DangerBoy

@JustAnewb At this stage in your son's life and skiing, his needs are going to change rapidly. He's still gonna grow some, maybe out on some weight, his feet are going to get bigger and his abilities and the speed at which he skis are going to change fairly quickly. As such, I think the best way to go is to buy him decent level used skis that were TOL or near TOL four to six years ago. Those skis are still great and more than enough for his current abilities but they'll be a lot more affordable which will allow you to make more ski changes as his needs dictate while keeping costs at a reasonable level. For bindings, I recommend you go open toe and buy a size that gives him some room to grow yet. That way, his feet can still grow a size or two without you needing to buy him another pair of bindings. For good open toe bindings you can look at Radar Vectors or something equivalent in a HO but if he prefers a binding with arched right/left footbeds as I do, see if you can find a decent pair of used Connelly Talon bindings for him. I have a couple pair of them and really like them. I'm a size Men's 9.5 and have size Medium in the Talons but I have a friend who has size 11 feet and he can still get in them comfortably without his toe going over the end of the footbed. Going this route, SIA is your friend. There you can find all sorts of high-end Radars, HOs, D3s, Connellys and other brands in that age range and some bindings as well. If you find some skis you think you might be interested in, you can search for reviews and discussions on them here on BOS and you can ask if people would recommend that ski for a skier of your son's abilities or not. People here are very generous with their knowledge and would be happy to share their opinions on skis they own or may have owned before to help you pick one that your son will do well on.

This would be of interest to people who use binding lube and know others that do and for ski clubs who have members that use it. Your club could buy the product in bulk, pour it into squeeze bottles and sell it to members at a very reasonable price and still make a profit for the club. Back in 2014, I did some research on the possible use of cable pulling lubricants as a less expensive source of binding lube. What I found was that most of them contain various additives/ingredients that you don't really want going on you and/or in your lake but I decided to call up a rep at American Polywater, a company that manufactures a large variety of those products, and ask them if they had a product that would work well for that application. She told me that they, in fact, did have a product that was perfect for that application. She said it was the first lubricant product they ever produced and it was made to fill a contract they had to produce a large quantity of wetsuit lubricant for the US Navy many years ago. She told me that it's 100% water based and there are no additives in it so it's basically just "gelled water"; completely harmless to the environment. I ended up buying a 5 US gallon pail of it for about $90 CAD. That broke down to a cost of about $4.75 CAD per LITRE (1,000 mL). In comparison, my local water ski shop sells a 946 mL (1 US Quart) bottle of Slime for $30.00 CAD. They also sell an 8 oz bottle for even more on a cost per oz or mL basis. I sold a good share of the 5 gallon pail to an Alberta Ski Club, a bunch more of it to some neighbours out at the lake where my cabin is and kept the rest to use. Years later, we're still using it and it's still working great. It's not the absolute most slimiest and slipperiest binding lube I've ever used but it's still very very, slimy and slippery and does the job very, very well. For the price you just can't beat it. Here's a link to the product page on the manufacturer's website: https://www.polywater.com/product/polywater-a-clear-liquid-lubricant/https://polywater.com/product/polywater-a-clear-liquid-lubricant/ You can order a case of a dozen 1 quart squeeze bottles (Product No. A-32), a case of 4 1 US gallon jugs (Product No. A-128)or a 5 US gallon pail (Product No. A-640). In Canada, you can order it through an electrical equipment and cable supplier called Eecol Electric. I don't know if they have locations in the USA or not. For a list of US distributors/retailers of their products go here: https://polywater.com/usa-representatives/ What I did to get it as cheap as possible was to let Eecol add it on to and bring it in with a regular shipment of cable running lubricants from American Polywater. Eecol didn't incur any extra shipping charge for adding that one pail to their order of many so they didn't charge me any shipping cost on my pail.

@6balls Y'know, I think you're right. I've heard of a few people getting into 41 with the ski I have but I've never heard of anyone running it with that ski. I think that's the only reason why I'm not running it because it can't be because I suck at skiing. It HAS to be the ski. ;) Seriously, way to go @AdamCord. That was quite an achievement. You're part of a pretty elite club now.

