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96 Sunsetter VLX questions


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4 minutes ago, kygreen229 said:

Another question since a pic of the back of the boat is up. It appears the swim deck is bowed. Anyone have experience in dealing with that? Was going to pull it off and soak it down, flip it upside down and put weight on it and let it dry..doubtful but maybe worth a try?

You could try, and perhaps flip some of the boards.  Worst case - a new teak one is about $600

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11 hours ago, kygreen229 said:

Another question since a pic of the back of the boat is up. It appears the swim deck is bowed. Anyone have experience in dealing with that? Was going to pull it off and soak it down, flip it upside down and put weight on it and let it dry..doubtful but maybe worth a try?

You will need to steam that board for it to take a set.  Make a steam tube out of a piece of pipe, put some water and the board in, cap it, and light a fire under the pipe to heat it.  After you let it heat soak for a while, remove it and weigh it down with a little reverse bend until it cools.

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The exact same bolt on my wedge regularly breaks. Fairly easy to drill and remove with an easy out but I do heat up the strut with a torch to loosen the loc-tite.

Rather than digging around under the motor looking for the plug just look under the boat for hull fittings and then match them all up in the boat and you will know what they all are.

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Hey guys I was just out on the water today for the first time on my 01 vlx and I noticed water in the ski locker before. 

I was going to post a jew thread but see this one and curious what's the next way to drain it? 

My bilge switch does not turn red when active and I also don't hear it running.  Where is it mounted to take a look to see if it's hooked up and what's the best way to test if the switch is working with a multimeter?  Also when the blower is on should I hear it?  I've never owner a inboard. 

I have a few other questions but I'll check the manual first and make a different thread. 

Thank you 

Edited by Smokedvw
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On 6/26/2020 at 8:53 PM, tbullard said:

The exact same bolt on my wedge regularly breaks. Fairly easy to drill and remove with an easy out but I do heat up the strut with a torch to loosen the loc-tite.

Rather than digging around under the motor looking for the plug just look under the boat for hull fittings and then match them all up in the boat and you will know what they all are.

Wonder why that bolt would break often? Odd. I’ve looked around under boat since posting this thread and I don’t think I’m missing anything, there just isn’t a vertical plug. Just the rear stern one. 👍

 

 

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2 hours ago, kygreen229 said:

Wonder why that bolt would break often?

I have always suspected that some of the wedge struts were not drilled and tapped quite deep enough, so the screw bottoms before the head draws tight against the countersink in the wedge.  Any motion of the wedge against the bolt head can apply enough force to break the bolt.  Just a theory.  I have a 2-bolt wedge, but I never use it.  In fact, it is laying out in the weather right now since I took it off the boat.

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Need to replace engine dividers. Appears someone cut each side out when they removed the engine to overhaul it...anyone have pics of theirs they could share? I believe it is HDPE that I need and cut them and install. Shouldn’t be a big deal, just interested how they attach and maybe a a rough idea on thickness.

 

Thanks!

Need engine dividers

 

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On 7/3/2020 at 1:02 PM, kygreen229 said:

Need to replace engine dividers. Appears someone cut each side out when they removed the engine to overhaul it...anyone have pics of theirs they could share? I believe it is HDPE that I need and cut them and install. Shouldn’t be a big deal, just interested how they attach and maybe a a rough idea on thickness.

 

Thanks!

Need engine dividers

 

Looks pretty clean! Pretty sure the dividers are 1/4 thick black pvc/ plastic. The black plastic strip screwed to the floor is how they are attached, mine hinge with one screw in each corner holding them upright. I’ll get you a pic later this week.

Looking at your plug wires, they might be original...at least the blue color were. Might add a set of those to your list when you tune her up.

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22 hours ago, BlindSquirrel said:

Looks pretty clean! Pretty sure the dividers are 1/4 thick black pvc/ plastic. The black plastic strip screwed to the floor is how they are attached, mine hinge with one screw in each corner holding them upright. I’ll get you a pic later this week.

Looking at your plug wires, they might be original...at least the blue color were. Might add a set of those to your list when you tune her up.

