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-   Archive through June 22, 2004 (http://www.wakeworld.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=176251)
-   -   Adapting 1990 Malibu F3 Skier for Boarding (http://www.wakeworld.com/forum/showthread.php?t=174005)

kerrielin 06-10-2004 9:44 AM

I just bought this boat (my first)and want to adapt it for wakeboarding. It has a center low pylon for skiing, no bimini, and no ballast. I'd like to have a tower but may have to settle for an extended pylon - cost. I have a bid pending on ebay for a skylon with wake board rack. Is this a good choice? It really gets hot here so a bimini is a necessity. Taylor Made makes one that will fit around an extended pylon but it is only 30# high. Is this tall enough? Has anyone tried this set up? I want to add ballast for a bigger wake but don't know how much weight. I am a beginner and would appreciate suggestions for the best ballast set up for my boat. I have a couple of tow ropes from the previous owner that were used for skiing. Are they ok for boarding? How long should they be? Thanks so much for helping this novice. CB in N. Carolina}}

malibudude 06-10-2004 10:00 AM

Checkout Malibuboatowners.com for specifics on the boat as several folks there either own or owned an F3. I'd suggest against using slalom ropes in the future but for now they'll work. An extended pylon is fine but that biminy is low, only to walk under. On a closed bow boat not really that big of an issue to me anyway. I'd try 500 Lbs sacks on each side of the engine and then add a weight up front as needed to reduce bow rise and shape the wake further. Rope length is all personal but depending on one's ability and wake shape/size maybe start 55 or 60 ft.

rocketman 06-11-2004 1:49 PM

Carolyn, <BR> <BR>At last, somebody else that has an older Malibu. Everybody always talks about the Nautique 2001s, and nothing about older Malibus. I've got the exact same boat as you've got, and I love it. I have a phat budde sack in the back, and we always fill it so much that it's bulging with 500-600 lb. We store the boards on top of it. All the people sit up front, which resolves the issues of bow rise. It kicks out a pretty good wake, especially when the gas tank is full. If we're only going out with three people, I sometimes run a couple of extra mini sacks, one on each side of the engine for a little more kick. It works great. <BR> <BR>I'm not one to load up the boat with 1800 lb of ballast like some people do though. I don't know if other older Malibu owners have done that much or not. <BR> <BR>I've also got the extended pylon, and it works great. A tower would be more convenient, but when I bought my boat, towers didn't exist back then. I figured if I want a tower, I'll just wait until I can afford a newer boat with one already on it. <BR> <BR>Post a picture of yours.

srh00z 06-11-2004 5:00 PM

I have a Sunsetter (1986) and I am having two fat sac side seats shipped this weekend, so far I like the unweighted wake, I am still working on jumping the wake, but some of my other friends can take stuff well out into the flats. David, is yours a Sunsetter or the Euro F3 skier? I was wondering how it pulls out of the hole with the weight, mine has the 260 HP Merc with a four blade prop. I am only going to fill the sacs part of the way up to start with.

rocketman 06-11-2004 6:41 PM

Stephen <BR> <BR>I've got the F3 Skier. I've got a 260 HP Mercruiser also. It does fine out of the hole with 600 lb ballast, and four people. Any more than that it comes up slightly slower, but the handling is sacrificed somewhat. <BR> <BR>I've never ridden in a Sunsetter, so I don't know what to comment on how yours will respond.

srh00z 06-12-2004 8:28 AM

I was afraid of the handling suffering, I need to replace my steering cable, guess I better get to it.

jayc 06-14-2004 5:47 AM

I have a MC pro comp and its fairly similar to the malibu. <BR>Get yourself a tower, some racks and a couple of fat sacks. <BR>With limited space a tower and racks allows you to get things of the floor allowing room for a couple of fat sacks either side of the engine cover.

