jhughes

While trailering my boat to storage this fall I stopped for gas about 5 miles in and checked the hubs for heat. One of them was burning hot, the entire rim was emanating heat profusely. Turns out one of the calipers was totally locked up on that side. I nervously limped the trailer home and swapped out the caliper. So, something else to keep an eye on and stay on top of. Had I not had to stop for gas, and jumped right on the tollway, this could have been a really bad situation.

Club situation: brand new boat every year, includes gas: $43/set Ski set on my boat: depends but can of gas or equivalent generally. My conscious is clear with the cost of owning a newer boat and everything that goes with it.

Is the novelty simply that Steve's last name is Island? That's the whole thread?

@jimbrake oh I should mention- my heart palpitations went away completely. No joke. I had them to a point where I wore a monitor for a full day or two to figure out what was going on. Harmless in my case but very annoying and disturbing for sure. General anxiety way down as well due to the chemicals your brain has to constantly spin up and spin down to counter the ethanol.

Quick follow-up on this: I stuck to this all summer and kept going. Over 6 months of cutting out alcohol completely and it's the best thing I've ever done for myself. I'm not preaching this, you do what you want with your life. Ski results have been great: Last year I ran enough 32's that I could count them, this year I ran more than I can count or keep track of, it became a regular thing AND most importantly I ran the pass in two tournament rounds, getting my first scores ever into 12M. Weight is down to the low 170's, BP is down significantly, cholesterol is down significantly. Sleep is amazing, digestion is perfect. I'm doing more meaningful work than ever with all the extra time. I get constant compliments on how I look from people that have not seen me in a while. So, I'm sticking with it. YMMV, for me it's a very basic cost/benefit equation.

I wonder if the elephant in the room is that ZO is perceived as the "hardest" speed control. Thus if it's the "hardest" than any score behind PP is lame, easy, "not the real thing", like basketball with a bigger hoop. That's probably more important to people's egos than how the pull feels. If the score is not behind ZO then it doesn't count because PP lets you "get away with too much". This is what people cannot handle or get over, right or wrong. I've been skiing non-Zbox stargazer the past couple days and it's definitely not "easier". Different, but not easy.

The accelerometer on Z-box goes inline with the Sat signal so it seems to be a modifier of that input based on the accelerometer, FWIW.

I believe you've got three layered gaps at this point: Mechanical Servo speed vs. DBW directly integrated to the ECU (and the ECU gets to manipulate more than just the throttle plate position in theory to get the result)Any IP that is the ZO programming and hardware combination vs. PP equivalentsAnd now, the latest Gen V GM motors: Direct injection, variable valve timing. The 6.2 DI and 5.3 DI vs. Gen IV small blocks (6.0, 5.7) which only have ZO solutions right now and are different enough to have different programming than the older engines.

@aupatking I ride an NRG R1 at stock settings. When the water temp dropped (into the 60's) this fall the only move I made was front boot forward one hole. Ski was right back to normal for me. I run into 35 off at 34mph. I don't know how different the R2 really is from the R1 but probably not drastically.

@ToddL you put the carpet "half"on the bunks with the Ramlins before you install the bunks. That gives you a nice finished look along the outside edge of the bunk because the staples will actually be underneath the bunk on the outside edge. Then you install the bunk and flap the carpet over the top and staple on the inside edge. That's the factory-correct install. I found perfect quarter inch self tapping stainless hex bolts on McMaster-Carrs website. I ground the old bolts off flush- impossible to remove otherwise- then treated the frame with POR-15 and then gloss black paint. I would not add more bolts like the poster you quoted suggested. These frames don't need more holes in them so I'd strongly disagree with that idea. I've done this on two RamLins so far. If it isn't done every 7-10 years the trailers will rust through and then you will need a new trailer or major welding work. Note on the 200 trailer the front bunks are 1/2" taller than the rear bunks and the very rear of the bunks ramps up about 5/8". It's a huge job to replace properly. I used treated 2x3" from Menards which worked perfectly.

Most bent back knee of any pro perhaps? That's what jumps out at me FWIW.

It's possible you have some wet foam from trapped water under the floor. Though these boats have fiberglass stringers they can still hold and absorb water in the foam. If the boat has ever had flooding due to rain and leaving the plug in, for example, water can get into the foam that way and basically willnever come out. Additionally, these boats were made by hand. Even something as fundamental as how centered the engine is in the boat can vary, I've seen some big variances. We have a 200 as well as a TSC 1, for the TSC I have 50 lbs far to the port side under the spotter seat pretty much all the time.

