jpwhit

I've owned both a 2011 and a 2012 200 that were both non-cat. I've also worked on 2012 5.7L that did have cats. And all the 2013 and newer boats that I've worked on have all had cat's. So that's what my comment was based on. I'm not really sure exactly what determined if you got one with or without cats around the 2012 timeframe. Maybe it was just luck of the draw or maybe PCM was ramping up productions of the catalytic converter assemblies, so it just depended on if they had those parts available or not. And by 2013, they have enough to build all engines with cats. That's a pretty common in the auto industry. When California requires something, they start producing a version of the car sold in California. Then because it cost money to have different variations, as they ramp up production they simplify and sell the same version in all 50 states when the supply chain is ramped up to support it. No, I didn't actually work directly in the boating industry. Before I retired last year, I did work as a hardware and software design engineer in a company that was closely associated with automotive, aerospace, and really anybody the built stuff that involved mechanical, electronics, and software systems. I also grew up working in my grandfathers auto repair garage in the summers. And to my father's great dissatisfaction, I took apart almost anything mechanical around the house about the time I was old enough to hold a screwdriver and a wrench. So now I'm just someone with an insatiable curiosity about how anything works, with too much time on my hands, and I find that it actually seems like more work to manage having someone fix something for myself, or my family, or my friends rather than doing it myself.

I know for the EX343 5.7L, 2012 was the crossover year for Catalytic converters. I'm seen 2012's with and without. I would tend to thing the same would apply for the ZR6.

We sink our course on the public lake at times and I use a leader rope, like you, to make it easy to find and pull up the mainline. I actually have 2 leader ropes just in case one gets damaged. My leaders are attached to the front of the diamond for the pre-gate PVC and the course is close enough to shore that we attach the other ends to distinctive trees on the shoreline. I installed D-rings at the front of pre-gate diamonds that connect the diamond to the anchor lines. I attach my leader to the same d-ring to have a firm attachment point. We never move the anchors. I guess your challenge may be the lack of no-wake buoys near those locations. Another reason we have two leaders, is we often have multiple people so we can work from both ends of the course at once to attach the balls. That makes it go very quickly. Fortunately for us, we've only been sinking our course a couple of times a year now. But we use to sink it a lot, so I understand the work you're having to put into this.

If you can tolerate being towed at idle before being pulled up, that also makes quite a bit of difference. The two step start. Step 1 - "in gear". Step 2 - after your moving pretty good - "hit it" When being towed while "in gear", don't try to keep the ski straight, let it tilt in the direction of your front foot some. Then when the boat pulls, it's pretty natural for the ski to straighten up. As has been mentioned, stay completely crouched. I ride the ski up almost like a knee board and then stand up once the ski is completely planned out.

@Horton that's good to know because I actually have a 6L engine I could put in my ProStar but I wasn't sure it was worth the effort. And my other choice is to put the 6L in my 98 Nautique bubble butt, I'm fixing up so it would be a ZO boat. As opposed to putting the 6L in the ProStar and the 5.7L in the 98, which would be a lot more work.

Hmm, I use different settings between my Nautique at the ski club lake, and my ProStar at the lake house because the Nautique has a firmer pull by default and using the different settings makes things feel more similar. Both boats are 5.7L. I've always wished my ProStar had the 6.0 or 6.2 as a result. But last year I also bought both medium and low-stretch s-lines ropes to try out. And I did the rope comparisons at the ski club lake behind the Nautique and liked the medium stretch. Now I'm wondering if I should try the low-stretch rope behind the ProStar with the same Zero Off settings I use behind the Nautique to see if I like that better.

