Malibu Flightcraft and Australian Flightcraft XLT20 Outboard
John Oliver
basically the same hull as the Malibu Flightcraft and therefore pretty
much the same to barefoot behind?
I understand Flightcraft Australia still make the XLT, anyone know is
that the case?
Cheers,
JohnO
Peter Brown/Smooth Water Sports
If the year is the same, the XLOB and the XLT are the same hull, one with an
Outboard and split rear steps, and one with an inboard and a full platform.
The first XLT I ever saw in person was about 1989, and a true pocket rocket
with an external rudder that would swap ends of that boat like an amusement
park ride.
The XLT, later the Flightcraft Sportster, changed in '92 or '93, and the
XLOB (outboard) changed in '94 1/2 to new body styles and larger hulls.
The Flightcraft Sportster is an excellent barefoot inboard, similar to the
'92-'94 Barefoot Nautique V-drive, except with a narrower wake. Very flat
and smooth table. These days it also is a superb wakeboard boat!!
Seriously smooth and large curl to a very defined lip. Mission Control, I'd
like to land now....
I've actually been looking for a '94 or '95 Flightcraft Sportster with a bad
engine, so I can drop in a new 335 or 365hp monster. :)))
The biggest drawback to the boat is it's small size. Very narrow beam and
literally no room in the boat. 2-3 skiers max.
Peter. :)
Smooth Water Sports
John Oliver
Flightcraft XLT/XLOB and the Malibu Flightcraft barefoot boat?
cheers,
JohnO
Peter Brown/Smooth Water Sports <pe...@smoothwatersports.com> wrote in message news:<B98AC193.116BD%pe...@smoothwatersports.com>...
Peter Brown/Smooth Water Sports
When Malibu purchased Australian Flightcraft in 1989 (If I recall
correctly), Malibu kept the inboard (XLT) and the outboard (XLOB) as we have
discussed. The XLT when on to become the Flightcraft Sportster, then the
Flightcraft Sportster by Malibu, then it might have even been just the
Malibu Sportster in its last year, but I don't think so. No matter, aside
from the one hull & deck revamping, that boat only saw name changes during
its life at Malibu until its demise in 1996 (IIRC).
The outboard (XLOB) was without doubt the barefooters choice, and had a
longer life span. It changed from the Flightcraft XLOB to the Flightcraft
Barefooter, to the Flightcraft Barefooter by Malibu, to the Malibu
Flightcraft Barefooter, to the Malibu Flightcraft. And like the inboard
Sportster, aside from the one major hull & deck revamping in 1994 1/2, the
only changes to the boat was the name on the side up to '99 or 2000. At
this point they went to the Optimax, added Kysor-Mediallion gauges, and
changed the graphics to a new bolder look.
The short story is that one evolved from the other, but yet they are/were
the same boat.
John Oliver
I've been looking around for a Malibu Flightcraft in Aus or NZ, but
they are rare as hens' teeth right now. OTOH there are a few XLOB's
around. Too bad they suffer from having no room in the boat though.
Cheerss,
JohnO
Peter Brown/Smooth Water Sports <pe...@smoothwatersports.com> wrote in message news:<B992B7D7.11845%pe...@smoothwatersports.com>...
Peter Brown/Smooth Water Sports
could cost for 21' of a container to be shipped from New York, Miami, or any
port in between.
Peter. :)
Pat Sproule
Australian Trading Post site (www.tradingpost.com.au).
Since these boats were made in Albury there seems to be a lot in use around
the area, although it is rare to see their owners part with them. Two of the
Wagga Waterski Club members had XLT20's. Brett Eisenhauer had a share in one
of them I think with Daniel Cheeney and Graeme Ashcroft (could be wrong
here). I remember seeing these boats in about 1993 when I started skiing
with the club and simply fell in love with them. Currently there are about 4
"Flightcraft by Malibu's" around this area.
You also see a lot of older Flightcrafts around these parts. A mate had a
Bandit - which was a small 15 ft hull with a very low & sleek design and a
140 Evinrude V4 behind it. Although it sounds small and underpowered for
serious skiing it was a very light hull with a good bite on the water which
made it very quick and manoeuvrable. It sort of felt like a go kart on
water. It also had a very small soft wake at ski speeds from memory, but we
always had problems with it's holeshot when pulling out skiers, regardless
of prop or engine tune changes.
Another friend has a much older Flightcraft inboard, the model escapes me -
but we are talking late 70's I think. It looked like a precursor to the XLT
but it was narrower across the beam. The thing I remember the most about
driving it is that it keels over a lot in turns. It frightened the hell out
of me the first time I spun around to pick up a skier as it felt like it was
going to fall over.
Cheers - Pat.
"John Oliver" <oliv...@my-deja.com> wrote in message
news:f9b7c648.02082...@posting.google.com...
John Oliver
> You could always ship one over. :) Call a shipping broker and see what it
> could cost for 21' of a container to be shipped from New York, Miami, or any
> port in between.
>
> Peter. :)
Heh, thanks mate, If I go down that route you'll be the first one I
come to for a deal on a flighty! :-)
However I did do some quick calculations already. Say a nice '00 or
later at around ... $19500? That would come to around NZ$53k by the
time I add freight, import duties etc (1 USD = 2.12595 NZD). For under
NZ$58k I can get a brand new response with the monsoon engine. Maybe
not such a good bf boat but great for all round use.
Cheers,
JohnO
John Oliver
> Have a look around the Albury / Wodonga and Wagga Wagga areas on the
> Australian Trading Post site (www.tradingpost.com.au).
>
Thanks Pat, I'll check it out. There's usually some barefoot boats or
same on http://boatpoint.com.au but over the last month or so not so
much.
Cheers,
JohnO
Peter Brown/Smooth Water Sports
You too have discovered the deep dark reasons that Malibu discontinued the
Flightcraft...
Keep your feet wet 'O Wise One.
Peter. :)
Smooth Water Sports
> From: oliv...@my-deja.com (John Oliver)
> Organization: http://groups.google.com/
> Newsgroups: rec.sport.waterski
> Date: 30 Aug 2002 00:22:20 -0700
> Subject: Re: Malibu Flightcraft and Australian Flightcraft XLT20 Outboard
>
Tom Ruta
wrote:
...
>However I did do some quick calculations already. Say a nice '00 or
>later at around ... $19500? That would come to around NZ$53k by the
>time I add freight, import duties etc (1 USD = 2.12595 NZD). For under
>NZ$58k I can get a brand new response with the monsoon engine. Maybe
>not such a good bf boat but great for all round use.
Turn that ship around the other way with an antipodean boat and
there's some cash to be made!
Tom
John Oliver
If you figure on an arbitrage, it may be even better than you think as
the price I have already includes 17.5% sales tax.
JohnO
Tom Ruta <ru...@cadvision.com> wrote in message news:<10sumusck74sc1795...@4ax.com>...
Tom Ruta
wrote:
>How so?
>
>If you figure on an arbitrage, it may be even better than you think as
>the price I have already includes 17.5% sales tax.
Exactly. Taxes are usually waived (SWAG) on an export so an NZ boat
landed in the US could be thousands less than a similar boat. World
market pricing (BTW, there's already a large advantage for Canadian
buyers in such things. The grey market in cars is thriving).
Tom