RINLE

Tow in D3 -- no overdrive. Keep the MDX out of drive the whole time -- don't waste your time with trying to use the OD when on flat roads. Set it and forget it. I know, here comes my first panda -- we have towed off and on with our Honda Odyssey for years. Same engine tranny set up. I went to the dealer for the tow package. The guys there said I could't tow my boat with it. despite the manual clearly saying I can and their selling a way overpriced tow package. I called north American Honda and they put me on the phone with an engineer. His explanation was keep it out of Drive, and that these gas engines and tranny's have the most torque when the RPMs are high, so this is where they are most efficient. I did my own tow package -- screw the dealership. etrailer has a video on cleaning out and re-threading for installing hitches. Honda transmissions are supposedly crap. I sold our first Odyssey with the original tranny at 160K and towed significantly with hit. You will be fine once you get that hitch on there. PS: I have a nice truck for towing, and may daughters jeep tows, but I will still hitch up the Nautique to the Honda when the trip calls for the room of a van.

DaveD, Skiing a wood stringer boat for 28 years and it still being a heck of a tow tug is as much a testament to you as it is to the original manufacturer.

just back from Barnes and Knoble (yes we still have a bricks and mortar one in my city) and they had in their print magazine section 4 big thick SUP magazines. What gives that they can sell this many paddle board magazines and there is no water ski magazine. They have significantly less accessories to sell to get advertisers. Made me think Bonnier is the problem. But my wife may have nailed it. She says they are selling a life style like they sell with yoga, So the magazines sells.

When we took a chance on a lower cost relative newcomer, an 86 Malibu Skier, if there was a big 3 the 3rd would have been Ski Supreme or American Skier. Who knows what the leaderboard will look like in a decade.

Axis is a nice boat if you don't care about skiing. I wish they made an Axis equivalent to the 20 VTX.

I am in the second option. All the major lakes around here have at least 1 course. I can ski the course whether a member or not but joined the club that maintaines the local course because I want to help support the course, participate in the adaptive ski clinic, and get to know the other slalom junkies.

Not only are their more fun and competitive activities for thr kids today, but their sports are niw year round. Club or travel level sports for the kids now do not have an off season. For example, If your a good soccer player in middle school / high school you now have to play travel soccer year round and your club coach is likely the varsity assistant coach. So if you dont play travel or select you dont start in high school. Some of the families that used to boat with us dropped off after joining travel teams because their weekends at the lake started to be soent at travel tournament weekends. One idea I had to help increase the fun of skiing is a handicap system like in golf where I could come out to the club course for the day, throw some cash down, trash talk the others, then if my daily best run is more competitive relative I go home with the bragging rights and cash that day.

Competition is good. That is what finally got my son slalom skiing. A new friend in college was way agead of him in wakeboarding and he wanted to be better than him in something so he finally tried more than one time to get up on a slalom ski and did it.

I fell off after college with less obstacles as the kids face today. College club skiing was a blast. We had access to a private lake and a Mastercraft. Halfway through college my pop was downsized, the Malibu Skier I got with a nice discount had to be sold to pay for college. The, I went to grad school. I did not get back into my own boat until I was in my 30s. I was lucky too. I got out of undergrad with no debt. These kids now days, same public college as me, are coming out owing on average $25 grand. That’s a decent used ski boat right there. These kids coming out of college will need us older folks to provide ways for them to get on the water because many will be hard pressed to afford boating for several years post-graduation.

I do too. That same exact ski also sold as a Medalist.

Sorry, new here. That is a real add and that is Suzanne Summers. Different times back then in California when I was a kid. Maha was the first ski I dreamed of having. Never got one though -- which is probably a good thing. I still remember the TV adds for Oshman's sporting goods with skier ripping up the water on a Maha.

Vintage Maha slalom is still the best looking to me. Link to original image. Boobs!

I have been a paid subscriber for likely 28 of the last 34 years. This is a loss I have to grieve. It is ironic in that I was about to reach out to them, as I have not received my full contingent of mags the last couple of years. I seem to have only gotten every other one. Yet, they never failed to send me the gear or wakesurf mag. So much for asking them what gives now. Well... because of this, after lurking here for multiple years, I finally created an account.