MitchellM

Gauge conversion took place this weekend.  Turns out I have a late model 05 Malibu LXi which are the most challenging to convert.  Fortunately TRD sent the proper harness and wiring diagrams.  I did have to speak with Ron to confirm before cutting wires.  Unfortunately, I could not complete the installation of the oil pressure sensor.  The supplied fittings were not the correct size for my engine block.  Temp, Voltage and Fuel all work.

There was a tear in my eye when I looked down and saw a functioning fuel gauge!

Previous owner of my new house was very organized with his ski equipment.  He made a simple rack with some common coated brackets screwed into the wall.  Perfect for skis.  A bit too small for wakeboard.  Also a nice area to hang jackets and wetsuits.

Maybe I'm doing it wrong, but it just takes a few minutes to apply the teak oil to my fairly clean platform.  Goes on easy and just wipe off any excess.  I just do this every 3 months.

Exciting finish and a superb broadcast.  I couldn't make it out there so I had to watch from my back porch.

You need a USTA membership to play in sanctioned tennis tournaments.  Local club events don't have this requirement.

I'm an avid tennis player.  The parallels between the tennis world and waterskiing are interesting.  Millions of people play tennis at all levels as a recreational sport.  These folks don't need to join a society to play a friendly game.  However, if you want to compete, you must be a USTA member.  They have a hold on that aspect of the sport and are responsible for rankings, etc...

How many folks out there like to ski with a recreational intention only?  Take the family out on the boat and free ski while enjoying the water.  This is probably the vast majority of skiers.  We don't all want to compete.  No need for those folks to join and support USAWS.

At the end of the day, these governing bodies and our "elite" athletes are the ambasadors for our sports.  The do need to step up and encourage participation at a grass roots level.

36 minutes ago, 03RLXi said:

See my reply on the to your post in themalibcrew forum.

Thanks, Ron let me know that 05 Malibus are some of the most challenging to convert (of course).  Something about how they experimented with the wiring during that year.  I'll have to play with a wiring snake to see if I can thread it down to the engine compartment.  A part of me is tempted to try resoldering the joints in the MDC which often fail.

TRD kit has arrived.  Now need to set aside some time for this installation.  Any suggestions on how to pass the new oil pressure and temperature sensor wires from the engine compartment to the area under the dash?

It also appears that I will lose some features currently present on the digital display within my current speedometer.  These include my engine hours and water temperature.  How will I now track my engine hours??

When I asked for suggestions today about passing the wires, Ron wrote back that I should hire a mechanic for the installation.  😡  Not the comment I was expecting.

9 hours ago, boscoman said:

Readjusted binding to exactly 29" and tightened up the RTP so as to be able to pull the back of the ski up toward my butt more easily. No luck, went back to my Connelly Aspect and got up the first time and then repeated 5 out of 6 attempts. Bummed I spent the money!

It's hard to explain your difficulty.  Personally, I find the deep water starts with my Wide Ride much easier than even my Connelly Carbon V.  Is your driver pulling you up too quickly?  I find a little bit of a drag planes the wide ride right up.

My 60 year old wife finally broke down and upgraded her 30 year old ski last year!  The impetus was watching how easily our daughter would pop up on her new ski with each deepwater start.  She went with a Carbon V and couldn't be happier.  Much lighter, slightly wider and turns more easily than her old ski.  A major upgrade!

31 minutes ago, DvarianDan Johnson said:

@MitchellMSo great to see the rare thread like this on putting IN a new course as more the news of late years is more on losing them.  I'm sure you're going to have no trouble getting ballers to show up and ski. Just the fair warning you are likely already well aware of, the addiction is 5X stronger with your own course now available.  You'll be running deep short line in no time .   Enjoy!

I hope you're right. At 15 off and 25mph, I've only got one way to go!

On 4/20/2024 at 2:27 PM, Slalom.Steve said:

There's only been two commercial products (that I'm aware of) for pylon mounting/tracking: Wakeye and Ski-Doc.
Wakeye has gone silent as a company for years now and you can't buy them anymore. Ski-Doc is still active and makes a great solution in the Ski-Doc Orbit: Camera Mounts (theskidoc.com)

Why are those mounts so expensive?

11 hours ago, Mastercrafter said:

Remind me what city you’re in? 

