett B]

I fold my tower by myself every time I take the boat out. I have 185 hours on my boat now and always store it in my 7' tall garage at home, so I have done it dozens of times and have never needed 2 people. Not once. I have Exile XM9 tower speakers and 4 board racks. I tow my boat home from our local river with the boards in the racks since it's just local roads and I don't go over 45mph.

So when I get home it looks just like the picture below, and the step are:

Remove wakeboards from racks and set them on the sun pad

Slide off 4 board racks and stow them under the seat

Remove 2 knobs and stow them in cupholders

Lower tower and let it rest on stand made from 4" PVC pipe

Start to finish doing all this takes me 2-5 minutes by myself.

After removing the knobs my tower does not fold until I move it by hand. And it is weightless the entire time even with the XM9 tower speakers on. I never remove them because I don't have to. This even with my driveway which slopes forward (boat is nose down as shown in picture). If your tower drops by itself you need the higher pressure gas shocks which your dealer can install for free.

[mnhays]

+1 would love it if I didn't have to motor up to a yacht when one of the hotties on board needed to deuce and didn't have the huevos to use the floating wedge hatch like the rest of us.

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I've found that trolling at 6-8mph while using the hole to be MUCH more effective at cleaning than even a Japanese toilet!

[sdk]

So Malibuzer, BB, Bret, and the gal in the video can all fold their fully loaded towers down, by themselves, easily.

So we're talking ONLY about being able to tow in the collapsed position? That's the big 'downfall' of the G3?

Fman: are you having to take all the steps you do, just for clearance issues? Do these other guys have larger garage openings or something?

For me it's towing. Would love to be able to tow with it down. I don't store in my garage so otherwise I don't even care much that it folds down - unless I can tow in that position it isn't of any benefit to me.

[wakebrdr94]

Is the only benefit to towing with it down the cleaning aspect?

[shawndoggy]

I could imagine an argument that towing with the tower down easier on the whole boat too, especially for people with heavy tower speakers and long tows. you don't have a big tower-chute dragging in the wind, and you don't have a long lever with a bunch of weight on it shaking the whole boat.

[sdk]

Is the only benefit to towing with it down the cleaning aspect?

Pretty much. I have 3 little kids. Happy wife is happy life, so the less time I'm on the boat cleaning or getting things set up, the better. Related to that, I don't want to have to take my 3 racks off each time I travel to avoid them getting messy, then have to find a safe spot for them where they won't bounce around and then have to put them back on when we arrive. Life for me is all about convenience and I'm happy to pay a premium for it.

[Brett B]

So Malibuzer, BB, Bret, and the gal in the video can all fold their fully loaded towers down, by themselves, easily.

So we're talking ONLY about being able to tow in the collapsed position? That's the big 'downfall' of the G3?

Fman: are you having to take all the steps you do, just for clearance issues? Do these other guys have larger garage openings or something?

I have a 7' tall garage door, which is why I have to slide off the racks. With an 8' door I wouldn't need to take them off which is one less step. I do have the straight "garage clearance" hoop on my tower which eliminates the need to remove the hoop or any of the tower speakers for a 7' door. You can buy it from your dealer, I have posted the part number on here a few times. So with the straight hoop a folded G3 fits under a 7' door just by sliding off the racks.

There are no options that allow even the 210 to fit under 7' door no matter what you try and do. And I don't see any fewer steps to fold this tower to it's lowest clearance. You are just turning two levers instead of spinning two knobs. Every other step is comparable. Well except for the board racks, since you can only get 2 pair on the 210 no matter what, and they don't easily slide off for storage/transport.

If one of the main jobs of the tower is to store boards, how is a tower that can only store 4 boards a superior design? Where are you going to store more than 4 wakeboards in this boat? A G23 might have extra room but the 210 sure doesn't, the storage areas are tiny compared to a VLX. With their current above floor hard tanks even the 230 rear lockers are smaller than the VLX rear lockers and board storage will be a problem. So you have a 15 passenger 23 foot boat and you can only store 4 boards?

230 rear lockers, no boards fitting in there. That is only a 300lb bag for size reference:

[Fman]

So Malibuzer, BB, Bret, and the gal in the video can all fold their fully loaded towers down, by themselves, easily.

So we're talking ONLY about being able to tow in the collapsed position? That's the big 'downfall' of the G3?

Fman: are you having to take all the steps you do, just for clearance issues? Do these other guys have larger garage openings or something?

