So last Saturday I went to Madison, WI to look at some Malibu boats. First was a 21' Malibu on their showroom. Not impressed with the lack of a walk through on the stern, the bow "tub only seating", and the real lack of quality. 100k+ boat and the seats aren't on hinges when you open them? Carpet underneath the bolster seat?? The 2021 model in the showroom had the tower folded because it actually broke and was waiting on warranty repair?! LOL damn.
The salesman, who was really nice, took me to see a 23' Malibu they had in another building. This one had a lot more room (obviously) but still had the same goofy design in the bow where they front ballast tank prevented the bow seating to actually have a walking area. Furthermore, my wife and cousin attempted to both sit in the bow, each on opposite sides, and their feet had to cross significantly in that position.
The 23' had a nice Wet Sounds system that sounded decent. Not sure how it compared to my current JL, seemed to close enough. This boat had the Monsoon engine, and when I asked about some of the issues with those motors the sales guy was like "yeah well, what do you expect when you build your own engine?" OK - hard pass on that. This was another 100k+ dollar boat, still no walk through, still cheap feeling vinyl and cushions, and honestly, really disappointing for the price. And the swim platform ladder wasn't included or available? Sheeshe....
I'm still struggling to understand where all the cost (price) is in these boats? Are the engines really that much more to build? Are they laying the fiberglass differently? At least on the Malibu, there certainly wasn't anything there that screamed "this is why this boat is so expensive" - seemed more like "we charge this much because we can."
On to looking at other brands I guess.
