Portable Course Setup Question

[Skiphreak]

First time putting out the portable Instaslalom in the morning. We have access to the ski boat as well as a Whaler. Wondering from those with experience if there are advantages to using one boat over another? Thanks in advance. 

[jhughes]

Ski boat will be way better. You have the swim platform to work/troubleshoot and no engine in the way back there at the transom. The spool of rope sits perfectly on the engine box.

Deploy with the wind, retrieve against the wind (if there is wind). Driver not even required for retrieval as you pull yourself along with the rope anyway.

In between each rope diamond, I prep each arm by putting the 3 sections across the gunwhale, unclipping the buoy lines, clipping on buoys, while they are still not telescoped out. Then when the rope diamond comes out of the spool, put that on the center section, then extend the outer section (with turn ball on it already), connect to middle section, extend that, connect to boat lane section, and then extend that. Basically telescope, connect, telescope, connect, telescope. Drop in, start staging the next arm.

20 minute process once you get the hang of it.

[Skiphreak]

Great info. Thanks much! Excited to drop it in!

[MDB1056]

I’m spoiled using a pontoon boat. Install off the front with the boat in reverse . Using a ski boat be VERY careful not to damage  upholstery /carpet . It will be crowded . If using a ski boat be careful in the tightening process as a risk a DD boat can pull too hard. Outboards are generally  better for this. You’ll get the routine down after a few tries so don’t be disappointed if it feels  like a lot the first time or two . Portable courses are great! 

Edited September 9, 2023 by MDB1056

[lpskier]

We use the ski boat and a Whaler. Ski boat for the cable and Whaler for the arms. Keeps the hardware separated from the upholstery. Working together, the Whaler delivers the arms to the guys laying the cable. Job goes easily. 
 

Note to someone new to installing a course. The first turn ball is on the right. You’re talking to someone who, maybe 45 years ago, put one ball on the left. I knew something looked a little odd but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it….

[MitchellM]

12 hours ago, jhughes said:

Ski boat will be way better. You have the swim platform to work/troubleshoot and no engine in the way back there at the transom. The spool of rope sits perfectly on the engine box.

Deploy with the wind, retrieve against the wind (if there is wind). Driver not even required for retrieval as you pull yourself along with the rope anyway.

In between each rope diamond, I prep each arm by putting the 3 sections across the gunwhale, unclipping the buoy lines, clipping on buoys, while they are still not telescoped out. Then when the rope diamond comes out of the spool, put that on the center section, then extend the outer section (with turn ball on it already), connect to middle section, extend that, connect to boat lane section, and then extend that. Basically telescope, connect, telescope, connect, telescope. Drop in, start staging the next arm.

20 minute process once you get the hang of it.

This is gold.  Thanks for posting!

[h2onhk]

Portable courses are awesome!  We also use a stripped down pontoon boat.  No railing, no seats, no console, just a flat deck and 9.9hp outboard with tiller.  Makes a great working platform and the small outboard is easy to maneuver.  Plenty of power to tension it up as well.

If this is your first time putting the course in and you have access to a decent section of yard/beach, I would recommend laying out the gate and ball 1 on land just to see how it all goes together.

[lefty]

We use our tin boat to deploy and retrieve.  Concerned about damage to the ski boat, some stuff with edges involved. Also depending on how long it’s in, our is quite covered in algae so it makes a mess in the boat upon retrieving. We deploy and retrieve in reverse as mentioned above, use the gunwales as a bench of sorts.  Have a system that works for us and we can now do it in an hour or so depending on the wind. Enjoy!

[Fam-man]

Install and retrieve 3 portable slalom courses throughout the season, 2 insta slalom and 1 ez slalom. 1 course we pull off shore, the others we deploy from a boat. The insta slalom we typically tie the risers short (shallow weedy lakes) and deploy the main line and boat guides. Once that’s straight we tension, add the rest of the arms, tension again and untie the risers. *critical to have good boat control and not cross the mainline if using this technique. The ez slalom we deploy from a boat. My order of preference for boat deployment is pontoon followed by ski boat and lastly a tin fishing boat. Room to work and boat control are factors when deploying. Have deployed from the ski boat with the family when the kids were young, everyone had a job and had to work together. Wife drove, kids connected balls and passed arms. Important to have the arms well marked so it’s clear the order things should go in. Turn ball and associated arms, extend and make sure click  in, middle section, extend and click in, boat guide in mainline diamond, connect to middle section and extend, ensure clicked in. As spooling to next arm get the boat lined up early (if you’ve drifted) and pull on mainline to “place” the previous arm as much as possible. 
deploying from a boat is quicker, our courses get gross with lake negotiation so we don’t want to put them in the boat resulting in the shore deployment. 

