DW

Gotta ask, how were the mosquito's at the campsite? 🤣 Glad it did come together, even if past your goal.

Thanks to all the organizers for hosting another excellent demo event providing the opportunity to ski 'Gooder' (you had to be there) equipment, excellent & witty coaching, pizza and being pulled by some MI skier driver who keeps the path under 5 on a great lake. Thx & nice job everybody:-)

My ski tug uses the belt driven Jabsco pump. Had a bearing failure a few years back, locked the pump, the belt started squealing like a castrated pig coupled with a giant cloud of blue smoke billowing from the motor box. That's a slightly more exciting way to stop your raw water intake stream at 36 mph:-)

I have also seen the impeller rubber split along the shaft hub. +1 on replacing once you have it apart, that one will be a nice spare.

@Andre if you do the $ v. sweat & hours trade so you can afford it why not? A new L96 long block is $6k thru Michigan Motorz if needed or by now some will be in a boneyard for a more intensive swap over at an even better price. Trannys do show up on eBay. A concern might be the electronics and replacement cost of that stuff, much harder to find ‘cheap’ solutions if you don’t work for ‘them’ and get a company discount. Good luck.

Good results using AC Delco's in years past, most recent is a Deka going on 9 years (holy crap, didn't realize it was that old!). Usage is ski tractor, no tunes or sitting around with ancillaries going other than blower. Slightly elevated compression ratio & advanced timing and starter is used after / between each ski set. Guess I'll give the Deka a double thumbs up:-) although I should go get a new one. As for moving battery, +1 for a few of reasons, 1 being the 45 lbs moving forward & 2 maybe shorter cables and 3 under the bow seat should be a drier location. I actually moved y battery farther over to port side to help balance. It is 'free' ballast if you want to use it that way.

An observation on the contraction of people water skiing. Competition from easier but 'similar' sports (things done on the same body of water with a boat) such as wakeboarding, surfing, tubing, paddle boarding, jet skiing and droning around in a pontoon siphoning off potential skiers. Basically, things that are easier to do. That is what has happened on our lake, the upcoming potential skiers are not, they do easier things. Perhaps a similar comparison is the growth of pickle ball, it is stealing a lot of the tennis crowd. Why, its not as hard on the body and easier to master at a level one can play with others, you just show up at a court and presto, the opportunity is there.

Not sure one could get away with 'I look at it for the articles' with this thread:-) The youngsters won't get it...

A bit off topic - all my docs waterski:-) Primary, ortho, ophthalmologist, dermatologist 🤣 And they know surgery is only during off season with a focused purpose of getting back on the water / snow and focusing on being / staying active. It may be a niche sport with declining participation although there are strong pockets where access is available to many.

Not one but two identical oil pump failures? Did both engines run 140 kpa oil pressure all the time and at slalom speeds? 800 hours in 2 years is impressive, lots of sets per year!

Limited access, maybe? - on our little lake (a paradise of smooth water:-) in Michigan, access is not an issue. The kids of the parents that have ski boats sitting on a lift simply don't. It's all the 'mature' dads that ski. The kids are off doing something else. The region of Michigan I refer to is unique, lots of small lakes perfect for water sports. Heck, we even have a course that only a couple of boats use, and of course a few bass boats. Most boats are pontoons, that segment growth has been amazing. Access here is not the issue, interest in a challenging & physically demanding activity is. PS: there is not a single 100k boat on this lake. Tournament skiing? - seems like a very different argument than simply recreational skiing, different requirements for success.

This may help 😁 https://www.google.com/search?q=sticky+fingers+scene+from+the+replacements&rlz=1C1CHZN_enUS978US979&oq=sticky+fingers+scene+from+the+replacements&aqs=chrome..69i57.9041j0j15&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:8a5b705f,vid:QE4DHCz9brQ

Where can one find a results sheet for the events?

Before a significant load is applied to the propulsion unit, a few areas that are sensitive - filling lifters & lifter bores, cylinder walls & piston skirts and bearings. Also, cheaper oil filters are not as robust when hit by cold high pressure oil. To the OP, I like to warm things up before the skier says hit it, my indicator is when the oil pressure starts to drop off the cold start up level, at that point I know everything has lubrication. But - when the old one lap qualifying session was in effect in NASCAR, best power is with a cold air-fuel mixture so the teams pumped cold water through the engine just before the car went on the track and had the radiator covered so by the end of the lap it would be overheating and blowing steam out the vent. Note: these engines were specially built to handle it, so don't do this at home:-) On the flip side, there was an extensive start up routine (which included heating the oil) on the road race IMSA / Indy engines. The teams can't start the engines without a manufacturer tech monitoring the engine start up.

@LL778 - as noted above, if they balk at a test ride, pass on it. Every boat I have looked at (for me or friends) all came with a ride. You note its a marina so finding water should not be very difficult & you can bring the equipment. Given you are on this site therefore a slalom enthusiast, unless you plan on turning the boat in short order, I would shop carefully and lean towards a more slalom specific hull. The VTX is a great boat, it's just not targeted for slalom.

Another potential would be hydrolock if they shut the engine off while hot and still ballasted. The boat would be sitting much lower and could possibly have sucked water back up the exhaust as the engine cooled.

Michigan Motorz is a good source: https://www.michiganmotorz.com/products/marine-engines/remanufactured-marine-engines

@Nautique99 The risk is who the rebuilder is, ranging from high school shop class project (if that exists in todays world) to a reputable shop or a DIY first timer. Assuming a marine knowledgeable competent engine shop / person, no greater risk than a short block swap. What is the issue? Given the number of winterizing snafus, rebuild or non original engines are probably pretty common. @swbca - the long block is a basic marine small block Chevy with (4 bolt main caps, marine cam, marine head gasket, brass core plugs, marine circ pump).

Two materials costs have 'helped' the MSRP of boats jump. The old reliable iron small block Chebby (as Jody Seal would say) was phased out a few years ago to be replaced by the LS variant. All the tooling was paid for so the SBC was super cheap where as the aluminum LS version still has capital expenses as part of the cost along with R&D, etc. Resins & fiberglass thanks to hydrocarbon content has also seen a price bump. Add to that, ZO demand (read monopoly & the gotta have factor), all the electronics and presto, customers see a price hike. Boaters / skiers are also part of the reason for the price hikes, all those bare bones ski tugs people supposedly want didn't sell. If they did, there would still be a viable market for them.

Somebody else's divorce is an opportunity for others, great way to buy those expensive toys at a discount.

I care that the alignment is good on the water. With that said, I do the alignment on the trailer, give it a check on the water. The big confirmation is the shaft spins freely when in the water and in neutral with the engine running the shaft spins slowly. That to me confirms very low friction in the rudder shaft bushings. For left right moves, usually a hand bump will do it, if you are sliding the engine sideways in a clamp joint, a little WD40 will allow it to slide a bit easier. I like to mark the location once things are set.

I used this: https://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/p/d/b40068128/ Reason - lightest I could find, there are various thickness options, 200 / 400 / 600. 3M-90 adhesive and cloth insulation tape for the edges.

@RichardDoane - you must not have specified where you wanted the water outlet. 😅

Congrats on bringing something new to the market, very interested in the weight, it looks light. Whether you like it or not, it would be certainly fun to ski, drive and observe on it. The reach through hand warmers (exhaust manifolds) are cool, nice for those that ski in cool climes. Did anybody notice there are some really interesting cars parked in the background, I wonder what event this was.