jpwhit

I assume you don't really mean v-drive, the ZX-1 in a direct drive. I'm guessing you mean transmission. Does the boat currently have a PCM 40a transmission? You also don't need an electronic transmission to install ZO. But you are correct that you need a newer engine. ZO will only work with 2007/2008 or newer engine that has an eControls ECM. 1500 hours isn't that bad as @VermontSkier said if it's well maintained. We run all of our club boats up into the 2500 to 3000 hour range w/o too much trouble. If you're doing this to have a more reliable boat, then you really would want a new PCM 80A transmission. PCM doesn't sell parts anymore for the 40a, and to be honest your transmission with 1500 hours is much more likely to give out than your engine. With engine and transmission, you're probably looking at 20-25k total cost at a minimum. Honestly, I think you'd be better off selling and buying a new boat. Or in this is a case, considering your time constraints, installing Perfect Pass Stargazer and Z-box if you don't already have it may be the best option. I just remembered this, Skip has an new PCM 343 with 80A transmission for sale on Ski-it-again for a little less than 18k. https://www.ski-it-again.com/php/skiitagain.php?endless=summer&topic=Search&category=Motor_Inboard&postid=69104

@HortonYes, I mentioned the possibility of that large Tommy's inventory being liquidated impacting the boat market in an earlier thread. The reason I think it's interesting that MasterCraft mentioned it, is they only mention stuff like this in an earning call if they want to give investors a heads up that it may have future impact. So the fact that it was mentioned is validation that MasterCraft has real concerns. And they certainly have more insight into the market than all of us.

Interesting they mentioned the situation with Malibu / Tommy's in the earnings announcement as having an impact on the market.

Ok, those are Thomson throttle actuators. They are a lot more expensive than Lenco actuators at about $450 each, but I expect getting them from Nautique is quite a bit more expensive. I don't know if any of the of-the-shelf Thompson models match up exactly. Can you read the part number off of them? They would typically be something like ET12-084 or ET12-174 followed by additional numbers and letters. E for Electrak, T for Throttle, 12 for 12 volt, 084 or 174 is the thrust rating of the actuator. The number and letters following define other details such as CANBus, digital, or linear control interface. Knowing Nautique, it probably won't match an off-the-shelf Thompson actuator exactly. But that may be something as simple as the type of plug on the end of the wires. Interestingly, those actuators are rated for a water spray environment if moving. They are not rated to be actually submerged under water while the actuator is changing position.

I think all 2019's are Bryant built. They only have a few molds, so I don't think there was ever concurrent production between Bryant and the Nautique.

Are they Lenco actuators like on the surf boats? Can you post a picture of the actuators? On the surf boats you can use standard Lenco actuators if you're comfortable changing the electrical plug on the end of the cable. And they can be found for much cheaper than buying the part through Nautique. Also on the surf boats, these actuators are typically good for around 5 years, and then it's just best to replace them. You can re-build them, but in my experience, they don't hold up that long after a rebuild. Or do they look like this? This is what the Lenco actuators look like. I really wish the forum software wouldn't combine posts. Is there a way to force it make a new post instead of combining with the last post when there hasn't been an interceding post from someone else?

Check https://web.archive.org

Yes, that looks like firmware that should work with the Polk. The only other thought that comes to mind is maybe there is a setting somewhere in the polk to turn on / off the external control interface. On the Fusion head units for example, there is a setting to enable and disable the NMEA 2K interface. Other than that, I guess something could be wrong with the Polk or the LINC screen. I think it would be much more likely to be the Polk than the LINC screen.

You replaced the 4 pin JDAB Cable ? Nautique went to JL Audio Receivers in 2018 and they put out retrofit firmware for the LINC screens for folks with the Polk Units that wanted to upgrade. If someone installed that firmware on your boat, that would cause the issue. Can you post a picture of the LINC screen firmware version screen. Fyi, JL Audio also uses NMEA 2k interface between LINC Screen and the JL Head Unit. So there are different wiring harnesses. But I wouldn't think your boat would have the different wiring harness unless someone upgraded your boat to JL Audio, but they pulled it out before selling it. Seems like the Polk units had issues with bluetooth not working reliably. Most people like the JL Audio better, so that's why Nautique made the updates available.

That's why the higher interest rates have and will continue to crush the surf boat market. 20+ year financing isn't the exception on these boats, it's the norm. And you can sort of make it work when interest rates are 3-4% and boats are going up significantly every year. With interest rates in the 7% range and with boat prices dropping it's simply not workable anymore. Payments are too high, and then the boats get underwater because of falling prices, and folks can't get out from under the 20+ year loans at that point. There are lot of parallels between what happened with houses and house loans in 2008 to what's happening now with surf boats. The only difference is the boat market is way too small to impact the overall economy like the housing market crash did in 2008. But I think the surf boat market has a long ways to go and I suspect it's going to get a lot worse before it gets better.