[75Tique]

I am another deploy from the bow of the pontoon boat guy, so I would think deploying from the Whaler, backing up would work well.  Easier than ski boat given the open spaces to work and move around. 

 

Another tip or two from my experience.

I typically just deploy and recover once each year, but for every use, have to clip on then remove balls.  The process for accessing the mainline sitting on the bottom of the lake (30 to 50 ft) requires recovering the shallow anchor and then, once all balls are on, going back and tightening it up.  As someone mentioned, be careful tightening with ski boat, but there is more to it than that.  Some folks I used to ski with recommended tightening up with the anchor in/on the boat then dropping it.  I have learned that doing that risks folding the ball one arm between the two boat guides.  Must be a physics thing because it happened same way, same spot twice.  I think the straight pull along the surface of the water is what does it.  So, like most everyone, I guess, I tighten it up with a short (in my case, about 40-50') line from the anchor to the surface (with a rope handle and buoy at the end)

I typically clip on all the balls myself before the other guys get here.  Having help really wouldnt make it go any quicker.  I do that by sitting on the platform and pulling the boat down the mainline.  Easiest access to the mainline and arms.  When its time to tighten it, and I'm still alone, I grab the pontoon boat since I can actually steer it in reverse, unlike the ski boat and can run throttle, steering wheel and hold the tightening line all myself.  If I have to tighten up a lot, I'll hoist the anchor a couple feet off the bottom so it doenst get snagged on all the crap on the bottom of the lake (lots of limbs and branches) and clip a loop in the rope to the front of the boat and pull in reverse. I do the final tighten with the anchor back on the bottom and holding on to the handle, so I can "feel" how tight it is.  If the guys have shown up, we tighten with the ski boat, with me driving forward and them holding the tightening rope off the stern.

 

 

[slalom frog]

I have a semi-permanent EZ slalom course.  It's a SS cable with 2" pvc pipe sections.  I deploy the mainline using a ski boat.  I use a ratchet strap to secure the spool of SS mainline the platform and I have all of the pre-gates, gates and boat guide sections in the boat.  I work from the platform and the other person drives and passes pvc.  Once the mainline is deployed we go get the turn arm sections and deploy those.

When I take the course out I have the same process, except in reverse.  However we will normally do all of the work from a 14' stern drive boat.  Everything is so dirty after being in the water for 4 months and it is much easier to clean the small fishing boat when we are done!

[epnault]

We have to remove ours from the lake daily so we get lots of practice each season.  I can deploy it on my own with favorable winds in about 15-20 minutes and we usually use 2 or 3 people to take it out fast.  We did it from the ski boat once and never again.  So much better with more room and not having to worry about being so careful not to wreck the ski boat.

[MitchellM]

2 hours ago, epnault said:

We have to remove ours from the lake daily so we get lots of practice each season.  I can deploy it on my own with favorable winds in about 15-20 minutes and we usually use 2 or 3 people to take it out fast.  We did it from the ski boat once and never again.  So much better with more room and not having to worry about being so careful not to wreck the ski boat.

@epnault What boat do you use?

[75Tique]

Some guy on facebook customized his pontoon boat into a slalom course management boat.  Pretty clever, tho a bit excessive, given the fact that a pretty ordinary pontoon boat makes life pretty easy.  As I age and that anchor gets a little heavier (form 30 or 50 feet, depending on which end) I could use the retrieval winch he has.  Either way, pretty resourceful of him.

 

[MDB1056]

@MitchellM as several have echoed - pontoon is best 

[75Tique]

6 hours ago, MDB1056 said:

@MitchellM as several have echoed - pontoon is best 

Yup, not as fancy as the one above but it works.

[MDB1056]

@75Tique that’s a lot fancier than mine! Yes they work great. One added benefit I have on my old one is an electric trolling motor that I can just slide off the front  and use the foot pedal to maneuver when installing or removing the course. No need  for a driver. Much easier for solo installs and extractions . Since powering snd steering from the front vs rear, also easier to adjust direction on the front where working. 

[epnault]

@MitchellM Pontoon all the way

Deployment solo

 

 

Removal with a driver

 

[75Tique]

The one man deployment is impressive.