GMC

This one is a 2021 with about 265 hours. It would be the first bottle replacement I've personally done. Someone else recently did the 2020 (550ish hours) at my other club.

Cool, just didn't want to see anyone create one problem trying to fix another. Meanwhile I looked at ours today and it is also contacting that boss on the exhaust manifold and it seems to be sawing into the seam on the bottle. The crack is on the other side but a replacement bottle is in order along with some relocation shims to keep it in a good place.

@gerjon2005 Before you shim that tank higher, check for contact between the cap and the top of the motor box. I've seen four 200s with this system and they all leak coolant. It drove me crazy trying to find leaks at connections/heaters/etc without success. Someone recently noticed on one boat that the cap contacts the top of the motor box and shimmed the new one down. I looked at another boat this weekend while changing the oil and I see all three things: coolant in the bilge, a cracked reservoir right at the seam, and a witness mark of the cap in the foam on top/inside of the motor box. I'm thinking that contact would be the cause of the cracking/leaks not necessarily the manifold temperature.

I tried setting up a boot with a Reflex 840 release and a Vapor plate yesterday. I couldn't get it to have what I would consider an appropriate amount of preload based on my experience with Reflex boots. How much does this boot/system require? I tried two sets of holes on the plate and on the release mounting bracket - four possible combinations. I could achieve too much (the boot felt jammed in/hard to snap in/would it release?) or too little (the boot was held into place but I could easily pull the release off the back of the boot - historically no bueno on a Reflex boot). I haven't done a release test or skied it yet because neither of those felt right. Given the shallow engagement of the boot into the toe loop I thought more is better and would compensate by reducing the spring tension until the release was right.

Lapoint, NRG R3, and Syndicate Works 01 & 02. But if we pick up where I left off last fall, you will have to pry my XTR Team out of my cold dead hands.

Ha, I had the same question in draft all morning... Thought I sent it hours ago! BTW my previous post was no knock on last year's posts in this thread... those short/deep settings worked great where I could push the ski around a bit. Not so much lately though, which is probably just making me ski properly.

I've only skied them twice but I'm liking them. Like you've said here or in the 23 model thread, I'm also typically a short/deep skier; I was running Cole's short/deep but I really think it was too much depth. The ski seemed kinda stuck under me, didn't want to roll onto edge, and took a lot of input to turn. None of that is true with long/shallow. Give it a shot! PS the softer tip on the 23 ski does sound a bit enticing too.

I took up the challenge from @brooks and tried the long/shallow last night. I liked it! The ski moved out to the ball nicely from the wakes and finished the turn with good speed. I could get across course with a lot of space before the next ball. I'm going to keep it here for a while.

@teammalibu What flavor of Reflex was your previous binding? I'm using my last white cuff so I'm going to need to try something else eventually.

Thank you for a very complete answer. I didn't even think about the weight but that's also not my favorite Wiley attribute either. I'm sold - will order a Venom tonight.

Has anyone made the switch from Wiley to Venom for their rear boot? I've used a Wiley forever but the Venom has been interesting ever since HO introduced it. What's the difference in support and material stiffness? A little more compliance (esp forward to allow more ankle flex) is what I'm looking for. I use a medium Wiley. Would the 8/9 Venom work or would I need to go up a size? Thanks in advance, spring is in the air, for today at least!

Apparently you can't always salvage a bad 5 ball and "just get outside of six!!"

@ColeGiacopuzzi Thanks for sharing those. Last week I took a swag at the alternate settings for a 67" based on what you previously posted for 66 and 68 and tried 29 3/4 2.505 6.830 0.760 9 I moved the front binding up 1 click on my Mikrojust (so probably 29 13/16") and the ski felt awesome... then it got cold and windy. Probably done for the season but I'm dialed in for next year with those or maybe the actual numbers you posted.

I'll throw in my support for the 22 version. I haven't skied a Vapor since the 17. I was already starting to demo skis this year when this one was introduced and the press release described exactly what I was looking for in a ski. It delivers on those words. It is more than fast enough, makes good angle, really moves well through the turns right out of the box. Stock settings work well but I've gone a few thousandths shallower and forward to free up the tail just a bit. I like how that feels but my best practice score (by a buoy) was with the stock settings... maybe I should go back!?! It's a fun, low maintenance ski that does a lot of things right.

@aupatking That's a nice boat. My brother has one and it's a tank.