If I don't perform the above steps it will not fit in my garage. I have about 1/2" of clearance. You can get a straight bar fabbed by Malibu, but then the issue is the bimini will not align with tow ball opening and it pushes the towball more forward in the boat.

I still can't see how anyone would think the G3 is "simple" to collapse. Its a great tower once erected, but I do think Malibu could come up with a better mechanism to lock it in and change how it rests directly on the dash and have it clear accessories on it. The G3 tower mirror requires complete take off and loosening of the bracket to achieve max collapse. I have done it over a 100 times over the past three years so I have it down to a science but having four different allen wrenches and using quick release knobs that require a wrench does not seem like the most efficient and effective design.

[Fman]

I fold my tower by myself every time I take the boat out. I have 185 hours on my boat now and always store it in my 7' tall garage at home, so I have done it dozens of times and have never needed 2 people. Not once. I have Exile XM9 tower speakers and 4 board racks. I tow my boat home from our local river with the boards in the racks since it's just local roads and I don't go over 45mph.

So when I get home it looks just like the picture below, and the step are:

Remove wakeboards from racks and set them on the sun pad

Slide off 4 board racks and stow them under the seat

Remove 2 knobs and stow them in cupholders

Lower tower and let it rest on stand made from 4" PVC pipe

Start to finish doing all this takes me 2-5 minutes by myself.

After removing the knobs my tower does not fold until I move it by hand. And it is weightless the entire time even with the XM9 tower speakers on. I never remove them because I don't have to. This even with my driveway which slopes forward (boat is nose down as shown in picture). If your tower drops by itself you need the higher pressure gas shocks which your dealer can install for free.

Do you tow with wakeboards in the racks? I hope not, have heard of some horror stories with boards flying off racks while towing.

[Brett B]

If I don't perform the above steps it will not fit in my garage. I have about 1/2" of clearance. You can get a straight bar fabbed by Malibu, but then the issue is the bimini will not align with tow ball opening and it pushes the towball more forward in the boat.

I still can't see how anyone would think the G3 is "simple" to collapse. Its a great tower once erected, but I do think Malibu could come up with a better mechanism to lock it in and change how it rests directly on the dash and have it clear accessories on it. The G3 tower mirror requires complete take off and loosening of the bracket to achieve max collapse. I have done it over a 100 times over the past three years so I have it down to a science but having four different allen wrenches and using quick release knobs that require a wrench does not seem like the most efficient and effective design.

I modded my bimini with a new hole, it works great.

Having the tow point 1 foot further forward makes no noticable difference when riding or driving. Many other boats (MC for example) have tow points already much further back than Malibu so 1 more foot forward really doesn't matter.

I made a tower stand from a piece of 4" PVC pipe, it also works great. Puts the tower at the right height for garage storage and it never touches my dash.

Why do you need a tower mirror? If you are folding your tower all the time just get rid of it. I have my mirror mounted to the windshield instead of the tower. Just like CC does on the 210, 230, G23, and MC does on the XStar, X15, X25, etc.

I agree there could be some improvements but there are several things you can do to make your process easier. The G3 gives you that flexibility if you utilize it, and some options that the MC and CC towers don't give you. From the time I back the trailer into the driveway with boards in the racks to the time I am ready to put the boat in the garage is about 5 minutes and it's really very easy. Removing the hoop each time would be a pain, which is why I don't do it.

Do you tow with wakeboards in the racks? I hope not, have heard of some horror stories with boards flying off racks while towing.

I sure do, every outing to our local river for the past 2 years. Why would the board racks be sufficient at 45 mph on the water, but not sufficient at 45 mph on the street? Of course at highway speeds I put the boards inside, but I don't use the highway to our local riding spot, so there is no reason to remove the boards.

Edited September 23, 2013 by Brett B

[shawndoggy]

ha, this is a lot less likely to happen if your board flies out of the rack while you are on the water than on the road.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afjxD_ywvS4

[Fman]

I modded my bimini with a new hole, it works great.

Having the tow point 1 foot further forward makes no noticable difference when riding or driving. Many other boats (MC for example) have tow points already much further back than Malibu so 1 more foot forward really doesn't matter.

Why do you need a tower mirror? If you are folding your tower all the time just get rid of it. I have my mirror mounted to the windshield instead of the tower. Just like CC does on the 210, 230, G23, and MC does on the XStar, X15, X25, etc.

There are several things you can do to make your process easier. The G3 gives you that flexibility if you utilize it. From the time I back the trailer into the driveway with boards in the racks to the time I am ready to put the boat in the garage is about 5 minutes and it's really very easy. Removing the hoop each time would be a pain, which is why I don't do it.

