Bdecker

@Skibabette - I have (2) 59” skis that we have outgrown. One is the Protour mentioned above, which is basically a combo ski. Super stable, both my kids loved it but it runs out of gas quickly in the course.

The 2nd is an Obrien elite 59”. My oldest son was awesome on this ski and rode it for his first nationals. My youngest didn’t really take to it early enough to ride the elite. It’s a great turning little ski! I’m ready to part with either or both, as I just ordered a TRA for my 10 year old.

I run an EVO front and reflex r-style in the rear. The evo release is simple and makes sense to me, cuff just comes off. No reason to over tighten, it would never pre-release in normal skiing. 3 hard crashes in the last 3 weeks where I came out of both. Ouch, but they did their job! No binding is truly safe, but we’ve had 3 club members in Evo’s for a number of years.

Stock fin, first set- loved it. CG 2nd, I think I went a little too deep (just dropped the fin block from my 2018 in...). Offside was “off”... Removed a bunch of depth- back on it tomorrow.

@"Pat M" - I figured it was your favorite because you return with a full cooler of VT IPA’s! Ski well everyone. Very fond memories of Al’s pep talk at that site after I’d blown my opener in the first two rounds.

My 2020 will be onsite later today- just tied my all-time practice PB on my 2018 w/cg fin 2 sets ago. So do I set it up with the CG fin out of the box?

Mine should be in my dealers hands today. I have two tournaments this weekend and very limited sets this week, so it probably won’t get wet until next week.

Love my 2018 and anxious to get my 2020 soon!

I used to think “something to do after the lake gets stirred up”. That was before the surf boats came in droves. Now a slalom hull becomes downright uncomfortable and almost useless after 10 or 11 am.

@skibug - I might have a right boot that would work- just the lower shell. I was running it as a rear and lost the cuff. I then moved to an r-style. Size 10 foot- think the boot is a medium.

Lucky to be in a great, closely held, group ownership situation. Not really a “club boat” as the ownership is not held by the club and has just 3 shares.

 

I also own an 05 Mastercraft that definitely falls into the <25% bucket.

@spartanskier10 - I have the same boat with a few more hours and have encountered a similar issues. First I’d pull the battery, test it and get a good charge on it or replace it. Disconnecting the battery will reset the limp mode. I had two things that caused mine that are easy to check;

1- a wire had rubbed against the motor mount and was causing a voltage irregularity.

2- my knock sensor failed- that might be worth a shot because it was handled during winterization. I think it was a $30 part so not a big deal and really easy to replace.

 

Luckily the marina on our lake has the software and code reader so I wasn’t blindly replacing parts. Depending on your situation however, I might try the knock sensor as it’ll be way cheaper than hauling the boat for service. Good luck!

@wish- thanks, they are 1/3 of Fedex or ups!

I have a request to ship a ski to Melbourne from ski-it-again. The prices from FedEx and UPS seem insane ($600+). Does anyone know a better way?

I voted based on age of our 2016 Carbon Pro, but still have a 2005 197 with zbox that I see as perfectly suitable to train behind at my level. The public water it sits on is the primary limiting factor on the number of sets it gets per season.

Arthur and Eden are awesome. We drive 70 minutes each way to ski there when I visit my parents and it’s well worth it! Looking forward to skiing there next spring.

Downhill skiing, mostly in the east but Snowbird and Jackson are on the list this winter.

The only compensation we ever wanted was a fair offer (ie- reasonable loss) on our boat at the end of the season so we could order a new one. Regardless of who takes the risk; promo owner, dealer, or mfg, if the local tournament skiers don’t buy the product, we won’t see new promos for much longer.

 

I’m guessing our promo has cost us $4-5k per year in terms of depreciation based on what I’ve seen on ski-it-again. If I do run a promo in the future, I’d strongly prefer to know my cost/loss upfront (ie - CC/MC programs) then deal with the hassle of a sale.

 

@lazzn - that is how I did it with our CarbonPro. We have a 3 member LLC that owns the boat, I was responsible for all of the promo obligations, we split the costs amongst the owners. Definitely softens the blow from a cost perspective. If all co-owners/contributors are on the same page it works really well. The biggest challenge was coordinating weekends when the boat was gone, but we always made it work. At this point we’d probably only run it in a pinch at our home site.

I think it is easier than ever before. Platforms like BOS make it easy to find skiers, and if you show up as a good driver (which means being coach-able), consistently willing to help out, pay for gas, etc you’re sure to be welcomed back. Sure, it takes deep pockets to get on a premium spot on a private lake. It also takes persistence to get in with an established group, but my advice to the younger/college age skiers is never underestimate the value of being the first to volunteer to fix a buoy, move a lift, or clean the boat. Remember that time is often the biggest issue for whomever you ski with.

 

I love the numbers of young skiers we see at tournaments. One event this summer we had 5-6 B2 skiers all on the dock cheering each other on, lots of friendly banter about who was going to get what score. It was really great to see the younger groups start to gel and get that friendly competition that you see in the older divisions.

 

So while we have lots of challenges like the cost of equipment and access to premium sites, generally I think things are trending up.

I’ve used the 3m marine paste wax for years with really good results. Last season I tried some Klasse sealant I had for the cars. Really did a nice job and even easier to apply. I use the Klasse on my wife’s car and it holds up for a solid 6 months.

 

If I was taking delivery of a new boat that I intended to keep for a long time, I would strongly consider Opticoat. I have it on multiple vehicles and it makes cleaning them an absolute breeze. Never wax again and dirt just slides off. We considered it with our CarbonPro, but it was originally intended to be a promo so we couldn’t justify the cost which we’d never recoup at sale. I do use Optimum Power Clean on stubborn hull stains. They literally wipe right off.

Sounds like a very compelling package. I hope they keep the Nautique brand as that is critical to the “value” @6balls is referring to. A 200 without the “stay wet” carpet and saddlebags you aren’t supposed to step on, and 6L motor sounds pretty sweet. Skip the touchscreen, go with analog gauges and a ZO headunit, keep the heater and heated seats.

I run RP 15w/40 in our CarbonPro. Amazon brings it right to my door. Running Duralec 15w/40 in my 05 Mastercraft. Typically that boat gets less than 50 hours per season.

@BuoyChaser - interesting... we’re almost identical except you are .010 more DFT and .5 degree more wing. Both of which I am interested to try! This fin is the real deal, very happy so far.

Occasionally skiing a 2014 200 w/6L motor and a 2012 PS 197 w/5.7L. Lots of CarbonPro 6L which probably belongs on the list too

I’ve had some more experience with ZBox in the past couple weeks while I’ve been running my 05 Mastercraft 197TT. It is a really good option for boats that can’t be converted to ZO. Everyone who has skied it agrees, you could absolutely effectively train for tournaments to a mid -38 level at least with a zbox boat. It does not feel exactly like the SN19, CarbonPro, or SN 200 that we ski regularly, but none of those boats feel exactly the same either.

 

The area I find the greatest deviation is in the gates on our short end. ZBox uses the rpm as a trigger to stop the increase of throttle, resulting in a slightly softer feeling gate from the side where the setup is really really short.

The Tumacs is towable. Great cover and tremendous value