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2007 VLX Illusion tower cracked


bboozer

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I have a 2007 Malibu Wakesetter VLX with the Illusion tower (that is powder coated white). I am the original owner and we have probably just over 930 hours. I have always stored it in the garage and I have to lower the tower to do so. We use it almost every weekend so it has been raised and lowered 100's of times. Yesterday I noticed a crack near one of the plastic plugs on the right side of the tower. I know that there were issues with the Metcraft towers, but I have not had any issues with mine so I was thinking that I just got lucky and got a good one. I am wondering what my options are now since I assume that Malibu won't warranty this on a 14 year old boat. (also, my local Malibu dealer has changed 3 times since I purchased the boat, so the current dealership (maybe 2 years) do not have any experience with this issue. I know that some people have added the newer G3 style tower, but I do like the look of the current one and I have very little clearance now so it would have to be just as low when lowered. I assume that my real opinion would be to have all the wiring removed, remove the tower and have it welded/repaired, and then re-powder coated and reinstalled. Sorry for the long rambling post, I just want to make a plan and hope that we can limp through the rest of season and have this taken care of later in the year. I will try to post pictures later

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Have the same tower and I have not had any issues with mine..... as of yet.  The only thing to do is to have someone weld it and re- powder coat it.  How much does the mat weigh you have on top of it? 

Edited by macdaddy
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Its possible it could just be a crack in the powder coat and not the tower unfortunately the only way to know for sure would be to remove the powder coat in that area.

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1 minute ago, tbullard said:

Its possible it could just be a crack in the powder coat and not the tower unfortunately the only way to know for sure would be to remove the powder coat in that area.

After so many years, I doubt it.

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I was wondering about that and wondered if I could find someone with a metal x-ray.... Seems I have seen some car shows on TV where they were using something to check welds on roll cages or something 

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There is an illusion tower (white) for sale on Facebook market place.  Looks very similar to ours.  It is off a boat with 102" beam.  Do not know if that would work....2014 Ski supreme used the old illusion tower for a while.  Maybe an option.

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  • 2 months later...

I'd love to hear what your solution to this was. I have a 2007 Wakesetter 23 LSV, owned since new, and I just found what looks like a significant structural crack in the tower.  Not looking forward to writing the check for a replacement tower...

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  • 1 month later...

CCP, where is the crack that you noticed? Mine is by/through the little black plug on the outside of the driver's side below the rear hoop and above where the Bimini attatches... So far I could only figure out that the best way to to repair it was to have the tower removed, and have it blasted and have the crack welded... Then have it re-powder coated and then re-installed.... It is going to be a pain, but I found a shop here in town that does a lot of fabrication work and they also do powder coating... So that is my plan for now... I am waiting to hear from my insurance company to see if they will cover any of the cost.. 

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I have no i formative info to add but a question, i don’t know how important this is but on my 08 23lsv where the tower meets the boat there’s just little cracks in the gel coat, is any of that structural or is it just like stress cracks?

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7 hours ago, exoticaxstin said:

I have no i formative info to add but a question, i don’t know how important this is but on my 08 23lsv where the tower meets the boat there’s just little cracks in the gel coat, is any of that structural or is it just like stress cracks?

Very common...generally stress cracks. 

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