h2onhk

@buechsr , check out this recent thread. Lots of good discussion around the very same topic. https://www.ballofspray.com/forum#/discussion/22439/another-small-wake-question/p1

Welcome to the addiction and greatest website forum dedicated to feeding it. You will receive more advice than you can handle. My 2 cents. Keep your shoulders open to the boat and keep your eyes down course. Both should help improve your stack and give you more stability on the ski. And next time go for 8! Who's really counting anyhow.

As much as I like helping people spend money on boats, maybe a different boat isn't the only option. Your prostar isn't the perfect boat for him but its not the worst either. We learned the course around that age behind an 88 nautique on the 2001 hull which might as well have been a surf boat back then. If he's growing like my kids are at that age (stupid fast) it may not be long before he is ready for the prostar. Maybe slow down the boat speed a little and make sure he's on the right size ski. Let him gain the confidence of running the full course long line at slower speeds with the bigger wakes and I bet he will progress really quickly as he grows. You can always upgrade boats later if things really take off and you find yourself with a future national champ.

@Buoyhead69 I'm in the same boat. 28 is fairly consistent but I scrap like hell for anything beyond 2 @32. I've run 32 three times in my life and all 3 started with a perfect ball 1 and then staying calm the rest of the way. Panic leads to bad decisions and I start to rush things. The 32 gate timing and speed are my problem. I find that if my timing is right my speed is off and vice versa. Both have an impact on my edge change which had an effect on where I'm at on the boat. 9 times out of 10 I have to eat a ton of slack on 1 and then it's a rat race to 2. Honestly I think a lot of it is in my head. I'm so worried about the perfect gate turn in timing I forget some fundamentals. 2 things I'm going to try to focus on next set are staying connected with the boat longer by not releasing the handle too early and down course vision. Just my 2 cents. I feel your pain. It's frustrating.

+1 on the mud flaps....stone chips can happen easily. I've trailered 800 miles with a ratchet cover and was fine. No damage to gel at all. The key is making sure you have it very tight. If you see any fluttering in your side view mirrors at highway speeds your too loose. Every time you stop for anything check the cover for tightness and check to see if its rubbing anywhere. Also a good time to put your hand on the trailer hubs and see if you have any excess heat.

I think most is personal preference. I mostly used 12" handles, then switched to a 13" because I thought I would like the wider grip.....not.... I have hard time finding my stack with the wider handle and I find myself creeping my hands closer together after several turns. Feels like I'm skiing with a wakeboard handle.

Three 30lb dumb bells work good. Make sure the are the hex end type so they have a flat surface and don't roll around. Place them on a drawer liner non-slip pad and they don't slide back on holeshots.

Free skiing is good for me. Especially when I started mixing up line lengths and not just running 15 off all the time. I usually free ski at the beginning of the season when the river conditions don't allow for the course. Buoys definitely keep you honest.

@jdk99 Glad you found the issue and got back on the water. For what its worth I change my impeller annually whether it looks bad or not. We average 40-60hrs a season pending weather. Cheap insurance policy and it only takes 10min to change. The new impeller always gets a little shot of dish soap before it goes in the housing as well. Maybe i'm a little OCD.

@75Tique When we deploy ours we make sure the first anchor is firmly set before putting in the rest of the course. The last anchor has an additional ~100' of rope with lead weights, handle and buoy on it that we use to straighten the course. We drop the last anchor when the course is "almost good enough" then use this additional rope to finish straightening out. Slow and steady tension is the key to a straight course without damage. Once straight we drive off to the right side away from gate and drop the additional rope. Buoy keeps the handle close to the surface to easily retrieve later

@Wish that is one wild prop

@Than_Bogan the latter never had to register a SUP. if this catches on I wonder if the regulations on SUP will change and owners will have to have registration and numbers

what do you call the 3rd flip in that video? some kind of reverse back mobe? So cool.