This was my former boat. It's a 1975 Starcraft American with a 1974 Johnson 115 outboard. My parents bought it in the fall of 1974 when I was just 13. I lovingly looked after and maintained it for 40 years. It was running beautifully when I reluctantly sold it in 2015. The young family I sold it to were absolutely thrilled to get it and I have the comfort of knowing it's still running beautifully for them just a few miles down the lake from me and a young boy is getting to learn how to ski and do everything fun I got to do behind it when I was a boy. That means a lot to me. I know I'm biased and sentimental but to me that boat has beautiful lines that still look good today. It was great to ski behind. It had an incredible hole shot so it got you up and skiing with little effort or delay. It's wake was tiny, only maybe 4 or 5 feet across wake to wake and maybe 4 inches high. You didn't even feel it when you crossed it. I really loved that boat and literally started to cry on my last few turns behind it. :'( <3 That said, I love my new boat a lot too and am glad I got it. :)

Geeze, that was an exciting men's slalom final! So close between the top 3!

@Taynton Is there a SeaStar or BayStar hydraulic steering option for that type of boat? If so, I'd recommend considering it. I have a different type of boat (outboard) so what I say here may not be relevant at all but the SeaStar mechanical cable steering system that was original to my boat never worked very well and failed after about 8 years and not actually many hours of light use. I opted to replace it with a BayStar hydraulic steering system that I installed myself and OMG what a difference! I absolutely love the hydraulic steering! So if hydraulic steering is an option on that type of boat, it's definitely worth considering.

One thing I like about that tail right there is that it would be dead easy to get an accurate DFT measurement with that tail. So much harder to get that measurement right on skis with rounded and beveled tails... :| Looking forward to the review!

@bojans Have a look at the mounting brackets I make for vintage skis I have hanging all over my cabin. I make them from those cheap galvanized L brackets that every hardware store sells. I do a special paint process to make them look old and rusty - like they came out of an old barn or something. They hold the skis VERY securely and are padded on the inside to prevent scratching or leaving any kind of a mark on the ski. It's a bit of work to make them but it's not too bad. The cool thing is every one is different and unique in how they look and you can make them in whatever shape/dimensions you need to fit perfectly to the ski you're mounting on the wall. For example, you can see in the picture that the brackets holding the tips of the skis have a narrow gaps for the skis to slide into because when mounted, the part of the ski just aft of the curved tip lays flat on the wall. Conversely, the brackets holding the tail ends of the skis have a wider gap in them because the fins keep the tails further off the walls than the tips. If you like the way they look and are interested enough to want to make them then let me know and I will type out the instructions for making them. There are a number of steps to the process and it will take a while for me to type out the instructions for some of the steps so I don't want to go to the trouble and spend the time if you're only just curious how I make them and are not actually interested in making some for your skis.

@BraceMaker thanks for that information. I will check the DFT to make sure it's at factory. What do you think about the ski?

OMG! The coveted TRIPLE panda!! :o

I find that I don't have as good of a grip when I use a handle that's a little bit larger than the one I like. I also like and ski better with a curved handle. I skied for decades on a straight handle but the minute I tried a curved handle I was won over and never went back to a straight handle again. I think when you figure out which handle really works for you and that you really feel comfortable with, you'll always ski better with that handle than any other. It's possible some of it's just psychological. A comfort and familiarity thing. A couple decades ago, I had a ski that used to spray hard into my back leg on an off-side turn. It stung like I was being sprayed with a powerful pressure washer at close range. As a counter-measure I started wearing a neoprene spray guard and that solved the problem. Many years and a few new skis later, I still use the spray guard but I don't think I even need it anymore. There have been a few times where I've forgotten to put in on for my first run in the morning and I didn't have any painful sprays on my back leg on any off-side turns the whole time. But I still skied like crap on my off-side turns. That was because psychologically, I'm still conditioned to worry about searing spray pain on my off-side turns so if I realize I don't have the spray guard on, I fear the pain will come when I'm setting up for my off-side turn then reflexively back off on my off-side turns. Not having that spray-guard on feels different and I don't like it so I ski like I'm going to feel pain if I cut hard on my off-sides even though I don't. I put the spray-guard on, everything feels normal and "right" to me and I ski my best and all the noise in my head about potential spray pain goes away completely. I think when you get a handle in your hand that doesn't feel quite right it may affect your skiing just because mentally, something feels not off a little and maybe it gets a little chatter going in your head. Get the handle you really like and you stop feeling/thinking that way and your mind can concentrate fully on your skiing with no thoughts given to how the handle feels or that something feels not quite right. Just my theory based on my own personal experience. No data whatsoever to back it up so take it with a grain of salt. ;)

