Gale K

81 degrees here on Saturday! That's once you combine air (39) and water (42)... 😎 Great sets in, flat flat water.

@Horton One other thing, being able to "like" (and other reactions) posts seems to have disappeared... unless it's a setting I can "re-allow?"

yep @Rednucleus and @Horton, the errors I was running into seem to be gone!

I can't seem to get to my profile. I figured it was on my end, but if there was a server migration, I'm wondering if that's my issue... I get: Sorry, there is a problem Something went wrong. Please try again.

Nice write-up Brian (and no clue if there is a guideline that you violated or not 🙂 ). The bigger question is: what'd you get???

Four sets before church yesterday! Lake temp down to 48. Flat water up and down the lake

Pretty sure they are all the same. I purchased OS Systems seals for the Wiley's (USIA) suit. They fit right on.

@Rednucleus yep, time to start over! Mine's an '08 (you win!!!), and it's had a couple of sets of seals so far. The rubber coating on the zipper has worn off in a couple of spots letting water through. Darren whipped some auqaseal on those areas and fixed it back up. I think the Oak Street is in my near future as well. @ALPJr My first two drysuits were Skiwarm neoprene. SUPER comfy. On both of them, the seams would start to leak, I would send it back, they would reseal... It would be good for a couple of years, then start to leak again. I kind of fell into the nylon shell suits, and I haven't looked back.

Skied Monday morning before work. Lake temp is on the way down, was 55.

@Rednucleus that's a fantastic price! Buddy just got new seals to the tune of $330. Another $30 and you get a whole new suit! I'm on drysuit #3 (or maybe 4 at this point?) with several re-seal jobs over the years... I do get my money's worth out of them. 🙂

Just found this after a little searching on their facebook page: https://oakstreetgear.com/ and:

Wiley's (now Seattle Water Sports) is still doing seal replacement. Several years ago, OS would not do suits that they didn't make. I don't know if that's changed. USIA, who used to make suits for Wileys, quit the business, and as I understand it, Brandy Shult (who I believe used to work there) has taken up the business as "Oak Street Design" (go search for on facebook). I can't confirm all of that, just what I heard... Might want to check them out and see if they do seal replacement. @BobF I have done it, too, but I sucked at it! 🙂

@Rednucleus Look very similar! Having a drysuit seal on them would be excellent...

@Bdecker In a drysuit, I use latex drysuit gloves (from Wileys) with great success. The first pair I got from them, they came with a very thin polypro underglove. That didn't work for me as it bunched up in my palms and made grip terrible. I tried an old, crappy pair of thin ski gloves as undergloves, and it worked like a champ! Hands stay dry, so they never get cold. The next few pairs of latex drysuit gloves did not include the poly liners, so I suspect others had the same issues as me. Coldest we ski: water temp down to about 36, air temp high 20's/low 30's. Always the first day in the fall with them, my inside forearm area is "sore" from the additional bulk on my grip. Second day and through the winter, it is a non-factor. Fast forward to now. The last set of gloves were done, and I contacted Wileys for more. They had not had an order from their supplier for about 3 years. And it turned out that I was one of the last guys to buy mediums from them! So not many people using them. I started digging around and found these from a scuba dive supplier. They work well, but a little less grippy than the latex drysuit gloves. So, I need to figure out a way to increase the tacky factor. https://drysuitspareparts.com/product/unlined-dry-glove-with-wrist-seal/ @Skoot1123 We've tried both latex and nitrile thin ones under the ski gloves, and it does help. But not enough for my wimpy temperature-sensitive hands!

Ski year around. Winterize the boat after every session "just in case."

Thanks all! Sounds like 3 Event it is!

Help me spend my money! Been free skiing for many many years. Love the course but don't get to ski one very often. 2000 Response, been skiing it since new, gone from the Medallion gauges to Faria stand-alone with GPS speedo a few years ago. Through a series of life events, I've decided that I've gone too long without PerfectPass, so time to git er dun! "Money is no object" (well it always is, but when you use the tools we buy frequently enough, the cost goes to zero). I immediately thought Star Gazer 3 Event. But should I consider Wake Edition S? Why/why not? Ease of use, ease of setup, etc etc. Boat gets used every once in a while to tow a kid around on a wakeboard. Beyond that, it's a dedicated ski and barefoot platform. Thanks in advance for any thoughts you can throw at me.

