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Ski session got cut short this morning


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Taking the turn at the tight end of the course and heard a big thump, took a couple more passes until the skier was done and then my father inlaw notices the bilge pumping like crazy. Seem to be missing something. Last year I think they smacked it on a lift cross member and tore out the front 2 bolts, filled the holes with some sort of epoxy, redrilled screwed and 5200'd the fin back on. Guess it wasn't enough. (2004 LXI). Doesn't appear to be a way to reach the area from the inside of the boat, it is under the small cooler that is right in front of the pylon.

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Edited by oldjeep
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Ouch. You sure they used 5200 to re attach that fin? I was always under the impression that a fin (or anything else) attached with 5200 would leave a ton of damage if ripped off. Although I do see quite a bit of gel coat cracking there.

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Ouch. You sure they used 5200 to re attach that fin? I was always under the impression that a fin (or anything else) attached with 5200 would leave a ton of damage if ripped off. Although I do see quite a bit of gel coat cracking there.

Not sure, I wasn't there for the last repair.

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Wow! Hit something I presume?? That's ugly, yet repairable. Isn't that cooler you mentioned removable?

Don't know if it is removable or not. If it was it would make it a lot easier to do a repair.

I don't thing anything was hit - recently anyways just stress from turning and a previous repair.

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Wow. I replaced a bent front fin on my 05 RLXI a while back. The OEM adhesive was so strong that when I was trying to pry off the fin I was convinced that any more force was going to result in gel coat tearing off. I acquired some solvent and spent a couple of hours working away at it to get the fin off with no gel damage.

Looks like you have some really unfortunate hull damage there. Maybe it's time to bolt the new fin on with through bolts and nuts but there's the problem of easy access. Just looked at mine and doesn't seem to be any practical way to remove the cooler and, even though there's some clearance between the hull and the bottom of the cooler, it's a long way up from the engine bay and probably can't readily get up there. Do you actually use the cooler? Would you consider cutting out the cooler floor and leaving it out? Or, could cut out a panel from the cooler floor and then glue in a slightly larger replacement panel?

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I haven't looked at mine but there is a chance the ski locker/cooler lid door frame holds it in place. I rarely use my cooler since we have a walk through seat in the boat all the time. I thought it was formed using a thinner piece of plastic and not fiberglass like the hull and supporting structure so it would make sense that it's an insert. Just hope Malibu didn't lay the floor over it.

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Wouldn't through bolts cause pretty serious damage if you hit something and ripped it out again? I think they aren't through bolted so they fail if you hit a log without ripping huge holes in the hull.

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Some threaded holes in some stainless 1/2" stainless rectangular cross section stock could work as a kind or blind nut - but if you hit something else... Maybe use designed shear bolts? You could slide it up from behind.

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For that matter, drill the holes a little oversize and then plug them from the outside with a big wad of glass mat wet with resin. Just cram the wad through the hole, and leave just the tip of the wad sticking out. Then drill and tap the holes to accept new bolts (or use lag screws).

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When my front fin got loose a few years back and the holes were stripped, y'all said: DON'T DARE THROUGH BOLT THAT THING BECAUSE THE NEXT BIG HIT WILL CREATE A THROUGH HULL YOU CAN'T IMAGINE. Can't this be fixed from the outside by filling the holes with Marine Tex and then simply drilling and tapping? That has worked very well for me for multiple years.

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The SV23 VLX is thru bolted. I found out the hard way 2 years ago. Busted off the front tracking fin and it's a good chunk of labor to get to it. After pulling the fuel tank and seeing everything, I decided to convert to a lag bolt setup. Glad I did as I ripped that one off a month later. A little more Marine Tex and another lag bolt fin and it has been good ever since.

What is pictured here is a pretty quick/easy repair. A bit of sanding, small amount of Marine Tex, bolt a new one on with some 4200 and you are good to go.

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The SV23 VLX is thru bolted. I found out the hard way 2 years ago. Busted off the front tracking fin and it's a good chunk of labor to get to it. After pulling the fuel tank and seeing everything, I decided to convert to a lag bolt setup. Glad I did as I ripped that one off a month later. A little more Marine Tex and another lag bolt fin and it has been good ever since.

What is pictured here is a pretty quick/easy repair. A bit of sanding, small amount of Marine Tex, bolt a new one on with some 4200 and you are good to go.

That is sounding like the plan. He is going to see if there is any way to get the cooler out so that the epoxy can be done from the inside rather than trying to shove in from bottom and hope it can be mushroomed enough to get a good bond.

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