The market didn't speak, at least not the market being the consumer. Toyota sees the phenomenal success of the Bronco, another legacy SUV, and they are just trying to get a piece of that action with their similar legacy SUV.

Ok, good plan. With your background in slalom, you'll be able to make fast progress. So focusing on improving your technique now and then focus on scoring points in your next 3 years will pay dividends. If you're ever in the Raleigh / Research Triangle Park area then let me know. Lots of places to ski here. My twin daughters skied on the UNC Ski Team. Unfortunately, that team is dormant now. But they really loved collegiate skiing.

How many more tournaments does the team have this spring? Are you trying to score points for the team at tournaments this spring or do they already have the 5 men point scorers...assuming they still count the top 5 point scorers in each discipline for Men and Women. If you are trying to score points this spring, then as @Rednucleus suggests, you need a bigger ski for the slower speeds. And staying slower will allow you the time to get more buoys. If you're not in a position or interesting in scoring points at the tournaments remaining this spring. Then I would speed up and focus on the rhythm of the course without necessarily going around the balls. But again, I would try to stick with the single best coach on the team, and listen to them. And the best coach isn't always the best skier. The best coach is often the person that can express what you need to work on in terms that resonate with you. Do you have the opportunity to ski and get coaching this summer in the off season for the team? What year are you in school? How many more seasons do you have to ski on the team?

Do you have any coaching available through the team? That can be from a coach or from a more experienced members on a team. I would encourage you to find one person to coach you. In slalom, you generally need to focus on fixing one thing at a time. So having a lot of different people tell you things to do, often isn't helpful. Everything happens so fast, that you can't think about multiple things, and you often have to commit that "thing" you're trying to fix to muscle memory so it does unfortunately take some time.

You didn’t say the year of the boat. If this is a medallion gateway era boat, then disregard my comment.

Sure, test the other sensor with a voltmeter before you buy the replacement gauge.

Ok, then it’s definitely a CANBUS wiring issue right around the screen. The wiring harness on MasterCrafts are setup to work with both the 4.5” and 7” screens. They never offered the 4.5” screen in the ProStar, like they did in the wake boats, but nonetheless the wiring harness is setup the same way. So there is a small adapter harness right at the screen, to adapt the connectors on the 7” screen to the connectors used for the 4.5” screen. The base wiring harness is setup to plug directly into the 4.5” screen. Net, the CANBUS wiring goes through a few different connectors right around the screen. So any of those connectors / connections could be the problem. Here are a few pictures And a picture of just the adapter harness that I labeled. I'll be at my lake house tomorrow so I can verify some of this by checking my boat.

To be clear, I meant Tommy’s going bankrupt. But it certainly could be a tough year or two for Malibu as well.

I had time to go through the ProStar wiring diagram last night. The 120 ohm termination resistors for the CANBUS are built into the engine / ECM wiring harness on one end and the other end is right behind the HV700 screen. I think I remember seeing it, if I'm right it's a connector with a yellow thingy plugged into the wiring harness very close to the screen. I don't think you need to worry about the termination on the engine end. But I'd check for the one behind the screen. If you see the yellow thing plugged in, unplug it and measure it with an ohm meter. It should read right around 120 ohms. I also through of a fourth thing that could cause your problem. If another device on the CANBUS in malfunctioning in a way that is loading or disrupting the bus, that could be the issue. In a ProStar there's not that many things on the CANBUS. The engine ECM, the single puck ZO gps receiver, ZO head Unit, hv700 screen, Power Distribution Module (PDM), and the airmar biducer. There is also a connector shown in the wiring harness labeled "3-n-1". I'm not sure what that is, but I think the connector is not actually used. Just fyi, on older ZO systems with the dual puck, they aren't on the CANBUS, they are wired directly to the ZO head unit. Since the airmar biducer isn't required, I'd go ahead and just unplug that. It's in the engine box right in front of the engine down next to the bilge pump. You'll lose depth and water temp reading with it unplugged. Turn off the main battery power switch while unplugging stuff and then turn it back on once the device is unplugged. Next thing I'd unplug is the PDM. It's on the front side of firewall. You should be able to get to it from behind the bow cushions. Unplug the green connector. That's the connector with the CANBUS wiring. With the PDM unplugged most of the electrical accessories in the boat won't work. Such as lights, heaters, and stuff like that. If you still have issue, I'd try unplugging the GPS puck. Of course, ZO won't work with it unplugged, but if the screen can read the ZO serial number from the head unit, and the other reading such as engine hours from the ECM come back, then you'll know the GPS puck is messing up the CANBUS communications. One clarification that would be useful to know. It sounds like in the past, the problem has been intermittent. Is that the case now? If so, how often does it happen?

