Spuddy

I second that! I am just outside Toronto so it's the one CFL game I watch a year!

I would say he is snow skiing but close enough!!

I would be more cautious of a boat that is over 10 years old that has very low hours, means it has sat for far to long which is not great for the engines.

I agree it's next to impossible to simulate skiing on dry land. Try the TRX system its a great overall work out and uses lots of core.

A few people have mentioned this before and I have to agree, driver is talking to spotter, looking at the shore line etc. I do have a course on my lake but there are times when it is windy, fishermen, etc and I just go for open water. I can take a few turns stop look at the driver and sure enough lurching towards shore because they want to see if anyone has built a new cottage or something in the last 12 hours since we were out last. When I drive for someone, open water or course does not matter, I stayed focused on driving not what might be happening on shore.

I use a pump I got at West Marine http://www.westmarine.com/buy/west-marine--manual-oil-changer-2-85-quart--11097714 It's meant to drain the oil from 4 stroke outboards but it works great on my nautique tranny.

I am all done, water was 13 c (57F) air was 12 (55F) with a wind made it much colder.

I have them in my lake as well, have for quite a few years but we have lots of fishermen in and out. Watch if you are pulling out your course, the bungee cords I use on my bouys get covered on the plastic clips. I have to wear gloves to take them off, those little suckers are sharp feels like a paper cut.

We have a manual vertical lift that is removed each winter. The winch itself broke earlier this summer, the boat was about a foot out of the water and was basically stuck as the winch was broken on one side and would not move. Lucky for me I have a good friend in the air force who has 5000lb capacity straps we attached those to hold the boat in place. Then we released the pressure off the winch by using another winch to just move the lift a bit. Took off the broken winch replaced it with the new one. Took some time but it was a little uneasy feeling having the winch itself snap with the boat hanging out of the water; of course the day we spent doing all that the weather and water was perfect to ski and here we were with a boat stuck on a lift!!

Thanks for the input I may just look at a hard shell but not sure if I can get a try before you buy

Any thoughts/suggestions on this binding? I currently have a radar strada binding and need to replace the liner with the cost being what it is I am almost thinking of getting a new binding (saw a close out 2013 apex for $149) I don't think I am at the level to go with a full hard shell and I like the radar my only issues being the liner and I wish it had a little higher ankle support. That being said HO seems to have changed bindings every couple of years since trying to find a balance between rubber and hard shell, they had the EXO, Apex now a new binding for 2015 makes me wonder if they are just trying to get it right or have not found the right fit yet. Anyone who has any thoughts on the Apex that would be great. I currently ride an S2 most often running 28 @ 34 mph and taking down 3 or 4 at 32 hope to crack 32 before the ice forms this winter! Thanks in advance.

@GAJ0004‌ I agree with you on the storage issue!! Being in the north and having a boat house and lift that just accommodate a 196 my options become limited as the boats keep getting larger.

I have a 97 196 and it was doing something similar would cut out over 30 mph, it was the fuel pick up at the bottom of the tank. This can be removed by taking off the black cover over the blower vents remove the port side blower vent and you can access the fuel pick up. It was quite clogged on the bottom, we cleaned it and it has fun fine ever since.

I find Spray Nine works really well for cleaning vinyl

I agree with a lot of the comments here, positive feedback, patience etc are all key. One thing that helped my wife learn very quickly was she really had little to no experience with driving a boat at all, I taught her basics, she pulled me in open water then through the course she learned to fully understand what is going on because I explained to her what needs to be done if for example I fall in the middle of the course or outside etc. I have a couple of buddies I ski with they are both great drivers in open water mostly for barefooting but in the course they get too nervous it's like they can't focus on what needs to happen.

I am Canadian so my everyday life I think in metres but when I am in the boat it's always feet off and mph unless I happen to go to a tournament where I have to make sure to say "please start at 16 m at 55 K" aka 22 off at 34 mph.

A stranger??!! I lent mine to a friend I have skied with for 10 years, never have I seen him miss a start, of course he has a different ski different bindings etc. what does he do? Pops the handle and leaves a nice ding on the side of my new ski, I think I had 5 sets on it!! So for sure never a stranger, always say the binding is the wrong size even if it's not!!

@ToddF‌ I have something similar to that strap I will try never thought of is using that, hope to get it in the water in the next few days thanks.

Besides using some sort of winch and other ways to tighten the mainline on a course?

It turns out it was clogging at the pick up in the bottom of the tank, pulled it out seems to be running ok. So far so good. Thanks for all the feedback.

@rico yes it is the GT 40. I will take a look at all of these suggestions.

Thanks for all the input. The fuel filter is new and clean, spark plug wires are new as of '12 and have about 75 hours on them so I am hoping those are good. @ob where is the inline filter located specifically? Thank you all.

I have a 1997 196. About three years ago we had the anti sphion valve repalced because at over 30 mph the boat was hesitating and it some cases dropping right to 20 mph. Now it has started to do the same thing again, just in time for summer holidays!! Any thoughts on if this could be the same issue with the anti sphion valve or something else. It does have PP star gazer but will hesitate with the system on or off so I am sure it is not an issue with speed control. It will run all day without and issue at wakeboard speeds. Any thoughts ideas would be great. Thanks.

Three out of the four last Olympics the men's team as won gold!! Four for four in the ladies side!! I hope the NHL will let them play for 2018.

I am a proud Canadian as well and will be getting up at the crack of dawn tomorrow to watch the gold medal game. Here are are few facts about Team Canada: