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Some Questions about my RLXI


trevorb

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So I finally got my new (2003) RLXI out on the water last week and I have some questions about it that maybe some of you could answer.

1. Is it okay that the oil pressure is at 80 while driving? It's just above 40 when at idle, and it's a little over 80 at WOT.

2. Should it be sealed between the front ski locker and the bilge area? When the drain plug for the ski locker is in, I still get tons of water in the locker from the bilge area (if there's water in the bilge area). It's leaking at the rear part of the ski locker where the divider meets the bottom of the locker floor.

3. The LCD display shows "BAD" every time I start it up. Once it also said something like "WAIT" and then "NORES" before I started it. I'm a little concerned about why it always says "bad" at startup. Is this normal? It also says OIL P and BATT when I start it or shut it off. I'm assuming that this is normal but I thought I'd also ask about that. Does anyone know what the different things are that the display can show and what they mean?

4. Can I lubricate the springs on the tandem trailer at all? I've never had to do this on any other boat trailer, but this one is a little noisy. I was just thinking about spraying a little WD-40 on the ends of leaf springs.

5. I just replaced the shower pump on it since it didn't work last week (it worked last fall when I test drove it with the dealer). The shower leaks if the hot and cold knobs aren't shut off (even though the electrical switch is off). Do I need to make sure the knobs are also shut off every time. The pump also surges when the shower head is set on the settings which give it a little more pressure. If it is just on the shower setting then it works fine. Does anyone else's shower surge when on some of the other settings?

6. I noticed the rear tracking fin is slightly bent. It looks like the fin was installed that way at the factory. I cannot see any damage on the fin. It's only bent about an inch starboard at the bottom tip of the fin. Is this normal for the fins to not be perfectly straight? I haven't noticed any problems with the tracking, although the steering wheel does slightly load up to one side at some speeds. I talked to my dealer about this and they said it was normal, and the fins aren't always perfectly straight.

7. What kind of top end can I expect? I have a 13x12 acme prop on it, and I get about 44.5 mph (gps) at WOT. It has a 335 monsoon and I'm at about sea level altitude. I was expecting to get around 47-48 mph. Not a big deal, but I would like to get just a little more top end.

Edited by trevorb
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1. Is it okay that the oil pressure is at 80 while driving? It's just above 40 when at idle, and it's a little over 80 at WOT.

Normal

2. Should it be sealed between the front ski locker and the bilge area? When the drain plug for the ski locker is in, I still get tons of water in the locker from the bilge area (if there's water in the bilge area). It's leaking at the rear part of the ski locker where the divider meets the bottom of the locker floor.

It will get wet, no doubt about it, but I wouldn't expect 'tons of water'. I'd take a look at your packing nut - probably leaking more than it should.

3. The LCD display shows "BAD" every time I start it up. Once it also said something like "WAIT" and then "NAIME?" before I started it. I'm a little concerned about why it always says "bad" at startup. Is this normal? It also says OIL P and BATT when I start it or shut it off. I'm assuming that this is normal but I thought I'd also ask about that. Does anyone know what the different things are that the display can show and what they mean?

Are you checking this on the trailer or in the water? IIRC, the 'BAD' indication relates to depth finder, which doesn't work on the trailer. OIL P and BATT sound reasonably normal. Never saw 'WAIT' or 'NAIME' before.

4. Can I lubricate the springs on the tandem trailer at all? I've never had to do this on any other boat trailer, but this one is a little noisy. I was just thinking about spraying a little WD-40 on the ends of leaf springs.

Don't know if it is necessary. I'm sure the WD-40 would work for a little while, but I doubt it would be lasting.

5. I just replaced the shower pump on it since it didn't work last week (it worked last fall when I test drove it with the dealer). The shower leaks if the hot and cold knobs aren't shut off (even though the electrical switch is off). Do I need to make sure the knobs are also shut off every time. The pump also surges when the shower head is set on the settings which give it a little more pressure. If it is just on the shower setting then it works fine. Does anyone else's shower surge when on some of the other settings?

I never have this problem. Just shut off the power switch, and make sure the shutoff on the shower head is closed. If you are still getting leaks, I'd check the hot and cold hose connections at the back side of the valve - might be leaking there. A bit strange that it would still leak with the switch off though. As for the surging on higher pressure settings, I have seen that occasionally. It is more likely to happen if you have a clogged shower head - might check to see if you have any debris (weeds/etc) trapped in there.

