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Quick question about Malibu trailers.


shiftman

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Found a trade-in 2008 Wakesetter 21 VLX with no trailer. Do Malibus come from the factory with Malibu built "inhouse" trailers, aftermarket trailers or a combination of both.So far, I have not had much luck in locating a suitable trailer on the web and was unsure how Malibu did their trailers. Thanks.

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Depending on where you live, you may find them hard to find.  In my area nobody really uses inboards so trailers are unavailable.  I had to order a trailer but it was a fairly simple process.  All of the hulls have a similar shape, so you are mainly concerned with hull length, weight, and ground clearance for the prop cage.

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ahopkins22LSV
36 minutes ago, Greg_S said:

and i haven't heard good things about their quality

 

27 minutes ago, hethj7 said:

What have you heard?  I'm on my second one with really no complaints.   They tow great.   

Agreed. It’s by far the best trailer I’ve had. Boats load perfect. And tow very stable and balanced. 

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10 hours ago, hethj7 said:

What have you heard?  I'm on my second one with really no complaints.   They tow great.   

Are they galvanized?  Aluminum?  All stainless hardware? 

Painted steel won't cut it around here....

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1 hour ago, justgary said:

Are they galvanized?  Aluminum?  All stainless hardware? 

Painted steel won't cut it around here....

Am I being interrogated? :)   I am not sure if they have a galvanized option.  Painted steel is fine for most of the markets but I assume they have some sort of saltwater option.  

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1 hour ago, hethj7 said:

Am I being interrogated?

<Lamp shines in eyes>

"You vill answer ze questions."

"Do you have your papers?  You cannot proceed wizout your papers."

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The one time I was actually at BM, I do not recall seeing galvanized anything, only raw and painted steel. I am not saying they don’t, but the math isn’t there for them to produce galvanized trailers. As far as quality between the 2, if you pulled the Malibu logo off of the bow roller support bar,I doubt the unknowing would be able to tell much of a difference between the two.  When I started to crawl around underneath is when I noticed subtle differences. The differences between my 2010 BM and my 19 Malibu were things like what appeared to be a thicker paint job on the 19, the drain holes looked to finished a little better, less welding splatter maybe, the rear bottom trailer rollers on the ‘10 were just pipe sections flopping around one a metal cross bar where the ‘19 has dedicated rollers. The electrical looked to be about the same except better LED lights on the 19.

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production of a galvanized trailer is almost no differen than a regulkar trailer. Add a few weep holes and send the frame out for galvanizing dip.  The big question is if BM has access to a hot dip facility.  Up here they are as rare as hen's teeth now due to environmental regs.

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5 hours ago, Eagleboy99 said:

production of a galvanized trailer is almost no differen than a regulkar trailer. Add a few weep holes and send the frame out for galvanizing dip.  The big question is if BM has access to a hot dip facility.  Up here they are as rare as hen's teeth now due to environmental regs.

Exactly.  I was quoted about $700 to hot dip a boat trailer in Mobile, AL when I was considering building my own.  That was one-off pricing, not a regular customer.  He said a regular would pay about $400 or so.  I decided to order an aluminum one, and even they made me build my own prop cage.

The way I see it, other than around salt water areas the dealers don't care and the first buyers don't care if they don't plan to keep the boat.  Everyone else cries that it would be cheap to just dip them all in the first place.  It won't happen if the dealers don't order them and first buyers don't recognize that they can get all of that money back on resale.

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20 hours ago, justgary said:

Exactly.  I was quoted about $700 to hot dip a boat trailer in Mobile, AL when I was considering building my own.  That was one-off pricing, not a regular customer.  He said a regular would pay about $400 or so.  I decided to order an aluminum one, and even they made me build my own prop cage.

The way I see it, other than around salt water areas the dealers don't care and the first buyers don't care if they don't plan to keep the boat.  Everyone else cries that it would be cheap to just dip them all in the first place.  It won't happen if the dealers don't order them and first buyers don't recognize that they can get all of that money back on resale.