Couple tips in my experience: 1) make the entire buoy line bungee, about 5' worth for each ball. Connection point to the course and buoy are nylon flag clips like this The bungee keeps the mainline tight (tension between the water and the course cable vertically) and keeps the arms and mainline safe with plenty of stretch and forgiveness when the water gets really rough or stuff gets run over. The flag clips hold perfectly until they can't, good safety compromise. I buy the bungee in bulk on Amazon too, 1/4" by the roll. 2) Keep the course in good condition, make sure it always looks good and straight. Don't let anything get behind in maintenance. That's really for two reasons. If more than one or two buoys is gone that's when the real damage can start as arms get skewed and stuff floats wrong. Additionally, make the course look like someone gives a shit about it which "may" increase respect of the course. By that I mean put the right color buoys in the right places, don't have it look like some mismatched mess of buoys with different floating heights and colors and a big banana bend. If it looks like someone maintains it well and keeps everything sorted out I feel like that has helped us over the years vs. having it look like some mismatched mess of balls out there.

12-16 TXi was a high watermark period for Malibu slalom boats IMO. Good luck with the sale!

GoPro is really not the right zoom level for waterski video from the pylon, it's incredibly wide angle. If that's the reason you got a GoPro you have the wrong tool for the job. WakeEye plus cell phone plus pylon mount is what you need.

First of all if it's the boat for you and you are serious about it, put a deposit on the boat. Don't dilly dally around. With my last boat I called the guy and said "I would like to buy your boat". Plain and simple. Deposit right then. The seller should have no doubt that you are the guy and that the transaction will happen. Otherwise you can't blame him for selling to someone else who is more committed. Final transaction dependent on seeing the boat in person, testing it out, etc. and the deposit should be refundable if the boat is not as described. If you can't get out there in person have a trusted friend check it out, then buy it and have it shipped. Be a good buyer, be committed and serious. In a hot market I'd be annoyed by someone kicking tires or asking for excessive tests and inspections on an obviously good and sound boat.

@YoKo a leather punch and a Zip tie will get you through a bunch of sets while you wait for a new wrap. Pay attention to which screws go in which holes when you do the replacement, they use 3 sizes of screws.

Incredible event and amazing entertainment from TWBC.

The key is going to be to convince the 50-something backyard slalom group that trick will improve their slalom! Then they will fly out the door. Notice that many slalom pros can casually trick a few thousand points from doing it as kids. I bet many stance and core movement dynamic issues really show up on trick.

@disland pay attention to 2 areas. Area 1 is toward the toe where the upper cuff material meets a little 1/8" strip of rubber to the lower sole and Area 2 is the back of the cuff by the calf. That toe area is a major weak point though I believe it has recently been reinforced a bit. once these start cracking there can be some zip tie reinforcement in a pinch but it's time for a replacement wrap.

I wonder if what was a fairly large and deep M3 group simply grew up and are now in M4 which had twice as many skiers.

@Mastercrafter we absolutely have to run at least mid grade in our club TXi w/M5 5.3

Nautique was way ahead with DI and introduced them in 2016. Yes the early ZO mapping on the 5.3 took some tweaking to get right, I remember the ranting threads from the Okeeheelee crowd on BOS. Not happy campers. MC bailed on the 5.3 totally. Nautique had Mapple at the time and perhaps that helped. Must be tricky to tune for ZO. My 200 5.3 is the favorite pull of everyone I ski with including me. None of us can run 35 though. I had no idea what it was when I bought it so I came into it by accident I suppose. If I was putting the money down for a new boat these days I'd get the latest Gen 5 DI motor, one or the other. I wouldn't spend 100K+ and get the old 6.0. That's just me perhaps. Gen 5 are lighter, snappier, quieter, and very good on gas, undeniably the future at least before electric.

Menards has bulk outdoor black carpet that I've used on multiple bunk-related projects.

The other day I was going down a major tristate tollway in IL and noticed a big bass boat on a tandem trailer- one of the wheels seemed cockeyed a bit. As I got closer the reason was obvious- one of the wheel hubs was riding directly on the axle spindle, metal on metal, zero bearing left whatsoever. So much so that the entire wheel was riding at an angle on the spindle, entire rim was dark from the heat, it was totally insane. The guy was probably going 80MPH, oblivious. I wonder how far he eventually made it. I had to pull off at an exit anyway before being able to warn him. So, check your bearings too, at every stop. Full re-grease every couple years depending on amount of dips in the water.