kirkbauer

I'm looking at some 2015 Prostars. Some have a wood swim platform (teak?) and others have fiberglass with decking on it. What's the better swim platform? Is it something you can replace?

I'm about to get back into serious regular slalom skiing this summer. Most of my experience was 25 years ago when I was in high school. I still have the (shorty) wetsuit from then. I'm thinking it is time to get a new wetsuit, or perhaps two -- a full-body (for when it is cold) and a shorty (for most other times). I prefer a wetsuit as it takes some of the sting out of many falls, etc. Any suggestions on the best type of wetsuit(s) for slalom skiing? I'm in central Georgia if that makes a difference. Additionally, when I was young, I never wore a life vest while doing slalom. I find the standard vests to be pretty cumbersome now. But I see pictures of people doing slalom with what appear to be pretty form-fitting/low-profile life vests. But when I search around to buy a life vest I don't seem to find vests that look like those.

I grew up doing a lot of skiing, and then I had a ~20 year break, and then I was in a boat club for a few years. I had real trouble deep starting and then I bought a Radar P6 71" ski which helped out quite a bit. At the time I wasn't in great shape, overweight (~220lb), and I wasn't using a real ski boat. Well, now I'm living on a lake and I'm getting ready for my first season. I'm going to have a Prostar (wakes have always intimidated me and I'm hoping a small wake will let me cut across faster), so that should help with the deep starts. I'm much stronger than I used to be, but still overweight (5'10" and 200#) which I'm hoping skiing daily will help. I don't have a course on my lake, and frankly the one time I tried a course I only got two buoys. But I do enjoy slalom -- going fast, cutting hard, etc. I'm looking for a ski that will get me on the right path to being a great hobbyist slalom skier. I'm OK with a ski that isn't quite as easy to deep start with, and I would love something that will help me improve my cuts. I'm assuming I should go double-boot and that's OK with me. Do I need 71"? Should I go a bit smaller? The other factor is the bindings. My feet don't handle being hot and constrained very well, and the typical cheap rubber slip-on bindings are brutal on me. I liked the binding on my Radar and would love something similar (on both boots if I go double-boot).

Hmm, the Prostar 214 looks like it might be a solid option for me... but I'm not finding any for sale (boat trader doesn't even list that as an option). What years was it made?

The comments on the open bow were a bit of a surprise to me. Is this a problem with all three boats? Is it a matter of not being enough space, or is it all about water coming over the bow? I was hoping it could be a good spot for two or three younger children, which it seems it could work for. I'm not sure how worried I am about taking on water; although I'm not on a dedicated ski lake, I'll be on more or less a private very long cove. So I'm expecting very little waves, other than my own wakes. Now, I might go other places on the lake from time to time, so it would be nice to not be super worried about that.

Background: I'm going to be buying my first boat in many years. I'm a skier, and that's the primary goal, but I'm also trying to find one boat that will meet some family needs as well. For the foreseeable future, we only have storage space for one boat. My wife wants something newer (<5yr old) that will work for the kids too. Right now they are only interesting in tubing but I hope I can get them interested in more. Long story short, I'm tired of skiing behind a non-ski boat, so I'm considering a Prostar, or an open-bow 200, or an open-bow Response (if there are any brands I missed that are <5yr old please let me know). In all cases I'm planning on getting a wake tower for non-ski activities. I'm OK that there won't be great wakes for wakeboarding, but my kids could still learn to wakeboard. The challenge is that there aren't many videos online about these boats, and I'm not finding any way to go see any in the Atlanta area. So I'm either going to have to fly out to buy a used one, or order a new one. But I need one before next summer, to it seems so far that perhaps the Mastercraft lead time is too high, so that might not be an option for a new one. So I'd like to narrow the list down before I go out of my way to go see a few in person. I'm concerned mostly about storage. The Ski Nautique, as well as older 200s, have those side storage compartments for skis. But the newer 200s only seem to have ski storage behind the passenger-side seat. That seems a bit annoying as the primary ski storage area. I'm also not seeing a lot of other storage areas, although it is hard to tell. Is there storage under the rear ledge/seats, perhaps for gloves and ropes? What about under the open-bow seats? Where do you store all of your required life vests? The Prostar has those ski clips along the inner side walls which seem very convenient. There are also two compartments right by the rear ski platform. Those seem perfect for ropes and gloves. But is there also storage behind the passenger seat like on the 200? Where do you store all of your life vests? The Malibu has two rear storage compartments, but no ski storage brackets, and I'm unclear about the behind-the-passenger-seat storage. Again, I'm just not sure where you store all of the extra stuff like life jackets. Ultimately, we really like the appearance of the SN200, and possibly the availability, but it seems it might have the least storage out of three boats that all seem pretty lacking on storage. I'm just looking to store say 3 skis, emergency life jackets, a couple of ski ropes, some gloves, a few towels, and perhaps some drinks or snacks. Oh... and an anchor. Do any of these have anchor storage perhaps in the very front?