I sure do, every outing to our local river for the past 2 years. Why would the board racks be sufficient at 45 mph on the water, but not sufficient at 45 mph on the street? Of course at highway speeds I put the boards inside, but I don't use the highway to our local riding spot, so there is no reason to remove the boards.

I personally am not a fan of the window mount mirror, I like the visibility of the tower mirror it offers and keeping it off the window. It is just funny that Malibu sells a tower mirror that has to be taken off along with the bracket to fold a tower, this was not a huge thought for them with R&D when designed.

I guess everyone has an opinion of the G3 collapsibility, I just think some improvements could be made. Having to modify biminis, tow bars, etc seems like there is work to be done to create a more user friendly tower.

I will never tow with boards in the racks, the liability if one of those broke loose and hit something on the road could be catastrophic. We just keep them on the floor and put them up on the racks when we arrive at the lake. To each is own, I am glad it works for you.

[sdk]

^^^^ do we dare get into the fact you can't put the Bimini in full stored position with the tower mirror on?

[Bawshogg]

^^^^ do we dare get into the fact you can't put the Bimini in full stored position with the tower mirror on?

I sure can, is it an issue with all the different versions of the G3 bimini?

[nyryan2001]

Bobby, how are you liking those racks?

[wakebrdr94]

I think all manufacturers have gone away from a seven foot clearance with "as is" items on the tower. But if you want the bigger boats, more freeboard, etc, that's the price that you're going to pay. Even the g23 requires 8.5' from everything I've read. Collapsing is one thing, Malibu made that very easy. Storage is another issue. I can get my tower down, no help, in about a 2 mins. I'm sure I could do 1 min if I hurried. I only remove my racks and Bimini as said earlier to put in my garage. My tower hovers above the dash, does not rest on it. Maybe I just got lucky and my tower works as intended. BUT, when I did get the boat, the tower came with the wrong shocks, and it was a two man job. Dealer swapped out for the right ones and no issues since. If your tower is that heavy, I'd definitely have the dealer replace shocks.

[Bawshogg]

Bobby, how are you liking those racks?

I am extermely happy with them. Except or the one time I let go of the bungee too soon and it popped me in the lip . Not the racks fault. I love the one handed spin into the boat. You can operate them with a board in one hand and just pull the lever and they rotate in. The surf forks have been wide enough to accomodate any size board we have had in the boat, but I hear he as an even larger set of forks now forth extra fatties. Finish has held up awesome and I love just wipingthm down.

Probabaly not the best solution for someone that has to take he racks off all time because they are not slide offs. Wakesetter67 loved mine so much he ditched all his stockers and got 4 Samsons himself.

[nyryan2001]

The surf forks have been wide enough to accomodate any size board we have had in the boat,

2" Triple X Slayer fits ^^^?

[sdk]

I sure can, is it an issue with all the different versions of the G3 bimini?

The problem with your pick is yes, the Bimini is in full storage, but you'll need to take the mirror off to put it up and then take off again to put it back in full store.

[Bawshogg]

2" Triple X Slayer fits ^^^?

Yup. Had two of them in there a few weeks ago.

The problem with your pick is yes, the Bimini is in full storage, but you'll need to take the mirror off to put it up and then take off again to put it back in full store.

Uhm. NO. You unboot the bimini, Fold the rear section back but dont insert the pins.Insert the poles into the front hoop, then attach the front support of the bimini to the poles. Then you lock the taco hinge in place with the pins and attch the velcro on the side supports. I have NEVER removed the mirror to fold or unfold the bimini. It stays right were it is. The bimini goes over the top of th front hoop and the mirror arm.

Why would ever need to unbolt the mirror to do this?

[rennis]

Those racks are awesome! (I got some this year too...favorite upgrade to date.)

[sdk]

Yup. Had two of them in there a few weeks ago.

Uhm. NO. You unboot the bimini, Fold the rear section back but dont insert the pins.Insert the poles into the front hoop, then attach the front support of the bimini to the poles. Then you lock the taco hinge in place with the pins and attch the velcro on the side supports. I have NEVER removed the mirror to fold or unfold the bimini. It stays right were it is. The bimini goes over the top of th front hoop and the mirror arm.

Why would ever need to unbolt the mirror to do this?

I'd love nothing better to be proven wrong here. What year of Bimini are you talking about? Mine is the 2013. No poles. It's super easy to use but for the mirror issue. And if there's a work around, my dealer didn't know it.