My malibu mini resto

Havent had a ski in years, but wife finally gave go ahead on a boat. We settled on this malibu sunsetter lx after finding it on Craigslist for what I thought was a fair deal. Not going overboard was the first thing I told myself, but now I have two towers here, a new head unit, new speakers, bimini top, and a wrangler that can hardly pull the boat!
 
Todays adventures were many and varied, started with pulling out the old marine cd player and tossing it in the trash, then installing new dash speakers and a new bluetooth headunit. This went to crap and I ended up having to pull the windshield to be able to get the front speakers in under the dash. What a nightmare! Next up was havin a buddy stop by to help me install the tower. I went with a monster tower as they are located right here in Knoxville. The tower is a nice quality piece and I got a steal on it unopened brand new off Craigslist once again. What sucks is I had just ordered some other tower and it showed up the same day as the monster tower did, so to avoid restocking I am trying to sell it locally. Tower install went about as good as I could imagine. The hardest part of this install so far has been trying to fish the wires thru the rear legs of the tower to get it up to the speakers. 20210619_170049.jpg
 

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Took the familynout for fathers day, did not go well. Got it in the water, parked the trailer and hopped in, ramp was busy, hit the key and nothing. Finally ran my jand across the circuit breakers and it fired right up. So strike 1 right there. Next was as we headed upvthe lake to see a friend, every time we crossed a big boat wake the gauges froze and the boat shut off. After that happened 3 or 4 times the wife was was getting really nervous. So as we headed back down towards the ramp we stopped to get in and let the boys swim. Called previous owner who told me it needs a kill switch which explains problem number 2. Then, when we took off to leave this little cove number 3 showed up, which I believe was an episode of vapor lock. Took opening the engine cover for a few minutes to get it to start. After all this, I headed back to ramp. And boat ran perfect the whole way back. This boat thing is almosy as bad as my old superjet, except I never had anybody but myself to get stranded when I was out on the water. Now I have to hear it from my wife if we get stuck out there.
 
Got that right. Just picked it up. If im gonna sit on the lake broke down at least I will have shade! Gonna get a seatow membership too! Was texting a boat buddy about it and he tells me oh yeah these boats vapor lock all the time. You just deal with it. Run the blower more etc.
 

Ducky

Back in the game!
Location
Charlotte, NC
Got that right. Just picked it up. If im gonna sit on the lake broke down at least I will have shade! Gonna get a seatow membership too! Was texting a boat buddy about it and he tells me oh yeah these boats vapor lock all the time. You just deal with it. Run the blower more etc.

What motor do you have? We have completely different boats, but I had some similar issues after I bought my most recent boat that I had to work through. 20K later in upgrades, and she's very reliable lol!
 
Its an indmar monsoon 320. Fuel injected chevy 350. I am getting some new fuel filters, a new ignition module, and a few other pieces together to replace. Going to add some fuel line insulation too to see if that helps.
 

Ducky

Back in the game!
Location
Charlotte, NC
Its an indmar monsoon 320. Fuel injected chevy 350. I am getting some new fuel filters, a new ignition module, and a few other pieces together to replace. Going to add some fuel line insulation too to see if that helps.

Yea, I have a fuel injected 502 and suffered vapor lock pretty badly. The solution was to get a "booster" fuel pump and get some more air in and out of the engine bay.

Also, try putting some "Marvel Mystery Oil" in your fuel. It seemed to help a little bit.
 

hornedogg79

dodgin' bass boats
I have the cargo bimini for that tower and I love it for storage. I found my tower the same way you did 1/2$ on CL and picked it up in Knoxville. The bimini cost me just as much as the tower though. My 88 MasterCraft can be a little trouble to start when hot and sitting for a bit too. I have a carb though so I just pump it a few times then neutral and half throttle while I crank it. I would change the impeller if you haven't already. Cheap insurance. Might as well get the thermostat too and check for trapped debris while you're in there. Check fuel line from pick up hose to the fuel pump. Very common for trash to get trapped in the one way barbed fitting on top of the fuel tank.
 
hell its easier to get help here than the malibu forum! I feel like knowing it will happen is almost as good of info as how to fix ifixat least by prepping my wife for the possibility of it, it buys me some time while I fix it. I picked up the bimini this morning. Box was huge, I have lost my keys to my wrangler, so I had to stuff the box in my mini cooper. It was hanging way put the back hatch. So I made a pit stop at a nearby friends house and dropped the box off so I didnt have to go see all my pts with a 6 ft box hanging out the back of my car.
 