I grew up slalom skiing, but only on inexpensive boats. Then, 20 years later, I spent a few years behind wakeboard boats. I really hate the wake, and on a few occasions that I have been able to ski behind a real ski boat (Ski Nautique, Mastercraft, or Malibu) I really enjoyed the minimal wake. Now I'm moving to a lake house and want to get back into skiing in a big way. I also want to get a good boat. My wife would like a nicer, newer boat. I just want something that can pull me up quick and give me a small wake. It seems a direct-drive, mid-engine ski boat would meet my desires pretty well. We also want to have ample space for guests, and finally it would be ideal if the boat could also be usable for wakeboarding for the younger ones. I'm the kind of person that would rather spend $100k on a new boat that I'll love for 20 years than $50k on a more marginal boat. So more or less, cost is not a concern here, although I don't want to waste money unnecessarily on things I don't need or won't enjoy. Unfortunately, I have never been on a course (and there isn't a course on my new lake), I just love skiing, and going fast (I typically ski at 35mph). I can't even tell you how many feet off I ski at, because most of the boats I'm skiing longer than standard to try to find the best wake. So assume I'm starting at zero off and working my way up from there. Finally, some sort of speed control is a must-have for me, so it is easy for my wife to keep a consistent speed. I'm sure that Zero Off can do that, but I'm not sure about the Prostar. I'll probably ski 99% of the time in the same cove that my house is on, so even without a course can Zero Off help with a consistent path through that cove? Does it steer the boat or just control the speed? And is there any sort of "launch control" that can provide a consistent power curve for deep starting? I wanted some feedback on my thoughts so far, and I wanted to know if there are options I'm missing. Ski Nautique 200: wife loves the style of the new ones, we love the open-bow option for extra seating, plus the seating in the back (when nobody is skiing). We'd get the wake tower as well. I can't tell if we can adjust the wake to make it at all useful for wakeboarding though? Ski Nautique: As I understand it, this is more of a pro-skier model? I can't imagine I need any of the improvements from a skiing perspective. It looks like it might have more wake options for wake boarding. But it doesn't seem to offer an open-bow. ProStar: I see one picture with an open-bow, but I don't see that option in the online configuration tool. I don't see a middle seat next to the driver like in the Nautique. I can't tell if there are rear seats? Is there any sort of speed control? Can it adjust at all for wakeboarding?

I've never done a slalom course but I'd like to get to that point. I certainly would like a boat that can pull me out of the water fast, and one that has a small wake. I'd like to be able to fit a family of four and ideally a couple of guests once in a while. I was a member of a boat club for a while and the best boat they had was a tritoon with 250hp outboard. The wake was small and it pulled me up quick because it doesn't have to plane up. But I think that's too wide to fit into a course, even for fun. I have skied behind a couple of real ski boats just a little bit and liked the launches and the wake (although the wake in the middle threw me off a bit). I've always liked the Ski Nautiques and now I'm thinking it might be time to get one of my own. I'm looking at the open bow options since the rear seat isn't usable with somebody skiing. I like the direct drive, cruise control, ski storage, etc. I'd like to spend under $40k and not lose a lot of value right away, so I'm thinking a gently used Ski Nautique could be good. But is that too much boat for me if I'm not competing? Are there other brands I should be considering?

This footer was doing 42-43 so faster than the Mavic Pro. My only shot for awesome video is to start in front at full speed reverse and then do a 180 as he passes under the drone. Will take some practice but doable.

I think that is exactly what happened, and I'm so used to the drone maintaining perfect altitude that I wasn't even watching it! It looks like it pretty much got down to the high point in the boat's wake before I noticed and launched it higher.

I'm so new to the drone I'm not sure why we see the props sometimes. The camera is on a gimbal so it must need just the right orientation. This video wasn't great because the drone maxes out at about 38mph. But I think with practice I can start in front and then expertly spin around when the footer passes me.

I went to high school in Spokane from 1990 to 1995. They used to say 100 lakes within 100 miles. We used to go to a different lake to ski if we saw more than one or two trailers in the parking lot. That is where I learned to ski. I did wear a shortie wetsuit most of the time and stuck to the warmer months.

I wanted to share an update. I tried the 250hp tritoon on Friday and getting up was super easy, but kind of slow, like the Malibu ski boat I experienced. I did really focus on my position as well (more on that later). Then yesterday I was on the big heavy wake boat again, but with the upper attachment point, and a more experienced driver. The driver accelerated slowly (perhaps 2s to half throttle) until he saw my ski plane and then he floored it. It wasn't quite as easy as the tritoon, but it was much better than normal. My theory is that in response to getting slammed by the big wake boat I have been leaning back more and more and putting my ski more and more vertical, in order to fight the boat. Now thanks to advice here I really focused on keeping my ski fairly horizontal, and keeping the pull of the boat down. It seems obvious in hindsight but I think that did the trick. I of course don't get the awesome ski wake from either boat. The wake boat has a "table" behind it with fairly steep drop-offs. The tritoon has four tiny little wakes, however they are kind of "hard" when you go through them. I'm not sure how to describe that.

