swbca

I am still using an 8 year old Galaxy S5 because it's unaffected by the high frequency vibration on the ski pilon and each frame is a good quality zoomed-in image.  The downside is the phone can't keep up with high-speed 90 degree panning of a slalom skier and skips some frames in the wake crossings.

I have tried a few newer Galaxy phones and they are all badly affected by vibration.

Are there any other phones that can provide this relativly close up view of the skier without vibration or skipped frame problems ?  And that can be controlled with Wakeye GPS stop-start ?

This is @pcan M8 friend showing us how to get angle.

@dave2ball  Your suggestion to fill the tank worked.  Thanks    

Any info on Streaming the Nationals ?   Real Time or Delayed

I recall Archived coverage of many events other years,  but not sure if they were same day or later.

KD Titanium 66 - as someone else said, its performance is symmetrical - left and right.  Can carry speed through turns into cross course, even with tight radius turns.  If you drop back on the ski, it doesn't turn or get angle to the wake, but with weight neutral its very aggressive.  Best ski to date for me.  

Warren Witherell cut 1" of the back of our club member's Northland Sabre slalom skis and then extended the fin slot forward with the same carpenter's saw.   Some club names that stayed in the Sport  Gary Thompson, Al Tolefson.

The Northland ski was extinct in the late 60's.

Two of the large holes through my Denali C85 are machined angled back at about 45 degrees through the thickness of the fin.  The holes in left foot forward fin and right foot forward fin are angled back in opposite directions. 

In "Fin Whispering" terms these angle holes could could possibly have the affect of asymmetrical Fin Area, DFT or maybe even Depth when the ski is rolled to extremes.

What do these angles do to offset the asymmetric of in your body structure with your feet front and back on the ski ?

The 2004 197 fuel gauge has always been imprecise because the fuel shifts left and right across a partition in the tank.  But now the gauge reads random values, most often stuck on empty or stuck on full.   Is this a gauge or sensor problem?

I also have preset tension on the bottom laces with a knot top and bottom and no adjustment clip. Same on Front and back T-Factors.

For release safety I use a comfortable-fit preset on the top laces as well.  This of course requires using a lubricant get into the boots.

@The_MSI have been working with settings on a 66" Titanium.  Interested in your comments, but I don't know your boat speed.  Thanks.

GPS on your phone will get you within 10 feet with the right app.

I use GPS Waypoint Navigator on my Android phone to locate sub buoys on our lake.  After recording the waypoint when I am at its location, I can drive up to the spot and usually see the sub buoy on one side of the boat or another.   If you water is fairly clear, you could jump in with goggles and you would almost always see your marker after arriving at the recorded Waypoint.  The GPS on the phones is more accurate than the often quoted 20" .  I have used this for 2 years and its always easy to find the subouys.

The physical abuse makes it hard for the best skiers to even practice 43 off.  The 41 off skiers take really bad hits even when they are doing everything right. Was watching Nate carrying speed through ball 2 and made it half way to the wake before the rope was tight.  It looked painful.  Not even Nate can do that forever without back injury.  This makes it hard to even practice 43 off every day because really bad hits are just part of it no matter how good your form.

I don't think 43 will be run any time soon.  Could take more ski development and taller skiers, though there may also be offsetting disadvantages in being taller. 

@Horton   Maybe sharp is wrong word.   If you view the cross section of any ski bevel, there is a transition where the bevel meets the sidewall and a transition where the bevel meets the ski bottom.

The D3 evo and ion have a softer transition at the sidewall than the Titanium.

My Denali bevel is much larger with a very soft transition to the sidewalls and the ski bottom.

The transition to the sidewall on the Titanium is softer at the front binding than behind the rear binding.  

End to End the 66" Titanium is about 1/8" narrower than the Medium Denali, but the difference in bevels seam to offset the difference in width. 

4 hours ago, BS74 said:

@The_MS or @Horton Do either of you feel that the Connelly DV8 or the KD Titanium can be skied at 30mph, 28to 32 off? I having a very hard time finding a ski that can carry some speed.  I don't like the Senate and reallly looking for any suggestion at the slower speed. I hate 30mph!   Would also be interested in the width of either ski at front binding holes nearest tip.

thanks all

Regarding your question on width:

The width of  the 66" Titanium at the front inserts is 6.62" measuring with a caliper between the sidewalls at the top edge of bevels. 

The top edge of the bevel is sharper than most and becomes progressively sharper as you go back on the ski, so near the tail it is nearly a sharp edge between the top edge of the bevel and the sidewall.  The sharper top bevel from end to end means the ski doesn't hunt when you have pulled wide before the entry gates.

With an RTP you are more likely to have a fall where only 1 foot is secured to the ski, so that ankle is vulnerable to being broken without the leverage you have with both feet in.  That's the reason many skiers switched to full rear boots years ago.   Consider a full rear boot that is easier to release.  I use the D3 TFactor in the rear and it can be adjusted to release more easily than your Wiley.

