2001 Malibu Wakesetter VLX Rebuild

[barch]

3 hours ago, Mb911 said:

Why not gel below the waterline?

If you are referring to gelcoating rather than using awlgrip...

I have heard great things about awlgrip, a friend painted his ocean fishing boat with it and the stuff is solid. I also think it will be much easier doing the entire hull in one form of material.

[justgary]

57 minutes ago, barch said:

If you are referring to gelcoating rather than using awlgrip...

I have heard great things about awlgrip, a friend painted his ocean fishing boat with it and the stuff is solid. I also think it will be much easier doing the entire hull in one form of material.

I think Awlgrip is a great idea.  I had a Glastron with an Awlgrip clear coat and it was great.

The main problem with spraying gel coat is that you spray on a gallon of it and then sand most of it off to get a smooth finish.  A lot of work goes into it to make it look nice.  If you can get everything clean, you should be able to get Awlgrip to lay down and look great without much work after the spray job.

The boat is coming along nicely!

[barch]

Welded up some guide posts for the trailer

 

And managed to finish up with all the fairing compound from beforehand...Lots and lots of sanding and layers to get those edges and lines straight.

 

[barch]

Most exciting of all...

Got the Awlgrip 545 primer laid down...now will sand the primer with 400 grit to get all imperfections out then coat with Awlgrip Awlcraft Basecoat

In the inflatable paint booth (vevor brand, available on amazon/ebay/alibaba)

Primer laid down

And...outside of the booth...waiting for the next day I have free time to sand and prep for paint

At this point its really getting exciting

 

[barch]

Update::: It has taken me a while to make this post...But here she is!!!

Laid down 3 layers of Awlgrip on top of the primer from the last post. Used the same paint booth and came out amazing...take a look!

 

Then installed a Monster MTK tower

Gave the swim step new life...sanded with orbital sander and 400 grit then coated with teak oil

 

Oh and here is the fun part!!! I think its pretty dumb that Monster sells a Bimini for the tower (as do all the aftermarket tower companies) that you still need to drill holes in the tower to mount them and they are not even the quick connecting bimini snaps...so I decided i would make my own. I bought a basic universal bimini kit from Amazon and threw the fabric over the tower, marked where I wanted the hole for the tower ski pylon, removed the fabric, cut and sewed the hole, then began making the bimini arms for a custom fit.

I modeled it after the Illusion tower with the quick snaps. As you can see I installed some tower speakers too, put new speakers throughout the boat and a new head unit...all from amazon. Works great. In later pictures you will see how the struts are tightened down by hard struts, not the adjustable fabric straps in the kit. Each of the struts was recut, drilled and riveted custom to fit the bimini exactly where I wanted it. Still need to tighten the edges so I will do that at a later date. For now at least we have some good shade and it held up!

Got the new prop shaft, strut, prop and rudder installed...along with the drip less shaft seal recommended earlier in this thread

Followed the how to video online found at youtube showing how to align the engine and v-drive to the shaft. Got it within .015 inch on the coupler and was very excited. Tightened everything up, did a once over changing all the fluids, impeller, starting it via hose and plunger. And it came to the moment of truth, so we headed down to the lake.

The newer Axis rudder fit perfect and works great. No issues.

AND OF COURSE THE MOST JOYFUL MOMENT OF ALL

Took the Boat out in Lake Havasu for the last weekend of the Summer, was so nervous backing down the launch ramp and the first start up. We kept a close eye on the prop shaft seal as that was the spot I was most concerned about, that seal went on so easy I thought it was the wrong size. After 2 full days on the water: wakesurfing (center ballast filled no rope...maybe in the future I will add a wedge and or ballast bags), wakeboarding, waterskiing, hanging in the channel, cruising from jeeps cove and copper canyon on the south end to topock, the boat did amazing and ran great. After 2 days on the water there was maybe a total of a tablespoon of water in the bilge.

Last photo to show the bimini and how it tightens down

 

[hethj7]

Wow!  Great work!  That has got to be so satisfying to see how great it turned out. 

[Steve B.]

So cool to see a huge new cool project come together ! 

I'm sure it'll all evolve still. Enjoy !

[Slurpee]

That

is

AWESOME

[DUKENO1]

Wow....unbelievable work and skill! 

[minnmarker]

Congratulations on a fantastic restoration!

And you learned more than I'll ever know.

Great job.

[redrooster]

Nice work!!!  

[BlindSquirrel]

Looks great! I doubt you have the skills, but you should attempt to build a suck gate. Quick easy way to vastly improve the surf wave. Until you add real surf gates that is. Impressive work. 

[formulaben]

On 11/10/2023 at 7:06 PM, barch said:

Gave the swim step new life...sanded with orbital sander and 400 grit then coated with teak oil

I recommend wet sanding with 60-80 grit because that 400 will make it feel really nice and smooth, but when it gets wet it'll be slick enough to slip and fall.  But man, what a great job on the project!!