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Break In Period


tylerp27

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I've wanted to buy my first boat for years and finally decided to do so this year. I ordered a 2021 23 LSV in January, with expected delivery in April. As with many others I was impacted by the manufacturing delays and my (now 2022) 23 LSV just shipped yesterday with an expected arrival on August 11th. I can't wait to get out on the water for the final month or so of summer here in the PNW, and have a question for those of you with more experience than myself.

Even after original delays, my boat was scheduled to arrive a couple days ago. This was going to give me time to break it in and get the 10-15 hour break in service done before leaving on a several week vacation, all planned around boating. After a last minute parts delay the boat will now arrive just a day or two before I leave on vacation and I'll be in a fairly remote area, not near a Malibu dealer at all. I expressed concern/frustration to my dealer that I wouldn't be able to get much use out of the boat on vacation due to the break in service constraints. My sales rep told me the 10-15 hour guideline wasn't firm and that 'most' people go 40-50 hours before break in service with no issues or future warranty implications. He also said there were no issues surfing, wakeboarding, etc. and that 'everyone' did that in the first hour or two.

Does his advise sound right? I want to be able to enjoy my new boat on vacation, but not at the expense of future mechanical and/or warranty issues.

Any advise is appreciated!

Tyler

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Great looking boat!  Congratulations.  

 

I would heed the advice of @oldjeep.  I would also recommend that you do an on water evaluation with the dealer before you take delivery.  These boats can and do ship with some likely faults that hopefully your dealer can correct if they're in need of correction before you head out on vacation.  The oil that's used in the engines from the factory is a lighter viscosity break-in oil.  It's not intended to go beyond the initial break-in.  I would not listen to your dealer suggesting that you can go 40-50 hours before your first service, particularly considering there's a 50-hr service requirement.  If I were in your position, which is similar to the position I found myself in earlier this season, I would get as many hours in as possible before you leave, change the oil and filter, and you should be good to go.  This is just my opinion, others may say something different, so make the decision that works best for you. 

 

Enjoy your vacation and happy boating to you. 

 

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If it were me I'd follow the break-in procedure and keep the RPM's down for the first 10 hrs. Like jeep said then change the oil yourself. Get an extractor, oil,  filter, large crescent wrench and bring it with you.  It should take you less than an hour.  

His advice is probably right but it's not his money either so it's up to you.

Sweet boat, enjoy and congratulations .

 

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IIWM and I did. Follow the breaking procedure to the letter. Then take the face shot and let the dealership handle the first oil change and check up. This places the blame for any issues that may have come up on the dealership or Malibu in my case. As suggested, I would absolutely not go 50 hours. That suggestion is probably because they are swamped, just a guess though. My dealership was wanting 20 hours fortunately for me I had another issue at 16 hours which brought it in early. Any normal maintenance after that is a simple DIY and any questions you may have can most likely get answered here. JM2C

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I agree with 10 hours following the rules and then change the oil.  The break-in oil is for break-in, not long term running.  From what I know of the reasons for break-in are more around longevity.  By the time you start seeing increased oil consumption or low power you are years down the road and you would likely not connect the break-in.  Our dealer pushed for them to take the boat out first, I did not want the inevitable WOT test doing the break-in so I met them at the landing and took the boat out myself for the first 10.

You will want some time on the boat before you take it on a trip.  Ours was missing the clear cover for the sea strainer when it got to the landing, nit cooling.  There were a few other things that got taken care of, that was the biggest.  Taking it on a trip without a few hours of shakedown would be inviting frustration.

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34 minutes ago, Surf4FamFun said:

I did not want the inevitable WOT test doing the break-in so I met them at the landing and took the boat out myself for the first 10.

PCM recommends running the engine WOT for about 60 seconds every 1/2 hour for the first 5 hours.  This helps seat the rings and condition the engine for long term use.  I am not sure what Malibu recommends (I don't think Malibu used to recommend WOT for break in), but they are both the same GM blocks from the same GM factory so who knows.    I have seen how dealers do it from all the big boat manufacturers, and they run the crap out of them right when they drop them in.  