Polk City

22 minutes ago, DvarianDan Johnson said:

@MitchellM - please remind us - what course did you buy to install? Permanent? Anchor types, etc? If buried back in the thread my apologies . Post pics once in! 

 

This will be a permanent course put in by Jon Travers.  I'm hoping some of you will come by and help me break it in over the next few months.  I'm just a newbie learning to ski and hoping I can improve with my own course.

@GWaterski???

I thought the sealer made it slick?  I've been using the Starbrite teak oil after I used the refurbish kit cleaner and brightener.

Fascinating stuff.  Great concepts for this newbie.

Just ordered the TRD replacement kit after a nice chat with them.  This will replace my 4 cluster gauge and add a GPS controlled speedometer.  My existing tach and PP will remain for now.  They assured me that their instructions and phone support will allow me to do this installation myself.  They are even hopeful I will have  a functioning fuel gauge.  I'll keep everyone posted.

53 minutes ago, Gale K said:

Fuel gauge on ours hadn't worked in YEARS. With our gauge swapping etc, I decided there had to be a solution. Started down the troubleshooting path,  eventually hooked up a temporary jumper ground wire between the tank sender and a known good ground and presto, gauge worked. Pulled the original ground wire out (went from tank sender up to a grounding spot on the engine) and investigated. A short section of the wire was swollen up. Cut into it there and found that section completely corroded. Replaced the wire and have been loving a working gauge ever since.

The corroded ground wire was the factory wire. It lives in the bilge on the hull bottom, so a potentially pretty moist environment. Any compromise in the wire insulation could allow water intrusion.  Knowing the propensity for Malibu fuel gauges to not work, I wondered at the time how many others have the same issue with a potential of an iffy supply of original wire stock or a manufacturing process that may have damaged the wire during install.

A working fuel gauge would be a dream come true.  Sadly, I doubt replacing the dash gauges would help me there.  Even new boats rarely have accurate fuel gauges!  Why do we tolerate this?

9 hours ago, 03RLXi said:

@MitchellM have the gauges progressively failed, or did the 3 just suddenly all stop working? If progressively it's the stepper motors. If suddenly it's the wiring, plug or medallion. Lots of info on themalibucrew about resoldering the medallion.

When my medallion MMDC failed I went for the TRD kit. Easy DIY plug in kit and then just a couple of wires to crimp.  Kit cost less than replacing the medallion. Bonus is the kit provides a new multigauge and GPS speedo that are better quality than OEM gauges. Plus I sold the OEM multigauge and speedo to recover a large portion of the TRD kit cost 😁 The TRD gauges have glass rather than plastic face., and because medallion deleted there will never be a future issue with it. If TRD multigauge or speedo eventually fails can get them cheaply. I later fitted a separate Hawkeye 2BX to recover the depth/air/water temp as the TRD speedo doesn't have the little LCD.  I opted for the stainless steel bezels rather than black. I also opted to upgrade my single line PerfectPass to Stargazer. Vey happy with the kit, the quality, the performance and the look of it.

Before and after photos.

That looks great.  I'm not sure if fuel, oil pressure and volt gauges failed all at once or sequentially.  The engine temp gauge is still working along with the speedometer, tach and the speedo on my PP.  While it would be nice to know the oil pressure and voltage, I doubt the fuel gauge will work (they never do) if I replace.  I will have to consider if this is actually worth the money and effort.

1 hour ago, ETskier said:

If it is a Medaliion gateway system, check out the TRD Conversion Kit at  skiboatpartsonline.com. Ron Tannis there is very helpful.

This looks most promising.  Hopefully this conversion is something I can do myself.

43 minutes ago, Rednucleus said:

@MitchellM you might ask over at Malibucrew if you have not done yet - lots of posts about guages over there

Thanks for the tip.

My 4 in 1 guage cluster only shows the engine temp.  Is there any way to know if replacing the entire cluster will bring the other 3 guages back to life?  This part is nearly $800, and I don't want to spend the money if its an issue with other sensors.

https://www.malibuparts.com/products/dash-4-in-1-gauge-1-3727014

Wow.  Malibu really in the crapper now!

Great concept!  I selfishly hope this does not cut down on people posting videos here on BOS for critique.  As a novice, I've learned quite a bit from those threads.