jpwhit

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.

I work on a tons of different boats and I've never personally seen an oil pump failure. I mean, I know they happen and have heard of it happening, but your situation seems surprising and unusual. Just a thought that comes to mind, are you sure you're not overfilling the oil? I ask because my experience is that marine dipsticks which have full length guide tubes are notorious hard to get accurate reading sometimes. Overfilling the oil can cause oil aeration which will lead to pump failures and other oil related issues. For all the boats I work on, I track pretty precisely how much oil comes out during a change and how much oil goes back in after the change, both initially and any additions between changes. I do that because I've found that especially on shared club boats, folks without a lot of engine experience will tend to misread the dipstick and start adding too much oil. By tracking it for each boat, I have good awareness of what's "normal" for each boat. Makes it easy to figure out when something unusual relative to oil starts going on.

The symptom's you're having is typical of a ZO display-less head unit problem. If it's an issue with the Murphy screen, it's typically not limited to just ZO problems. Also, the Murphy screen plays no role in satellite acquisition. If it's a puck failing, then you'll have issues with satellites, but nothing else. The zeros on the screen is the real giveaway. That happens when the ZO display-less head unit just stops talking to the screen via the CanBus. The ZO display-less head unit is mounted in the firewall above the driver's foot well, its a round black box mounted through a hole in the firewall. It's worth unscrewing it and disconnecting the 23-pin connector on the back and then re-seating that connector. When you have it disconnected, check for water inside the housing. That is the most common cause of failure. The PCB inside that box has a water-resistant coating on it, so it can survive a certain amount of wetness for a while. If you do find any water, clean the PCB with a spray can of alcohol-based PCB cleaner and then let it dry out in a warm place for a day or two. Don't run the ZO without it mounted to the firewalls. The accelerometers on that PCB have to be in the correct orientation for it to work properly.

Some boats have a hose between the zerk fitting and the rudder housing to make greasing it fairly easy. Look around and make sure you don't have that.

We may be having a terminology disconnect. By slow, I mean the engine doesn't turn over as quickly (RPMs) during starting as it does on my other boats or cars. I don't mean that it takes long to start, it actually starts pretty quickly. When I hear the slow starting RPMs, it makes me feel like the battery is on it's last leg, but that's not the case. It's just the voltage drop on the long cables that make the starting RPMs lower than on most engine. If by slow, you mean it takes a long time for the engine to start, then that may be something else, such as the fuel pressure dropping like @Cnewbert is talking about.

The slow starting on the 2014 - 2020 ProStars is because the battery is all the way in the back and the battery cables are very long. A higher CCA battery isn't going to improve it because the cables are the limiting factor, not the battery. I'm planed to move my battery in my 19 ProStar to the front, but I just haven't gotten to it yet.

I started with matching the trailer for my ProStar on my lift. Then I had the narrow them some to keep the propeller from being able to hit the lift cross bar. When you put the boat in reverse, the rear of the boat will pull down some. So after dinging up a prop, I realized I had to get the boat a little higher above the crossbar.

Can you actually see it dripping out of the pump? Or do you just see the water on the main shaft pulley? I ask because water would normally leak from here. There is no water in the part right up against the triangle piece. That's just the 2nd bearing. But I guess it's possible that it's spraying a little. But if you can't see it actually coming out of the pump, it may be a leak up higher dripping down onto the main pulley.

I think some of this price variance for different years of the same boat is pretty typical when the market conditions have changed dramatically. I think boat prices are finally coming down from Covid highs and since we're still early in the season, things just haven't fully settled down yet. I bet we see more consistency in pricing by the end of this coming season.

That trailer could be worth a fair amount of money if the bunks could be reconfigured to hold a 21-22 ft surf/wake boat. It is certainly built to handle the weight of a much larger boat. I think your best shot would be to advertise it for sale on some of the forums that cater to Surf/Wake boats such as MasterCraft Teamtalk, Planet Nautique, The Malibu Crew. If you can sell it for a good enough price, then just buy a ProStar trailer.

At our private lake, the skis never go in the boat. We start from the dock and finish at the dock. Not much need for ski racks.

So the final answer appears to be that a different ZO calibration is required ?