I would have her practice what @Bruce_Butterfield stated. Once she can do that well, have someone on 2 skis ride beside her and stabilize her by holding her life jacket right around the upper shoulder area. Then have her drop a ski and slowly place her foot on the rear of the ski, then slowly work her foot into toe plate. Continue to stabilize until she finds good body position, has good control of the ski and at a comfortable speed. Then slowly let go and drift away. I was taught this way and have taught multiple people this way. Everyone from kids to adults. It may feel like taking a few steps back from a deep water start, but once she knows the feeling of good body position and good control, the rest is in the bag. actually now that i think about it, my profile pick is me on 2 tricks stabilizing my 7 year old when she was learning!

@ALPJr right there with you! If I finish anything other than dead last I will consider it a win.....if I beat any on the BOS league I'm playing the mega lotto the next day.

@scottyspin here are some others you may be interested in close to your price range....may be able to negotiate a little? https://www.planetnautique.com/vb5/forum/classified-group-buy-section/boats-for-sale-by-owner/576975-1996-ski-nautique-196 *** This one has the LT-1 Corvette engine https://www.mastercraft.com/teamtalk/showthread.php?t=100011 ***PS 205 just dropped his price in January https://www.mastercraft.com/teamtalk/showthread.php?t=84287&page=2

@Jboss I was on a KD7000 for several years. Stayed with the D3 brand and ended up with a D3 X5 Pro. Great ski and easy transition from the KD7000.

We ski on a river with occasional current. Reading this thread is really intriguing. I'm just a hack, but for you guys that are deep shortliners I'm trying to understand the fundamental differences between skiing down current and skiing down wind. Seems that they both would have similar effects on timing, position, deceleration, acceleration, etc. Do you guys change techniques when skiing upwind vs. downwind? If so why wouldn't those same techniques apply to up current vs. down current? One thing I know for sure is that when the wind is blowing against the current the water sucks, unless you are extremely sheltered.

@LoopSki when we moved into our house it had a well system as the source for water with similar issues. Hard water and lots of iron. The house had a BIRM filtration system right downstream of the expansion tank to remove the iron and then and old water softener right after the BIRM to soften. Our BIRM system consists of 3 tanks. The first tank injects atomized compressed air into the tank while water is being introduced. The first tank should never be more than half full of water to allow sufficient oxygen water blending. This is key before the water travels to the next tank where the filter media is present. The water containing iron flows through the media, if there is enough oxygen in the water, the Birm causes the iron to form rust, or solid iron particles. After these rust particles get trapped in the filter media, once or twice a week they are automatically backwashed out to drain, and the filter media is ready to filter again. Depending on your iron levels you can set the backwash to run as frequently as necessary. Ours runs every other day. The 3rd tank basically has a float valve/vent on the top that allows any remaining oxygen to escape so your faucets don't sputter with air. I'll be honest, it took me a long time to get it all figured out and at one point I had Culligan come out and quote a replacement system just as you did. $5k was more than I wanted to spend. Once I got the system figured out and balanced. I only had to replace the media 1 time in the BIRM filter tank and that was only about $200 ~ 5 years ago. As long as the backwash runs when its supposed to, the iron is removed and the media stays fresh. We did install a new waterboss softener with Iron control about 3 years ago. We always use the Morton Rust removed salt pellets. That helped with the water hardness. If our system ever fails, we know it within a day as the water starts to develop a very metallic smell to it. I'm sure newer systems may be more compact and have more technology but what we have works well once setup properly. Hope this helps.

That pontoon is a giant waste of horsepower and water displacement.........and money

We must be a family of unicorns then. Me, father ,mother, brother, sister-in-law, wife, and oldest daughter (10yr old) all trick recreationaly on public water. All just for fun. With a little luck I'll have my other 2 tricking in the next couple years. Just not quite ready yet. We have a 196 and the others run 2001 hull nautiques. When the water is smooth we slalom, we the boats come out we trick!

@Orlando76 whiskey stones. Granite stones you keep in the freezer and use in lieu of ice. Chills the drink with out watering it down!

Now that the kids are in bed, time to sit back and wait for santa to arrive....oh wait, looks like he already did. Cheers and Merry Christmas ballers!

@Rednucleus totally agree. The cushions shown in the pics are original along with the old cable (rope) steering. I asked him where the outboard and fuel cans were. He thinks they were taken off by one of he original owners great grandsons. Looking at the transom it appears there were 2 different motors mounted at some point in her lifetime. So much to learn about this old girl. I think we need a name for her.