scorban2

Most all of the new combos are plastic with a fiberglass top (i.e. HO blast). Not aware of a single plastic slalom ski, unless you're talking about core material of course.

I think it was mentioned, but I'll second testing your rail pressure with a pressure gauge. It's not uncommon for a pump to appear to work well with no head pressure (pumping into a trash can), yet not maintain performance at operating pressure.

@UWSkier I've got to agree, those are pretty boats. Honestly, the late 90's had great looking boats from all of the big 3.

I had some similar issues when I got my boat last fall (PCM GT40). Pretty sure the issue was corrosion on the coil where the wire to the distributor cap hooked on. Cleaned that up, and put dielectric grease on all spark plug/cap/coil connections, and that did the trick.

It would be valuable. NADA is way off on used ski boats, and other than asking prices on ski it again or craigslist, there's no quick reference. I'd be happy to share details on my purchase last fall.

Sounds a lot like the Senate. Any comparisons between the two from your experience?

I alternate between standing and sitting at work, and have definitely done too much of both in a row. One thing a PT told me this year that made a lot of sense is just don't stay in any position for too long. Standing still for hours on end comes with it's own issues, just like sitting for long periods. We've got a few walking workstations in the office now, and I shoot for an hour on one of those each day. 2.0 mph walking isn't a workout, but it's better than not moving.

Thanks for all of the comments. I'd love to get up to the eagle river area, but if we're just doing a 3 day weekend, I'd prefer to be a little further south. Anything up north of Madison that's not too overrun with tourists from the dells?

With all the talk around an optimal slalom tug and the 19 Nautique, I couldn't help but sharing this video that was shown in a safety review at work today. Combine Skiing Turns out a 40,000 lbs machine makes less of a wake than a 2950 lbs. Nautique ;) , hole shot looks pretty terrible though. Of all the crazy thoughts I've had, I'd have never considered trying this with our combine.

Hey, Myself and another slalom skiing friend and our gals are looking to head to WI for a long weekend this summer. Ideally we'd get an air bnb or something similar on a small lake with good skiing. No need for a course, just would like to shred in the mornings. Ideas? Thanks Stephen

08 F150. Only ~80k miles on it since it's not a daily driver.

Great conversation here. I've fortunately seen the opposite side of a few of these "negative" points. I grew up skiing behind an I/O at our family lake place that's 3 hours away. I grew up spending weekends there, and think nothing about the 3 hour drive. Growing up, I loved watching my dad ski, and throw spray. I know it's not the most efficient way to ski, but him and others from his generation skied back foot heavy, and to a young kid, it was pretty cool. To this day, seeing the distant spray from someone on the lake skiing makes me want to put the boat down and ski. This past year I bought a 97 SN, and while I take it to the lake with me, we do a lot of skiing locally on the Rock River with it. Along with another co-worker that has an older MC, we've gotten a few more guys into skiing to the point where they've bought slalom skis of their own. There's also a larger group that likes to come along and ski on a combo set while enjoying an evening on the water. We usually don't ski the course, and most often spend time chilling on the boat having a beer or two between sets. Many people would rather just go to the bar with a big group and hang out vs. heading out to ski, but when you couple skiing with kicking back and having a beer, a lot of "on the fence" people really enjoy it. (Disclaimer - we're not drinking excessively on the water, just having a few). Pretty sure this is why pontoons boats are becoming more and more popular, as you can slap the bar/party with a big group right on the water. I'm not sure any of these people are running out to buy boats at this point, but I wouldn't have done it either after skiing a year. Folks need access to it, even just a few times a year, for a while to get the bug.

Prayers coming your way from IL! Stay strong!

Last year I would have voted that my on side was better, but I was coached and focused on my offside this year. Slowly it surpassed the on side.

