1988 Malibu Sunsetter

I need your help. My wife gave me an allowance to get a boat, and I found an '88 Sunsetter for 5k. I took a quick look at it this afternoon and it is not in the best of shape. Depending on your feedback, I am going to take it for a test run next week. I do not have pictures, so I understand that you might not be able to address everything, but I’m looking for any feedback.

The interior beat up and has quite a bit of duct tape on it (not too much of a concern to me).

The hull is chipped in a few places, with a small chunk taken out of it in one place. I'm concerned on how this will affect the boat. Also, any idea on what it takes to fix this? Any idea on how much this type of fix costs? Does it need to be fixed?

The boat has just over 600 hours. The engine was rebuilt 100 hours ago. The engine looked clean, but depending on the test run I am not going to have it checked till then by a professional.

The boat has wood stringers, so I still have to examine the floor closer. I checked for soft spots, and it seems ok so far.

Aside from all of these items, can anybody give me some feedback on this boat hull in general. I’m curious on what the wake will be like. I have been riding behind an ’88 Ski Nautique (2001 model). Can anybody give me a direct comparison between the two? That is my parent’s boat though, and they are 400 miles away. I have been without wakeboarding for 2 years now and am excited to get wakeboarding again!!!

Thank you to all who respond

The older Bu's were notorious for rotting(floors and stringers). I'd have it looked at by a pro, not just yourself. A 5K bargin could be an expensive lesson.

IMO the 2001 will have a better wake, but will not have the room that the malibu has

You will like the wake and you can weight the heck out of this boat because of the tall freeboard on Supra's
http://www.flipsell.com/phase3/home/DispVehicle.asp?VehicleID=9152

my uncle has an 85 2001 SN, it throws a nice wake which i am sure you already know about. if you like the wake on the 2001, wait it out, and one will be for sale sometime soon i am sure.
honestly, i would stay away from wooden stringers! like jeff said, 5k is alot of money to lose.

How did we go from a $5k Malibu to a $16k Supra, Kvkev?

Doesn't make much sense to suggest a boat that's 320% more as his budget is obviously in the $4-6k range.

Thanks for the quick feedback so far.

Jeff, Sam - The wood floor is a concern, but in my price range I'm sure that I will not find a boat without the wood stringers (correct me if I'm wrong). I'm out if there are soft spots now and will not pursue the boat. If it seems ok, I'll take my chances, and if it comes down to it, I'll have a nice project on my hands.

Kvkev - I actually ran across that boat while doing some searches, but it is out of my budget.

sam - I do like the 2001 SN, but I have a whole crew of in-laws that will be in the boat along for the ride. I was running 4 sacs in my parents SN, and there was only room for 1 rider, 1 driver, and barely enough room for the spotter. The thought of an open bow has me really excited.

sam - As a direct comparison, how do the wakes differ? I'm sure the SN wake is steeper, but I'm also concerned about size after weighting. How much steeper is the SN 2001 wake?

How about the gel coat damage? Does anybody have feedback on this problem?

Thanks again!

They only got 500 hours out of the motor before it needed a rebuild? Sounds to me like someones been beating the crap out of that boat? 500 hours is nothing.

We have to consider age too (18 year old boat). I haven't had a chance to ask the owner any questions, so I am anxious to hear on what he has to say about the rebuild. Thanks for the input!

that is the only bad thing about the SN, they are just so small!!! i could hardly get my knees under my uncle's steering wheel while we were out yesterday!
i have no experience with the sunsetter so i cant help you with a comparison there. sorry!!

i think the sunsetter is a steal. I just picked up a mid 80's ski supreme. And the 1 thing that put it heads and shoulders above other boats was that it had an open bow. I plan on having my boat for a long time and i like the idea of being able to take out more people. The sunsetter was at the top of my list. And that is one of the cheapest ones i've heard of. I say go for it. being a bigger boat with more freeboard allows you to sack it out too.

I had an 88 Sunsetter before my VLX. I installed a Titan Series I and used it predominantly for wakeboarding. See http://www.wakesiderides.com/rides/index.php?page=out&id=524 and scroll down.

This is about as large of tournament boat as you'll get for that era. If you are going to have lots of people out the open bow's nice. Way more room than the SN2001.

Stringers and floor are wood, but not too difficult to swap out if need be. One thing that aways bothered me is that my windshield never fit right (the center portion was always slightly loose).

Boat likely had a Merc Bluewater 260; parts are cheap and easy to get for the motor. Depending on where it was run, the exhaust manifolds may be shot. The stock flappers on the exhaust tended to allow water by on following waves and were replaced with better units.

As for the wake, it was good with a fair bit of weight (certainly better than my I/O, not as good as my new VLX). When light, the wake is not so good. We usually ran at 65'-70'.

Wake is not a defined as a SN2001, but is wider.

For 5K, I'd go for it. Even if you do need to do some work, parts should be relatively cheap.

FWIW, in BC last May I sold my '88 (in pristine condition) for $17500 CDN on a tandem trailer.

(Message edited by mechmaster on May 26, 2006)

Thanks for the input Matthew. That is my thoughts as well.

Mike - How much weight were you running in your old sunsetter? I am thinking of running 1 sac (250) in the front and either 1 large (600) in the back or 2 sides (350's) pushed back (makes sense?). We are running 4 sacks totaling 1600 lbs in my parents SN 2001.

Scott,

In my Sunsetter I was usually running (1) 250 lb sac on each side of the motor, a locker sac in the ski locker, and about 6 passengers. Boat was certainly not overloaded at this point and could easily take more weight. 1600lb should be easily doable.

The back seat was more usable in my opinion using the side sacs. Make sure you get some passengers to sit in the bow to balance things out a bit.

Scott, where do you live? I know where there is a super clean nautique 2001 with a new motor for around 8 grand. (Tahoe area).

www.midwestwakeboarder.com

mechmaster - Thanks!

mjmurphy - I'm in Minnesota, so that would be quite a hike. I love nautiques, and really liked my parents, but I would like that open bow. Thanks for the heads up!