Since posting this pic I had figured out the thickness and purchased replacement HDPE material. Yes, if anyone has pics from this vintage of how the dividers went in and attached that would be great. I was thinking they were cut off/out, now that I am looking at it more it seems maybe there were hinged as you said so you can flip them down to access the engine. Just not quite sure. 

I did get it on the water for a couple hours last Sunday, it runs great! 0 complaints. The Perfect Pass system needs some work but I knew that. 

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  • 1 month later...

To all that have replied so far thank you. Been enjoying the boat. Perfect pass system actually works, both rpm mode and speed mode. Speed mode seemed to hunt more initially but it works off the old paddle wheel. Maybe upgraded gps route is the way to go?
 

I have had a few buddies surf it and its working. Used sand bags and people as weight but did aquire a few fat sacs to try next. 
 

Fixed my wedge, drilled out bad bolts and replaced with 4 new SS bolts and blue threadlocker. Added a boat plug light that lights up super well and is cool at night. 

Really want to refurb the swim deck that’s bowed/sagging mainly in the back closest to the stern of the boat next and get teak oil on it. Good off season project. 

Also need some upholstery work..uggh. 

 

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Anyone on here ever put a newer fiberglass swim platform on one of these older boats? Is there one that fits or is it worth it to just revamp the teak one? The one I have is in pretty good shape really, except the back is just bowed. Has the door for the wedge in it. Should I just disassemble and see whats warped and try to revamp it? 

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8 minutes ago, kygreen229 said:

Anyone on here ever put a newer fiberglass swim platform on one of these older boats? Is there one that fits or is it worth it to just revamp the teak one? The one I have is in pretty good shape really, except the back is just bowed. Has the door for the wedge in it. Should I just disassemble and see whats warped and try to revamp it? 

Got a couple of thousand bucks?  Just repair it.

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1 hour ago, Eagleboy99 said:

Got a couple of thousand bucks?  Just repair it.

Definitely not looking to spend a couple thousand on a swim platform. I'll plan on repairing. 

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The platform on my 2001 SSlxi was sagging like that when I bought it.  It also has the trap door.  At least on mine, only screws were holding it together.  It looked like it had been glued originally but the glue wasn't doing anything anymore.  Anyhow I took it all apart, and clamped the bowed boards for a while in a reverse curve which helped straighten them out.  I flipped the bottom strip at the back to give it an upward curve, and started gluing it back together with Gorilla Glue.  Some say it will break down over time, but mine has held up fine.  I made some new support pieces out of ipe (since that's what I had) to go on the bottom around the hatch with a tighter fit.  The deck came out very rigid and FLAT!  Its been done for two seasons now and has held up great.  Hope this helps.  I didn't want to spend the $ on a new one and kinda wanted to keep it original too.

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I just looked at your picture and yours is sagging in the front, mine was sagging across the whole thing.  I see some of your joints are separating- I think you could flatten that out as I did.

 

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1 hour ago, hmh800 said:

I just looked at your picture and yours is sagging in the front, mine was sagging across the whole thing.  I see some of your joints are separating- I think you could flatten that out as I did.

 

Thanks for your responses and info. The very back seems pretty straight, the front of it, or curved side at the stern of the boat is what is bowed. It’s looking like pulling it apart, steaming and/or heating the boards of sorts and flattening out is best solution. Then screwing back together and maybe adding glue when I do. Then sand it all down and teak oil it. After, just have to keep up on it. Most of the deck itself is in decent shape other than the sag. 

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  • 5 weeks later...

Let the fall/winter projects begin..

On the 96 Sunsetter it has the power ram in the rear port side to lift  the whole engine cover as one piece. Slow, annoying and needs to be removed so I can put sacs back there. Would like to just put two gas shocks of sorts back there and pull it up manually like any other modern rear cover. Anybody do this on one of these older boats? Seems like this should be fairly simple with the right gas shocks.

Also back to the no T handle plug under the v drive area. That is pretty annoying. I think I’m going to install one this winter. I see Bakes carries a few different ones. Looks like the modern one is the 3/4” with the O-ring. 

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