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3 hours ago, Surf4FamFun said:

I agree with 10 hours following the rules and then change the oil.  The break-in oil is for break-in, not long term running.  From what I know of the reasons for break-in are more around longevity.  By the time you start seeing increased oil consumption or low power you are years down the road and you would likely not connect the break-in.  Our dealer pushed for them to take the boat out first, I did not want the inevitable WOT test doing the break-in so I met them at the landing and took the boat out myself for the first 10.

You will want some time on the boat before you take it on a trip.  Ours was missing the clear cover for the sea strainer when it got to the landing, nit cooling.  There were a few other things that got taken care of, that was the biggest.  Taking it on a trip without a few hours of shakedown would be inviting frustration.

Good advise on the other issues besides break-in. Thanks!

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3 hours ago, rennis said:

I live in Woodinville and if you need me to drive that thing around for you for 10 hours before you go on vacation, shoot me a message.

Nice! Where do you take your Malibu out? I have moorage reserved on Lake Washington but have been surprised a couple times out on a 22 LSV that I borrowed from the dealer how rough it was.

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9 hours ago, tylerp27 said:As with many others I was impacted by the manufacturing delays and my (now 2022) 23 LSV just shipped yesterday with an expected arrival on August 11th. 

If you don’t mind my asking, do you know what your spray date was?  We are expecting a boat too as we were bumped to a 2022. We have a vacation planned for what we hope is after the boat’s arrival.  We will be trying to get the break-in done before vacation too.

We are in the PNW and don’t know how long to expect after the spray date.  Any real-world info you could provide about your wait time after spray date would be awesome!

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1 hour ago, tylerp27 said:

Nice! Where do you take your Malibu out? I have moorage reserved on Lake Washington but have been surprised a couple times out on a 22 LSV that I borrowed from the dealer how rough it was.

Is your moorage at Newport or lake union? If Newport, you can get good water on the south end until about 10-11am and then later in the evening on weekends. Mid day on a weekend and it’s no fun in an inboard. If you don’t run lead, you can fill the mid ballast tank up when it gets choppy as well. 

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54 minutes ago, Pnwrider said:

Is your moorage at Newport or lake union? If Newport, you can get good water on the south end until about 10-11am and then later in the evening on weekends. Mid day on a weekend and it’s no fun in an inboard. If you don’t run lead, you can fill the mid ballast tank up when it gets choppy as well. 

Good to know - is that like around the end of Mercer Island or all the way down to Renton?

The rental I've been using has been out of Lake Union but when I get mine it will be in Newport. The rental times were limited so I've been out between 2:00 - 7:00pm; sounds like thats the worst time :). Are week days better or when does it usually calm down in the evening?

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1 hour ago, SortaSurfs said:

If you don’t mind my asking, do you know what your spray date was?  We are expecting a boat too as we were bumped to a 2022. We have a vacation planned for what we hope is after the boat’s arrival.  We will be trying to get the break-in done before vacation too.

We are in the PNW and don’t know how long to expect after the spray date.  Any real-world info you could provide about your wait time after spray date would be awesome!

My spray date was July 21st; it was ready to ship on 7/29 but was waiting for a part that was out of stock. It ended up shipping 8/3 with a planned delivery 8/11 at latest. They are doing a drop off in Portland first so my dealer is going to try to drive down and pick it up for me a few days early. 

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10 hours ago, tylerp27 said:

I've wanted to buy my first boat for years and finally decided to do so this year. I ordered a 2021 23 LSV in January, with expected delivery in April. As with many others I was impacted by the manufacturing delays and my (now 2022) 23 LSV just shipped yesterday with an expected arrival on August 11th. I can't wait to get out on the water for the final month or so of summer here in the PNW, and have a question for those of you with more experience than myself.

Even after original delays, my boat was scheduled to arrive a couple days ago. This was going to give me time to break it in and get the 10-15 hour break in service done before leaving on a several week vacation, all planned around boating. After a last minute parts delay the boat will now arrive just a day or two before I leave on vacation and I'll be in a fairly remote area, not near a Malibu dealer at all. I expressed concern/frustration to my dealer that I wouldn't be able to get much use out of the boat on vacation due to the break in service constraints. My sales rep told me the 10-15 hour guideline wasn't firm and that 'most' people go 40-50 hours before break in service with no issues or future warranty implications. He also said there were no issues surfing, wakeboarding, etc. and that 'everyone' did that in the first hour or two.