6. I noticed the rear tracking fin is slightly bent. It looks like the fin was installed that way at the factory. I cannot see any damage on the fin. It's only bent about an inch starboard at the bottom tip of the fin. Is this normal for the fins to not be perfectly straight? I haven't noticed any problems with the tracking, although the steering wheel does slightly load up to one side at some speeds. I talked to my dealer about this and they said it was normal, and the fins aren't always perfectly straight.

I'd probably buy that explanation if it was off a 1/4" out, but 1" sounds pretty extreme to me. Don't know how much it would impact tracking.

7. What kind of top end can I expect? I have a 13x12 acme prop on it, and I get about 44.5 mph (gps) at WOT. It has a 335 monsoon and I'm at about sea level altitude. I was expecting to get around 47-48 mph. Not a big deal, but I would like to get just a little more top end.

Same combo here, about 900ft elevation, 48mph max (by GPS). Do you know that your speedo is accurate? Only real way to tell is with the GPS.

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6. I noticed the rear tracking fin is slightly bent. It looks like the fin was installed that way at the factory. I cannot see any damage on the fin. It's only bent about an inch starboard at the bottom tip of the fin. Is this normal for the fins to not be perfectly straight? I haven't noticed any problems with the tracking, although the steering wheel does slightly load up to one side at some speeds. I talked to my dealer about this and they said it was normal, and the fins aren't always perfectly straight.

They should be in a pretty straight line. Mine front fin was similar but the previous owner had gotten a bit sideways putting it on the trailer and hit a bunk rather hard. Look closely. If something has been hit, there will likely be some small stress cracks in the gel. How only the back fin could have hit something is beyond me.

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Everything that Jerry said above!

I have an 03 with the 335 as well.

-I just tightened my packing nut assembly for the first time and that may be a cause of the water in your bilge.

-I guess I never pay that much attention to the LCD. I don't know what it says at start-up. I watch the gages.

-Shower-Make sure you turn off both the electric switch and the shut off on the handle. If the handle is left open, the pressure from the engine flow will cause water to leak out of the nozzle and you will have a bilge full of water.

-It sounds like you are running a little slow. Mine runs about 48 at WOT. I can hit 50 with no-gas, smooth water and a good tail wind. Biggrin.gif We ran 45 mph the night before last with a footer on the long line and four of us in the boat. How's the prop look?

Its been a great boat for me. Watch how you cross wakes at idle speed. You will take water over the bow from time to time.

Rip

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1. Is it okay that the oil pressure is at 80 while driving? It's just above 40 when at idle, and it's a little over 80 at WOT.

Normal

2. Should it be sealed between the front ski locker and the bilge area? When the drain plug for the ski locker is in, I still get tons of water in the locker from the bilge area (if there's water in the bilge area). It's leaking at the rear part of the ski locker where the divider meets the bottom of the locker floor.

It will get wet, no doubt about it, but I wouldn't expect 'tons of water'. I'd take a look at your packing nut - probably leaking more than it should.

The boat was actually leaking from the packing nut and the shower head at the time. But I had the ski locker dried out and the locker plug in tight, and any water that got into the bilge would also get into the ski locker. I'm just thinking that what is the point of having the plug in the ski locker if the water can still flow freely in and out of the ski locker another way.

3. The LCD display shows "BAD" every time I start it up. Once it also said something like "WAIT" and then "NAIME?" before I started it. I'm a little concerned about why it always says "bad" at startup. Is this normal? It also says OIL P and BATT when I start it or shut it off. I'm assuming that this is normal but I thought I'd also ask about that. Does anyone know what the different things are that the display can show and what they mean?

Are you checking this on the trailer or in the water? IIRC, the 'BAD' indication relates to depth finder, which doesn't work on the trailer. OIL P and BATT sound reasonably normal. Never saw 'WAIT' or 'NAIME' before.

I'm checking this in the water. If the depth is lower than the set alarm depth then it will show depth on the display. The "BAD" almost always shows up anywhere I start it. It doesn't matter if it is in the driveway or in 25 ft of water. The other thing that showed up was "WAIT" and then "NORES". I just found it in the manual and "NORES" means no response. But it is only in relation to the GPS unit which I don't have. The nores only showed up once, and maybe it won't ever show up again. I'm just wondering what kind of things would trigger it to say "BAD". I talked to my dealer and they don't know what it is either.

