skiinxs

I can see where a list / spreadsheet with all details on each site could come in handy for visitors to O'town.

When I was a kid I skied behind a 9 1/2 hp outboard on a fishing boat. The boat had to get a little bit of a run at it and I had to do a dock start, but it would keep me up and hold speed. (I was a LOT smaller then:)

Isn't that the company the funded the development of the Lidar (Laser speeding ticket makers)? Don't they also pull their customers driving records every 6 months trying to find any tickets they can use to raise their premiums?

I thought they are all designed just to jam up US vending machines:)

Send me a PM with your physical address, email address, boat make, year, model, and engine. I will send you my update cable and get an update program, file, and unlock code and email to you.

Sure, I would be happy to loan mine too you. You don't happen to be anywhere around St. Louis do you?

You are correct that the USCG regulations only require positive upright flotation on 19' and under, but all Nautiques do, and I am pretty sure MasterCrafts and Malibu's as well. This is negated in many cases on the "big wake" boats when the owners add lead to make the big wakes bigger. At least the water bags go neutral when they get to water level. Tige started adding flotaton as some point as well. I know of one Tige 20' ski boat sitting at the bottom of Table rock lake by the dam in over 150' of water which was the result of a big roller over the nose leaving July 4th fireworks at night.

I'm not sure what year Tiga started putting flotation in thier boats, but I think it was after 2000. You may want to check that out. Prior to the implementaion of positive upright flotation, if you were to swamp one on a big lake (or forget to put the plug in, etc.) they would go to the bottom.

In the spirit of the "Unboxing" thread, here are the next sequence of shots I have from the unboxing:

@thager Yes, the ones Correct Craft uses are really nice. I think technically they are transit covers as they are sewn to fit, then installed, tied with ropes that go under the boat and drawstring tied at the transom, then slightly shrank with a heat gun. They have a soft felt on the inside that keeps them from scratching or rubbing. Unless you have a way to lift the boat off the trailer, it is hard to remove without damaging the cover as they wrap around the chines under the boats and are between the bunks and hull in some places. That is why I use a hook and cable to the front loader on my tractor to lift the stern, then the bow to remove without cutting the covers. If I reinstall for shipment to the next owner I always make certain that the boat and cover are absolutely clean before installation. (I wash the cover really well before removing so no grit transfers to the inside surface as I roll it up. Once dry I store in a giant trash bag to keep clean.) You certainly wouldn't want any grit underneath to scratch or rub the fiberglass. I believe that commercial sewing makes the transit covers, the same company that makes the boat covers. They also have the same type of vents that the boat covers have that makes them pull a vacuum when they are going down the road.

I did an "unboxing" of my '15 promo boat this year as a bit of a joke and posted a few pics on my Instagram (#skiinxs) account. Maybe I will do a video unboxing on my '16 when it arrives and post here. It is lots of fun as I use the front loader on my tractor to lift the stern then bow (by the lifting rings) to take the shrink wrap off intact. I try to keep the shrink wrap intact in case it needs to go back on for a long shipment to the next owner.

The first boat I purchased was a used ’72 squirt boat in 1978. I had been around boats my whole life, actually working for my dad as an outboard mechanic at his boat dealership since I was 12 years old. I had never messed around with a boat with a jet pump, so it was interesting to me. I quickly found out what a great job that jet pump did at taking a lot of horsepower and turning it into a lot less horsepower. I kept it a couple years, made a lot of improvements and sold it to someone else who was intrigued by a jet boat. I then bought my first real boat, a ’78 Charcoal and Black stars and stripes MasterCraft. The price was right because it showed zero oil pressure at idle. I gambled that it was a bad sending unit and was right. I got really good at putting buttons back on the seats with that boat, as they used thread that would rot when wet and the buttons pulled a nice little funnel in the seat for water to run into. Other than that it was a really good boat. That was boat #2 for me. I currently have boat #38 on order, my 37th inboard, a 2016 Nautique 200 with a Direct Injected 6.2

I am in the process of ordering the top for my 2016 and just found out that TowerBiminis has a new model that does not have rear bars. It has the spreader bar instead similiar to the newer MasterCraft tops.

Also, as for any ZeroOff issue, I always start by unplugging and re-seating every connector. That has cured some issues in the past.

I have had Tower Bimini tops on my last 6 200's and highly recommend them. They offer aluminum frames and stainless. The stainless costs a little more and is also a little heavier (ugh, don't like weight), but very sturdy. They will make with straps or rods, and quick releases, which I also prefer. They even have a few of my 200's on their website:) The attached photo shows their tops on promo's I had in 2014 and 2013.