I'm very new to drones, with this being my first serious purchase. I have had the Mavic Pro for about a month now. I took it out on the lake for my second time yesterday and learned a valuable lesson about watching my altitude. Normally the drone maintains its altitude very well so I completely wasn't paying any attention to how high I was, but if you watch in the video (at the 30-32s mark) you'll see that the drone was slowly descending and got uncomfortably close to the water. Now, I'm guessing this was because I had it in sports mode and/or was going max speed, but I'd love to get some confirmation on that. If I know when the altitude might not be maintained I can be more vigilant in the future at keeping an eye on it.

Thank you... I'm RFF so I'll give it a shot at the 1:00 position.

This is all awesome advice so far, thank you everybody. I didn't even think about using the top mount for skiing; I thought it was just for wakeboarding. I have been using the lower back mount this whole time. I will try the upper mount first thing this weekend and see how much of a difference it makes. I'm also going to focus on getting the ski flatter and closer to the surface. For the record I don't drag a foot and never have. It just seems so much harder to me. But perhaps I should try it. To be honest I think I'm on the path to buying a Ski Nautique 200 OB, but I'm going to likely wait a while. We have a 5-year contract with our boat club (4.5 years left) so probably after that's done, although it isn't super expensive to get out of it. But my wife will want a newer boat, so that is looking like it would cost me about $50k which I'd rather save up for :)

Some quick background on me. I grew up on boats when I was young, then took a break, then started skiing when I was in high school, then took a ~20 year break. I just turned 40 and am really getting back into water sports, and although I'm messing with wake boarding, I still really enjoy going fast on a single ski. I actually started skiing a few days per summer two years ago and I bought a 71" Radar P6. At the time I was about 215# and not in great shape. This has motivated me and after 1.5 years of strength training and eating well, I'm now at 200# with a lot more muscle. I think the ski should be good for me, if not a bit too large. Almost all of my slalom experience was on a low-profile boat with a 120hp outboard. I used to actually tuck into a ball, with my head way forward, and effectively submerge under water for the first few seconds of each start. I was also a lot lighter back then, somewhere in the 160-170# range. And on a smaller ski. My issue now is that I'm having trouble with deep starts, and I want two bits of advice. The first advice I need is how to get up more reliably with my current boat. The second advice I need is how much better a different boat would be. I'm currently in a boat club, and the boat I have been using is a Chaparral 246 SSi Surf Edition. It's a surf/wake boat, not a ski boat. Obviously the wake is a bit large, but what I'm more concerned about is I only have about a 50% success rate at getting up behind the boat. I'm constantly adjusting how far back I lean, but when I don't get up, either I am pulled over the front of the ski, or I lose the rope due to the excessive drag. I'm sure part of it is my technique, but I don't have anybody to watch me and tell me what I'm doing wrong. My wife is driving the boat (this is new for her) and has been flooring it (more on that below). It definitely doesn't help that I'm not in great shape, as my success rate drops after a few attempts. Just two weeks ago, I had the pleasure to be pulled by an experienced driver on an actual direct-drive ski boat (I think it was an older Malibu). Note that I was tired at this point, having already done two ski runs on my boat, and then a third where it took me 3 tries to get up. I got up almost effortlessly. And again. And the third time I fell because I stood up too quick (according to the experience skiers in the boat). And the fourth time I got up too. So 3 out of 4 tries I was up, and I was already really tired. So obviously either because of the driver and/or because of the boat, I had a much easier time than I normally do. On this boat it took *longer* to get up (several seconds), but it was much *easier* on me. So last weekend I had my wife try a 3-second increase in throttle on our boat, instead of flooring it. And I got up much easier than normal. So I thought I had figured it all out. But then I tried 3 more times with a slow start and couldn't get up. Then two more times with a full-throttle and couldn't get up. And then I gave up due to being tired. So apparently I haven't figured out the secret. So, back to my original question: without having somebody watching me to give advice, are there any suggestions on what I can do or my wife can do to make it easier to deep start on my ski? Secondly, am I choosing the wrong boat? My boat club also has a Coach tritoon with a 250hp outboard. The owner of the club said it would be better than the Chapparal for slalom because it planes easier. I thought he was crazy but now I'm wondering if I should give it a try for a day? Thirdly, I'm very tempted to buy a slightly used Ski Nautique 200 OB which seems to be the best new ski boat out there, with good storage for skis and good seating for the family. Would this make a huge difference for me on deep starts, in addition to the much smaller wake? If so, which engine would be best to get in that boat (I see there are 3 engine options).