Thanks @savaiusini. I'm sure they'll be interested to try those settings. It sure seems like it's a popular ski. Up in Canada the season hasn't even started but my friend had to pull the trigger on this ski now in order to get one while there was any in stock. It was the last one left! :o Fortunately for me, it's the size I need so I will get to try it. Yes! :p That is one ski I've been very curious to try for a while. Those guys are coming off a Radar Union so I expect the Syndicate Omni will be a big step up performance-wise. I ski on a 2015 V-Type so performance-wise the two skis should be fairly similar but they may ride a lot differently. I can't wait to try and find out!!

A friend and ski buddy of mine is picking up a new 67" Syndicate Omni. He and a couple of his sons will ski on it. Of course, they'll set it up stock at first and see how they like the settings. I'm pretty sure they'll want to try some alternative settings if there are any out there just to see how they compare and if they like them any better. Has anyone got some good alternative setups they'd recommend trying on that ski? They ski around 32 mph. @savaiusini?

A couple more pairs that I have. The pair of doubles has got lots of patina. I think the Cut 'n Jump Competition Tricksters are from the early '70s? They're brand new. The guy I bought them from was the original owner. He said he bought them thinking they'd be a heap o' fun but they kicked his ass the two times he tried using them. After the second time almost being injured on them he got spooked and put them away never to see the light of day. There's not a single scratch on them anywhere. Both pairs are waiting for me to figure out where and how I want to display them.

@Brewski Wow, what a nice collection! :o And everything in such beautiful condition! Gorgeous. ??

@swbca PFT = Pretty friggin' tight :D

It's funny they would be so precise as to say 49 pound-inches and not just round it up to 50. My nephew is a full fledged marine mechanic with probably 15 years experience or more. For most of that time, he's worked at a marina that's also an Evinrude dealer so he knows the Johnson and Evinrude motors very well. Every time I ask him for the correct torque setting for some bolt on one of my outboards his response is always "P.F.T."

"The Shredator" or just "Shredator"

Predator

Ball Crusher

Thanks @skialex and @ColeGiacopuzzi. I found a copy of the 2013 brochure and the binding is there. The "Room 38 Vector". So now I know. I don't yet know what I'm going to do with the binding but I only had to pay $15 CAD (~$12 USD) (and it came with an extra new bungee lace!) for it so I figured I might as well snag it. It's a size Small so it'll come in handy if I get a guest or one of my neighbours that I ski with has a guest with smaller feet that wants to go for a ski.

What year is this Vector binding? Got kind of a "no way I could resist" kind of deal on it used so I bought it sight unseen. Looks to be in pretty good shape. Curious to know what year it is.

@jaquaski What's the story on that Hustler ski? It looks like it was made by Connelly but has a different brand name silk screened on it. @fernandofleck That's a nice trio of skis there. I think that Torque is the nicest looking Torque ski I've ever seen. Most of the ones I've seen don't have near that nice of woods and inlay work.

For a competitive skier my guess would be in their early to mid 30s but for myself as a 59 year old free skier with nothing to measure my abilities other than how I think I'm doing, how much fun I'm having and how much I love to waterski, I think my peak is yet to come. :)

To prevent that sort of buildup from ever returning, I wax the hull every spring and then wipe the hull completely clean of biofilm using rags and a bucket of water every time I pull the boat out of the water on its trailer. Never give that crap the chance to dry on the hull. It's super easy to clean off when the boat has just come out of the water; it takes way more work to get it off once it's dried on the hull. My old boat was 40 years old when I sold it and the underside of the hull stiĺ looked great because I followed the above regime every year without fail.