Johnseed

Thanks for all the suggestions. Last night I moved the bunks outward about 1/2" each side and left the trailer a bit less in the water. It loaded centered and not on the bunks goofey like it had been doing. BOS is awesome!

Maybe advocacy for courses on public waters would help. We have a course on our local public lake but I understand that we are very fortunate. I thought USA waterski used to have such a thing but I'm not sure. Government bureaucrats stink sometimes.

Not just a water skiing tiger but a Slalom Skiing tiger.

Thanks for the suggestions....I'll try moving the bunks out some next week. The season is winding down quickly here in KY. Balls were pulled from our course last weekend.....jugs don't feel so good on the shins.

 

BTW the axles have 5 lug rims

I wondered about moving the bunks outward a bit....I can't find a rating plate but would guess the boat to be at the upper limit of what a single axle can carry at 2800#. It pulls fine but luckily we are only about 3miles from the ramp and rarely need to pull above 30mph.

 

I've starting looking for possible trailers as I agree it is most likely not the original that came with the boat and my wife and I both think that could be the root of the problems

 

Here's a couple pics from the back. My concern is the boat sitting on the port chine....is that hard on the boat to do that?

I'll grab a couple pics tonight. It is an inboard trailer with a prop guard and dip in the cross member to allow for the tracking fins.

 

We tried not backing in as far last night as well as having my wife move to center before pulling up the ramp....almost right....like 1.5" off in the back but the front is right. Maybe even less in the water? The wind this time of year doesn't make things easy either.

What is ideal spacing for the guide posts from the rub rail? Currently it like 6" on each side minimum.

After 20 years with a stern drive our family is excited to have our first inboard- a 2002 Malibu Sunsetter. We always power loaded the sterndrive and just snugged the winch and drove up the ramp. The boat self centered and self leveled....of the 10 or so times out with the Malibu we've only managed to get it on the trailer right one time. What gives? I've tried deep, shallow, winch, power all with no consistency.

 

The trailer is a shorelandr with only one set of bunks and the guide poles are like 6" from the rub rail on both sides. This is most likely NOT the original trailer but what gives???? The bunks are spaced just outside the center hull chines if we can load it level. Any suggestions??

@LoopSki - my wife often reminds me that this is supposed to be fun and to stop taking it soooooo serious. A bad day skiing is still an awesome day.

 

To that point there was a thread posted a while back that basically said that sometimes we only put forth the negative....micro-adjustment of find, bindings, boat wake, zero off settings etc....instead of just how awesome it feels to throw walls of spray turning buoys and the rush of speed across the back of a boat wake on flat glassy water.

One thought I had was this....

Competitive skiing isn't something easy to do. If you can run a pass through the slalom course at any speed or line length you are already in a small company of skiers. The time it takes to progress not to mention the bumps and bruises from falling does not appeal to lots of folks.

 

I think this is why lots of us still own combos, a wide slalom, or heaven forbid a wakeboard....to introduce a newbie to our world of skiing madness. We have probably 10x the number of kids tuning on our lake than we do skiing or even wakeboarding....it takes zero skill to ride a tube.

 

Technically you can 'play' golf with zero skill, lots of people do it....the scores might be astronomically high but people are playing. Skiing isn't the same at all.

 

All that being said, I never understand why everyone doesn't love this sport. Time on the lake with friends and family, enjoying nature, challenging yourself to be better, and making lots of spray, what's not to love?

 

Off all the folks we have taught it almost always comes down to their first bad fall....after that they either quit or become more determined to succeed.....that's the only line of diversity I can really see in the sport.

I'm looking at buying a 2001 Response Lx but am concerned about issues with the gauges. The speedo doesn't work and the center gauge is nearly impossible to read...the LCD is toast I think. From the info I found all those gauges are controlled by a central computer. Is it possible to replace the bad gauge with the analogue gauges without much trouble expense? There is no fuel gauge, oil pressure, or temp gauge at the moment.

 

How hard is it to add Perfect Pass to these boats? Trying to determine what or if to make an offer. The boat ran well and is in decent shape for a 2001. Any thoughts and advice are appreciated .....

Hi, I'm John from Kentucky and I am a slalom addict. We ski on Williamstown Lake, about halfway between Cincinnat and Lexington, and we are blessed to have a fairly sheltered public course. I've been hacking at it since 1999 when we bought our SeaRay 180. My PB is 4@28 off @30mph, tourney PB is 5.5@30@15off. I still mostly ski the I/O but we are shopping for our 1st DD.

I'm 51 and the only full on addict in my family. My wife is my very patient full time driver and we love going to the lake. I have been a reader of BOS for a long while and finally joined this year. I love the tips and topics on this site.

My current ski is a Radar Theory with double Vector boots.

Done.

Our issue was similar except instead of the outside guide being slack the inside guide sat much lower in the water. We made PVC float chambers with about a 2' piece of 2" diameter PVC and end caps. We then zip tied them at the midpoint of each buoy arm and the problem was solved. Quick, cheap, and easy. Not tons of buoyancy but enough to correct the in water sag.

