jah81592

I appreciate all the responses in this thread. The statements have merely confirmed my suspicions. I told my wife the other day people are wimpy. I understand that this is primarily a slalom site but my heart is with footing. I foot 90% of the time. Footing hurts, falls hurt, learning hurts, the thought hurts and the speed? Well....you know how that is with footing. I have taken no less than 20 people on my boat in the last few years and all are in awe when they see me do it but NONE are willing to put in the time to learn. The first time I saw Tim foot (the guy who taught me) I knew it was me. I put in the time and learned all the tricks (without shoe skis and at full speed). The falls and pain were worth it. I am 44 and to this day it is my waterski of choice. I look for glass water and well the drinks come afterwards when the boat is anchored down. I really wish I could find a bare foot site as active as this site is. Oh well, thank you guys so much for the responses and I will continue lurking in the background. Just FYI-we purchased my daughter her first slalom and hopefully she will rock out. She has been two skiing for the last two seasons and I told her it is past time to learn to slalom. I feel she will thank me once she gets up and learns. I almost cannot tolerate two skiing-if I am going to be on a board it will be a slalom.

130k just seems really high for a direct drive. Heck for any pleasure boat!

Thanks for the information. I came real close to purchasing a TXI this past summer but they only had the 5.7L. I wanted a 6.0L. It is what it is- I always purchase the higher horse engines needed or not.

I would feel confident this question has been asked but here it goes...What is going on within the waterskiing sport? By sport I mean in general. It seems to me that if you can find a direct drive boat now you are lucky. I agree you still have SN, MC and Malibu along with a few other ones. It seems to me that everything revolves around big wakes and even bigger boats! I am a bare footer and it seems to me the ability to find a worth a crap barefoot boat is next to impossible (the lone ranger-Sanger) let along a good outboard BF boat. I was away from boating for around 8 years and darn it-$100k direct drives now and the lack of them was appalling to me. I am a barefooter but still mess around with slalom on days the water is a bit too choppy for my bare feet. Where does this stop (big wakes and even bigger boats)? Are that many people actually not skiing anymore? I go to a river/lake many times a week and rarely see anyone even free skiing anymore. Any explanation would be greatly appreciated.

I do both sides using Teak oil. No much more work to do.

Thanks for your answer Dacon it really helped. That is the stuff i am looking for. I will make my decision closer to March. Either way i will post results and let everyone know. I still my purchase both and go do some testing.

Being used to the old OJ legend props I used to own a Ski Brendella Shortline comp. It came with a OJ 13x13 3-blade prop. At that time I was looking to re-prop the boat. After much research and against much recommendation I went with the 4-blade OJ 13x13 Legend. The prop excelled everywhere (definitely not what the "experts" said) on top end, out of the hole, smoother wakes, top speed actually picked up 1mph and handling in tight situations improved. I was completely at a loss and couldn't explain it why the boat reacted this way when everyone said it wouldn't. Obviously this hull design loved the setup and it worked well. Now fast forward to today, again I am looking to re-prop another boat I have purchased (1993 Brendella Pro-Comp). The boat currently has an OJ Legend 3-blade which I am very unhappy with. The initial pull out of the water is soft the handling seems to be soft (just like my other boat) with the 3-blade. At this moment, I believe the current prop on my boat is the culprit thus resulting in my complaints. Either the prop has been repaired (maybe not properly) or someone has changed the cup. Either way something seems a bit off due to too high rpm @ WOT (5100) and just the ill handling in quick maneuvers combined with the initial soft pull out of the hole. Just to make note the engine is in perfect health (compression and leak down confirm such) and transmission is NOT slipping and in great health but the initial pull is soft. So i am at a cross roads once again with a prop dilemma. After talking to JT @ Nettle Props he recommended a CNC 13x12 3- blade. He mentioned this prop is basically a 3 blade version of the old Legend 13x13 4 blade. Basically what he was saying is that the new CNC jobs have much more surface area than the old style props and that performance & characteristics would be very similar to my old 13x13 4-blade legend. I bumped over to ACME's website to look at all the options and found a 4 blade 12.5x12.5 4-blade which should "in theory" give similar results as the 3 blade. Again at the crossroads! So, finally my question is has anyone tried the new CNC jobs on their boats and compared 3 to 4 blade to verify performance and wake characteristics? I have read on many forums only to find MUCH not all of the response is opinion and not definitive information. I am looking towards a Brendella owner who has actually seen the positives and negatives of each design and NOT opinions of what someone "thinks" it should do. Please note I will be receptive to theories brought forth and encourage all response. I am torn and about to purchase both props and test them send the one back that doesn't yield the best performance for my application. I am leaning 4-blade due to the better surface area and handling characteristics but also am open minded to the new 3 blades which JT mentioned are excellent. If I do a comparison test on my boat I will do acceleration test, handling test and finally pics of different speeds and wake characteristics behind a Brendella and maybe even some "bank" videos of the boat at speed with each prop installed. These boats are affordable and people can afford to "tinker" with them so I believe this would be incredible information to have along with the other tests that i have found on the web. Please note that I barefoot ski, slalom ski and two ski. We do very minimal inner tubing, wake boarding or any other sport that requires "big" wake.

Swee!. Thanks @Glydon . That helps a lot. I know this is trivial but like to know everything about stuff I own. For example I purchased a Note 7 last Friday and still going through all the videos and such to learn everything possible the phone does. Well with this checked off my list I can get back to taking over the world. Haha (my Dr.Evil impersonation).

Obviously Calabria is now defunct. @giddyup if you could get that number it would be great. @Porkfight it could be a wakeboard slot. That is the statement that make the most sense as of this moment. Anyway-attached are the pictures. Oh yeah by the way this is on the left side of the boat (if sitting operators seat).

I will get one.

I just want to know what it is for-makes no sense. I am definitely wired that way. There is a compartment that has no apparent use and for something so simple but so difficult.

I just figured that out. I have gotten a return email undeliverable and the phone goes to voicemail which is full. I called MB Sports and they said call Calabria. Anyone have another avenue? I guess it is a live well...... When did Calabria go out of business?

There is a cooler in front of the ski pole. It has a lid and insulation on the outsides. I am still baffled. I will get a pic and post. I may call Calabria to see if they have any insight.

I am looking for some help. I just purchased my 2nd Brendella and there is a feature that I am unaware and cannot find what it is anywhere on the net. On the left inside of the boat there is a storage type open compartment. At the back of the compartment there is a plug to drain water. I have found this to be useless for any length ski storage and still cannot figure out why it is there or even what it could be used for. Please help if anyone knows for sure what it is. I was thinking maybe ballast for one side of the boat when only one driver is present but there isn't anyway the water would stay in there upon take off. So....back to the drawing board on my "intelligent thought".