Does his advise sound right? I want to be able to enjoy my new boat on vacation, but not at the expense of future mechanical and/or warranty issues.

Any advise is appreciated!

Tyler

Congrats on the new boat.  I am near you on English hill.  Which lake are you headed to on vacation?   We just drove around Lake Washington for a day to get most of our break in hours in.  It got a little boring just driving around the main part of the lake, but it worked.  Glad we did it, we discovered a few minor things (coolent leak, etc) that Seattle Boat was able to fix up before we headed out of town on a trip.  We do our weekend boating on Lake Sammamish, but we also do a lot of week long trips on the other side of the mountains (Chelan, Priest, CdA and Sandpoint.)  Have a great trip.  Boat trips are the best.

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6 minutes ago, tylerp27 said:

Good to know - is that like around the end of Mercer Island or all the way down to Renton?

The rental I've been using has been out of Lake Union but when I get mine it will be in Newport. The rental times were limited so I've been out between 2:00 - 7:00pm; sounds like thats the worst time :). Are week days better or when does it usually calm down in the evening?

For years we had a group of guys that met at my friends place on Juanita Bay to wakeboard... VERY different place at 5am, flat water and perfect for morning runs.  :).   You can find some good water on Lake WA :)

Edited by gregtay
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6 minutes ago, tylerp27 said:

My spray date was July 21st; it was ready to ship on 7/29 but was waiting for a part that was out of stock. It ended up shipping 8/3 with a planned delivery 8/11 at latest. They are doing a drop off in Portland first so my dealer is going to try to drive down and pick it up for me a few days early. 

Ha! I wonder if our boats will be "Travel Buddies"... Our boat had a spray date of July 23rd.  We are in Southern Oregon, so I suppose they could be on the same truck if our boat maybe didn't have the delay.  Ours is an Axis so I don't know if they have been having any parts delays.  We are going to stop by our dealer tomorrow to see if we can get any update on information.

Thanks for the info on your dates. That gives us something to look forward to!

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2 hours ago, gregtay said:

Congrats on the new boat.  I am near you on English hill.  Which lake are you headed to on vacation?   We just drove around Lake Washington for a day to get most of our break in hours in.  It got a little boring just driving around the main part of the lake, but it worked.  Glad we did it, we discovered a few minor things (coolent leak, etc) that Seattle Boat was able to fix up before we headed out of town on a trip.  We do our weekend boating on Lake Sammamish, but we also do a lot of week long trips on the other side of the mountains (Chelan, Priest, CdA and Sandpoint.)  Have a great trip.  Boat trips are the best.

I'm hoping to get it a few days early so I can do the drive around Lake Washington for break in, plus get to familiarize myself with the boat. 

Vacation will be a week in Chelan which is a yearly tradition (though previously without a boat!) and a week in Osoyoos which will be a first. I'll have to look into the others you mentioned! 

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19 hours ago, tylerp27 said:

Nice! Where do you take your Malibu out? I have moorage reserved on Lake Washington but have been surprised a couple times out on a 22 LSV that I borrowed from the dealer how rough it was.

Over here we pretty much only do Sammamish.  Even that gets pretty rough these days with the volume of boats on it now.

Preference is to tow over the mountains to Entiat or Banks.  We do that several times each summer.  Well worth the haul. 

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14 hours ago, tylerp27 said:

I'm hoping to get it a few days early so I can do the drive around Lake Washington for break in, plus get to familiarize myself with the boat. 

Vacation will be a week in Chelan which is a yearly tradition (though previously without a boat!) and a week in Osoyoos which will be a first. I'll have to look into the others you mentioned! 

Have fun. We just got back from 9 days at Chelan on Sunday, had a wonderful time.  Wood in the lake isn't too bad this year.  Smoke from the Oregan fires started to get thick the last day we were there (couldn't see across the lake.)  But... the lake is warmer this year than it has been in the past (still cold:)).  The only issue we had this year was the jetskiers were TERRIBLE this year, clearly rental people who have zero knowledge of safety or rules. We had one jump our surf wave with my 11 yo niece surfing, they were about 15 feet from her.  Thankfully they fell off and we doubled back and I had nice long chat (yelling the entire time.)  My advice is keep your watersports up in Mill Bay, don't do anything down by town or in front of the Lookout. Just not fun.  The stations on the lake don't have 92 octane, but that is okay, you will be fine.  If you are staying up by Manson (and launching at Mill Bay) you can stop by the new gas station (across from the Mill bay launch )before you launch... they have 92 non-ethanol :)... so at least you start off with a nice tank of fuel. :)  

Also... there is a marine shop up in Manson if you need anything.

