Bill Gladding

Our club is a couple miles from a small airport that has an automated weather observation system you can dial up and get a report.

One handed gate (modified) - I use course references for my gate. I time my pullout by watching the 55 meter balls and starting my pullout about 10 feet before I get to them (later in a head wind, earlier in a tailwind). The next thing is to eyeball the 2,4,6 balls and release when you feel you have enough energy to carry out there (the front corner of the motor box is a good visual to gauge when to release). Once on your way out peek across and watch when the left hand gate ball and one ball line up then begin your turn in for the gates (that is a reference line not the one you want to be on). By the time you are pointed across the course you will be down course from the gate/1 ball reference which should put you between the gates and a decent line to 1 ball (with practice). The preceding references should work anywhere you go since you will never ski a slalom tournment without them in the exact places each time. If you are fairly new to the course and focusing on one or two line lengths boat references are a more definite reference. Transom platform for fifteen off then move your reference forward the same amout you shorten the rope each time.ÂÂ

Roberto, I never measured but was using two or three thin stainless fender washers. I added them one at a time and then subtracted one when I felt I had gone too far. My problem was the ski just wouldn't edge back into the course. The washers made a significant difference.

I canted my front binding when I was using Wileys in an attempt to improve my offside turn which it did. I switched to Stradas which allow rotating the front binding which seems to work better. I canted the Wiley by stacking fender washers between one side of the binding plate and ski top and using sligthly longer machine screws.

I agree with Karl in general about his prop comments but I think the failures that are being discussed here are a latent defect in the propeller related either to materials or the machining process. I recall the crack on our propeller blade began at a machine mark and obviously happened over an extended period. There were numerous beach marks all the way to the point the remaining metal was no longer able to support the load when the propeller blade finally came completely off. Lots of causes for that type of failure kudos to OJ for taking care of their customers that experienced the problem us included.

I should have said I don't remeber whether it was Acme or OJ but it was the stock propeller that came on our TT boat. I was able to prove we didn't hit anything because I found the broken off blade on the bottom of the lake. Other than the break it was in perfect condition.

Our group had a couple of MC TT boats and I believe it was the '05 that threw a blade and dinged the hull bottom. I recall it was an Acme and it was replaced for no charge by Acme. We had a couple hundred hours by the time the blade came off. We paid to fix the ding in the hull bottom ourselves.

Sixam 675, I am a member at Victory Lake my contact information is below: email: gladdings@msn.com phone: 904-945-0511

Too bad because he was rocking his -28/34 on the new ski. Good thing there wasn't any duck tape around he is so hard core he would have put a piece on and kept going!

I think our last 197 was a '05 or '06 so a couple of things you may not have to worry about. I don't think you have a distributor cap I believe it has individual coils for each cylinder. You probably won't need a prop puller because it may have a splined shaft. Worst case take a soft metal or wood dowel and bump the prop off the spline. May have a dripless packing gland on the prop shaft but the rudder packing gland is not so it may need service. One thing you should definitely check are the pylon mounting bolts under the deck. We owned several of these TT versions I had to tighten the pylon bolts at around 50 hours on each boat. There is a fuel filter in tank but it is enormous and probably wouldn't need service unless you got some really messed up fuel. I wouldn't advise you bother with checking the engine alignment unless you have a reason to suspect it is bad. You can do more harm than good just by unbolting the couplings. There are a few visual checks you can make to verify it is probably ok. Look at the prop shaft support strut bearing and see if the shaft is resting in it evenly (front and back if you can) and that it has little to no play in any direction. If you push up on the shaft and it has more than a couple thousands movement you may need a new bearing but that is usually caused by many hours or operating with a bent propeller. Make sure the propeller shaft is not touching the hull where it passes through the shaft log. It does not have to be centered just shouldn't be touching. Check your engine mounting bolts to see if they are tight. If you have vibration or any issues with the above you probably want to get someone who has done alignments to help you. Mark the couplings before you unbolt them and put them back how you found them. Alignment should be .002 or better if you can get it. Sometimes couplings are out that much and you have to figure out how to split the difference. Also the shaft will droop a little when you back it off the transmission coupling. That is normal. Usually you can figure out how much to pull it up by rotating it and lifting. You will find the sweet spot where it turns easiest. If you unbolt it and it is a little out of spec but you are not having any problems leave it alone. Change is not always something to believe in;)

OF, Nice how your ride matches the course buoys!

