east tx skier

Love me some Stubb's BBQ. /oh, and the boat. Yeah, it's a G wakeboard boat. //more BBQ, please.

I agree with Bruce. I think you are pushing your luck after 4 or 5 years. My last set of trailer tires are Maxxis and have held up well so far.

That's an unbelievable boat at that price. No way I would let mine go for that.

@scotchipman So that covers both participants and anyone who might be using the course without authorization? If so, I'll pass that along to current management. Thanks for the link.

@ShaneH Sorry for the misnomer. When they introduced this requirement, it stated as follows: "Effective January 1, 2013 all "sanctioned practices/exhibitions" must use Rated Drivers as towboat drivers throughout the practice event, except that driver trainees (as a part of a driver's training or instructional program) may tow skiers during a practice if they are accompanied (in the boat) and under the direct supervision of a Rated Driver." That's where I was getting the language. But to your point, it is the least advanced of the categorizations, which is now called "trained" I see.

At least on one of our courses, the entire lake is an "unauthorized skiing prohibited" situation on an otherwise public lake. But nonetheless, without running off half the club, requiring everyone's being a rated driver isn't something I'd want to enforce. On the other course, for years, we have locked a barrel in between two of the boat guides. Those are now gone, but policing it is not for me any longer (nor was it ever). If a stranger hurts him or herself on the course, it's another policy anyway.

To repeat some of and supplement what LeonL said, it's basically about insurance coverage. It used to be that if the club purchased a USA Water Ski club membership and if its members were USAWS active or grassroots members, they would be covered under the policy if they were injured while using the club's course. About four years ago, USAWS changed this so that members skiing the course would only be covered if they were participating in "sanctioned" activities. Our club, like the club in the OP's situation was a practice only club. So, as the club presidentn, I just went on USAWS's web site and set up sanctioned practices for every day of the year from dawn to dusk. Members were required under the USAWS rules to keep a log of when they participated in "sanctioned practices." About two years ago, USAWS changed things again. Now, for members skiing the course to be covered under the USAWS club insurance, not did members need to be participating in sanctioned practices, they were also required to be pulled by a USAWS "rated driver." So a handful of us sent in information for background checks, took a written exam that basically determined if we had a lick of common sense, and participated in "on water" training. We also are required to pull 10 hours of sanctioned practice per year, which is reported to USAWS. At the time, my concern was that if we required this of our club members, we wouldn't have club members for too long. But, as LeonL mentioned, enforcing it was very impractical (our club courses are on leased public water). So what I did was tell the club members it was required, but that there was no way for me or anyone else to police it. Most importantly, they were told that if they were injured while skiing and they were not being pulled by a rated driver, they would not be covered under our club's insurance policy. I am no longer the club president having reached the end of my term. But during my time, I was far more concerned about nonclubmembers being injured by our little floating liabilities than I was for clubmembers being injured. That's a whole different insurance policy. One last thing, as a club, you cannot sanction practices unless at least one of your members is a rated driver.

That's not a MasterCraft. As for the 86s, those with original graphics are easy to spot. I can't remember how they fit into the hull evolution. I tend to remember more about the 91 and newer boats.

That is all kinds of awesome! Thanks!

Have fun!

You mean the back end will go in the opposite direction of rotation, right?

Just bring your gear and some ibuprofen. I've been up to Alan's several times in the last fifteen years, and my nine year old just finished a week there on Friday. He and Tom are great instructors, and I have never seen anyone showing up with libations or other gifts to sweeten the deal. I also have never seen anyone crack a beer on site. He runs a camp during most weeks. So, there are likely to be kids up there. Alan is pretty conscious about the liability that goes along with running this ski school for as long as he has and I don't think showing up with a bottle, even as a gift, would go over too well. You are are going to have a great time and will get quality instruction for sure.

The guy that runs the somewhat nearby ski school is the only person I have seen back one straight just using the wheel to correct. No easy task.

Is there an hour function on Zero Off? Used to be, for convenience sake, you could always use the hour meeter on the Perfect Pass gauge to keep track when your hour meter went down. Alternatively, you could buy an analog hour meter and rig it up out of the way so you don't have to have quite so awkward of a conversation with a potential buyer at some point.

