jhughes

There's no quick fix or miracle product. The oxidation has to be removed to reveal the gel underneath. For heavy oxidation you're going to have to start with wet sanding. After that it's 3 stages of compounding with a buffer using a heavy, medium, and then fine compounds.

Yeah, the cylinder hatchings retain a lot of oil for a long time.

Our latest PVC creation has bent rubber strips as the isolator from the PVC to the mount. Works really well with all modern phones. Depends what boat you have, too. My 16 200 has significantly less vibration and resonance shuddering through the boat (basically none) than a current Malibu, for example.

Folks rent near Okeheelee and get a sticker for their boat during the winter, happens pretty often I think.

@Simpson now that's something new. So you're saying when you could not run -32 you actually started your sets one pass harder than that, scrapping what you could at -35, then lengthened to -32, scrapped on that a bit, then ended the set at a makeable -28? I'm intrigued by this if so. Effectively rather than building the set with a 15, 22, 28, 32 progression, pounding in bad habits with passes you could make, only to end with total failure you effectively reverse that. I'm trying it.

Second year of the TXI. Odd one-spoke steering wheel. Good boat though. In 15 they moved the engine forward, switched to PCM motors, changed the throttle lever and steering wheel for the better. I think all of those first gen TXIs were great but 15-16 are definitely better.

2016 had some big updates. - First year for available Direct Injection L83/L86 all aluminum, variable valve timing 5.3L and 6.2L power plants, first for the industry I believe - Redesigned driver's seat - Single-Puck ZO I think there was a Vinyl/Interior design update in 2014.

It's amazing to think that a guy hanging out of the side of the boat with a stop watch is the course timing system. They must be doing 6-ball times in addition to course times right? How often were times out of tolerance enough for re-rides?

I talked to a guy that said he put 5000 hours on an excavator digging a lake. If you consider a 40 hour work week as a regular employee is about 2080 hours a year that's over 2 years at that pace.

Nate Smith 28mph 15 off: Dane Mechler, 36mph 15 off Seth Stisher 32mph 15 off MB from way back, 22@30mph There's a couple. Bunch more on my YT channel. It's funny how much more space they create than an actual 15 off skier.

@lakeside7455 IIRC Whitney fell at 2@38, Manon was just less at 39 than Jamie.

It looked really cool. We were all hooting and hollering around the TV. Had no idea what to expect and we loved it. Major air time over the wakes! Loved it.

Since it’s Youtube streaming I’m able to easily watch this on a smart TV. Amazing!!!

I think it's interesting that D3 and Goode make only one level of water skiing product: The top level. They aren't putting out tubes or "free skiing" skis "hybrid" models or combos or anything like that. Both companies at any time are offering only 2 slalom ski models (generally). When you only make 2 skis they'd better be pretty good.

I loved this. @MarcusBrown thank you for doing what you do. Yes it's two guys chatting in an RV but the production is awesome (little things make a huge difference) and Freddie is a great guest/interviewee. Makes for a great piece to watch. An inspirational rally cry, too, to some degree– how hard would it be to string some events together into a tour? Maybe the way to do it is a backyard tour of some sort. A string of lesser-known, nimble, less formal venues throughout the states/world. They televise professional cornhole tournaments and curling. Seems like there might be a chance to revitalize this on TV by with that tour/story concept. Interesting note about us late X'ers/Early Millenials (the 30-45 crowd) involvement. I know I've got 4 of them on the boat most mornings so we're into it for sure! Kinda wondering how we can help realistically. What age group is carrying the sport now? Boomers/early X'ers?

You should try one. I still feel like they make the lightest/thinnest "feeling" ski on the market FWIW. High amounts of feedback and tactile responsiveness. Very "lively" feeling. That's the first thing I notice. Lots of 34mph podiums and serious skiers that have solid technique seem to ride them. They seem to support the sport quite a bit and that's very cool. I personally ski more consistently on D3 at my (mid -32 hack) level.

This worked. I'm certainly intrigued.

Honestly it doesn't matter for what you're doing. Most skis will feel great and similar in open water. Both are great ski companies and great products. Pick the one that looks cooler to you.

Yeah, I don't get it. The 16-18 200 had the H5/H6 DI motors as an option, btw.

That boat is insanely tough to drive in the course and very soft and easy to ski since you can do whatever you want with it as the skier. I remember smoking -32 behind a hand driven 83 a few years ago. Still have not run it on a modern boat.

The 6.0 is not a DI motor. The throttle response of the DI is substantially faster than MPI. To me they actually feel like an electric motor in comparison.

Isn't this really about just DI vs. traditional MPI? The 5.3 and 6.2 are DI motors. I think a lot of folks do not understand that. DI is a whole 'nuther ballgame. My 5.3 seems incredibly snappy and responsive compared to any MPI mill and the boat feels really strong with it, I go down a letter on my 5.3 DI.

When I drop the course in our lake up north (way up north) it's not well received. In general people want to fish, pontoon around, and kayak and whatnot, and claiming 2000ft of the lake with buoys is a big request and imposition. I try to get it in and out as early and quickly as possible, I'd never leave it in. I remember one time I had just dropped it in and a small rowboat was motoring past it, the guy cussing about the course wildly to himself, not knowing it was so easy to hear across the lake. He was absolutely furious!

@Corne The old Leverage bindings were amazing bindings. IMO the ultimate evolution of a "classic" highwrap waterski binding. Unfortunately they switched the overlays to the "blackout" overlay. This overlay comes up lower on the ankle and is made of EXTREMELY soft rubber. It feels almost like a soft latex, very floppy and stretchy. I put the new overlay on my old Leverage and it's basically made my entire ski season a mess, that's how different it is from the previous overlay. Maybe the new entire Blackout binding has other additional design changes/stiffening to accommodate the different wrap material, I don't know. What I do know is old binding + new wrap is giving me trouble.

The Excal is a roller motor so any 15-40ish oil will do. Delo is probably a good, reasonable oil in this category. I'm sure Rotella is still fine on that motor. The Rotella thing/change I believe is just (potentially) bad on cats which a 2002 won't have.