Im with @shansen345 , the presentation means a lot, and reflects on how it's been treated. As a recent buyer of a TSC1 myself, the overall interior condition weighed pretty heavily on my purchase. When I'm forking out that kind of cash, I want something I can be proud of, even if it costs a bit more. I got mine just over a month ago, which had 920 hours, PP classic, and a full interior replacement in 2008 (hours were front loaded on this one) for just over 12K. If you could get the full

Looks like one side of one of the u bolts that holds the pylon on. Mine has nylocks on it, and it looks like that piece does as well.

@Than_Bogan completely agree, there's plenty of water around the boat to cool turbos. It's just the cost of potentially custom water jackets on the turbos that's likely deterring the usage.

@sixball I agree. Not sure if the stock cooling on the turbo would be enough under a doghouse. Would make that part more pricey if we needed something custom. As an engineer that works in off road equipment, the key to low cost components is to use something that the auto industry uses verbatim, not customizing/modifying it.

I'm 6' and 215 and ski on a 69" 2015 senate alloy. I free ski a lot at 30 and 32, and really like the ski. When getting coaching on the course, I've slowed down to 28, and still really like it. If you're heavy on your back foot at 28-30, it will sink a bit, but if you stay in good position, it turns great.

Rock river. Mostly in Moline since I've had the new boat, but made a trip up to Dixon last weekend too.

1. Bought my first inboard (and first boat with my name on the title vs. the parents). While I'll still ski with the I/O from time to time, I haven't had a set behind it since I bought the SN. 2. Took my first ride ever through a course. With the ~10 total passes I got this year, I managed 4 at 15 off, at 28 mph. Looking forward to spending more time in the course next year. 3. I got 2 others hooked on slalom. Both started on 1/2 of a combo set this year, and now both have HO freerides. They're progressing quickly and they're always up to head to the river for a set. Definitely my proudest "first" of the year.

As a mostly free skier, I love glass. Makes it feel like the boat has slowed down 2 mph, and allows me more time to understand what I'm doing when trying to fix something with technique. On the downside, wakes roll forever on glass, which is a pain when a fishing boat cuts across the lake perpendicular to our ski direction. The little ripples do a good job of disapating those. Especially true when you're tucked next to the shore in a relatively high wind, so that the lake is pretty choppy a few hundred foot off shore.

Thanks to all for the feedback on this thread and helping in my boat search. I made a trip to the Minneapolis area last Friday/Saturday and brought home a 97 SN with 920 hours on it. The interior was recently redone and the outside is well above average for a 20 year old boat. I ended up stretching my original budget by a few thousand, but I only ended up ~$1K over most of the nicer 91-94 MC's I was looking at by the time you'd add PP. Headed straight to the lake for the remainder of the weekend, and put 5 more hours on the clock. I enjoyed every set on it, and couldn't get over my cousin's grin every time he crossed the wake (he'd only skied on I/O's before).

I've found another one SN I'm going to look at this weekend, which only has 900 hours and had an interior completely redone a few years ago. From all my research I don't think I'll go wrong with either choice. Any thoughts on which is better between the two for 15 off slow speed (26 or 28) wakes? I'm beyond that point, but have a few friends/ski partners that are just getting into it. The TSC1 was good when I skied it at 30, but have no experience with the 91-94 MC at those speeds.

All, Have found 2 boats (94 PS and a 97 SN) that I'm very interested in and getting close to pulling the trigger. I don't think I'll be disappointed with the wake behind either (haven't skied the MC but always heard good things). At this point, the deciding factor may be the drive distance as the SN is only 6 hrs vs almost 13 for the MC. Also, once I factor in adding PP to the MC and the extra drive, the cost up for the SN is only ~$1500. A few other questions: 1) The SN just has PP classic. We're recreational slalom skiers, and in the course I've only managed 3 at 15 off (only tried 5 times). Will the RPM mode be enough for us, or should I figure on upgrading to stargazer (~$750)? 2) Is there much difference in under bow, and total boat storage between the two? We will commonly head out to ski and then spend a good part of the day on the river hanging out afterwards, so a bit of storage is nice. I know they're both small, but will I be able to fit a few skis up under the bow with jackets, etc? Thanks, Stephen