Also switching to an RTP can be difficult.  When I tried an RTP 2 years ago, I often came close to going out the front at the wake because my rear foot was not secured to the ski in the way I had skied for 30 years.  I switched back to the rear boot   . .  T-Factor

@chrislandy

2 years ago I did what you did (removed the hinge screws at the floor)  On the 196 the floor is two separate layers of aluminum with a 1/2" space between.  I wasn't able to get the screws to align to target the bottom layer of aluminum when putting them back without drilling the holes in the bottom layer of aluminum larger.  No big deal and maybe you won't need to do that.

On a Prostar 196 or 197 I found a way to get the dog house and rear floor panel out of the way with no assistance, but its not on the ground.   Only takes one frail old skier about 5 minutes. 

I just replaced the damper plate and relined the doghouse with foil insulation with no assistance.

Before you start, cover the rear upholstered deck with a moving pad or a couple of beach towels so the vinyl engine cover and the vinyl deck are not directly dragging on each other with the weight of the dog house. 

1. Remove the screws if any that hold down the floor panel
2. Remove the 2 pressure arms that support the dog house when you have opened it.
3.  With motor cover opened, straddle the transmission with your feet on the carpeted floor facing the back of the boat.

Reach down and grab the leading edge of the floor panel and lift it. If you keep pressure towards the back of the boat as you lift, the doghouse well end up -upside down- on top of the upholstered rear deck.   Stuff a folded towel or another spacer between the dog house and back of the rear deck because it feels like it wants to roll backward.  ( you may need to pry the floor loose the first time with a 30" piece of 2x4 under the leading edge of the floor section )

When your done, just reverse the process.

Probably won't work on other boats with a different rear deck configuration.

IMO It looks like a ski problem contributed to the fall.  You were out of position but the ski just quit holding an angle with very little "pull".  Some skis have a small sweet spot for holding an angle . . your wight distribution wasn't in the sweet spot.  Most most skis wouldn't have just slid away from you with what you were doing.  I would look at ski setup . . bindings first then fin.

The Zerk fitting for the ball joint by the rudder is accessibly on a 2004 ProStar by reaching under the fuel tank after removing the rear floor panel.  I may need to get a 90 degree adaptor for the gun or a flexible tube. 

1. Are there other lube points on the steering components ?

2. If the steering system is smooth and friction free from lock to lock, does normally suggest there isn't a failing cable ?  

15 hours ago, swc5150 said:

I once bought a cheap cover from Walmart to drape over the boat while under the lift canopy.  I bought an over-sized one, so it was easy to put on and pull off and covered to the waterline.  Basically just to keep pollen, sun and mayflies off the boat when I didn't feel like putting on the factory cover.  Worked just fine.

I have another generic cover I could use . . . Does yours stay in place in a storm ?

3 hours ago, Wiltok said:

Someone posted this pic on FB in response to my question on a transom cover (not my boat - hope they don't mind!). This for me is the way to go, it's an MC item so I am sure it's PRICEY. Going to try and get a quote today. 

Thanks for the photo . . . That product would protect the wood platform and the transom, but it doesn't protect the rear 4 feet of the boat sides.

with our boat wound up tight to the top of the lift the sun still comes in the through the rear opeing of the canopy as the sun goes from east to west during the day.  I need the rear cover to cover the sides of the boat for the last 4 feet.

This photo shows how the canopy protects the sides of the boat except for the last few feet because of the sun coming in from the East and West through the full rear opening in canopy. 

Re $8,000 Touchless boat cover.  Is there a way to hide it from the wife ?

Maybe so.  Years ago I replaced our Grey Correct Craft with a Red Master Craft.  (Look left . . see the round profile photo under "SWBCA")   Without telling her about the new boat, she climbed into it while it was in our covered boat lift.  We drove over to a party at a neighbors house in the new boat.  When it was time to leave she was standing at the end of the neighbors dock and asked "Where's our boat" ?  With all the laughter, she never got around to asking "where did you get the money"

We won’t be able to put a full boat cover on in the summer.  We take the boat out at a moments notice several times a day.   We bought the boat 3 years ago and the original owner had the same lift/canopy arrangement that we have. He kept the back cleaned up with annual maintenance. 

I think adding a rear cover that can be removed in a few seconds is the best solution here.

There are several newer lifts on our lake with curtains all the way around that look like a heavy mosquito netting.  I don't know what they do to help the boat.  Sun, Rain, Pollen ?

We don't use the cover in the summer because the boat is pulled up tight in the boat lift.

But it sounds like a good idea to make a cover for the back of the boat.  That would also protect the uphostered rear deck which was completely replaced 2 years ago.

Our 2004 ProStar Gel Coat is perfect except where the tail end is exposed to the southern exposure while in our boat lift.

This is what it looks like except for the tail end

The back 4 feet of the boat from southern Exposure while in the lift

I am going to buff this out this weekbut would like a way to preserve if there
is any product that would help