I'm working on getting to the lake. Once there, it's the same as always. Get the hips to the handle, don't ski to the ball, and roll the weight/ankles forward a bit to initiate the turn. Truth be told, I'm working on the nine year old. He got up on a slalom deep water start the first weekend of June (behind a John Boat with a 25 hp outboard no less). He got up a few more times the next weekend behind our boat. And, for perfect timing's sake, he went to ski school for a week starting this past Monday. Thankfully, I won't have the chance to teach him bad habits. Yes, I bought him a second hand 63" System 8 two years ago just in case. We pick him up tomorrow. This is him this morning.

Teak World is great, but it will cost you. You might try Ski N Sports, which is my local Correct Craft dealer. They had a bunch of used Nautique platforms stacked up a couple of years ago and asked me to pass the word along. Their number is 903-509-1754. Ask for Matt and tell him you heard about it from Doug. I don't get a kick back or anything, but they have treated me well and I want them to know that I send business their way when I can. You can also email Matt at skinsportsparts@yahoo.com. Good luck.

One last price drop. $399 shipped to the lower 48.

Bummer, @Horton All the best to you for good surgery and speedy recovery.

The second generation Pro Star 205 (96--2000) is probably among the most successful attempts at a crossover hull I have seen. It doesn't quite match the first generation 205 (92--95) in terms of slalom wake, but it's close. But in most other respects (open water chop handling, storage, tracking, wakeboard wake), it is a winner. Remember, this hull was the original X-Star hull before MC ever built a wake board specific boat. In other words, they set out to build an open bow slalom machine for "fanatics with families" as they put it, and ended up using it on one of their most beloved wakeboard boats in a v-drive configuration. So many companies, MC included, have tried and failed to split the difference so perfectly since the second generation 205. Unfortunately, they tend to, at best, do one discipline better than the other or, more often than not, not do either discipline particularly well. The 205 did both things well. I still prefer the first gen 205 for slalom. That said, I prefer the TSC Ski Nautique over the first gen 205. But if I had wanted to stay in an open bow, I'd have never sold my 93 205. Here is my father in law's 98 205 pulling 22 off.

My favorite skier to watch by far.

@jackski Good to know. Apparently it's a host of things that create some deposits (exposure of the valve to the combustion is among them. But it's the rerouting of carbon based stuff (oil in the case of BMWs and Minis and Oil and exhaust in the case of VW) that makes it worse at greater intervals. I was under the impression that the recirculation of exhaust gases was some sort of EPA requirement, turbo or not. Edit: I have misspoken (with regard to my engine). On the VW TSi, there is no EGR valve or passage. EGR is accomplished with valve overlap Unfortunately, this has resulted in a more prolonged exposure of the intake valve to combustion. So if there is inefficient combustion in that instance, you still have the carbon byproduct ending up on the intake valves. Altering ECU valve timing tables would be the only way to alter amount of EGR on my engine. VW has added the superfluous injector as of this year. Hope it works as well as it has for Toyota on their DI engines. http://autoguide.com.vsassets.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Carbon-Buildup.jpg

You might also consider the predecessor to the 206, the TSC Ski Nautique Open Bow (SNOB) (late 90s early 2000s). The cabin is cramped and the open bow is a playpen, but the wake is as good or better (according to some) than the TSC Ski Nautique.

Speaking of Jeeps, here's my old tow rig. It was fun, but I couldn't live with 4--6 mpg with the boat in tow, especially with a 15 gallon tank.

2001 Expedition 5.4. Added a transmission oil cooler and some stiffer shocks in the rear and it has been rock solid for the eleven years we have owned it. It only does boat and Christmas travel duty. So it's got a mere 120k miles on it.

@Texas6 Yeah, way more meaningful. We haven't been able to get him out as much until recently. But he has been working on this for the past two seasons. Suddenly, it dawned on me to slip a longer ski under him, and he popped right up. The timing is perfect. He is signed up for a week of ski school on 6/15. Just in time to keep me from teaching him any of my bad habits.