If you can't get it figured out fairly quickly, I'm happy to fly from Raleigh to Austin and get it fixed. I can bring an extra screen that I know works from being tested in my ProStar, another ZO head unit, a bunch of wiring harness connectors, pins and parts, Rhinda Diacomm, and a CANBUS sniffer. All I'd ask in return is some ski sets. I also have some friends in Austin I'd like to visit as well as a ton of unused frequent flyer miles.

And when they liquidate the inventory from Tommy's as part of the likely bankruptcy, that's going to flood the market with boats.

The screen shows what you're seeing when the screen can't communicate to the ZO head unit in the firewall under the dash. The part you replaced recently. This can be caused by one of three things. 1) There is an issue with the CANBUS drivers in the screen 2) There is a CANBUS wiring or termination issue between the screen and the black ZO head unit 3) There is a problem with the black ZO head unit Given you already replaced the head unit, and it sounds like you were having the same problem before and after the replacement, that would seem to rule out 3. It's rare, but new electronics can be faulty. But if the same symptoms are happening with 2 different ZO head unit, then that rules out a problem with the head unit. First thing I'd do is look very closely at the black 23pin connector on the screen. Unplug it and look carefully at the pins inside the connector. Make sure none of the pins are bend or have been pushed back into the connector. Then do the same thing for the 23pin connector going to the ZO head unit. For reference here are the CANBUS hi and low pins in each of those connectors. If you look really carefully inside the connector there are small numbers to identify pin numbers. If you have a meter, you can check continuity of the CANBUS signals between the two connectors. Checking for proper CANBUS termination at each end is pretty hard. You have to know the physical order of all the CANBUS wiring. I've never had a need to figure that out. Black HV700 screen connector - CANBUS Low: pin 5, CANBUS High: pin 6 ZO connector - CANBUS Low: pin 10, CANBUS High: pin 9 If you want to send me any of your parts, I'm happy to test them out for you. I have a setup of screens, wiring harnesses, and a ZO head unit setup on my workbench. So I can test any of the piece parts. For example, if you still have the old ZO head unit you can send me that and I can verify it works with screens and the wiring harness I have. Or I can verify your screen. Of course it's not realistic to send the wiring harnesses. Actually, looking back at your screen shot. I think the issue is with your screen and/or the CANBUS connections in the connector to the screen. I think this because your screen isn't showing info for other things on the CANBUS such as the engine hours from the engine ECU, or water temp from the AIRMAR biducer.

I wonder if there is enough clearance on a ProStar for the size prop needed for that motor.

I’m not sure, never heard of anyone commenting about that. I think the only thing you could try is the 3-blade jump prop. There really doesn’t seem to be a lot of prop selection right around the size of the standard ProStar prop. I have a 19 ProStar with the 5.7L and I do wish it had a larger engine. The course at my lake house has a medium distance setup on one end, and my ProStar just gets to speed at 34mph right at the pre-gate balls. And 36 doesn’t lock in until halfway between the pre-gate and gates. We have a 5.7L 200 at the ski club, and it’s noticeably stronger than the 5.7 in the ProStar. I assume it’s because the PCM 5.7 is 343hp and the Ilmore is 320hp. Overall, I like the ProStar better than the 200, I just think it would be perfect with the 6 or 6.2L engine. People with long setups say the 2014 is fine, but I know it wouldn’t work for me. I bought the 3 blade jump prop to try on my 19 at the end of last season, but I never got around to trying it yet. I also actually picked up a virtually brand new Ilmore 6.0 for a steal, so that’ll probably end up in the ProStar.

For example, this boat can likely be had in the 40's. https://www.ski-it-again.com/php/skiitagain.php?endless=summer&topic=Search&category=Boat_3Event&postid=68613 And probably won't need much of anything until 1500 hours or so. It may end up being a much better deal over the next 10 years of ownership. I'm someone that typically isn't that concerned with high hours. But at 2700 hours, that boat is almost certainly going to need fairly significant work pretty soon. I'm basing this on our ski club boats. We typically run them up to about 2500 hours. Pretty much after that, they really do need a complete refurb to be a boat you can count on. So in addition to what it'll cost, I think you need to think about how you'll feel if the boat breaks down a lot and ruins your boating outing. I think the right buyer for the original boat posted, is for someone that wants a project and will take it and immediately tear it all down and do a compete refurb. Otherwise, I think you'll end up with a boat that lets you down too frequently. Also it says trailer optional, so I bet 35k isn't including the trailer. And a nearly brand new tandem axle trailer isn't cheap.