rainrider 06-14-2004 2:13 PM

I bought an f3 this year and was debating tower or pylon. In the end I saved some money and bought a pylon with racks from a buddy for 200 bucks! We usually have 4 or 5 people in the boat when wakeboarding so I don't even add any weight. My boat only has 250 hours so there should be pleanty of life left. I had a sign guy do up some new malibu euro f3 decals for me and its a good lookin boat! A cd player and a 12 inch sub under the bow adds for the pleasure too. <BR> <BR>

mattman5000 06-15-2004 7:55 AM

I don't really have anything to add to this post, but check out my old tricked out 1992 sunsetter euro. I just sold it (thanks WakeWorld!) but it was a great boat for the six years I owned it. The wake was very nice. Good shape and can be made big with weight. The boat is very sensitive to weight placement to make the wakes even on both sides. It is handy to have side sacks to help balance the weight based on how many people are in the boat. <BR> <BR><a href="http://www.wakeworld.com/MB/Discus/messages/8/170119.html?1085757557" target="_blank">http://www.wakeworld.com/MB/Discus/messages/8/170119.html?1085757557</a>

srh00z 06-15-2004 8:59 AM

Matt, I am interested in how the boat pulled with all of that weight, I just bought two fly high side seats and they will add about 800 to 1000 lbs. to it, we have enjoyed the wake unweighted and are looking forward to it being weighted, plus that sub box in the bow was amazing, I might have to do that. Any tips on weight placement, I was thinking about taking out the back seat and keeping the side seats on the sides of the motor box and pushing them all the way back to the stern

mattman5000 06-15-2004 10:25 AM

It pulled fine with about 1000-1200 lbs. unless it was really loaded with people. But it would sometimes struggle after I upgraded all the sacs to about 2500 lbs. It took a while to get out up on plane. I would sit on a couple of square cushions on top of my seat to see over the bow until in planed out. <BR> <BR>2500 lbs and two or three people was fine. Four or five people was almost too much. Any more than that and I couldn't fill all the sacs, it would never plane out (or take a long, long time). <BR> <BR>Those side seats on the sides in the back will probably do a good job. Before I had the sofa, I had a 540 in the rear and two 350s next to the motor box. I would use the 350s to even out the weight distribution. I found that the boat needs much more weight on the port side in order to make a clean even wake. <BR> <BR>You are right that the boat throws a decent wake unweighted. Right before I sold it, I was just cruising along at wakeboard speed while heading back to the dock. I had left the perfect pass on so I was running right at 23 mph. I noticed that the wake was looking really nice with no weight. I had been running with extra ballast for so long that I forgot what it looked like. <BR> <BR>Hmmmm, I just noticed that you said yours is a 1986. I don't if the hulls were the same from 86 to 92. If not, then most of what I said may not be relevant <img src="http://www.wakeworld.com/MB/Discus/clipart/happy.gif" border=0>

srh00z 06-15-2004 10:19 PM

Mine is from Malibu's formative years, and I know they changed alot of the individual components during those early years. Not sure about how they changed the hulls between these years, for what I paid for it, it is a fabulous boat but I am going to have to go through the interior and probably a new floor and will do some type of ballast system at that point.

06-16-2004 5:39 AM

I have a Euro Sunsetter. Just replaced the roll bar tower with a Monster. The boat is plumbed with 3 Simer pumps, Perfect-pass, new floor with new carpet and upholstery. The boat is pimp for a '92. By the end of the week everything will be back together with pics. Been working on the house (just purchased in Feb). It's driving me crazy! The lake is three houses down. Will post pics soon. <BR> <BR>Oh yah! I run two 500-600lb sacks each side of motor and a 350lb sack in the locker.

srh00z 06-16-2004 8:06 PM

Doug,Looking forward to pics, how do you like the wake, btw, did you replace the floor, and if you don't mind my asking how much was the cost if you didn't do it.

06-17-2004 4:25 AM

Stephen, me and a friend replaced the floor ourselves. It took 3 months of weekends cutting and grinding and glassing, etc. It would have cost $3k to have it done profesionally. It cost about $300 + time to do it ourselves.

mattman5000 06-17-2004 8:04 AM

Doug, your boat sounds a lot like mine with the 3 simers, monster tower, and perfect pass. I'm surprised you needed a new floor. What happened to the old floor. Isn't the entire floor fiberglass?

06-17-2004 9:55 AM

Matt, NO! The floor is wood, coated with fiberglass resin. I know for a fact that the edges of the cut out for the ski locker were never coated with resin. Also, under the spotters seat, there was a small hole under the carpet where they filled foam in, under the floor. It was never glassed over.

06-17-2004 9:56 AM

Matt, my boat is the older Euro Sunsetter.

mattman5000 06-17-2004 11:44 AM

Yeah, I saw that you said it was a 92. I had the same boat (I just sold it). I always thought that the floor was all glass and no wood. I never had any issues with mine so I never had to look underneath the top coat. I knew the stringers were wood, though. Your boat should look great with new carpet and vinyl!


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