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Introduction


gongchuan

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Just wanted to stop in and say hello. I hope this is an okay area to post up introductions.

My name is Mike Harry, my father just happened into a 1986 Malibu Skier (I will try to get some pictures up at a later time) he traded a Harley sportster for. The boat overall is in good condition. We do however have an issue with the rudder. It is bent badly. The boat needs several things but nothing to large. The prop needs a recondition. The floor under the driver seat was rotted so we cut out the rot. The wiring is horrible, cuts, dead end wires, splices, improper connections.

 

Just going to put out a little background........ I own a 1986 American Skier (Barefoot Skier) which I went through stringers up. New stringers, floor, engine, trans, paint (yes I said paint not gel coat), seats, ............ the entire boat was rebuilt. So I have a pretty good knowledge of the way things go on an inboard boat.

The issue I am having at this time is sourcing a rudder. I would like to buy a whole kit with the arm, the inner and outer support pieces, and of course the rudder itself. I have done some research and found that the Malibu has a 1 inch shaft rudder. I have also found that there have been issues in the past with the 1 inch shaft breaking or shearing off which is why manufacturers ended up going with a 1 and 1/8 inch shaft in the latter years. I found a entire "kit" on ebay which seems to be everything I need, but I was wondering if anyone here has already had this issue and found a better source. Something I wouldn't have to do as much or any modification with.

 

Thanks in advance for any and all information and its a pleasure to be here. Ill post up some pictures as soon as I get a chance.

 

 

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Thanks for the links guys. I appreciate you taking a moment to welcome me also.

I have purchased from skidim before and have talked with marineharware in the past. I know that I can purchase a rudder from them. I was looking to upgrade my entire assembly. Unfortunately there is a note directly under the new rudder assemblies that states in bold that the complete rudder assemblies will not work in a 1986 Malibu Skier. It doesn't go into detail as to why.

I am guessing it may be due to the size of the trough hull parts wont fit? I am very comfortable with making something work that I want to put in, but at the same time Im not looking to spend close to a grand on something that will never work no matter what I do to it.

What makes the 86 MS so much different that these assemblies will fit almost any other boat but they will not fit the MS? What am I missing?

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FB_IMG_1444348120105_zps7eup6ljj.jpg

Thought I would post a few pics of my American Skier. Hope its not frowned apon. Just until I can get some pictures of my dads Malibu Skier loaded up ;-)

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Shes a simple old girl, but we love her.

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19 minutes ago, gongchuan said:

 

FB_IMG_1453316324487_zpssoaxpemk.jpg

FB_IMG_1453316222129_zpsewct50uz.jpg

 

:drool:             :love:

 

Beautiful boat - I'm sorry I have no advice to offer, but I will willingly admire your Skier.

 

Welcome to the Crew!

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Well thank you very much. Im sure I will get what I need once I get a few more views. Hopefully everyone is out enjoying church/families/the lake today.............. whatever floats their boats!

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martinarcher

Welcome to the board!  I owned a 88' Skier and now a 87' Sunsetter.  I love the older Malibu's and am really familiar with them.

I fully intended upgrading mine when I put my new exhaust in, but I couldn't get the bottom plate off the hull of the Sunsetter. When I rebuilt my Skier rudder it came off easily. I figured I would end up damaging the hull on the Sunsetter before it let go. I even tried a chisel and finally said enough was enough. If the bottom plate on your comes off the hull without too much trouble, it would be a pretty easy swap. Just an FYI. The tube on the newer housing is a bit wider than the old housing tube due to the bushings and grease zerks.  I'm guessing that is shy they are telling you it won't fit the Skier since it isn't a "drop in".  That never stopped me from adapting or making things work if I needed. :)   There is a little rubber doughnut in the hull that probably will have to come out in order to allow the larger tube to pass through the hull, but that would be easy. The shaft is actually smaller on the newer rudder but the greasable housing ends up being larger.

Some pics in my thread here of the two. (post #31 is what your interested in)

Also pics of the dissasembly/reassembly in my how to here.

Have fun with the new boat!

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9 minutes ago, martinarcher said:

Welcome to the board!  I owned a 88' Skier and now a 87' Sunsetter.  I love the older Malibu's and am really familiar with them.

