ForrestGump

Going forward you should probably dye your water if it's that clear. We use the powdered bulk dye that the aquashade brand liquid dye is made from. It's a LOT cheaper, although it's damn messy. I usually end up looking like I've had carnal relations with Poppa Smurf after spreading 20 lbs of it in the water. :)

The boat rpms at 34mph do seem odd. The malibu is wayyy low. With that same engine on the one we ski behind, we're seeing 3450 at 34mph. And my 05 Nautique 196 is 3400 at 34mph with the 330hp engine and stock 422 Acme 4 blade prop.

I'm curious John..... what changes have you been doing to the setups when taking the wings off? Adding tip? Moving bindings forward? Yesterday, I saw some hi res pictures of me skiing without the wing on the SS in a tournament recently and the first thing I thought was the tip is way high after the apex to the hookup.

How is the clarity of the water? Is it dyed? Usually, algae growth on the bottom is due to the water being clear enough to let sunlight to the bottom. A lot of lakes are dyed for this reason.

No issues here after 2 months. No bending plate. No inserts coming out. I ski 6-7 sets a week on them.

The prop guy put a different cup(that curl that you're talking about) on the prop than what came from the prop manufacturer. Not necessarily wrong or a bad thing. Just different. Different cups will give different speeds and wake characteristics. A lot of times a prop guy, based on his own experiences with a certain boat and prop, will cup them differently. Sounds like the cup this guy used is a bit more efficient, which resulted in a higher speed for a given engine rpm. I'd back the rpm down in your calibration and have at it. If the skiers do not notice a difference, I'd call it good. The only bad thing would be if the lower rpm took the engine out of it's power band but I doubt that's the case as cupping usually only affects things by a couple of hundred rpm. I believe OJ has two props in that size for that boat. One has a .090 cup and the other has a .110 cup.

I totally understand, GMC. I was a Goode skier myself. But then started trying out some of the new sticks this year and first fell in love with the Sixam SS and now the RS1. Last year at the tournament docks it was all Goode around here. This year you're starting to see Obrien's, MPD's, etc. Finally manufacturers are starting to come out with skis that will compete with the Goodes. Different strokes, I guess. :)

Man, there are so many other good skis out there right now. I've watched more than a few people get on the 9800 and 9800SL and lose bouy count in the last year. A perfect example is the guy I've skied with for the last 10 years who got on the SL after nationals last year and has dropped from 2 at 39 to 2 at 38. And that's behind the same exact boat and same exact speed control. Whereas before he would run 38 75% of the time, he's run it a grand total of once since getting on the SL almost a year ago.

OK, so I rode the Radar RS1 today for the first time. I equaled my pb on the first set and set a new pb on my second set. Not bad on a new ski. It didn't seem to explode off the 2nd wake like the SS, but it seems to roll out from under me and end up wider at the apex than any of the skis. I would venture to say it required the least effort behind the boat of all of them. It's a keeper!

Thanks for your service to our country, cbuski. And thanks to John and Eddie for putting something together to help him out.

I rode the Goode again this past weekend because I took a handle hit to the Sixam and cracked the top. The Goode felt a lot slower.

I haven't ridden the new Radar yet. But I've been on the Goode 9700, F1, and Sixam SS in the last year. I felt like the Sixam exploded off the 2nd wake and would cast out farther and wider with the least effort of the three. I've got the Radar coming this week so hopefully I can give a comparison with it this weekend.

WhooHoo! Can't wait! :)

That just about says it all!

Yesterday's tournament............ First two rounds they used a malibu with SG. I equalled my pb and I HATE skiing behind the new malibus. Last round was a MC with ZO only(last week it had both SG and ZO). My group was M3 and M4 skiers. The 3 skiers before me and myself went out on our openers. I'm not talking almost making it through the passes. I'm talking losing it at 1 and 2 ball. WTF?!?!?! The difference between this same boat last week with SG and this week with ZO is HUGE!!! Now, the better skiers that normally run up into 38 were able to ski closer to their averages, but almost all looked like they were scrapping on all the passes to do it. Can I adjust to ZO? Sure, but getting 1 or 2 rounds a month at tournaments isn't going to let it happen anytime soon.

The interesting thing is that my sixam ss numbers are almost identical too.

No, I agree there. It definitely doesn't feel like ZO!

Joe, I don't see that as a problem at all. It took us all of about 10 minutes to have our stargazer dialed in. At 34mph we see 1.77-1.78 1 balls, 7.12-7.14 mids, and 16.94-16.96 end times with a 160-200lb skier. Now, this is not a DBW boat.

05 SN 196

I couldn't agree more, John. The AWSA has stubbed their proverbial toe big time by not mandating that speed control manufacturers not produce units for both dbw and non dbw boats.

Yes, it's the late Obrien/HO pattern.

John's not fat. He's "athletic". Isn't that what the fat girls who I see sweating it out on the stair climber at the gym call themselves? :)

ICE, Most assuradly changing to different bindings and plates can and will change the way a ski behaves. Different bindings and plates will change where your center of gravity is on the ski. The front binding affects the off side turn and back binding affects the on side. Like Roger said, it sounds as if you didn't get them back in the exact position as you had them before.

Don't listen to Goode. You set up a ski to your body and style, not someone at Goode.  I ran my front binding 5/16" forward of what they recommend.  Your ski changed not because of filling the holes but because of where that specific binding distributed the weight. If it were me, I'd move the front binding forward and put the fin and wing completely stock.ÂÂÂ

Ed, The Rails are hands down better than the Vices. They have a very similar outer shell to the RS1s. So in the forefoot, there's a plastic overlay(underneath the outer "shoe" that wraps over the top. And in the rear the plastic overlay surrounds the heel. They heel overlay is not as tall as the RS1s, though. Compared to the Vices(I came off of D3s and Vices) they have more control and you can run them looser so your foot does not tire as easily. In the end I bought the RS1s, but the Rails are definitely a step up from most high wrap bindings IMO.  Shane