Well...... since I will need to buy a new single puck for a backup for my 2016, I could sell you one of my dual puck backups. They are good ones before the serial number cutoff where they were changed. They were both unused until this spring when I had to use them for about a month until they were able to supply some good ones for my 2015. I only had them laying on my dash, so the double stick tape is still unused. PM me if you are interested.

@Dacon62 Interesting idea. The leading edge would probably need to be a little higher than the area directly in front of the hinge, creating a step, or it might create negative lift when raised. (Picture an upside down airplane wing cross section). I think this is what happened to the '98 MasterCraft hull making the "winged rudder" necessary and eventually the training wheels applied to the sides which eliminated the upside down wing effect. Here is another idea, pretty simple to implement. A trimmable wing at the bottom of the front tracking fin. Could be nuetral or slightly down for slalom, raise the front of the boat by trimming up for "go fast". Pin the wing at the front to the fin, single outboard power trim ram mounted vertical pinned to the back of the wing through the hull to trim.

Agree with @LeonL that fluorescent bulbs don't put out enough heat. You might try a heavy duty bulb that is designed to be knocked around in a drop cord. I think those are still available at auto parts stores. There is also some risk that a light bulb could burn out and leave you without the protecting heat. A second drop cord, both with 60 watt heavy duty bulbs would give a little extra protection. Maybe I am paranoid, but my experience is that if something can go wrong it will. They also make magnetic mount block heaters that are quite a bit safer and will stick right to the oil pan (assuming you have a steel, not aluminum pan). Another option is a dipstick heater. Just make sure it is long enough to get all the way to the oil. Compare it to your dipstick to make sure.

@LeonL I do have the lead balls, but they are not really enough. I MacGyvered some bungy straps that keep the slack out until you unclip the hooks. The only problem is when someone is "trying to help" and unhooks from the lifting eye and lifts the whole assembly straight up inducing slack in the cable.

When I bought the place my hoist had 1/4" steel. The first thing I did was replace with new 3/8" stainless with preassembled hooks. I think each is rated for way over what the boat weighs. The only downside for me is the larger cable doesn't keep a tight coil wind on the pipe which means you have to keep tension on them when you unhook them from the boat or you have to monkey with the winding on the pipe.

I have never had any issues with hanging my boats by the lifting rings. They are designed for long term storage as noted in the owners manuals. In my opinion I think this speaks a lot about the confidence in the build integrity for the manufacturer to recommend hanging by the lifting rings. If you ever take a tour of the chains of lakes around Orlando you will see that this is the norm down there. As noted by @waternut, They are a little tipsy if you get in them when hanging. If the budget was unlimited, I would by a Sunstream lift. They are very sturdy, fast, and even have remotes, but my cable lift gets the job done a lot cheaper.

Are you sure you need a cradle? If it is a Nautique, you could just hang it by the lifting rings.

No skiing down there. My recommendation is to leave the ski at home, take the ferry over to Cozumel and dive or snorkel.

Maybe the new pucks are so bad after all............. Nate just tied his world record behind his 2016 6.2 Liter DI with the new single puck.

Maybe we should all just wait a bit and see how this all works out. Remember, the root cause was Garmin changing hardware and software on the existing pucks which caused communication issues and very slow response / speed floating up and down. If you skied a boat with one of the bad pucks early last year you probably experienced a far worse pull than the new single pucks in their current state. From what I have heard the new pucks are much better as they sample much faster giving them a better capability. From what I have read here, this may or may not feel better or worse then the old pucks, but they may feel different. It also sounds like work is being done to make them feel like the old pucks. I don't think there is any conspiracy to make anyone spend money to upgrade. I think the boat companies and ZeroOff are likely spending a lot of money and resources on the software and with the increased capability they should be able to slow them down a little and make them feel like the old pucks, maybe even better. We certainly wouldn't want the new boats to come out with the bad newer dual pucks and I am certainly glad that the industry has taken steps to avoid this. I think that the feel will become a non-issue and there will be no need to spend any money to make them feel the same. Where the real issue will come in is for anyone who has an old puck fail. Since the supply of pucks manufactured before the change is likely dwindling, owners of older systems will face the same issue the boat builders faced this year. Purchase a new replacement puck that makes the boat perform terrible, or convert to the newer single puck. Since I like to keep spare parts with me at tournaments to avoid boats going down, I will now need to purchase a new single puck for a spare, since my two older dual pucks will no longer work. Obviously I would prefer not to spend the money, but in the big picture, I am happy that work has been going on to avoid the disaster we would have had if all of the boat companies had just stayed with the new pucks and sent all the promo boats out knowing that they wouldn't work correctly. Garmin is the real culprit here.