DW

Boody, that is very good news for the skiing community. That should mean that resources will be allocated back towards the ski boat instead of all focused on the wakeboard side. I would assume all three companies are seeing somewhat similar product distributions depending on product freshness impact (SN200 being the new one).

Chris, I hope all is well with you! If you need some holeshot back, reduce your pitch by .5 or 1 and keep the added cup but that would bump the rpm back up a bit. I did that to mine and it works great. Jody, I would think that entrained air prior to the prop would be evenly distributed across the rudder in the form of cavitation not a sizeable air bubble as the prop would emulsify the air. Should act no different than cavitation, I would think. I agree that any changes should be thoroughly tested. I have to agree with Eric that the tournament ski boat builders are not blessed with enough volume to allow the use of many expensive tools to evaluate many changes virtually and thus real life testing is a significant part of the development of a new product. I have noticed that there are several boats that actually appear to be attempting to entrain air down the hull surface to improve wake characteristics via directional chines and hull steps.

Eric, I noticed you asked about mufflers on the ZO thread, are you looking to make/buy some? The slip ins are available from several suppliers, you just need a 4" tube ID (they might also make alternate sizes) and are available from a couple of west coast suppliers and are pretty inexpensive ($80/pr.). Basically, a perforated ss pipe with a diverter in the center. You can also make some easy and cheap.

Well Eric, I first have to razz you on the mod because in a different thread you called me out on my weight reduction items! Very cool mod, did you do an A-B-A comparison, I assume you can cap the pipe if needed. Also, what line lengths are most/least affected. Does it just suck from surface P difference or is there some protrusion from the pipe (similar to the crank evacuation systems that install in headers). How far in front of the prop is the hole? What do you attribute the bump or slip to? I would think you might get by the initial aeration rather than have it right out of the hole. You could add a throttle position activated flapper to it, which I assume you have already thought of. Or like in F1, make it a cockpit controlled bleed like the F duct. Run the hose to the cockpit and you can block it with you knee/arm/hand on startup, then release. The F duct basically bleeds air to the "wrong" side of the wing to reduce efficiency (downforce) and drag, resulting in higher top speed.

A wicker bill or gurney flap, basically a 90 degree vertical lip on a race car or airplane wing is not a very efficient device but is very effective at creating additional lift but at a significant drag penalty. Eric's suggestion of retracting the hydrogate lip, which is a vertical lip will reduce the drag on the boat which will increase speed, but of course not provide the ideal slalom wake. I am not sure how wide or tall the hydrogate lip is, but a 1" gurney on a typical race car wing can add 10 # of air drag, you will have to convert that to water which is 25 times denser, so it is very significant. Turbulent water will change the density significantly so that also affects any drag calculation.

The obstruction in the cooling system is removed, but still in limp mode. Sounds like your boat reset itself when impeller was changed. I don't think they disconected the battery, that certainly could clear the memory.

Has anybody reset the ECU on a MC 197, Indmar unit, I think this particular boat might have the cats on it but I am not sure? The boat lost intake water flow and set the overheat alarm. Now it is limp mode.  Does anybody know if there is a reset operation similar to a automobile?

That is good to hear. I had a similar experience with HO and the old Animal boots, the overlay kept ripping but HO was very good at warrenty replacements for them. Hopefully, they will come up with a durable fix.

The overlay material changed frequently on these boots over the years. The early versions had some quality problems where the overlay material frequently ripped, but HO was very good at warrenty replacements. Subsequently, the overlay was changed to a thicker but stretchier rubber with more robust eyelets for the pull strap. That was 2005-2007. The 2008-09 version changed the overlay again with a less stretchy overlay which had a leather like appearance and the new style graphics. Sounds like the overlay is a bit thinner for 2010 based on the website.

Eric, two sets of holes offset by a half diameter would halve your discreet hole distance problem and the resulting undesired binding movement problem. It is commonly done on Indy car wing mounts, they use an offset set of holes for the wing mount to allow smaller wing angle adjustments. Unintended wing angle "adjustments" are very undesireable at 200 mph! Bruce, the way I was looking at binding cant was more geometrically, thus adjusting the ski to closer to perpendicular relative to my spine angle (assuming it does not look completely like a pretzel). Roberto, the .130" actually corresponds to 3 washers, so it looks like Bill and I are in the same ball park.

Roberto, I cant my boot .130" (inside edge raised) so just over 1/8". The main driver was asymmetry in onside v offside turn Marco, I agree to a point, but the orthodic will not tilt the boot cuff, IMO snow ski bindings which tend to be canted and have an orthodic. I agree, it will help and provide additional beneficial results.

