Our journey of how we got our ‘Bu, what we did to truly enjoy it, and any future projects or maintenance items we can cover. We keep the boat in the water, so it makes some of these projects a good bit more difficult.
About the Malibu XTi
Here is some information about the Malibu XTI “Cross-Over” Wake boat. It is an interesting design, a direct drive that has separate sitting areas fore and aft. It is built on the wake hull with built in ballast in the front ski locker.
Our Malibu XTi
The crazy story of how our boat came to be, and why I have had to learn a lot about boats in a short amount of time. A story of the dangerous of buying a used boat.
Restoring the Hull
Malibu Direct Drive boats of the era all had what was known as the HDS Box, and it was prone to leaking. When we purchased the boat we did not know about this issue and were definitely surprised to find we just purchased a leaking boat. This will explain the Box, as well as teach you how to fix it.
Restoring the Electrical System
a lot of the electronics, fixtures, and installation methods of the stereo were old, and in some instances downright dangerous. I’m not going to claim to be an expert, but I did my best to clean up the wiring.
MMDC Delete
Another interesting aspect of this era of boats is the MMDC and Medallion Gauges that tend to go bad. I was able to replace my gauges back to functioning and here is how I did it
Direct Drive Wake Surfing
It took us a while to get it right, but we finally got a pretty great surf wave out of our direct drive boat. Here is our method to get it done.
The Boat Stereo Project
Another interesting aspect of this era of boats is the MMDC and Medallion Gauges that tend to go bad. I was able to replace my gauges back to functioning and here is how I did it