TAKE THIS WITH A GRAIN OF SALT (as all we're looking at is pics and reading your description)... but the frame rails are a rectangular box... yes, they are bent, but the strength is still pretty good. Weight load up there is tiny. "Would the trailer be safe to take the boat a little ways?" How far is a little ways? What's your appetite for risk? If it was me based on your description and the pictures, I would probably give it a go. (insert all legal liability text here blah blah, drive easy, stop often to visual verify all is good, etc etc) If there is someone with trailer knowledge that is close by that can give it a quick look to verify integrity visually, might be worth it to have a second set of eyes on it.

Blower motor should have an amp draw listed somewhere. Lots of charts out there that give you gauge-for-amp sizes. Flyer guess would be stock wiring is probably not bigger than 12 gauge. Might be 14 gauge or 16 gauge. Agreed with LeonL. Same size as existing. You're adding near zero additional resistance to the circuit.

My trailer (and boat) came from my buddy (he lives in the Seattle area), and he had the boat on a lift. He left the trailer outside uncovered. We changed the bunk wood out twice when he owned it. I figure the wood is a maintenance item that in the right (wrong?) environment will need to be replaced at certain intervals. Last go-around, we did not wrap the bunks fully with bunk carpet. Left the underside open. Lets the wood dry out better than when it was cocooned all the way around!

Good advice all around. 🙂 Go read the "deep water starts" thread ( https://ballofspray.com/forums/topic/51846-deep-water-starts ) -- should give you some good stuff to think about. Obviously each of us is different. The most important part is getting on top of the water and getting in "rope time" to build back your skillset. Whatever enables that, do! The 69" Senate will definitely be easier than the 67" Spending a few hundred on a used one is preferable to pulling, snapping, tearing anything, and way cheaper in the long run. I tell my buddies that after several sets on a new ski, it's "free." Use it only once, yeah it's expensive. Use it a hundred times, it's free.

Thanks. I can't see CVP specifically, but it's gotta be one. 2000 Response, SS. There are numbers stamped there...

OK, good info on the prop... how does one know if it's a CVP?

Mtea, great point on the shorts, and one I'd forgotten about. Many years ago, my shorts ballooned out creating an immediate drogue chute. As I was trying to change positions during the pullout to compensate for the increased drag, my back did an immediate "zipper" bottom to top and was tweaked for several days. Lesson learned. I'm always in a shorty, neoprene shorts, or a drysuit. Never again just shorts just to alleviate that potential issue. Other poster about buoyancy above... I can totally tell a difference in the amount of time it takes to pull me out (and I'm all of 145#) between being in a more buoyant drysuit situation vs. my shorty and comp vest. Takes noticeably longer (we're talking fractions of seconds, but it is noticable) when I'm back in the wetsuit. If you're struggling, go with more floatation. It helps.

LONG time lurker, first time poster... this is a subject near and dear to my heart as I've coached/taught a plenty on this subject. My first foray into deep water starts was behind a 30hp "mini" ski boat. If your technique wasn't perfect, there was no way you were going to come out. Back in the day, it was rear toe plate only, and that allowed you to extend your arms and body way far forward, tuck the tail of the ski way up (BraceMaker's graphic above), drag the back leg behind, and then have the patience to let the boat plane out the ski. Fast forward to a rear boot, and my mental image was still the same, albeit harder to accomplish because the back foot can't be splayed out behind. And, I also learned that the mental image that worked for one person wouldn't necessarily work for the next. Keys for me: -arms straight. I tell my students "if you're pulling against the boat, you're doing it wrong. The boat always wins." -face/head as far forward as practical towards the tip of the ski -ski tail tucked as close to your fanny as possible