4. Can I lubricate the springs on the tandem trailer at all? I've never had to do this on any other boat trailer, but this one is a little noisy. I was just thinking about spraying a little WD-40 on the ends of leaf springs.

Don't know if it is necessary. I'm sure the WD-40 would work for a little while, but I doubt it would be lasting.

5. I just replaced the shower pump on it since it didn't work last week (it worked last fall when I test drove it with the dealer). The shower leaks if the hot and cold knobs aren't shut off (even though the electrical switch is off). Do I need to make sure the knobs are also shut off every time. The pump also surges when the shower head is set on the settings which give it a little more pressure. If it is just on the shower setting then it works fine. Does anyone else's shower surge when on some of the other settings?

I never have this problem. Just shut off the power switch, and make sure the shutoff on the shower head is closed. If you are still getting leaks, I'd check the hot and cold hose connections at the back side of the valve - might be leaking there. A bit strange that it would still leak with the switch off though. As for the surging on higher pressure settings, I have seen that occasionally. It is more likely to happen if you have a clogged shower head - might check to see if you have any debris (weeds/etc) trapped in there.

It was actually leaking if the shower head shutoff wasn't closed. I'll just make sure to close the shutoff valve. This is where all the water in the bilge was coming from.

6. I noticed the rear tracking fin is slightly bent. It looks like the fin was installed that way at the factory. I cannot see any damage on the fin. It's only bent about an inch starboard at the bottom tip of the fin. Is this normal for the fins to not be perfectly straight? I haven't noticed any problems with the tracking, although the steering wheel does slightly load up to one side at some speeds. I talked to my dealer about this and they said it was normal, and the fins aren't always perfectly straight.

I'd probably buy that explanation if it was off a 1/4" out, but 1" sounds pretty extreme to me. Don't know how much it would impact tracking.

It might not be quite an inch, maybe only 1/4-1/2 inch. But you can easily tell if you look under the boat. I just wasn't sure how EXACT these fins were supposed to be put on. I'll post a pic when I bring the boat back home from the dealer this week.

7. What kind of top end can I expect? I have a 13x12 acme prop on it, and I get about 44.5 mph (gps) at WOT. It has a 335 monsoon and I'm at about sea level altitude. I was expecting to get around 47-48 mph. Not a big deal, but I would like to get just a little more top end.

Same combo here, about 900ft elevation, 48mph max (by GPS). Do you know that your speedo is accurate? Only real way to tell is with the GPS.

I set my speedo accurate for 34 mph. The 44.5 mph reading was from gps. I could not get over 45. This may be in the prop. The prop is an acme 13x12 that's been repaired before(stock prop), so I don't know how well this prop is. I test it again after I get a new acme put on it.

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Also,

Does anyone pull the paddlewheel out when you trailer the boat on the highway. I was told that I should pull it out because the highway speeds could spin the paddlewheel too fast and damage it eventually. This seems reasonable, but I think it's going to be a PITA doing this all the time. How important is it to remove the paddlewhell before highway driving? None of my other boats have used a paddlewheel for speedo pickup.

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Also,

Does anyone pull the paddlewheel out when you trailer the boat on the highway. I was told that I should pull it out because the highway speeds could spin the paddlewheel too fast and damage it eventually. This seems reasonable, but I think it's going to be a PITA doing this all the time. How important is it to remove the paddlewhell before highway driving? None of my other boats have used a paddlewheel for speedo pickup.

Water in the ski locker... I had this too and I just ended up putting a little rtv around the flange on the plug and then tightened it. No problems since and it seems repeatable, as in I've drained it after giving some guests in the front a shower and then wanted dry the boat out later and it stayed dry.

PP says that if you are trailer for more than 60 miles one way to keep the wheel out of the stream. So, pull it, tape it, keep it from moving somehow.

I've seen several promo boats read "BAD" at start up. I don't know what that means either. Maybe it means bada$$.

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I don't believe it is necessary to pull the paddlewheel out - I think it is sufficient to tape over it.

