Cnewbert

@skimtb thanks for the suggestions. Front hitch on our truck might work, but it would be difficult to attach completely blind and I wouldn’t want to risk dinging our truck while trying. I think I’ve found a good trailer tug however, the Parkit360 Force 5K. 5000# capacity. Just right @Sethro no lawn tractor, just a z-turn. Thanks for the suggestion though.

I'm looking for a motorized trailer dolly capable of moving our Prostar with a combined weight of boat and trailer around 4000#. We have an extra long garage bay I'd like to use for scheduled maintenance under cover as well as for safe storage during Florida's annual tropical storms and hurricanes when I don't want to risk leaving the boat on the lift. Our driveway is too narrow to allow my tow vehicle (F350 diesel dually 4wd 4-door long bed) with the turn radius of a locomotive to make the tight 90º swing necessary to get the boat into the bay. The entire rig is just too long for the tight space. Is anyone using such a powered dolly and if so, what make and model? And of course let me know if you recommend the one you have. If not, please tell me why. Many thanks!

I'd love to see more similar videos of amazing skiers like Neilly in slow motion.

@S1Pitts on the one hand, they are costly. But then, so are lakefront homes and ski boats. We will undoubtedly get more ski time in and more use of our boat in general, as we won’t hesitate to drop the boat into the water if time is short and we just want a couple of quick runs or maybe a sunset cocktail cruise. Ski time and ease of boat use are the whole point of us moving to the lake in the first place. So it’s definitely money well spent. We’ll let you know of any other surprises, though we’ve lived in FL for 10 years already, so hopefully all future surprises will be good ones!

After realizing our dream of buying a lake house in Florida and having our Prostar on a covered lift at the end of our dock ready to go at a moment's notice, we soon got a dose of fowl reality: Florida has billions of birds. Roughly half of all Florida's birds immediately began to roost on our boat. And every one of these damn birds was incontinent. Our spotless Prostar instantly turned into a revolting bird latrine. Our only choice was to cover our boat with the MC factory ratchet trailer cover, which, while easy enough to use when the boat was on the trailer, proved awkward and unnecessarily time consuming to use with the boat on the lift. It defeated the goal of having a boat instantly ready to go on the spur of the moment. And after the hassle of putting it back on and ratcheting it tight after skiing, it merely kept all the bird crap out of the boat. It didn't dissuade the birds from perching on the cover itself and relieving themselves with unnerving frequency, quickly turning it into a gooey mess. Desperate for a solution, I got some positive feedback on BOS re: Touchless Boat Covers (thanks @Buxrus!), a few of which I had seen on our lake, and we decided to spring for one. We ordered ours at the end of May through Ian Larson at Touchless Covers of Crystal River. It arrived within weeks, much faster than we anticipated, and Ian and his crew installed it on Sunday almost 2 weeks ago. It's been a game changer for us, as it has dramatically streamlined the entire routine of using our boat. Now, at the touch of a button and a matter of seconds, we can not only cover and protect the boat from the birds, but the cover is waterproof, keeping blowing rain out, plus it extends over the teak swim platform and hangs below the water line of the boat when raised on the lift, protecting both the teak and gel coat from the intense Florida sun. As a plus, there is so much air volume under this cover, the boat's interior dries much better than with the trailer cover on. We can leave the Bimini and mirror up as well... small things that help add up to a big time savings. I can't recommend these covers enough, with or without a plague of birds, and Ian Larson was extremely professional and a pleasure to work with. From the convenience standpoint alone it is worth every penny. We'll get more use out of our boat and it will dramatically reduce the clean-up and maintenance time spent on keeping it beautiful. IMG_4385.MOV IMG_4386.MOV

@LoopSki the impellers will only get harder to pull the longer you wait. I’d do it sooner rather than later myself.

Cheap part, easy to replace. So I just replace mine regularly per the owner’s manual recommended interval. Though I’m sure they are far from the end of their service life at that point, it keeps me from worrying about them and that’s well worth the expense.

@ScottScott no one has ever accused me of having a great mind, but I was temped to try and contact TWBC directly about this very same thing. Wade's voice booms -- and Zane's as well, though to a lesser extent -- yet I strain to hear what the interviewees are even saying much of the time. But we are incredibly lucky to have TWBC as they do a superb job in all other respects.

Great partnership! The best and the best!

@Horton actually, I knew about them because there are several on our lake that caught my eye. But I’ll tell him about BOS anyhow and mention the positive reviews about their covers on the forum were directly responsible for our order. I’ll suggest they advertise on BOS. It would definitely be a target rich environment.

@Buxrus just ordered ours today!

