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2013 TXI Soft Spot in Floor


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I bought a used 2013 Response TXI last spring.  I later discovered it had a soft spot in the floor on the starboard side of the boat where the floor meets the side of the boat.  The dealer has looked at the floor and contacted Malibu regarding possible warranty repair.  Malibu told the dealer that the repair would be covered under warranty if it was constructed of fiberglass; but, would not cover the repair if it was constructed from aluminum composite.  I fail to see the logic in this.  What difference does it make what product they chose to use in the floor.  If it is covered by warranty, isn't that by model year? 

The dealer stated they would need to cut into the floor to determine how it is constructed.  As you may guess, my answer was "No".  I made a suggestion that they may be able to access the underneath side of the floor to determine construction by removing the ski trunk floor and using a mirror or camera.  They may also have to remove the gas tank to access this area.  The boat is currently a 3 1/2 hour drive away.  So I can't easily go poke around to see if there might be an easier way to access under the floor on the outside of the stringer to determine construction.  Does anyone have other ideas?

Edited by 4skinuts
misspelling
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Thanks for the input. The dealer has had numerous conversations with Malibu and they claim they don't know how the floor was constructed. A factory representative has looked at the boat twice. I'm going to bring the boat home to enjoy it for the summer and explore noninvasive methods of determining construction. I believe I can get my GoPro under the floor to take pictures. Or, try your metal detector idea. I will deal with the warranty issue in the fall. 

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On 4/7/2018 at 8:29 AM, 4skinuts said:

Malibu told the dealer that the repair would be covered under warranty if it was constructed of fiberglass; but, would not cover the repair if it was constructed from aluminum composite.  I fail to see the logic in this.

Something doesn't sound right there.  If you have a picture that can be provided to Malibu of exactly where the soft spot is... Malibu should know how it was constructed, right?  I wouldn't expect them to be changing how they build structural components within a model year.  

IMO the aluminum composite shouldn't be used in some areas.  The two places where I know it's used - the trunk lids and hatch over the packing nut - have both given me problems over the  years.  Malibu has been very good with helping out - sending me new trunk lids and a new hatch.  I'd expect in the end that they would help out here as well.

I certainly wouldn't let anyone cut into my boat until it was part of the actual process to repair it under warranty.  In this case I'd probably push for the factory to take it back during the off season and do the repair rather than the dealer.

Mike

Edited by mlange
  • Like 2
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ahopkins22LSV

Sorry I haven't responded to this earlier.

I had sagging on each sides of the engine. The floor is honeycomb aluminum over expandable foam. They believe mine didn't have enough foam pumped in and after time the floor settled. The fix for this was to cut out the floor and foam, blow in new foam, put a new floor down and new carpet. Came out really good and you would never know.

The question on warranty ... Yes, mine was covered. I was still in the 3 year bow to stern warranty period though. I believe that the structural warranty that is limited lifetime only covers major failures in the hull or stringers. Best bet is to work with your dealer on this, take lots of pictures. I had pictures of water pooling, I put a straight edge down in multiple spots taking measurements of how much it sagged and a "map" of each area I took a measurement.

Best of luck.

Edited by ahopkinsTXi
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If you want to take pictures of hard-to-reach areas do a search on Amazon for iOS or Android endoscope cameras. They're $20-$40 and really come in handy. Pretty cool tool to have for a lot of other jobs too. I like the semi-rigid cable ones.

Edited by drh
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@mlange  Yes. My hope is to get it to the factory for repair in the off season; but, it sounds like it will be a fight to get them to perform the repair under warranty based on how @ahopkinsTXI 's floor was constructed.  I never imagined the strength of the floor could be based on foam.  What keeps foam under the floor from getting water logged?  Are TXI floors still constructed this way?  If not, what year did they stop using a foam supported floor?  @drh I had not seen the cell phone based endoscope cameras.  They look very handy. Thank you to all of you for the feedback!

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ahopkins22LSV

Your TXi and mine were 3 piece molds which is why the floor was that way. The next TXi, 17+ is a two piece mold so the top half is a “tub style”. It seems to be pretty rare for the floors to fail on our generation as I’ve only heard of our cases and something else tells me I’ve heard of one or two others but I can’t remeber for sure. The access panel behind the engine for the mufflers and prior shaft is more common for failure but that’s a quick fix with a new panel. 

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On 4/7/2018 at 7:29 AM, 4skinuts said:

I bought a used 2013 Response TXI last spring.  I later discovered it had a soft spot in the floor on the starboard side of the boat where the floor meets the side of the boat.  The dealer has looked at the floor and contacted Malibu regarding possible warranty repair.  Malibu told the dealer that the repair would be covered under warranty if it was constructed of fiberglass; but, would not cover the repair if it was constructed from aluminum composite.  I fail to see the logic in this.  What difference does it make what product they chose to use in the floor.  If it is covered by warranty, isn't that by model year? 

The dealer stated they would need to cut into the floor to determine how it is constructed.  As you may guess, my answer was "No".  I made a suggestion that they may be able to access the underneath side of the floor to determine construction by removing the ski trunk floor and using a mirror or camera.  They may also have to remove the gas tank to access this area.  The boat is currently a 3 1/2 hour drive away.  So I can't easily go poke around to see if there might be an easier way to access under the floor on the outside of the stringer to determine construction.  Does anyone have other ideas?

I agree. 

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