I've been slamming behind a searay 180 with just a 4 cylinder 3.0L. I'm 6' and average 225#.....I'm on a Radar Theory with double vector boots and while it is a struggle it can be done. Here's the difference.....stay in a ball over your back foot until you feel the ski come on plane before trying to stand up. Behind my boat about 13 seconds to standing.....behind a friends Malibu Response only 3.5 seconds. Hope to buy my first DD later this summer.

 

I tried a 68" Seige a few years back and didn't care for it and the narrow tail made the starts even longer FWIW.

I am finally getting around to shopping for our first DD boat. I am looking at a 2000 Malibu Response LX and had a couple questions. 1. The boat has the 'Malibu Cruise", how will/does that compare to PP ? 2. The boat looks very clean and well maintained, other than a mechanical inspection what else should I check out (I've had an I/O for 20 years and obviously there is a difference) - I'm thinking rudder, shaft, etc - what what am I looking for? 3. Asking price is $19,900 which seems high even if the boat is in great shape, am I correct or what is the ballpark value?

 

The boat is in Cincinnati to give you a market. I appreciate the comments and help in advance.

Ours is on a public lake....on weekend mornings there is sometimes a wait, weeknights it's usually open. Tuesday and Thursday are 'understood' as ski nights by the lake residents. We try and observe a 6 pass per boat at a time if there is a wait.

It all goes back to how we want to define "growing the sport".

Growing recreational skiing?

Growing tournament participation?

Growing USA Waterski membership?

Growing spectator/audience size?

Growing sponsorship and $$ in the sport?

 

Each answer has it's own unique set of challenges and solutions to be sure.

 

To use MLB as an example since many view baseball today as a dying sport, they have been working to 'update' the game itself to improve its appeal to the modern fans....the emphasis is on the fan experience which has led to several rule changes and will ultimately effect player stats in many cases. There is always a trade off somewhere.

Just a thought....

What about trying to host a tournament in conjunction with other established summer festivals? The conditions might be less than ideal for the skiers BUT the possibility of exposure for the sport would be much improved over a secluded private lake.

 

My understanding was that the Malibu Open in Milwaukee was this type of event. I live just south of Cincinnat and there is a huge festival on the river over Labor Day weekend...like 500,000 attendance total. Might be a tough but to crack but maybe easier than TV at this point.

I think the cost can cover a wide range of things such as....

How often to you upgrade your gear?

What is your lake access? Club? Public?

Boat access....own? Club boat? Shared boat?

Most everyone has a limit on how much they can afford unfortunately. Unless I win the Powerball a new boat isn't in my future but hopefully a new to me boat will be.

Personally I think the ambassador program is a start to rebuild things. When we first started trying the course on our lake, with an I/O and an old Connely Mid S ski, I guy in a Nautique stopped by, offered some tips and even offered a few pulls behind a 'real' ski boat. I never forgot that experience. He was super friendly, super positive, and very encouraging.

 

I also agree the cost of boats is more of am excuse than reality. You can get a really decent used DD for about what we paid for our SeaRay I/O 20 years ago.....SIA or even a perfski closeout is a great place to find cheaper gear.

 

TV coverage is a tough nut to re crack but do we even try and publicize a local event to invite spectators or even gear the event for their enjoyment? Every major sport is almost as much as much about the fan experience as it is the sport itself. The tournament I attended had zero spectators and it was even tough to follow for a skier, no announcers, no printed running order, etc....had to use binoculars to see what line length anyone was running, it was totally focused on the competitors behind the boat at that moment with no involvement for anyone else.

As a long time reader this thread has pushed me to finally join so I could add my $.02. Here goes....

 

I became interested in skiing back in the early 80's partly due to the TV exposure but more because we had a runabout and went to the river most weekends. I learned to ski on the Ohio River and it wasn't long after that I learned to slalom. The freedom and feeling of slalom was awesome compared to just the combos.

 

I always wanted to ski a course but had no idea of where to find one or how to even approach one. One summer camping trip we stumbled upon one at Lake Cumberland and I gave is a shot behind our old tri-hull with a 150hp outboard. I loved the challenge but it seemed impossible to run this thing. Fast forward 20 years.

 

We bought our 1st boat...a bowrider with a I/O and the love was rekindled. The lake near our home has a public course and I have been skiing for nearly 20 years there. My practice PB is a 15off @32 mph behind a Malibu Response but I still love the challenge.

 

Our lake has seen quite an increase in skiers over the past few years. 5 years ago it felt like there were only a handful of us using the course but this summer that number seems to have grown. None of these skiers have ever done a tournament even though several are into 32 off. When asked why most reply...why? I skied my only tournament a few years back and it was a great experience even though my score was a 5.5 @15off, I should have held on. I never have done another tourney, maybe someday.

 

My point is that I believe there are a lot of good skiers out there who aren't interested in tournaments but the sport itself is alive and maybe even growing....it just depends upon how you define growth.