I would disagree with cost being a significant factor or "the" factor in the lack of growth in water skiing. Yes, it is an expensive sport in general, and there is no doubt that cost is a barrier for many individuals. But I don't believe it is a factor in the big picture. There are many sports that are infinitely more expensive than water skiing that enjoy a much larger participant base than water skiing. Take for example horses and their various disciplines. Close to where we live is the World Equestrian Center, a project still not fully complete. The owners have invested some one BILLION dollars in this venue that features 2,500 stalls, 5 huge indoor air conditioned arenas, two luxury hotels, a 5-star restaurant, pubs, many boutique eateries, an 18 pump gas station, an RV park, a chapel, a laundromat, retail stores, a 40,000 SF veterinary clinic... and on and on... all to serve the show horse world. The cost of participating in show jumping alone dwarfs what it costs to ski. A competitive show jumping horse will set you back more than a new Prostar, and the Grand Prix level horses can go for $500,000 to over $1,000,000... enough to buy an entire quiver of Prostars and Nautiques. But that's only the tip of the iceberg. Monthly horse boarding and training packages can easily be $2,500 or more... much more. The entry fees and costs of showing in jumping competitions run into thousands per event. Living quarters horse trailers to get there go for $80,000 plus. These mind boggling expenses haven't stopped the sport from growing to the extent that the investment in this facility would even be contemplated. And while the WEC may be the biggest such venue in the world, there are equestrian show facilities all over the country in order to meet demand. There is simply no shortage of people with a lot of money to spend on the sport of their choice. Getting a meaningful chunk of such people to make water skiing their sport of choice is the problem as I see it.

@Buxrus sweet!

@RAWSki very innovative! But it wouldn't work in our situation as we have a covered lift and we wouldn't have enough overheat clearance for this system. @Buxrus Huge help, thank you! I think you sealed the deal for us. We feel the same way about time and convenience, not to mention functionality. I'm guessing that in addition to the benefits you mentioned, there is also more air circulation once covered, allowing the boat to dry out better. @MDB1056 we think so too and you're welcome!

@MDB1056 http://touchlesscovertampa.com Have a look.

Touchless boat covers... who's got one? And how to you like it? All pros and cons appreciated. Thanks!

@Wayne so much has changed in knee replacement surgery since they were first performed in 1968. The newest robotic procedures allow for more precise alignment of the implant, which is critical to the lifespan of the artificial joint. As well, the implant materials have evolved tremendously, and are considerably more durable than before. I would encourage you to go for a couple of different consultations, including surgeons who are experienced in robotics and minimally invasive techniques, and who specialize in sports medicine. Good luck!

@Mastercrafter yes I did a while back. The problem was the fuel pump, or the check valve in the fuel pump if I recall correctly. The fuel pressure would drop after initial power up and the engine would have to crank an additional second or two to restore pressure. Warranty replacement.

@jpwhit hmmm… hard to imagine our ‘20 starting any faster. It’s virtually instant. We have the original Optima Blue Top and have 420 hours on the boat, so it get used a fair amount

@MDB1056 I’d love to see those photos if you get the chance. Thanks! @BraceMaker I would expect to keep our boat fully up when not in use as we’re on a public lake. @MISkier I completely agree. @mike_mapple if a hurricane or trop storm is headed toward us I’m pulling the boat out of the water and putting it in our garage no matter what kind of lift we have. @motoxr thanks for the great endorsement! I’ve corresponded with the company a couple of times in the past but the lake houses we were pursuing at the time always fell through. This new one’s a lock so it’s time to dig deep on the possibilities of a platform lift, especially now while the cost will get lost in the overall pain of the house purchase! @aupatking Should I commit to a platform lift I’ll rely on the contractor to calculate weights, capacities and so forth. Personally I’m not the least bit worried about tripping over the bunks. @Broussard thanks so much for letting me know about Peter Fleck’s company! Since we’re in central FL as well he might be perfect. Assuming the photo is of one of his lifts it looks like he does a great job.

@coach3 that's quite a story! Sounds like you are lucky to even be alive, or not to have lost your leg entirely! Amazing you can do so much after that. Congrats!

@Wayne I don't know whether you are a candidate for a PKR or a TKR. If you only have one bad knee compartment, medial being the typical one I believe, fixing that sooner rather than later can preserve the remaining two compartments. I'm told a PKR will function virtually like a fully intact knee, whereas a TKR will have some differences, though I don't know enough to say what those would be. So that might suggest acting sooner is possibly be the best option. I mentioned above I resumed skiing last Tues just 42 days from my PKR and skied 4 days in a row last week total. My knee felt better each day. We don't ski on weekends on our public lake, and today we're knee deep (no pun intended) in the purchase of a lake house, otherwise we'd be back on the water with my knee feeling better than ever.

@Mastercrafterthanks! I just saw that and figured out who you were!😀 Very helpful info. Most appreciated!

Timely thread as we’ve just contracted to buy a lake house with a covered slip and lift. (Closing May 15! 😀😀). I’ll be needing to adjust the bunks for our ‘20 Prostar. @Mastercrafter how much clearance do I need in the center, front and back, to allow clearance for the tracking fins? Thanks!

At last we’ve found a lake house on our favorite public ski lake in Central Florida. We close on May 15! There is a nice dock, covered dock deck, and covered slip w/lift already in place. All I need to do is adjust the bunks correctly for our Prostar. But I’ve always been intrigued with platform lifts, as they allow for complete walk around on the platform deck, making maintenance such as wiping down the hull after each use, or routine weekly Babe’s Boat Brite treatments easy, oil changes simple, and even putting the cover on less complicated. They’re not especially cheap, but as long as we’re blowing too much money on the house, we’d consider converting to a platform lift. But all I really know about them is that they look very cool. Does anyone in this group have one, or know someone who has one? And if so can you share any personal thoughts about them, good or bad? Thanks!