(BTW - My boat sits on a lift all summer, so take this for what it's worth. ;) No comments necessary from the peanut gallery either... Jack... Innocent.gif )

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Trailer Springs - My tandem can get noisey also. I usually just dab a few drops of motor oil on the shackle bolts every once in a while, works great and no overspray mess. The noise from the bushings is a combination of drying out and dirt/debris from the water getting trapped inside.

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I have always been told that the tracking fins do line up exactly straight because they would 'sing' at higher speeds if they did.

It would be ok to lube the shackles, but do not use oil or grease on the leaf springs. Grease or oil on the leaf springs will gum up with dirt and cause the springs to wear quicker.

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I don't believe it is necessary to pull the paddlewheel out - I think it is sufficient to tape over it.

(BTW - My boat sits on a lift all summer, so take this for what it's worth. ;) No comments necessary from the peanut gallery either... Jack... Innocent.gif )

Well Jer, you called it, no comments necessary. :)

My gauge reads "BAD" also. Can't tell you exactly when or how often--it's just part of the start up gauge cycling. Don't recall ever seeing NORES, but have read about others who have.

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trevorb - your tracking fins sound normal. If you were to draw a line from one to the next it should look like an airplane wing. They sing when they are not ground correctly on the traling edge.

For the "NORES", check the ground block under the dash. I would tighten all of them.

The speed should be better. I would bet that the repaired prop is the problem.

On your shower, either leave the pump on and the nozzle closed or disconnect the hose each time. With the pump on there is enough pressure that the nozzle wont leak when shut off, with the pump off and the hose connected, water will just continue to dizzle out even if the nozzle is turned off.

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2. Should it be sealed between the front ski locker and the bilge area? When the drain plug for the ski locker is in, I still get tons of water in the locker from the bilge area (if there's water in the bilge area). It's leaking at the rear part of the ski locker where the divider meets the bottom of the locker floor.

This was discussed a year or so ago. There are a lot of RLXi owners that have the same issue. Not sure if there was a good resolution for it or not.

see here for the discussion - http://www.themalibucrew.com/forums/index....wtopic=1907&hl=

/Steve

Edited by ibelieve
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2. Should it be sealed between the front ski locker and the bilge area? When the drain plug for the ski locker is in, I still get tons of water in the locker from the bilge area (if there's water in the bilge area). It's leaking at the rear part of the ski locker where the divider meets the bottom of the locker floor.

This was discussed a year or so ago. There are a lot of RLXi owners that have the same issue. Not sure if there was a good resolution for it or not.

see here for the discussion - http://www.themalibucrew.com/forums/index....wtopic=1907&hl=

/Steve

Thanks,

That's exactly the same problem I'm having. I actually filled up the bilge and noticed water coming into the ski locker between the divider and the hull. I'm just going to seal up the joint between the front divider and the bottom of the hull.

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I found a repaired prop never made the top end of one fresh out of the box. If your engine does not hit the rev limiter now, then a taller prop aint going to get any more speed IMO.

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Don't have the boat, but from experience with inboards...

1. don't use wd40 on anything IMO. Its a "water-displacing lubricant" and will degrease and is basically more of a solvent than a lubricant. I don't use it on anything that requires grease, unless I'm going to regrease it. It evaporates quicker than it lubricates.

2. As long as there isn't any vibration in the steering you SHOULD pull to one side. Most drivers like a little pull to keep the boat straight, especially through a slalom course. Otherwise the boat is all over the place as you overcompensate for the skier's pull.

Can't comment on anything else.

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-Shower-Make sure you turn off both the electric switch and the shut off on the handle. If the handle is left open, the pressure from the engine flow will cause water to leak out of the nozzle and you will have a bilge full of water.

Just proved this one yesterday. Mad.gif We had a night earlier this week that went down to about 30F, so I went out and purged the water from the shower lines. I apparently forgot to close the shower head. :Doh:

I'm out there yesterday taking a few cuts. Climb back in the boat to find the carpet along the starboard side is wet, about like it would after laying wet skis on their sides after a few sets. Didn't think too much of it, until I opened the trunk to get my daughter's skis out. The trunk floor was just saturated with water. Checked the shower head - sure enough.

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find the carpet along the starboard side is wet, about like it would after laying wet skis on their sides

Ummm, you lay wet skis on the carpet??? So much for resale value. . .and now it's all over the internet. :lol:

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