Ed, In my view the '08 is like a different boat wake wise. I am very sensitive to the bump due to tendonitis in my right knee. The '06 was very hard on me at -22/34. The first time I skied behind the boat I thought we had made a big mistake buying it. The '08 was completely different in a better way at -15 & -22. I don't tell a difference going back and forth between it and the late model 196s at our lake at any line length. I can't say much about the lower speeds because or group only occasionally goes less then 32 mph but my ski buds grandson seems to do OK at the slower speeds slaloming <28 mph. One thing I notice about the new version of the LXi it is more weight sensitive. We ski at a private site many times without a spotter so we keep 100 lbs of play sand under the observer's seat. In my view the boat is better with at least two riding (driver and spotter) and is not bothered by a third if you take the sand bags out. This is going to start sounding like a Malibu commercial but here it goes. This boat steers like a dream with very little counter on the rudder. It is easy to drive down the middle of the course and turns both ways with a light touch on the wheel. It literally feels like it is has a power booster on it. I had a chance to pull Kyle Tate (Big Dawg) at our site with the boat and he had no complaints about the pull (PP classic) or the tracking. To be fair I haven't touched or skied behind a SN200 so can't offer any comparisons. Bill Gladding

I like our 2008 LXi it is a couple hundred pounds lighter than the CC (according to mfrs. specs) and is pretty stingy on gas which is important when you carry it out to the lake each time you go five gallons at a time. Our 2006 Malibu used to want a little more than five gallons each time:( I could do without the poor quality chrome plating Malibu uses. It would look better with metal flake paint or plastic than really cheap silver bling that doesn't hold up. Otherwise I really like the boat and the wakes are as good as anything else I have skied behind. Oh yeah one other thing.  The LXi has pretty good freeboard forward so it is a little easier to avoid dunking the bow although that is not an issue at our sight. If you use it on open public water it could be a factor. Blah, blah, blah I guess I'll shut-up now...

Might want to try a different one could have been a problem with the slalom gate adjustment. I don't mean operator error just the gate may not have been closing properly. I was spotting a friend of mine skiing behind a 196 with the gate. The driver didn't have it set right. Big difference with it open probably would be more subtle if it were out of adjustment.

I am on injured reserve myself after rupturing my quadriceps tendon a couple weeks ago. It's repaired but that is just the beginning... Long list of former skiers at our club too.

I put washers between the Sequence plate and ski top on the middle screws of my Strada set-up. The plate has plastic on the underside except by the area where the screws attach at the middle. Tightening the screws down without a spacer distorted the plate. The washers I put in there were not a perfect match but are close enough there isn't any visible deflection of the plate when the fasteners are tightened. The fasteners and spacers at the ends that came with the Sequence plate were fine. I also used washers under the fasteners when I was using just the forward Strada and rear Wiley. The Strada was mounted on its plate separately from the Wiley. Same thing with it and no spacers. The plate would deflect substantially when the fasteners were tightened without spacers.

Convert your MPI motor to run on methane and you'll save a bunch on gas although I think the payback is going to be out on the horizon a ways after the rocket ride charges show up on your credit card!

Some of the guys at our club came up with installing the course buoys attached to weights in PVC tubes. We still use longline clips to hold the buoys onto the line attached to the weight. It has sure been nice since the buoys are always at the right height unless the water goes way up or down. In addition, the weighted buoys move out of the way better when you hit them since the weight helps pull them down versus a regular type on a bungee or tire tube that loses tension when the buoy is depressed.

I started cycling when my feet began hurting from trying to run four days or more per week. Now I try and cycle twice, run twice and get on an escalator type stair climber twice working out afterwards. I still have aches and pains but the work outs complement each other and seem to work out the kinks between them. This routine seems to work well since I find I am improving steadily at each.

I think any advice you guys give about skiing should be ignored. People who ski in the temperatures you are describing are not right;)

I don't see pink or light red. That boot looks black, whit and mauvelous to me...

I use two different wings on the skis that I ride. I bought a thin stainless wing from Schnitz that is shaped pretty much like the average aluminum wing that comes on every ski I have ever owned or seen. Because it is thin stainless it has narrow profile and even more so after I removed the stamping imperfections and excess machine bolt material. It worked well on my 69" Sixam but not on the 67.5 Sixam. I tried it on the A1 but just couldn't like that ski other than it was very predictable (stopped before I could get to four ball at -35 almost every time). It likes being on the 68" MPD. I think the narrow stainless wing allows a slower ski run a little faster from the second wake out. So, if you have a ski that needs help shutting down to change directions stick with the thicker aluminum wing. If the ski won't go to the finish of the turn without hanging up or getting too slow then use the thinner wing. Where does the wing fall in the adjustment scheme of things. Locate bindings stock, set fin stock, install wing stock; then, tinker in that order until it works for you. After you are done, go back, make some changes and see if there is room for improvement...

That's only four digits... You eat up a good part of that just getting there, staying and getting back. Rossi wrote that he enjoyed teaching but his sponsorships permitted him to do less of that and focus on his own skiing. Sorry if I misquoted or got it wrong but these guys have to live too. Almost all of them are out trading their craft to make ends meet. There is no box office feeding the athletes in this sport. They are still searching for an audience...

It's a gps. The square window is the display with control buttons just underneath. The tether is the antennae.ÂÂ

I am guessing the reduction is engine specific most likely to achieve a specific speed, keep the propeller size within a certain range and the engine turning on the sweet spot.