Edit to add that @Chappy might be over at Chelan when you are there, I know he is normally at his place at the Lookout this time of year.  If he is there, I am sure he can help you out if you need any help with the new boat or have questions about the lake.

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Edited by gregtay
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1 minute ago, gregtay said:

Have fun. We just got back from 9 days at Chelan on Sunday, had a wonderful time.  Wood in the lake isn't too bad this year.  Smoke from the Oregan fires started to get thick the last day we were there (couldn't see across the lake.)  But... the lake is warmer this year than it has been in the past (still cold:)).  The only issue we had this year was the jetskiers were TERRIBLE this year, clearly rental people who have zero knowledge of safety or rules. We had one jump our surf wave with my 11 yo niece surfing, they were about 15 feet from her.  Thankfully they fell off and we doubled back and I had nice long chat (yelling the entire time.)  My advice is keep your watersports up in Mill Bay, don't do anything down by town or in front of the Lookout. Just not fun.  The stations on the lake don't have 92 octane, but that is okay, you will be fine.  If you are staying up by Manson (and launching at Mill Bay) you can stop by the new gas station (across from the Mill bay launch )before you launch... they have 92 non-ethanol :)... so at least you start off with a nice tank of fuel. :)  

Also... there is a marine shop up in Manson if you need anything.

 

Beautiful boat!  I live probably less than 2mi from you as the bird flies (I'm near Bear Creek CC)

Anecdotally that boat shop in Manson is fantastic.  They have saved our bacon in the past.  About 10 years ago was in Chelan for a buddy's bachelor party, and our friend towed over his ProStar.  The fuel pump died mid-morning the first day of the trip.  We got a tow back to Mill Bay, called the shop.  They had a spare fuel pump on the shelf.  Got the boat in, repaired, and back to us later that same day.  Completely saved the weekend. 

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33 minutes ago, rennis said:

Beautiful boat!  I live probably less than 2mi from you as the bird flies (I'm near Bear Creek CC)

Anecdotally that boat shop in Manson is fantastic.  They have saved our bacon in the past.  About 10 years ago was in Chelan for a buddy's bachelor party, and our friend towed over his ProStar.  The fuel pump died mid-morning the first day of the trip.  We got a tow back to Mill Bay, called the shop.  They had a spare fuel pump on the shelf.  Got the boat in, repaired, and back to us later that same day.  Completely saved the weekend. 

Funny to see so several people from so close to home on a large forum like this - we are on Hollywood Hill in Woodinville.

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39 minutes ago, gregtay said:

Have fun. We just got back from 9 days at Chelan on Sunday, had a wonderful time.  Wood in the lake isn't too bad this year.  Smoke from the Oregan fires started to get thick the last day we were there (couldn't see across the lake.)  But... the lake is warmer this year than it has been in the past (still cold:)).  The only issue we had this year was the jetskiers were TERRIBLE this year, clearly rental people who have zero knowledge of safety or rules. We had one jump our surf wave with my 11 yo niece surfing, they were about 15 feet from her.  Thankfully they fell off and we doubled back and I had nice long chat (yelling the entire time.)  My advice is keep your watersports up in Mill Bay, don't do anything down by town or in front of the Lookout. Just not fun.  The stations on the lake don't have 92 octane, but that is okay, you will be fine.  If you are staying up by Manson (and launching at Mill Bay) you can stop by the new gas station (across from the Mill bay launch )before you launch... they have 92 non-ethanol :)... so at least you start off with a nice tank of fuel. :)  

Also... there is a marine shop up in Manson if you need anything.

Edit to add that @Chappy might be over at Chelan when you are there, I know he is normally at his place at the Lookout this time of year.  If he is there, I am sure he can help you out if you need any help with the new boat or have questions about the lake.

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Nice boat - like the colors!

Thanks for all the advise! We are staying in the Wapato area near Manson so that is great to hear they have a shop for any emergent needs.

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