Hiring out a course install

[bojans]

We are located about 50 miles north of Chicago on an old quarry. Our course (individually anchored) is about 20 years old and recently the I bolts in the concrete blocks have started to rust through setting the line and sub buoys free. The silt that has built up over the years makes it very difficult to see or locate the old anchors and siring up the silt ruins the water clarity in that area. 

We have resigned ourselves to the fact that the course will need to be completely redone and so long as we will be replacing the whole course, we would like to move the location, essentially starting from scratch. The idea of doing this ourselves is a bit daunting given other commitments.

The depth of the area where the course will be is ~25-40' with portions of the lake bed being very flat and other having a more interesting topography. Initially our course was installed through the ice and fine tuned via diving in the spring. With the lake being spring fed good ice is not always assured so winter install may be questionable.

Does anyone know of a company or person that does slalom course installs? We are happy to make anchors, assist in install and help with diving but would really like to have someone who really knows that they are doing and with more experience lead the way get it done vs us picking at it. I have already reached out to Jon and Zack with no luck.

Any help is appreciated

[Wish]

Why not a float course? Drop it in and ski. 

[MDB1056]

Agree with @Wish  / consider an Accufloat for a permanent or semi permanent set up. I had one for a portable course but they are WAY to heavy duty for in and out easily. All tubing is sched 40 pvc, stainless coated mainline, heavy duty connectors for all connections, - a fabulous solution for a long term solution that still gives you easy access if something needs to be done. Boom……..

Definitely what I’d do in your situation - as it can be easily installed with s couple people. Definitely get heavy duty 30 lb river anchors for each end , plus an extra line to attach to anchor line to tighten and then anchor off to the side with a separate buoy . You’ll be skiing same afternoon easy. 

[BraceMaker]

How wide is the quarry? Cross lake cable system would be my choice if its not crazy wide.  Those crossing cables can be tensioned to several hundred pounds holding the course dead nuts straight and then any work that needs to be done on the course just involves slacking the course at the cross cable anchors on shore..

A cheap pontoon or aluminum rowboat or even a swim raft and you pick the cable up and you can just pull yourself along the lake doing whatever work you need and never need to worry about working in 30 feet of water.

When done you go back to shore and crank the cables tight.

Problem with doing a portable course even one with super heavy anchors is that they're fine in shallower water but just like anchoring a boat you need to add length to the mainline to go deeper and at a certain point in 30-40 feet of water you end up needing a really long main anchor line to keep the anchor from moving.

And at that point when you have the course, and 55m pregates on both ends and then another few hundred feet of rope both ends it gets hard to keep the course from bowing.

Edited June 15, 2023 by BraceMaker

[EFW]

text me 716-949-6746

[MichaelGoodman]

With sure path the job is fairly straight  forward

[MDB1056]

Course we ski regularly is a heavy duty tube floating course with 300 lb concrete anchors and tensioners. Been straight as an arrow for over 10 yrs. 

[buechsr]

I'm pretty sure Jon Travers is available for this (probably not any time soon though, lol).

I second the floater

[Andre]

Diving school?

[lpskier]

I’d give Lucky Lowe a call. This is right up his ally. Pm me and I’ll send you his contact info if you’re interested. 
 

Alternatively, I’d contact a TC in your state and ask him for advice.  Jeff Surdej would be a good place to start.  @JeffSurdej

TC=Technical Controller 

 

[bojans]

Thanks for the suggestions. We are still skiing the course (dropped a new anchor where needed). I am hesitant to go with a floating course due to accuracy. I was always under the impression pipe bow and wind make these less than ideal? The idea of running cable across the lake is interesting but our width starts at just shy of 400'  and goes up to over 900'. We would also have to put adjusters in peoples yards and we would be dealing with potential interference from our jump anchor lines.

[Lars]

a portable course like insta-slalom is a bit flimsy and will flex in the wind. If you get 20' pieces of 2" sch 80 pvc, it can be pretty dang rigid, its what we have at our ski club, also in an old quarry. 

 

 

[Wish]

All sorts of ways to deal with pipe flex. They can be made to be just as accurate. And so much easier to deal with in deep waters or worse if u have fluctuating water levels. 

[LeonL]

We have a floating course that was surveyed and found to be in record tolerance.  We have 3" schedule 40.  The only problem you may experience will relate to water depth.  We don't have that problem, as our depth is from 12' to 6'.

[bojans]

You guys have me rethinking a floating course. One concern I have is with zebra muscles. We have had them so bad in our lake that they collect on the buoy lines during the winter and sink the line and sub buoy. We have taken to cleaning these every year to prevent this and could do the same with  the course lines and the outside of the PVC, but what about them collecting on the inside of the PVC and making the course too heavy to float?

[LeonL]

Fortunately I have no experience with zebra mussels.  How big are they?  Could you cap the pipes and drill small holes to let water in but keep mussels out?

[MDB1056]

I've never seen them collect inside the PVC - only outside. We've cleaned some off of a couple of locations on our permanent floating course from time to tome - no big deal.  

[Wish]

Not sure this would work but I believe hulls on  inner coastal boats often get their hulls painted with something those type creatures do not like to attach themselves to. 

[lpskier]

You can cap the pipe to solve the “mussels in the pipe problem.” 
 

When I used a floating course (from 1978 to 2010), we would pull the whole course out of the lake for the winter. It would take three hours with three or four guys and was always kind of fun. But a) you could inspect the course for damage and make repairs; b) clean all parts; and c) not worry about ice damage. 

[BraceMaker]

On 6/16/2023 at 10:47 AM, LeonL said:

Fortunately I have no experience with zebra mussels.  How big are they?  Could you cap the pipes and drill small holes to let water in but keep mussels out?

The mussels have tiny tiny offspring they're like 100 microns.  So "small hole" is relative.  But hey are filter feeders and so they need water to move to bring them nutrients.

You can fill PVC on shore from a hose and cap it or flood them in the lake and install a threaded cap.  Even if the water inside had millions of offspring for zebra mussels they won't have the water flow to feed them.

The outside of the pipe and ropes is a different matter.

 

[ForrestGump]

cap the pvc and fill it with closed cell foam.  

[MDB1056]

water needs to enter the PVC 

[Bongo]

What @MichaelGoodman said above; get Sure-Path and do it yourself.

We initially put our course in with individual anchors through the ice. Decent'ish. Ice-out moved a few. Surveying it a pain in the tail.  Got Sure-Path. Now measuring the course, finding missing sub-buoys and even anchors (our deepest is  only 12' deep) and adjusting and remeasuring is straightforward.

[HMan66]

On our floating course I’ve only seen mussels on the anchor lines. With a floating course you get the mini course as well so flotation shouldn’t be an issue. In fact, the turn balls all sit higher than most skiers would like, but we’re on a public lake. On private water you could fill the turn balls with air and water to get them to sit lower. 

[Andre]

5 minutes ago, HMan66 said:

On our floating course I’ve only seen mussels on the anchor lines. With a floating course you get the mini course as well so flotation shouldn’t be an issue. In fact, the turn balls all sit higher than most skiers would like, but we’re on a public lake. On private water you could fill the turn balls with air and water to get them to sit lower. 

Why can't you fill with water on public lake?  I do, but my floating is permanent for the season.

[HMan66]

2 minutes ago, Andre said:

Why can't you fill with water on public lake?  I do, but my floating is permanent for the season.

I guess to keep the course as visible as possible to the general boating public. I blame the “high buoys” for my lack of successful passes 🤣

[Andre]

Our book of excuses is pretty thick here too!