It would be good to get the terminology ironed out on this, people have numerous different definitions for cant. Cant (in other industries) is commonly referred to as the incline or tilt from the vertical axis in the lateral direction, which would also be the same as camber. Rotating the binding around the horizontal axis or twisting it seems to be commonly called canting on this and other forums, but IMO that should be defined as twist. If the binding is not set centered on the ski, I would think that would be called offset, since that is offset from the centerline.

Yes, I cant my front binding. Used the same technique as Bill for adjusting cant and for the same purpose.  I use Animal bindings. As noted, you will need longer machine screws for the lifted side. I also canted my older snow skis, newer boots now come with that adjustment as you probably know.

Congrats, write a review on them (if only to make the rest of us jealous).

Any chance the damage happened on the flight down? Keep your ticket stubbs and consider a damaged luggage claim, there is a time limit on them, some are 24 hours!

Thin nyloc nuts are available which should allow both the nut and cotter key to be used. Castle nut w/ ss cotter key would be my choice.

Every time someone mentions bumble bee, John Belushi in SNL comes to mind. JTH, dye your hair black . . . could there be an eerie similarity!

Ed, as you mentioned, one tool you should get is one of the options to basically repeatedly "jig" the ski and measure. Actually, if you are really cheap frugal, a small T square will do the trick, just set it against the back of the ski and measure from the true very tail of the ski, the long leg on top of the fin block. The only requirement is a flat topped fin block. This won't give you the same measurement as the slot caliper or some of the other techniques used, but it will repeat every time. Should be very close to the aluminum fin tools, the difference will be the effect of the parallelism of the top and bottom edges to the 90 degree leg used as the caliper stop (a very small number). I like the concept of the EZ fin tool as it jigs the back of the ski and is a 2-1 tool, but the slot caliper eliminates having an extra tool that can get lost. Another thing I would suggest, mark the location of the fin with a pencil on the ski, both leading and trailing edges of the fin. Also scribe a line on the fin where it intersects the ski itself and lastly scribe the wing angle edge. With that, you can always get the fin right back to where it was, if you mark a baseline setting that works well, or your last setting if you erase and update the marks. Pencil is good as it stays and can be erased to remark a new position if desired. A baseline set of marks is good as this allows you to always get back to a setting that worked or you felt comfortable with.ÂÂ

A four blade prop is generally better for slower speeds, 3 blade for faster (slalom/footing) speeds. That is even truer today with the CNC and larger blade area 3 blades options. The 4 blade prop tends to lose efficiency at 3500 rpm on up to top speed due to the next trailing prop being too close to the leading one. That causes them to cavitate and lose efficiency. Four blade props tend to be better on the holeshot but give up 1-2 mph at the top end. So the simple answer to your question is no. On the other hand, none of that describes what the table will do between a 3 and 4 blade unit as far as softness and froth.

Sounds like the trend for these ski's is to drop down a size, I would think for current 65/66" skiers the recommended length would be 63/64"? Comments?

Interesting comment on setup note, it will be very interesting to understand what setup adjustments are made for a specific boat. If the sensitivity is to that level, I would suspect that fin setting and line length could also change settings. Advancements in technology tend to be a very nice thing, but one must remember that they don't come for free. If binding attached boots become the norm for this activity, just like the carbon ski, the price will take a step change upward. Also, if they do, there better be a measurable decrease in injury or increase in buoy count. PS: Very nice write up JTH.

A few more of the course destroying fishermen stories are surfacing. I feel the same way, and I am sure many do, the use of firearms to even the score. But in all reality, any attempt at retaliation or eye for eye response will only escalate the problem and the skiers will be the losers in the battle. The one thought that came to mind might be, and it would take some effort, to contact one of their hero's, of which there are several because it seems like there are numerous fishing shows on weekend morning tv. Perhaps, if done correctly, a don't be an idiot message could be rolled out from one of these fishing celebs. It would be like Parrish telling the ski community not to shoot at unruly fishermen (intentional use of CP). Far fetched, probably, but I thought I would toss out the idea.

Loosening of the prop, remember that these boats tend to go both forward and reverse a fair amount, one direction tends to tighten, the other loosen even if it is incrementally small movements around the amount of slop in the key or spline. Good point on keeping a good nyloc nut installed, nyloc does wear out after only a few removals.

Just route the exhaust exit to just in front of the prop, they do it in F1 to the wings and diffusers. You also have a hole where that silly silver shaft goes through.

Did not mean to give the impression that there is no, or the ECM doesn't have, altitude compensation as it should. I was just commneting on that based on the info given and the problem described as something to verify or ensure is functioning correctly or that the correct software is enabled. Marco, the 12.5" pitch altitude prop on the Malibu is only 1/2" pitch difference from the sea level props which are 13". So the 1/2" pitch change is not too far off, and given it's a 15, the boat certainly has a gear reduction trans.