2011 VLX Maiden Voyage - Couple of problems
 

Took out the VLX today, We had a great day on the water, really nice weather. The boat had .7 hours on it when I picked it up. Assuming this is from Malibu testing it.... we did have a couple of items I wanted to ask for some help on.

The first is in the Vdrive compartment/rear of boat, there is a faint whistling/annoying/high pitch sound at 30-35 mph. I dont recall what the RPM's were, but my wife and daughter noticed it immediately. Its harder to hear from the drivers seat, but you can definitely hear it from the rear seating area. I called the dealer on the water, they told me the last 10 boats they have demo'd have this noise, and people have mad a comment about it.... they sell both PCM and Indmar, and both engine makes are producing this whistling. My supra never had this, does anyone know what this might be? The motor ran strong, trans shifted perfect, no signs of trouble from an operating standpoint. The dealer said use it until the 20 hr service and if its still making the sound they will take a look at it.

Second, I had a lot of water in my bilge area, the auto bilge warning came on a few times throughout the day. After I pulled the boat there was about 2" of water in the front drain plug area, so I pulled it and drained the water. I cant believe this is normal, the only time my Supra started having water in the bilge was when the dripless shaft seal started leaking. But this was after 230 hours of use.... I was going to throw it on the fake-a-lake this week and see if I can see where it might be coming from. I am thinking maybe the dripless shaft seal could be defective or leaking? I doubt any of the thru-hulls or drain plugs would be allowing this much water to come through. I am hoping I dont have a cracked ballast tank/fitting. I was filling and draining the tanks all day. Anyone have any ideas?

Thanks for any information you can pass my way

The whistling noise is normal it's just the monsoon pulling horses. It's the flame arrestor (K&N filter) air intake pulling air into the engine. If it bugs you alot get the biggest air intake you can fit on there and it will minimize the whistle. Sounds kinda like a turbo, doesn' t bother me.

The water in the bilge is not normal, you should not have that kind of water in there. If you have a dripless water cooled shaft seal (which you should have ordered with the boat) you should have zero water in the bilge, if you have the regular packing gland you should have less than half that ammount of water. This is an issue for your dealer to fix for you.

First few times I put my Supra in the water I had a bunch of water in the bilge too. Turns out Skier's Choice bumped a PLASTIC fitting when it was rigged on the exhaust manifold and it was barely cracked. By the time I found it, it had gotten worse and finally broke. Start the boat on the trailer, in the water, on the ramp. Let it run for at least 10 minutes and start looking for leaks.

you can shim or bend the air flame arrestor just a little while you are moving, i have had it on 2 of my boats and you can stop it. hope this helps

First off, thanks for all the feedback....

I believe I have located the water leakage. Ran the fake-a-lake this morning, got the motor to normal operating temp, and put it in gear, everything was bone dry.... dripless shaft seal looked great, no leakage coming from anywhere on motor area. Then I noticed a steady stream of water coming from ski locker area.... Hot water shower head was left ON from factory. I never used it on the lake, but it was putting out quite a bit of water at idle... I can only imagine it would get worse the more RPMs the engine is turning.

So hopefully this was the problem, will confirm it next time out.... just glad I dont have to have the shaft seal replaced.

And the flame arrestor I will tackle this next. I did notice on the VLX there is a slight gap inbetween the center cushion and vdrive compartment area, which will allow engine noise to come through. I might add a strip of plastic to cover it up with some insulation on it. Also might insulate the bottom of the plastic tray to help absorb any engine compartment noises.

This is exactly the noise, do you have any pics of a larger intake/filter? or where I might pick one up?

Yep like Nu Bu said the whistling is from the air intake. I hear it all the time on our boat. I actually like the way it sounds.

I love the whistle!

When it bothers my wife, then I have to take care of it. As I have told her before, all I ask is for 100+ hours a year on the boat.... anything that can take this away must be taken care of :rolleyes:

We love the sound too... everyone always asks if it's a turbo or something like that.

Glad to hear the whistling sound is normal. Mine does it as well. I find it kind of annoying.

I don't think you can really take care of it, it's just part of the engine noises. THat's about the loudest noise you'll hear from the VLX, most boats are louder.

My first outing with my 2006 Malibu. I had a short list of things that needed to be fixed. The power wedge did not work properly, part of the ballast system reading on one of the tanks showed wrong level, the bimini tops was not level when up, the board racks were not level and the tower was scratch and needed to be repainted from looks like the install of the racks. It is all fixed now and I have not problems with it now in any way.

If I had the money I would still by a new Malibu today. Maybe the LSV for more room.

Sounds like you've got your problems pin-pointed. I've had that whistling before, too. Never really bothered me. I wasn't sure if it was the spark arrestor or if it was just the angle that the throttle plate was sitting at in the throttle body at that load/rpm. Sealing the gap in the seats may quiet it to the acceptable point. Otherwise, you could run it with the spark arrestor off and see if the noise is still there.

That would be one expensive lesson if something got sucked in the motor while running around with the air filter off the engine.

I agree my next boat is an LSV

Malibu squeezed as much lounge area as possible on the 2010-11's, thats why the rear seat is so close the engine. The flame arrestor is right behind the rear seat and sits low where the gap is. Its no surprise to me after looking at it why there is noise coming in the rear of the boat.

I have been really impressed with the room the VLX has, the 100" beam is really nice and they did a grest job of making the ski lockers very useable. We had 6 people out with us and there was plenty of room for everyone to spread out and be comfortable. The VLX is 8" shorter than my 22SSV was but feels so much larger inside the boat.... probably because the rear facing seat is not in the middle of the boat.

Thanks for all the responses, I just ordered some "second skin" to place behind the rear seat area to help absorb any noises. Also going to seal off the gap inbetween the rear seat and vdrive/engine compartment. The second skin is good for 400 degrees and has had great results used in vehicles to dampen noises and vibrations on firewall and floorboards. Hopefully I get the same results on the Bu.

Will give an update after its done.....

You mentioned you put the boat IN GEAR while on the Fake-A-Lake... DON'T DO THAT! Your shaft bearings are cooled by water and running it in gear out of water can damage those bearings. You shouldn't spin the propeller except in water.