Windshield Spread

[catdog]

I've been observing the variation in windshield gap on our 99 Outback now for 4 full seasons / 285 hours. I'll share this with my OPINION, for what its worth....

Gap seems widest just when the hull impacts the water after crossing a large wake. Windshield has never dropped-through ( but we usually keep it open).

The hull movement is clearly evident in rough water with the windshield open. More people on board in rough water appears to result in more flex. I have no measurements on this.

Gap between the moveable and stationary windshield frames seems normal on flat water with windshield closed when boat has been on the water for a day or so. Normal gap in my opinion (visual guesstimate) is about 8 or 10 mm.

Gap also seems to stay normal with windshield closed when boat is freshly driven onto the trailer after a day on the water.

Gap definitely gets much wider on the trailer by the time we tow it home (80 minutes).

Boat has been on trailer in garage for 5 months and gap between frames actually measures 19 mm near top of windshield; 15 mm near bottom. So, the gap isn't actually square. Total width of the metal the retaining edge is about 33 mm, so I think I have plenty of leeway.

If the gap starts to widen, then maybe I would square and remount my windshield, but I doubt that will change the inherent hull flex.

This overall issue doesn't bother me too much. I did expect more rigidity, but the sheer enjoyment and overall value my family gets from this Outback outweighs this issue. We would not have a ski boat if this brand hadn't been available.

Of course, I assume the fiberglass structure is strong enough to sustain such hull flex for a long, long time.

[moombamania]

Question out of curiosity more than anyting.

How many people experiencing the windshield spread issue run with fat sacs on the side of their engine boxes or up front in the walk through?

I do not have this flex issue (hope to never have) but I do run fat at times, generally behind the engine. But I get in some boats that are truely going for the big air ramps and they are packing the weight in to do it as well. Fats in back, engine sides and bow. Just looking for input

[catdog]

Real good question. I generally run with 3 to 6 teenagers, a cooler, and about 30 lbs of tools ( including two big pipe wrenches to adjust the packing gland nut if needed ).

We are 75% ski / 25% wakeboarding. We use a 6 foot skylon with bow tether for wakeboarding, no sacks, and redistribute the people to the back ( @ 15 to 18 mph ) for wake generation.

It seems like coast guard nameplate rating for 99's is only 8 people or 1100 lbs including engine, so I have little room to add further ballast. Water is heavy.

But, I'm loaded-up, to your point.

[brucevanderbilt]

I've experienced the problem mostly when running in the 30-45mph range and without ballast, but loaded with 6-8 people. Those are the two occasions when the hull flex was enough for the center windshield to drop through.

I typically don't run higher speeds when loaded with ballast.
When I am loaded up though, I have a 500lb sac in the front and two 250lb sacs in the back. Plus I have a tower, and I typically have 4 to 8 people in the boat. I notice some flex, but haven't had enough to jam up the center windshield when running in the 0-25mph range loaded-up.

[tn_viper]

Hey there,

I have a 1999 Mobius, and well the windshield spread on my boat is there all the time. Doesn't matter if I am the only one in the boat or I have a full load. This started the second year I had the boat. Hasn't beed bad enough for the center section to fall through but it will get stuck some and the latches that hold it from going forward don't catch at all.

Have a great day

[tn_viper]

I am the original owner of my 1999 Mobius. How do I contact Moomba to see if they will do something about my windshield? I do run the built in fat sac but no extra yet. Was going to get a 750lb for the front but havn't yet. Do mostly skiing with a little boarding thrown in for fun.

Any have any ideas?

Thanks

[BensonWdby]

We typically have a fat sack on the passenger side of the engine and one behind the engine in front of the back seat. Sometimes we will put one behind the driver.
Seems to be enought to throw a back roll.

As mentioned we already had the windshield repositioned once, about $400 and a week lost in the shop. My concern is that the new displacement is in addition to the original displacement, rather than an indication of the same displacement.

We have not watched it that closely for all the different conditions, but I am pretty sure it is like that on the trailer (in storage right now).

I tried to contact Moomba when this first happened, but no response.

Judging by the lack of response from the Supra folks who monitor this board I am guessing we probably will not get much satisfaction from them. I am afraid I do not hold out much hope.


I also love my boat otherwise and will probably take some measssure to modify the window to prevent it from falling through, just not sure what yet.

Thanks for all the feedback on this.
Dave

[tn_viper]

Well I didn't know that Moomba would do anything about it, but seems that for some here they have. That is what I would like to find out. This seems to be a factory defect in the hull design. My boat did it the first summer and hasn't gotten much worse since. I figured that since I am the orginal owner of the boat, and it is supposed to have a hull warrenty that I would see if they would.

The dealer where I bought the boat from is no longer in business, which is a real shame they were great. So don't know who to ask or trun to.

The boat is great I most ski behind it so no fat sac's added. The good thing is on the lake I use I have one of only three Mooma boats that are on the lake. Most are other brands.

Have a great day.

Ski hard

Ronnie

[catdog]

I cornered the my dealer tech guy/salesman and a Moomba rep together at a boatshow in February and we discussed the issue. I told them I was not real unhappy, but that the flex issue was something about the boat that was below my expectations.

The sales/tech guy said that they reset windhields if the gap is bad. ( I assumed this was warranty work, but didn't go there because that's not what I want ).

They said that the old windshield frame is not as rigid as the newer ones, so it gets out-of-alignment.

I explained that I believed the issue is not windshield alignment, but measurable and variable flex of the hull.

They repeated that the new boats had improved windshields and showed me how it differed from the old ones.

When pressed a little bit further, one of them said that the new hull designs also have an "extra" stringer built under the floor for support in the middle of the boat.

We had a little more speculative discussion about how I might retrofit something to add structural rigidity to my hull. No easy answers were offered.

Personally, I thought adding a tower might help ( kinda like adding a targa roof on a convertible porsche ) but you guys with towers are still seeing the gap/flex. Maybe a more rigid tower set-up would help. Especially if the mounts were tied to the structure of each side of the hull and also tied under the floor to each other. Major job.

Unless this all of a sudden becomes a structural failure / safety issue, lets say, with hulls breaking in half, my opinion is that the manufacturer will define the concern as being cosmetic, and offer-up with a windshield solution.

[tn_viper]

Well it sounds like I need to find someone at Moomba to help me and see about getting it fixed. If that someone is on this board please let me know. The dealer I purchased the boat from is no longer in business. So need some help here.

Thanks
Ronnie