WIRiverRat

I was changing the oil in the boat. After I took off the filter I did not check to verify that the old O ring came off with it as well. Put the new filter on, filled it up with oil and started to run the boat. Oil pressure came up and everything looked good. I opened the engine cover about 30 second later to find oil being shot all over the bilge. It took about 6 hours to get everything cleaned up properly and I still get an oil slick anytime I get some water in the bilge. Two O ring gaskets do not seal better than 1.

$100 for the trick ski

Here are the fundraisers we did in college, some more successful than others: Christmas cards - Wrote a team newsletter and sent it out at christmas asking for donations. Send to alumni and current family members. This usually got us about $3500. Include tax receipts. Handed out promo cards and t-shirts at a football game - Made about $1500 and very easy Docks and lifts - Helped another team, not sure how much they made Signed up people for credit cards - This one was horrible to do but we made $4k in one day. I don't know if you can still do that. Had a formal - Rented out a big boat and had a dinner cruise with team, friends, alumni and parents. Had sponsors give raffle prices like new gloves etc. Made about $1200. Dues - Largest contributor, about $8000 per year.

I'm right on the boarding in la Crosse Wisconsin. . We have Jodi Fischer come up around the beginning of June. We usually have a few open spots.

I have pulled a full jump from Illinois to Michigan before. You can get oversized permits for 14ft pretty easily. Needed a lead car to go with it. We put it in a large utility trailer and pulled it back 300 miles. It was not a fun ordeal. You have to detour around all construction sites, any toll booths etc. We also topped out around 50 mph before the jump would catch so much air the trailer would start to sway. If you can hire a professional to do it I would recommend that.

Look at the boat port units from Hewitt. Different design than the e series from hh. It connects to the dock in the front only and is a cantilever. The hh has 4 connection points and seem to put a lot of weight on the sides of the dock making it slant. I think I paid $5k installed 6 years ago for the 6000lb lift.

If you have a U shaped dock look at the hewitt floating lifts. Much more stable, fewer moving parts and much cheaper. Most people around me are switching from the hydro hoist to the hewitt. Where I am gets a ton of wave action and we have never had an issue in 6 years.

I lived in Grand Rapids for 25 years. That is not that most desirable part of town. Not that there are terrible parts of towns, you will most likely still be safe there but it is more industrial in that area. Either go to the east side of town or go far enough west to be in the Grandville/Hudsonville area.

I use Valvoline VR-1 racing oil. Straight 40 weight I believe. High zinc content is what the engine wants and this is the only oil I can find for that.

My ski buddy had the exact same thing happen to him last year with that rope. Luckily radar has great customer service and took care if it quickly with a new rope. Always measure your ropes.

It belongs to camp Kawaga on lake Kawaugasaga. Its parts of the Minoqua chain. You could try contacting the camp and seeing if they will let you ski it.

I'm in need of a new handle. Going to get a masterline. Looking at their website there is a Monster team handle or the Custom handle. The size I want is available in the Monster Team handle which is $65 instead of $130 for the custom handle. Is there much of a difference in these two handles? The website doesn't do a great job of explaining the differences other than the cheaper handle has 11in end caps while the custom has 4in end caps.

My bilge had always been spotless, and then the nozzle for the hot water shower leaked and put a bunch of water in the bilge without me noticing right away. Looks like that was the culprit. Old cable is out and new one is going in today. Thanks for the help.

Thanks for the responses. It was much easier to get at the rudder than I anticipated. It is definitely a bound up cable. Anyone know what is the correct length so I can get one on order asap.

Skied yesterday on my 98 ski nautique and everything was fine, went to go today and it takes two hands to turn the wheel even out of the water. We did not hit anything and nothing is on the rudder and it is not damaged. Would a steering cable go this suddenly? I could turn it with a finger yesterday... what else should I be checking, or do I need to pull the boat out and drop the whole rudder box from underneath? Any help is appreciated.

We use a weighted system because our river fluctuates. I believe our weights are between 5 and 7lbs. The amount of air you pump in the buoy will determine how high if floats.

Find a local fab shop near you to build a trailer. Just last spring I had a tri-axle trailer made for a 36ft cruiser with electric brakes that was custom fit to the boat. Entire thing only cost $5700. This was built by a local guy who builds airboats and has a fab shop.

@philkyle I have a buddy who moved from Michigan down the Charlotte a few years back. Him and a few other people keep a course on Lake Wiley down there.

Thanks to Ball of Spray and Connelly skis. Unfortunately our water did all freeze over this week so no skiing in a santa hat this year. Excited to give it a try when the ice goes away in the spring. And yes I do like to drink PBR too.

Has anyone actually tried a ski foil? I have a wake foil and it is a ton of fun to do when the course is blown out and a great workout, however with some of the close calls with the hitting the foil being in a binding with that foil attached scares the life out of me. If someone has some experience and it isn't too dangerous I would seriously consider buying an old trick ski from the 80s and bolting the foil to it. The great thing about these foils is they render a huge surf boat not necessary. We have been able to foil surf with no rope behind a prostar with just a driver, no weight, no wake shapers, just completely stock.

@Stiles send me a message if you want all the documents we put together to get a course permitted on public water in Wisconsin. I'm sure its a little different in Nebraska but you may be able to use some of the narratives etc if you really want to go for it.

I prefer a wide handle. I seem to miss the handle a lot less, amazing what that inch difference can make. I am probably one of the very few who also much prefer a .94 diameter. I find I can hold that in a different spot in my hands and I almost never have a tear on my hands anymore and can hold on much longer. Anything 1in and above I hold low in my palms and rip my hands constantly.

I played around with it a week ago on my wife's phone (she is the only one with an iPhone). It is a fun thing to do while free skiing. It was a good coaching tool while free skiing as it shows your rhythm and widtch in relation to where buoys would be. For someone who skis the course regularly I was amazed at just how accurately I ''ran the course" while free skiing. Timing and width showed I was darn near perfect for a -32 pass. When my wife skied we were able to see that her free skiing is not nearly as aggressive as her course skiing as she only made 5 turns over the length of the course and was quite a bit narrow. After showing her the path she took she made adjustments and was getting wider. There is a scoreboard to compare yourselves to others. My wife really liked that as my score was on her phone so she went back to the dock and showed everyone that she was ranked 12th in the world at the time, then later that night told me I had better try next time and get her in the top 10.

Back when I was on the Michigan State Team I can confirm that schools gives them zero dollars. At that point it took about $10,000 a year to operate the team and that did NOT include any tournament fees, gas or transportation. That was strictly to pay for a boat, insurance, dock etc. I have seen all the work the current members have put in to fund raising for this boat as they have been sending out alumini letters, fundraising updates and hosting events as fund raisers. Good for them. They are learning a lot more than just skiing.

I will have to check his rope personally, but I was told they laid to two ropes side by side and all the sections where there, some were just shorter than others. It just made me realize I had not checked any of my ropes in nearly ten years and assumed many skiers like myself had not measured theirs either. It is good practice to always measure. Hearing how others stretch and measure their ropes is a good lesson.