I fully intended upgrading mine when I put my new exhaust in, but I couldn't get the bottom plate off the hull of the Sunsetter. When I rebuilt my Skier rudder it came off easily. I figured I would end up damaging the hull on the Sunsetter before it let go. I even tried a chisel and finally said enough was enough. If the bottom plate on your comes off the hull without too much trouble, it would be a pretty easy swap. Just an FYI. The tube on the newer housing is a bit wider than the old housing tube due to the bushings and grease zerks.  I'm guessing that is shy they are telling you it won't fit the Skier since it isn't a "drop in".  That never stopped me from adapting or making things work if I needed. :)   There is a little rubber doughnut in the hull that probably will have to come out in order to allow the larger tube to pass through the hull, but that would be easy. The shaft is actually smaller on the newer rudder but the greasable housing ends up being larger.

Some pics in my thread here of the two. (post #31 is what your interested in)

Also pics of the dissasembly/reassembly in my how to here.

Have fun with the new boat!

Any size differences with either the shaft or the housing I can easily deal with. I just wanted to be sure there wasn't some reason the new style housing wouldn't sit flat or flush either on top or bottom or if there was some other issue I wasn't looking at. Luckily Dad's rudder and all parts associated fell out of the boat with only the slight issue of the through hull brass being out of round so we ended up sanding it down just as instructed on this page mentioned.

That makes me feel much more at ease as far as ordering the rudder kit. What you installed is exactly what I am looking at. Seems as though its a fairly straightforward mark, trim, set in place project.

Thank you for your help and pictures. That's exactly what we intend to do with the same parts. Nice to know its worked out well for someone else. Looks like its time to do the hard part and put in that order (and spend that money!)

On another note, Im GUESSING that the difference between a sunsetter and a skier is the open bow? Not new to inboard ski boats but still a Malibu virgin and don't know the model differences or all the lingo yet.

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martinarcher

Yep.  The skier is a closed bow and the Sunsetter is an open bow.  The Sunsetter has a good bit more freeboard than the Skier.  The Skier is a better slalom/barefooting boat but the Sunsetter still skis really well.

You shouldn't have to trim your tiller arm like I did.  That was just to clear the 4" exhaust I added to the Sunsetter (from 3").  The extra exhaust diameter ate up the free room for the tiller arm to swing.  Since I couldn't get the bottom brass plate off my boat I ended up leaving the older style rudder in.  I was prepared to put the new greasable rudder in but gave up since I didn't want to take too much fiberglass with it.   :)  I can't see any reason why it wouldn't go in fine though.  The other thing worth noting is the rudder housing is a bit taller on the greasable housing than the older rope style housing but it looked like it would fit OK on my Sunsetter.

Good luck.  Take some pics of the project and write up a how-to.  I'm sure it would help lots of others.  Have fun with it!

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Okay, a few things getting knocked out. First, the last goober that owned the boat put a new raw water pump on it. He decided since he purchased the wrong pump (no keyway on the shaft) he would directly weld the pulley to the shaft. Which made born a horrible wobble not to mention he didn't know how to weld so it looked like crap. We drilled a hole through the shaft collar and shaft and pressed in a drift pin tight. Now the pulley bolts on properly (or as properly as possible without a keyed shaft).

Secondly, there was rot under the drivers seat. I was amazed that the rest of the floor was solid, but under the drivers seat was gone. To make matters worse some goober decided (more than once) to just add a thick aluminum plate over the area for the cure. 2 plates removed and I swear to you 70 screws into rotten plywood and foam later and we cut out the rot. We are reinstalling poly board. It will be glassed in properly and at least that spot will never rot again.

The prop and rudder have been removed along with the rudder housing. The props (have a spare) are out for reconditioning and a new rudder kit is on its way from great Lakes skipper.

The exhaust is horrible. We will be installing stainless pipe (bent at correct angle) and cutting out quite a bit of that garbage you see. 

The wiring is bad as well, but almost everything works. We're going to finish up what we've started and get it back on the lake. Once winter shows up well be cutting out every inch of wire and making a brand new harness just the way I did in my AmericanSkier. 

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