Dale974

When i got my 06' VLX last fall the only thing i was worried about was that it didn't have a depth finder. Running on the river where i normally run it is important to me to have a depth reading because of shallow areas, etc. I was hoping to keep my dash as stock as possible and didn't want to make another hole somewhere for an auxiliary depth system. When the dash turns on at startup it would show depth along with the air and lake temp, so i figured i could somehow get it to show there. I started looking around and got in contact with bakes online and saw that they had the module for an 04-06 malibu so i figured if i picked that up and added the transducer i would be good to go. Obviously not the cheapest route, but i liked the idea of it integrated in the dash like the stock system. Only problem i ran into was that they no longer make the transducer for these boats as i'm sure plenty of others with these year boats that have found out if their transducers failed. After talking with Andrew at bakes he got me a pdf and info that there was a lowrance transducer that was supposed to work in place of the discontinued transducer. Basically you cut the plug off the old transducer and splice it on the new one because the new transducer plug is different than the old one. However since i didn't have an old one to replace, i tried to get a failed one from another malibu owner. After not having any luck going that route, i decided i could just make up my own plug. I got some weather pac pins that i could make fit and ended up making a crude plug out of silicone but it works. I set the depth finder on the top of a 30 gallon barrel filled with water and the depth read 2.5 ft, which according to my math is equal to the 30" that the barrel measures. I ended up mounting the transducer where i had seen it mounted in other vdrives The new lowrance transducer is a: Lowrance PD-WBL. I have a pdf from andrew that shows how to use this replacement transducer that i can try to send others if needed, or else i can get it to Rugger to put in the resources section for others if needed. Last thing to do is get this boat on the water to make sure it all reads as it should. I'm not sure if i have explained this very well, so if you have any questions let me know and i'll be happy to help, or send you the pdf or whatnot. EDIT: PDF for the transducer is here. Depth Finder_Lowrance PD-WBL Transducer Installation Instructions.pdf

When adding additional ballast to the rear compartments of my 06' VLX i didn't want to go so much to the extent that i lost all storage. I had a set of 565# sacs as well as a pair of 400# sacs to chose from. Although after filling both up, i opted for the 400# so that i still had some storage space left above them to hold the jackets that we use the most. I figure if i need more back there i can always through a lead wake bag or two and then i'm up to 500# without sacrificing space. I had planned on trying to make some sort of a shelf so i had ordered some 1/4" hdpe in 2' x 4' sheets which was more than i needed, but worked out well to have some left over to make a custom sub box in my kickplate to improve my sub. Basically i got 4 J bolts and mounted them thru the divider panels and made sure i ran them thru the wakemakers divider panel reinforcement kit so that i was putting extra weight on the channel and not just on the poly. I then took some strips of strap from the old winch strap that i had replaced last fall... I cut them to length and punched holes and added grommets to them to go over the j-hooks and fasten to the gunnel. The straps are there to hold the trays level whether the sacs are full or empty. I then took the poly and cut it to fit inside the compartment area and added 1" holes where the j-hooks are so that the trays can hook into the hooks. I then cut about 3-4" of poly strips to make the edges of the trays to help keep jackets, etc from sliding off the trays or sliding under the edges and then getting pinched if the bags would surge or whatnot. Then as a final touch i borrowed a router and rounded the edges for a more finished look. However i should have done this step before assembling the trays since it was harder to round edges where the router wouldn't fit. I just finished those off with a pocket knife instead of taking the trays back apart. Finally because the trays would block the existing lights in the storage compartment, i added a set of 3/4" white LEDs to the gunnel to provide lighting for late surf sets, cleaning out the compartments, etc. I added two because i had added green accent LEDs in the cabin area to go with regular white accents. Instead of rigging up relays to run a single white off of two circuts i just hooked one to green, and the other to white, so i had storage lighting with either light option. After completing this project i did see a guy on another forum just tied cargo netting across the opening. That would have been an easier option, but i was hoping to maybe keep the compartment slightly drier. I'll let ya know in a month whether this was a good option or not, but for now i'm pleased with the outcome...