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I love the classic look of teak but I also like the extra grip from a fiberglass platform with rubber on it. I slipped off a teak platform that was oiled a bit too much and broke my pinky toe.

Same, if I have someone to help me toss the box on the roof I can have it attached in less than 2 minutes. By myself I can do it in less than 10. The box isn't heavy it is just awkward to lift with only one person.

All Stars was a great success. Here is team midwest with their first place trophy, and yes that is @RazorRoss3 in the middle pulling up his shirt.

In response to your question about maintenance. The throttle body injection should be as maintenance free as port injection if not even more maintenance free. There are hardly any parts involved with a TBI compared to other fuel systems. However, if you had two identical engines one with TBI and the other with port injection the port injection would use gas more efficiently. Both in power and fuel efficiency.

@klindy according to their FAQ it will sit and hover until the sensor comes back into range. So, you could maybe get it to go back and forth in the center of the course. I imagine that it will stay pointed in the same direction while waiting so you probably could film the whole course.

I did not qualify but I will be there for fun. It will be nice to meet some ballers there.

This might help.

If the handle was an inch short you could easily loosen up the knot and get an extra inch out of it but at 5 inches you most likely will have too short of a bury after messing with it. I would call up Masterline and see what they say. Spectra can be tricky to get right while making the handle. It isn't so much that it stretches but that everything sort of settles in. They are normally made long because it is really easy to stick some rope inside the braid to reduce the length where as making it longer is tough. Knotting it though to reduce length is a bad idea, it will drastically reduce the strength of the rope.

Long post so here is the summary, go with the Thule Sonic box in a minimum size of XL and Thule aerobars with crossroad feet if you need crossbars. In the winter I work at a shop that sells both Thule and Yakima. If your 4runner already has factory crossbars you can go ahead and get a cargo box to mount to them. I personally use a Thule Sonic XL. It is a good compromise between cost and performance. The difference between a cheap box and a higher end box is mostly ease of attaching it, rigidity, wind noise and fuel economy. Having the box is great, I have more room for gear on the way to the lake and on my way home I don't have to put any wet gear in my car. I have also seen people use the clamping style snow ski carriers. These will work but you won't have any protection for your gear, no where to put your wet vest and the wind noise will be louder. If you don't have crossbars of your car or want to go with a really large box like a xxl or xxxl Sonic you will want/need to get some aftermarket crossbars. With the 4runner you probably have two rails on the roof running from front to back. You can attach the crossbars to those rails. One bonus to having the rails is that next time you get a car you can swap your rack to the new car so long as it also has rails and is a similar width. For a vehicle with rails I suggest going with Thule.(unbiased opinion, I have both Thule and Yakima Whispbars for my vehicles) Their rail grabbing system is the best and has the least amount of moving plastic parts. The only reason I would go with Yakima Whispbars over the Thule bars for the 4runner is if you want to be able to put accessories on and off really fast or it you will be changing vehicles a lot. If you are going to leave your rack on for the whole summer I suggest going with aero bars instead of square bars. The wind noise and dip in fuel economy is much better with aero bars especially if you have a sunroof or like to drive with the windows down. Summary go with the Thule Sonic in a minimum size of XL and Thule aerobars with crossroad feet if you need crossbars.

Update: I got to try out the new binding today. It looks like I'll be investing in a Reflex r-style binding. It only took one pass before I started to like the change. My foot felt very planted yet I had no restriction on my ankle. I also felt like I was a little more connected to the edges of the ski. Basically seemed like the best of both worlds. My season only started a few weeks ago and so far I have been focusing on getting more weight over my front foot. Today I felt a big improvement over my last few sets. I don't know if it was just from me focusing on this issue or if it had anything to do with the binding. My new binding is about 1/2" higher up than my rtp. I did find this thread about changing the height of your rear binding to get more weight forward. http://www.ballofspray.com/forum#/discussion/11136/leveling-out-binding-height/p1

I agree with @Deke, if you always measured with the line on your leg going straight up and down it should give pretty consistent results. Where the line is on your leg shouldn't make that much difference so long as the line goes through your ankle bump thing. My ankle bump seems to only move about a 1/4" as I bend from back to front.

Thanks for the suggestions guys. After playing around with it some more today I'm pretty happy with the release. I cut the back down about another half inch and tomorrow I'm going to go get some bungge cord for it. As for the liner I'm not concerned with it's longevity. If I put a few sets in and like it I'll probably get the r-style. @Killer the reason I am trying it is just for consistency in feel. I hate the feeling if my foot doesn't feel like it is all the way in the rtp. If I don't like this I will play around with a custom fit rtp.

