Cnewbert

@MillerTime38 I’ll miss skiing with you the next few years but we hope your time in Japan is wonderful!

@skimtb, okay, here's a couple or 3 questions right off the bat: there are 3 engine options listed, two 320HP and one 430HP. One of the 320HP engines is $4670 more than the other, though all the basic specs appear the same. It just has OPS in the description... Ilmor 5000 MPI DD OPS 1.26 vs. the standard Ilmor 500 MPI DD 1.26. But nowhere is it explained what the difference is and why one would pay $4670 more for the upgrade designated OPS. The big engine is $15K more than the stock engine. Is the 320HP stock engine generally considered powerful enough? Or would one be crazy not to fork over an additional $15K for the extra 110HP? ($15K could buy me 1,250 twelve-packs of Sam Adams Boston Lager, so I would have to think carefully about this.) Also, on the MC website for the Prostar, the top view of that stunning red Prostar displays a grey floor covering. Do you know whether that is carpet, Seadek or Deckadence pictured? I'm quite sure it is not Deckadence, but what is it? These different choices do not display in the Design This Boat when selected, so I can't figure out what is in this picture that I like so much. Lastly, at one point in this Design This Boat I think I came across an option to have the ski racks on both port and starboard, or just one side. I can no longer find this. Do you know if they come on both sides or if it has to be ordered for one or both sides? I swear this option appeared at one point but now it's vanished. Thanks for any help!

Hey Brad, good to hear you’ve arrived in Japan safe and sound! You dropped off the radar screen this spring and we didn’t know what was up. Give our best to Jess and the kids and enjoy your stay in Japan. Hope you get lots of ski time in!

@Horton great offer and thanks! Love to but your a long ways from FL. I’ll snoop around and find one here to at least look over.

@Horton that was very helpful. It seems to stop at the demo of the bow cover. Is there an additional segment that looks at the back of the boat... engine cover, accessibility of engine components, transom storage, ski racks and so forth?

@Horton, thanks for the video. Watching it now and sure it will be beneficial.

@Loopski, did you intend to include a site besides the MC site? @ScottScott, yes, I started on the build a boat process, but it was very cumbersome and time consuming, and wouldn't just let me skip ahead to scan the various features and options. Colors of hull and interior and such are not my primary concern yet. i.e., I don't want to "build a boat" at this point. I just want to get an better idea of what the boat's included features are and what options are offered. Down the line, should I get serious about owning one, I can get into the nitty gritty of aesthetics.

Does anyone know where I can find detailed info on line about the Prostar '19? It's a boat I am interested in learning more about. All the MC website has (that I can find) is a promo video that features too much skiing (I get it... it's a ski tug) and awful, jarring music, at the expense of concrete information about the boat itself. I want to learn more about the actual Prostar... its features, its options etc. Nautique has some pretty good walk-through type videos available for the Ski Nautique and the Nautique 200, but I can't find anything similar for the Prostar. Nor can I find such information in simple printed form. And the process of obtaining a brochure is much too intrusive. They don't need my phone number and other details at this point. Name and address should be sufficient. Thanks!

If you are going to ban mullets, please, for the love of God, ban man buns as well!

I read earlier the webcast starts with the pros at 11am.

I have to believe that publicity and promotion would be fairly high on the laundry list of any competent event organizers. That would be covered in Event Organizing 101 I believe.

How is the set up there for spectators? Decent viewing?

Congratulations! (Even though I hate you I'm so jealous!)

2 1/2 years ago I got back into skiing after several years off. My trusty old HO Mach 1, vintage 2000 or so, was still good enough for my level (recreational). But I ripped the heel part of the front binding and I tried to find a replacement on line without luck. So I figured this was a great excuse to buy a shiny new state of the art ski, and headed to Performance Ski in Orlando. I brought the old Mach 1 with me to show them what I’d been skiing on so they could recommend a suitable replacement. Bill was on the floor that morning and when I explained I wanted to buy a new ski because I couldn’t find a replacement binding for my ski, he looked at the binding and said, hey, I can just fix that for you for about 25 bucks. Mind you, I already told him I was there to buy a new ski and was prepared to spend a $1000 or whatever it might cost. Who does that? Well, Bill, that’s who. So I had him fix the binding (ran $28) AND I bought a new Radar Lithium Vapor and plus bindings while I was at it. My point is, Bill was more than willing to fix my ski for mere peanuts instead of selling me a new ski and bindings at some 40x that amount. Now that, folks, is pure class!

Thanks @Wish. That’s an insight into the Camaro’s exceptional warmth that I don’t think has been mentioned.

Y’all have convinced me to buy a Camero Blacktec next fall. I’ve been happy enough with a Henderson 3/2 jumpsuit, but they are made for diving, not skiing, and no doubt lack the flexibility of a Camero from what I am reading. The Camaros sound fantastic. Oh, as for durability, if I get one season out of it I’ll be happy. I put high value on comfort and I hate being cold. As a diver I would buy a new suit for every single dive trip... forget a full season... because suits undergo a compression set from repeated compression at depth, and therefore lose a degree of insulating value with use. So to get even one full season out of a suit skiing would be great and a small price to pay.

In a forum that often features great discussions, this is, for me, one of the most valuable ever. Mainly because it's highlighting many of the things I do wrong, but perhaps with this information I can start to correct some of my technical errors.

We have a lot of iron in our water from rust in our well casing. When we built our pool I had a filter installed at the well so we wouldn't fill the pool with brown/rust colored water. The filters are plastic cylinders with nylon mesh. The are reusable and you can select from a range of mesh fineness. I just soak the dirty filter in phosphoric acid and it comes out clean of rust stains and just like new.

@Horton many thanks for the links. I’ll be checking the videos out!

Where does one find these videos?

For what it's worth, I myself went from an 16 y/o HO Mach 1 to a Radar Lithium Vapor. The transition was easy and I love the Radar. I know you are not presently considering that model however, but perhaps you might give it a look. I could ski on it comfortably right away, yet it has more upside potential than I'll ever be able to take advantage of.

Tandem barefoot New Year’s Day, Santa Fe Lake, FL

Had a great morning on Santa Fe Lake in Melrose, FL. Air 75˚, water 66˚. Four of us -- slalom, tandem barefoot, and wake foil. Great start to the new year!

skiinxs, good point. Thanks. It didn't occur to me that there might be a significant difference in the hull weight of one boat to the next of a certain make and model. That kind of renders manufacturers' specs unreliable from the get-go I would think. I wonder how much this can actually vary? If there is a significant difference between boats of the same model and if added weight of a specific hull shape increases displacement compared to a lighter version, presumably creating a bigger wake, it makes me wonder how one can ever generalize about the wake characteristics of a given boat model as so many do. i.e., if there is concern about the added weight of a tower, or an extra person, or how full the gas tank is, etc. affecting the wake, is there enough variation in weight resulting from the imprecise hand layup process to make it impossible to make subtle comparisons between boats at all, or to really know what you are getting if you buy a boat without personally skiing behind it? Or is the variation in weight really too small to make noticeable effect? And what might be too small? +/- 50# could result on one hull differing from the next by 100#. Would an expert skier notice that difference if an added passenger is perceivable by them? I wonder if the manufacturers even know or monitor this? The more glass and resin, the higher the materials cost, so you'd think they'd pay some attention to it. Anyhow, I'm just curious about all this and I appreciate everyone's insights.

Horton, I agree with you on that. It's only one of many factors. My suggestion would end any speculation on the accuracy of a manufacturers' specs is all.