I think there are two files because one is for the older chip and one is for the newer chip which won't work with Zero Off. I don't remember having to choose, I think the updater makes the choice automatically by reading info from the puck. I remember having a problem with the very latest firmware not getting along with Zero Off and having to use an intermediate version of firmware. But unfortunately, I did a poor job of taking notes on what I actually ended up using. But, I'll be at the ski lake today or tomorrow and I can take my computer and check which firmware is on the pucks. I did this quite a while back and I think the latest firmware at the time was 4.30. So, I likely haven't tried 4.4 or 4.5. I also want to know what version is on my pucks, because I may update to version 4.5 if that works fine with Zero Off. @paul do you know which version of firmware you're running on your pucks? The cable I made to update my pucks is actually pretty simple, works with USB which more computers have, and is also TTL level RS232 which is actually what the Garmin pucks use. Technically the Garmin pucks do not meet the voltage levels specified by the TIA232F standard which is at least -5v for a zero and +5v for a one. Some serial ports on some computers won't work with the Garmin pucks using a true RS232 port depending on how picky the driver chip is about the voltage levels. I made my adapter using this board, which I already had a bunch of for other uses. And this board also provides the +5V from the computer's usb port to power the Garmin puck. So no extra power supply required. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0068QKQEA/ref=ox_sc_saved_image_1?smid=AM0JQO74J587C&psc=1 wired directly to a DTM04-4P connector https://www.amazon.com/MUYI-Connector-Waterproof-DTM04-4P-DTM06-4S/dp/B09V9TJX15/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?crid=2UEBLED9TTRJS&keywords=DTM04-4P&qid=1687346687&sprefix=dtm04-4p%2Caps%2C82&sr=8-1-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&psc=1 And if you don't have header strips and connectors laying around, this will make connecting between the two cleaner and easier. https://www.amazon.com/Hilitchi-2-54mm-Headers-Connector-Housing/dp/B014YTPFT8/ref=sr_1_13?crid=2J8I2EDE0U5C2&keywords=single+row+header+strip&qid=1687346837&s=electronics&sprefix=single+row+header+strip%2Celectronics%2C78&sr=1-13 You will need to download the USB drivers from sparkfun.com for the FTDI serial board

Nothing in the Zero Off head unit. You just have to send the right configuration sentences to the pucks and you have to set the baud rate to 38.4 kbps as Zero Off expects. I'm sure you've done that since yours is working. It's actually kinda ridiculous IMO, that the Zero Off head unit doesn't check and set the appropriate puck configuration parameter on each power up.

I'm pretty sure that's the part number, serial number, software version of the head unit. The serial number of the pucks is on the back side of the puck. You can't see it without pulling it off the boat. And as far as I know, you can only get the Garmin puck software version is by connecting the puck to a computer and use the Garmin utilities. This is likely more details than you care to know, but maybe not. The Garmin GPS pucks used with the original dual puck Zero Off, are no longer made because the GPS chip that was used was discontinued by the manufacturer. Garmin still sells a puck with the same model number, but it uses a different chip that works in most applications but unfortunately doesn't provide updates fast enough for Zero Off. Last I knew, Zero Off and Perfect Pass did still have some old stock of the GPS pucks that's work from a hardware perspective, but they are pretty expensive. This prompted Zero off to switch to a new GPS single puck made by ECI. To make matters even more convoluted, the working vintage Garmin pucks have a software bug where they don't handle the GPS Week Rollover that happened on April 7th, 2019. The bug doesn't render the pucks completely inoperable, but it causes them to lose sync with the satellites at random times. When that happens Zero off starts surging badly until you shut off the main power switch to the boat and reboot the whole zero off system. Zero Off's recommendation to solve this problem is to upgrade your Zero Off system to the latest single puck GPS and Zero Off software. I'm pretty sure even if you order one of the older pucks from Zero Off, they still ship you a puck that has the GPS Week Rollover software bug. I assume that's because they've never validated the whole zero software system with any newer versions of Garmin GPS puck firmware. It is possible to upgrade the firmware on working older pucks to a version that doesn't have the GPS Week Rollover, but it's pretty tricky to do. You have to take the pucks out of the boat and wire them up to a computer. In addition to putting on the right older version of firmware, you also have to re-setup the configuration of the puck as Zero Off expects. On my 2012 Nautique 200, I started having issues pretty shortly after the 2019 GPS Week Rollover. I ended up having to replace one of the pucks because it had actually failed. I found a puck in the correct serial number range on eBay for cheap. I updated firmware on both the working pucks and reconfigured them boat as Zero Off expects. So, like @paul, I have the older dual puck system working great again.

