weeds and speed control

[6balls]

For many years weeds were not an issue at our "swamp site"...in fact 2 years ago no weeds, period. Last year we had a mild winter with thin ice and little snow. Come spring we were choked off in a way I have not seen in 11 years since moving here. We only got one of two courses up, but were able to mostly clear set down areas for the course we could use. It was tough to get out of the hole without weeds despite judicious reverse applications etc before hole shots.

Because PP is RPM based, if we got up "dirty" it might be a slow time by a margin. If we got up clean it might actually be hot. I can relate that in the spring I ran 35 off at 17.22, followed by 35 off at 16.66.

I don't want to get into z-box calibration, and we run a 2000 SN196 w/GT40 that has a standard throttle cable. In a year where we get weeds like last year, would GPS speed control like SG have solved the issue? Would it not have mattered what speed control system we had due to weed load such that the skier could pull it down beyond the ability to respond?

THX all.

 

[Waternut]

The course I ski at had a problem like this on a milder level. The owner would usually drain his lake for a couple weeks to kill everything and bring it back up but last year he didn't and he said it caused a much more serious weed problem. Granted, this draining solution is only possible if your lake is filled by a steady creek.

 

Anyway, we did all the reverse techniques to keep the prop and rudder clear but if that failed, it didn't matter what cruise system was used. The boat wouldn't track well and the speed/acceleration was severely dampened. The course boat uses PP classic but I have the mechanical SG in my own boat and it's just not fast enough if there are other factors at work.

[The_MS]

Get some Reward and spot spray your boat path.

[DW]

In theory, a GPS based speed control would adjust the throttle to maintain the correct speed as that is the input signal. Non GPS would only attempt to maintain RPM level. As noted above, in reality there are several additional factors that will prevent the GPS based control to actually maintain the desired speed: lack of power reserve, lack of power transfer through the prop due to debris, inadequate throttle response or signal response, GPS signal delay.

[ral]

@6balls, we had a severe weed issue in our lake in our first year (before grass carp), and never had a time problem in a 08 Nautique 196 w/ZO.

 

The damned boat vibrated like a tuning fork, though...

[6balls]

@ral, funny! @MS, our course is very close to shore...shore owned by a guy who works for U.S. fish and wildlife! It's a little tough to be dumping chemical.

@MS, how do you apply/spread your reward? Liquid based? Granules?

[Razorskier1]

@6balls -- my experience would suggest that the GPS-based systems will reduce the variation significantly, but still may not give you spot on 16.95s with weeds. With zbox I would say that if we are weeded up I get 17.00-type numbers, without I'm spot on. I'd say you will see greater consistency if you decided to go to GPS-based speed control.

[rodltg2]

I'm no help , I read the title wrong. I thought it was " weed and speed control ". I though you had problems operating perfect pass while DUI. Lol !

[A_B]

I ski in a lake with weeds, (not mine), and a shot of hard reverse is needed before every other pass to clean the prop and shaft, or you get vibratique,,and slow times, even with ZO. The prop efficiency goes way down and as said above, ZO can't correçt enough.

[BraceMaker]

There are several commercial products close to what you need.

 

A seaweed mower, it is basically a sickle mower (like the hairclippers) mounted on a pole that extends down.

 

Only you need a version that clamps to the swim platform, cuts a swath approximately swimplatform wide, at a depth below the prop of your boat at idle.

 

You would then drive it back and forth down your course and around your set up area. The cut sea weed can then either be dragged and disposed of as compost or allowed to wash up on shore.

[6balls]

In my neck of the woods, you need DNR permit to harvest. Those that have attempted to harvest the given the density of the vegetation have also broken the sickle due to the amount of biomass.

Really, the course itself becomes a non issue over time as we are up and down an identical path so frequently. It's the skier drop areas/hole shot areas. Again, last year was a banner weed year...such that multiple reverse/forward/reverse then hole shot thrusts did not always suffice. It's the only year I've seen like that since moving here...but this low snow winter may do it to us again.

 

[BraceMaker]

That DNR permit could be useful.

 

I wouldn't doubt it, you'd probably have to start the process before the heavy grow and repeat periodically through the season.

 

 

[6balls]

It's curled pond weed, so one app would do it. On our public lake our association treats 35 acres per year of curled pond funded by the city at about $350/acre. The treatment firm uses aquathol. We make a public safety argument (2 drownings since I've lived here) and recreational use argument(boats and fishing lures can't get thru it) in order to get DNR permit.

 

This is a tough argument to make on "the swamp" as we are the only screwballs out there--one boat primarily used by 2 guys use this lake--and the U.S. fish and wildlife guy that owns 1300 sq ft of lakeshore could give us grief in a hurry. Last guy I want to make mad given one of our two courses runs his shore.

[ToddF]

I got stargazer because of the weeds, perfect pass would vary way to much. with stargazer you will get pretty accurate times with weeds on the prop, about the only time that you won't get a good time is when you have enough on that you can really feel it pulling up the skier. It seems to me that mine will pull up two hundred extra rpms before it won't pull an accurate time.

 

It was well worth the upgrade probably knocked out 90%+ of the bad times over the course of the summer.

[The_MS]

@6balls We use a big tank sprayer on a jon boat but you could use a hand sprayer and probably knock off key areas. You can get some granular hydrothol but if you have a muddy bottom it may not work as well.

[eleeski]

ZO cured my weed problem. Not really but I can handle mild weed fouling of the prop and still get perfect times. My weeds typically work off about halfway down the course. ZO compensates for that.

 

In my PP days we had to give the reverse shot before every pass. We hand cleared the start areas. We aborted any start that had weeds on the prop. And we used the weed speed variable as an adverse condition to train through.

 

Weeds suck.

 

Eric