Everyone hates the price of new boats but now you want to just add a largely unnecessary  option on all trailers?  Why not galvanize all car frames and work trailers as well?

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On 11/26/2020 at 10:03 AM, ahopkinsVTX said:

 

Agreed. It’s by far the best trailer I’ve had. Boats load perfect. And tow very stable and balanced. 

Agree!  Malibu trailers are the best in the business.   

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3 hours ago, hethj7 said:

Everyone hates the price of new boats but now you want to just add a largely unnecessary  option on all trailers?  Why not galvanize all car frames and work trailers as well?

If what you claim is true, why do we keep seeing "my trailer is rusting" posts?

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6 hours ago, hethj7 said:

Everyone hates the price of new boats but now you want to just add a largely unnecessary  option on all trailers?  Why not galvanize all car frames and work trailers as well?

I have already explained the necessity in my area.  Of course, I don't know of any Malibu dealers within about four hours of me, either.

My 1992 GMC Safari had a galvanized body.  I don't know which are and aren't galvanized now, but the answer may surprise you.  The Ford F-Series now has aluminum bodies.  Cars don't seem to rot out instantly like they used to.

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3 hours ago, Eagleboy99 said:

If what you claim is true, why do we keep seeing "my trailer is rusting" posts?

I guess I haven't noticed these posts being systemic and most are surface rust issues vs. to the point of causing failures.   Oddly enough, while doing a quick search to see if the issues were more common than I thought, I ran across your own post stating your 21 year old trailer had a few rust spots, but nothing that a rattle can couldn't fix.  

 

14 minutes ago, justgary said:

I have already explained the necessity in my area.  Of course, I don't know of any Malibu dealers within about four hours of me, either.

My 1992 GMC Safari had a galvanized body.  I don't know which are and aren't galvanized now, but the answer may surprise you.  The Ford F-Series now has aluminum bodies.  Cars don't seem to rot out instantly like they used to.

Got ya - I totally get it when salt is involved.   I was also referring to frames vs body panels (who knows, maybe some frames of are actually galvanized these days).   And I agree with you that rust is less common these days - probably a combo of different materials as well as better coatings from the factories.   

Anyways, I didn't mean to turn this into a galvanized vs. painted thread.   The OP asked about Malibu trailers and I think we answered that.   

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55 minutes ago, hethj7 said:

I guess I haven't noticed these posts being systemic and most are surface rust issues vs. to the point of causing failures.   Oddly enough, while doing a quick search to see if the issues were more common than I thought, I ran across your own post stating your 21 year old trailer had a few rust spots, but nothing that a rattle can couldn't fix.  

 

Got ya - I totally get it when salt is involved.   I was also referring to frames vs body panels (who knows, maybe some frames of are actually galvanized these days).   And I agree with you that rust is less common these days - probably a combo of different materials as well as better coatings from the factories.   

Anyways, I didn't mean to turn this into a galvanized vs. painted thread.   The OP asked about Malibu trailers and I think we answered that.   

Rust never sleeps.  Frankly, next trailer I get will be galv, stainless or aluminum.  

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when boatmate was Malibu's vendor i ordered the tandem painted galvanized version,  dealer sold it to me for $5000.00 on buy order, the margin i assume he had got some of the pricing on the boat back since i was under 50000.00 (boat only) on an ordered brand new ‘14.  i bet if i hadn’t i would have gotten a 2 wheel trailer for not very much if any added to price,  luv mine and it has zero rust in very regular brack usage,  i launch and retrieve app 100+ times a year for 6.5 years 

Edited by granddaddy55
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45 minutes ago, IXFE said:

Everybody wins. 

While I fully agree with you about pay if you want it, anybody after the first owner loses when the trailer rusts out.  Sadly, it becomes much more than a $1,557 option when that happens.

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