Hmm, I didn't know it wasn't included in 2015. Are you sure it's not just turned off in the setup screens. If it's really not there, then yes I think updating to later firmware on the screen would enable it for you.

I use Fuel Management on my 2019 ProStar and I have to drive a couple of miles to get the course. It works perfectly.

Which ZO version? Is this the original 3-event ZO with Dual pucks? The only way I know to check the software version of the pucks is to disconnect them from ZO and connect them to a computer running the Garmin utility software.

I'm assuming this is the 5.7L engine. If yes, did you get the transmission updated to the better ratio they starting installing by default in 2015. I've been told that if you complained back at the time about the slowness getting up to speed that they would do the update for you. There is a friend here on our lake that may be interested, but our course here has short setups so the original 2014 gear ratio isn't going to cut it. My 2019 with the updated ratio just barely makes it up to speed in time.

I don't think you can really tell by looking at the end of the impeller. The first place you start to loose pieces is in the center of the vanes and you simply can't see that from the end.

PCM makes impeller replacement much easier than Ilmor. I can typically do the 200 in less than 15 minutes. On the ProStar it takes me twice as long and I use the impeller puller on the ProStar. On the MasterCraft Wakeboat, I pull the whole pump because that's the fastest way in the end.

We typically do this 2-3 times a season at my public lake course. Typically when we're hanging out there all day and you can't do but so many real slalom passes. Now I'm interested to try the switch 180 technique and all heel side turns.

Exactly...

The ProStar wake improves a little if you put some weight in the nose. General consensus seems to be that's why they moved the battery up front in 2020+ ProStar's. So that's part of my goal, to move a little weight forward. So, adding heavier battery cables would be counter to that goal. And with this length of wire, a larger gauge is surprisingly heavy.

I haven't picked an exact location, but somewhere in the storage area under/behind the observer's seat. I'd want to keep it on the port side of the boat to keep the side to side balance the same. It's one of those projects that may never happen because I have so many other projects on my list. Not sure this one will ever bubble to the top.

When my floating course isn't straight, it's almost always that something is snagged on the bottom somewhere. Or snagged on a waterlogged branch that is bridging between something on the course and the bottom. So, it may not be the main line that snagged on something, it can also be that a PVC arm is snagged on something or even just resting on the bottom if the water is shallow enough or the arm has bowed enough to touch the bottom. I've also seen cases where we thought that one of the novice ball buoy ropes was gone and we added a new one. Turns out the old one was still there and was hanging down below the PVC arm and was snagged on something on the bottom. I find a mask, snorkel, and fins handy to maintain a floating course. Makes it easy to hop in the water and run down the mainline and all the arms and to check everything out. Between pulling yourself along the mainline and the fins, you can move along quickly. The mask and snorkel make it much quicker because you can stay looking down at the course as you move along and inspect. Stay on the surface and lift the ropes and PVC up to where you can see them as you move along. Wearing an old pair of gloves is also helpful.

Maybe the title of this thread should be "Tournament Slalom is Dying". And that may be true, I actually wouldn't know because I haven't been to a tournament in years. But at the lakes where I ski, course skiing has more people involved than I've ever seen before. That includes one private site and one public site. At the public lake, I'm seeing more traction than at the private ski club where I'm a member. I've taught on average 10 new teenagers and young adults how to ski the course every year for the last 3 years. Most of them have been other lake residents that just see us out skiing the course.

Charleston SC is the closest I'm aware of. Just a little over 2 hours away.

Is your ZO still acting flaky sometimes? If so, I'd unplug the connectors from the back of the 7" display and re-seat them. You've already done the one on the ZO head unit. Small chance it could be a poor connection And there's no real downside to making sure that's not the issue.

I agree, doesn't really make sense that having the back plate be waterproof is required to keep it from surging. If you make tight turns when picking up a skier, or going back for an potentially injured skier, water can come in the vent above the ZO unit.

Nice boat! Seems like we think alike, we both have a ProStar and now an older Nautique. But mine is more of a project boat than yours! I picked it up last year and haven't really started on it yet. But my workshop out-building at the lake house should be done in the next 6-8 weeks and then this project will get going.