Ducky

Back in the game!
Location
Charlotte, NC
@mxmark4 a few other things to minimize vapor lock would be to continue running the blower once you turn the motor off, and crack the hatch. I also rode with my hatch cracked slightly open sometimes which also seemed to help, prior to getting the issue fixed. Im not sure about your motor, but I have a VST (Vapor Separating Tank) and when I couldnt get my motor to start, I could crack the plug open on the VST and it would let out all the pressure and the motor would start shortly afterwards. You may also be able to release the schrader valve on your fuel rail, but some fuel might squirt out.

I am guessing your motor is kind of in the middle of the floor in a "Dog box". You could also consider cutting a hole in that and putting a vent cover in the front of it to ram fresh air to the motor. Only downside to this, is you will get a little extra motor noise due to the vent opening.
 

Sanoman

thecolorpurple
Site Supporter
Location
NE Tenn
l looked at buying an old Correct Craft Mustang years ago.When the owner opened the engine cover,he had about 10 close pins on the fuel line. wtf? Turned out those old boats would vapor lock and that was the fix.
 
l looked at buying an old Correct Craft Mustang years ago.When the owner opened the engine cover,he had about 10 close pins on the fuel line. wtf? Turned out those old boats would vapor lock and that was the fix.
I have a lot of old men as patients. Lots of car guys too, discussing it yesterday with one of the old car guys he said to put a wooden clothes pin on there. I initially thought he was doong that to pinch off the fuel line, but then he told me it was basically a heat sink and they used to do it on cars back on the 50s and 60s to fix vapor lock. Love old timers, dont let their knowledge die with them!
 
Got a lot of small stuff done this morning to get the boat going for today! Ran my speaker wires inside the top of the tower, couldnt fish them down the side yet due to inability to find my fish wire at the bottom of the tower. Got the tower speakers hooked up, wakeboard rack installed, bimini finished up, installed one of 2 new fuel filters that showed up, and reinforced the side rails where the tower bolts to the boat with some plywood. Felt like I had it handled and solid. Took off and boat was doing great. Found that it loads up just like a carbureted boat if I idle.it too long. So I just shut it off instead of idling and problem solved. No vapor lock today no kill switch issues life is good! And then it poured rain on us! Trying to fight the rain I xidnt notice the temp gauge creeping up until I got to the dock. So I pulled the doghouse out of the boat and pulled the impeller, it was toast! Ran home and grabbed my extra that I didnt install this morning like an idiot, and got it all back together. Fired up pumping water like a boss and cooled right down. Spent the rest of the day tubing wakeboarding, and having a good time. These damn surf boats though are gonna be the death of me. That low bow on my boat took a few big dips today while.trying to get a wakeboarding buddy back onboard. Thank goodness for big bilge pumps!
 
Thats a direct drive ski boat and not an actual "surf boat". A ski boat does have a much lower bow and they are prone to taking on water until you figure out how to keep the nose up when you're in waves. I have a new prostar and ski in the mornings, but when I do take it out in the boat waves, I make a point of keeping the bow high and usually avoid watersports during these times.
 
I was trying to keep it up to avoid the waves from all the surf boats around us. There were 3 or 4 boats just making huge wakes we couldnt avoid while trying to pick up a downed rider and had someone standing on the swim deck wher I couldnt just gap it and lift the nose. Wouldnt trade it for a surf boat tho. Love those low sleek lines and handling. I have yet to try skiing behind it but with 10 people in it the wedge down and out ghetto cutting board and suction cup wake shaper we had a surfable wake behind it. Lesson was learned, our beloved wakeboard cove will be limited to either early mornings ( which wont happen) or finding another spot to play at.
 
And this build comes to an end on a slightly different note. I love this boat, but wanted to surf without losing all my seating and modifying with a bunch of ballast bags in the way. So out with the old and in with the new. Found a deal on a 2016 moomba mondo and went for it. Boat checked a lot of boxes. Newer and clean for wife. Good hours and hp for me,sparkly paint for my 6 year old and now we can surf once I get the wave dialed in. In a dream world I could keep both, but storage and maintenance for two boats just isnt feasible. Hoping I can find a good home for the bu since sbes been rock solid this summer. Never once vapor locked again after the one incident, always started for me and been a fun ride!
 

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