I got a few sets in this year and so far my RTP has been bugging me. I'm a little anal about my gear always feeling the same way when I put it on. Whether it is my bindings, gloves or my vest I like everything to always be in the same place and the same tightness. I tried double boots for a season and didn't like them and after watching Horton's Reflex unboxing video I started to like the idea of the R-style binding. However, since I am still young and poor the cost was a bit too much just to try it out. I found an old pair of rollerblades in the basement and after an hour playing with the dremel I had a binding in front of me. I bolted it up to an old Radar binding plate that @Beans bent up a bit. The liner was too small so I ripped the sole off an old shoe for a replacement. With the laces somewhat tight I can easily slide out of the binding yet my foot feels very solid and secure. Hopefully I like the new setup and will be able to buy the Reflex binding with a little more confidence. The weather is looking bad for the next few day so it might be a while before I can see if I like it.

@msuws I'm from Brighton and if you are not comfortable repairing these yourself I would gladly help you with the repair. If you don't have an adequate space to do it in East Lansing I would be willing to bring them back to my shop and do the repair myself (after a set on the river of course). I know that those jumpers have had bindings rip out of them a couple times but the last time I saw them they definitely looked repairable. ~Ryan

The way I would do it is with an epoxy resin and hardener like this http://www.fibreglast.com/category/Epoxy_Resins You should be able to find it in a smaller quantity than a quart. Normally you can find small packets at Home Depot. Since college jump skis take a lot of abuse I would go ahead and put threaded inserts in. http://www.mcmaster.com/#standard-threaded-inserts/=wtoryo Doing it this way will cost more than just filling in the holes but should last for longer. Also, I would stay away from polyester resins if you don't know what type of foam is in the ski.

@ToddL , with some releases the slide loop is large enough to still work with the release. If it is not you have two options. One, remove a three foot section and attach it backwards and you will have a standard loop. Two, wait a few weeks and we will be offering our own rope float Thanks, for the unboxing article Matt.

Ballers, The contest has come to an end we ended up going with two entries from the wakeboarding community. We are going to prototype an action camera mount for handles and take off sections that are easier to take off. Thanks, Ryan

I put a second battery in my boat solely for the peace of mind that I can listen to the radio and not have to worry about having enough juice to start back up. On a weekday at the family cottage it is common to be the only person at the lake that day. Not being able to start could mean a long paddle.

We have gotten a decent amount of response for the contest so far. I plan on running the contest until the end of the month and then picking the winner. So, far most of the entries we have gotten are for handles with camera mounts. Does anyone else have any ideas? It can be something as simple as "I want a trick rope with x line length". Or something way out of the box.... I'm thinking laser beams. Feel free to post your entry here. ~Ryan

My boat is 30 years old and I wouldn't be surprised if some of these critical parts are not original. I know that my alternator, fuel pump and carb are marine. Is there any easy way to visually inspect if my starter is marine?

We had just oiled up the swim platform(used a bit too much) and as I stepped out onto it I slipped off. While falling into the water my foot caught on one of the hand holds and I broke my pinky toe.

@Shakeski the website is echoskis.com . We already have 3 collegiate teams getting a free rope.

@twhisper Our no stretch ropes are for trick skiing, wakeboarding and barefooting(barefoot specific rope to come soon) We are planning to start producing a slalom rope but are refining our manufacturing process a little. We want to be sure we can meet the tight tolerances set by AWSA and IWSF.

Hey Ballers, I posted on another thread a while ago that I was starting a company to sell ropes where with every rope a $5 credit would go to a collegiate team of your choosing. Well the company is up and running and we are running a contest. Basically we want to know what features your dream rope would have(can be a rope for any discipline of towed water sports). The prize for this contest is that if we decide to start producing anyone's dream rope we will give that rope to the first person that suggests it to us for free. If we try out your dream rope but do not put it into production you will still be able to buy that prototype rope from us for the cost of the materials. You can reply with your suggestions here or email contests@echoskis.com . One prototype that we are already working on is no stretch ropes with a sliding loop and plastic coating on the mainline. Thanks, Ryan

Paypal does have a good dispute system for the seller and buyer. Just make sure you document the whole transaction well. I would take pictures and videos of the skis and keep records of all communication with the buyer. Keep records of your shipping information and make sure you get adequate insurance. If I was selling electronics I wouldn't do it but for a ski it is kind of hard for the buyer to say it doesn't work.