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Finally Part of the Malibu Family (follow up with disappointment)


NorCalSurfer

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ahopkins22LSV

Looks great! The LX is a super nice boat, but it’s marketed to be the budget friendly option in the Malibu like up which is why options are limited. It’s performed is great though! We used one for an event a few years ago and people were very impressed with it, as was I. 

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You nailed the color combo.  Love it.

Interesting on the soft grip flooring; hard to believe that's not an option.  I could get my wife to do a boat upgrade for one single reason alone...have a boat without carpet.  :-) 

Enjoy the new ride!

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We had a 21 VLX to start.  An awesome boat that out surfs anything in comparable size.  

We also pulled the carpet and added the Gator Step.  Super easy to do.  

Congrats!!  :cheers:

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4 hours ago, ahopkinsVTX said:

Looks great! The LX is a super nice boat, but it’s marketed to be the budget friendly option in the Malibu like up which is why options are limited. It’s performed is great though! We used one for an event a few years ago and people were very impressed with it, as was I. 

Yeah that is what my sales guy was saying. My thought though is that I went 21 ft to get it in the garage and they have Axis for the budget friendly. 

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2 hours ago, EchelonMike said:

You nailed the color combo.  Love it.

Interesting on the soft grip flooring; hard to believe that's not an option.  I could get my wife to do a boat upgrade for one single reason alone...have a boat without carpet.  :-) 

Enjoy the new ride!

To clarify, you can get soft grip but the top deck rails is not an option which was a deal killer for me. So I optioned for carpet and I am doing GatorStep. 

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  • 2 weeks later...
NorCalSurfer

I had 35% tint installed and the boat detailed and ceramic coated. I must say, the gel coat quality is really bad. Pretty frustrating. I’ll be taking it to the dealership for them to look at it. 

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Can't see anything from the photo's, work of art for sure. Hopefully all will be made right. Wish I knew more about the process of all things gel coat. For example, is the flake in the gel, or applied after, etc., in a different "layer" ? 

Steve B.

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NorCalSurfer

I was rushed to get it home. Ill take photos. I should have flaked the entire boat as it’s not visibly there. The white portions have really bad issues. It’s either built up gel coat or cracks in the gel coat. Coming from a Calabria that had gel coat cracks all over, I really wasn't expecting this. Also a super shiny detailed boat shows the issues even more. :Frustrated:

Edited by NorCalSurfer
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On 3/15/2023 at 8:55 PM, Steve B. said:

Can't see anything from the photo's, work of art for sure. Hopefully all will be made right. Wish I knew more about the process of all things gel coat. For example, is the flake in the gel, or applied after, etc., in a different "layer" ? 

Steve B.

Boats are made in a mold from the outside in.  They tape off one color area, spray it, dry it, then tape off the next color area (which can be underneath the 1st color too) and spray that.  Then they do the fiberglass and keep layering up.  Pull it out of the mold shell once it's all dry and put the 2 pieces together.  It's a pretty cool thing to see if you get to visit the factory.

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13 minutes ago, Sixer said:

Boats are made in a mold from the outside in.  They tape off one color area, spray it, dry it, then tape off the next color area (which can be underneath the 1st color too) and spray that.  Then they do the fiberglass and keep layering up.  Pull it out of the mold shell once it's all dry and put the 2 pieces together.  It's a pretty cool thing to see if you get to visit the factory.

Toured the Supra plant last Friday. Worth the drive. image.png.31e5a65050128fae2caab86a21200592.png

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  • 1 month later...
  • 3 weeks later...
NorCalSurfer

I have finally been able to install the GatorStep just as our season is getting started. It’s supposed to be 90 here on Sat and I have a full boat load of people planned. I’ve put on about 9 hours so far so we are calling it good. I will schedule for oil change for next week. 
 

Installing the GatorStep wasn’t the worst boat project I’ve ever done. I did a few pieces last weekend but got the rest done today. I’d say in total about 5 hours. 
 

Two pieces need to be redone but they aren’t a huge deal. Overall I am very happy with how it turned out. 

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  • 1 month later...
NorCalSurfer

I figured I’d follow up on this thread with an update after over 4 months of ownership and 40 hours. I would say over I am pretty disappointed, in Malibu and the dealership. When paying this much for a boat it’s pretty unbelievable the lack of care and quality. Let’s start with the gel coat. I couldn’t be more disappointed. To make matters worse, the dealership thinks they are going to fix it themselves, in house. I told them absolutely not. This is basically done by a tech after hours. He’s not a gel coat or fiberglass expert. I got a quote for a gel coat shop of $5k but they said they will not deal with Larson/Tommy’s do to them taking forever to get paid. That’s not something you want to hear as a client who just drop make coin on a brand new boat that need significant repairs to hear they hate your dealership. I was being generous also just focused on the major issues and letting go of the numerous small issues, I’ll be reevaluating my position on letting the smaller stuff slide when it’s time for repair in the off-season. Here are some photos. What’s not pictured are huge lines in the gel coat on the hull around the prop and rudder. 
 

Next is the Bimini cover, it’s stained with white marks all over. I told the dealership and he said they are all like this. I called BS and he said he’d reach out to the area rep, I haven’t heard anything in a month. 

I have three cushions with gouges/cuts in the vinyl. I reported these in March, still nothing. 
 

I opted for the white textured trailer. It has bare marks that are black and permanent black marks. The dealer said they’d have to touch up with paint and they’d do it at the 10 hour service. That never got done. They basically said there’s no way to keep these textured trailers to look clean which had nothing to do with this s***ty paint job. 
 

Another great one was I wanted to do the beginner side hooks. They service guys bitched about how we should have done that before putting on the second set of speakers. I said how about we do it with the 10 hour service. Again, they didn’t do it complaining again how it should have been done earlier. I told them I’ll just do it myself and figure it out. It took me 45 min not knowing what in was doing. Such a joke. 
 

I ordered my boat late 2022 with Larson Marine and two weeks after they were taken over by Tommy’s. It just really sucks being stuck going to one dealership. 

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