UWSkier

Wileys here too.  I frankensteined mine a bit, but it works for me!

Crazy it can still turn that many RPMs and not send a rod through the block.

Rebuttal shirt

YMSAWS

Happy mother's day!

14 hours ago, buechsr said:

what is that a horse denture?

LOL thermoplastic resin.  Get it hot, stand on a concrete surface on a sheet of parchment paper, pull it out, let it cool a bit, then mold it around your heel.  Then you just measure/test fit it 3-4 times on the RTP, make some guide marks, and glue it down.

20 hours ago, buechsr said:

Last week I saw a RTP that used a snowboard binding toe ratchet strap for the heel....on my to do list to try now. 

I've tried unsuccessfully multiple times to get out of double boots, never to feel confident.  Of course, that leads me to ski hips back in reliance on my back foot.  Really wish I could find a way to ski "on" my front leg better.  Going to try to frankenstein something this weekend.

This is my Frankenstein setup.  It's ugly, but it works great.  Low enough to kick into, and keeps my heel from sliding laterally on the plate, which is the biggest mind-screw when switching to RTP.

1 hour ago, liquid d said:

JUST ONE MORE VARIABLE!  HAHA.....

Here's an idea...make them all super stiff, and create a 6 inch rubber piece that goes between the pylon and rope. You could have 2 different rubber pieces.   ML can just start producing those instead. 😉

I was literally thinking the same thing yesterday.  Let's all ski on spectra and have a damper at the pylon!  Could be safer for the boat crew too.

5 hours ago, Horton said:

@Slalom Sue I have a box of S-Lines stuff in my office at this moment. I will do an unboxing in a few days. I think there is an X-Series and a S-Series in there. I will do a back to back passes with both fresh ropes and see how different they are. 

Broad brush - unless you are deep into shoreline the differences between the all the versions of ropes is not significant. You will be fine with the S or X version of the S-Lines. Skiing with a fresh rope is important. 

Would be interested to see how much difference you feel between them running something like 22 off vs 35.  I know you start shorter than that, but wondering how much difference you'd notice with more rope in play if you rode them back to back.  I think the rope stretch becomes more therapeutic as you get inside 35-38, but can be almost a detriment at longer lengths, especially for bigger skiers.  For me, starting at 22 off and weighing 250 lbs, the Optimized ropes feel like bungee cords, but the guys running into 39 love them.

I made the double boot switch last year due to a hip problem that requires me to kick in on starts.  I messed around a bunch with various RTPs but settled on a Wileys.  What @twhisper said above about the footbed thickness was actually a huge deal.  The chunky RTPs feel nice underfoot, but have substantial effect on stance and ski attitude.  They also tend to have overlay materials that feel better dry, but are not as grippy wet.  The flat Wileys plate with nice grippy old-school rubber is the most secure RTP I've found.  Sometimes there's no school like the old school.

Because I like the feeling of something on my heel from 20+ years of two-booting it, I molded up a plastic heel cup and glued it down to the back of the footbed on my RTP.  It's not pretty, but it's effective for keeping my foot in the right spot while still letting me kick in.

Hope folks in NV and AZ who had boats in at Tommy's got them out before the gates were locked up.

The MC earnings call next week will be highly suggestive of whether this is a MBUU problem or an industry problem.

4 hours ago, Mastercrafter said:

Is that little point all the microtuner is?

That's why I call them fangs

15 off?  Is the next discount 22 off if I start getting better and come back as a repeat user?

19 minutes ago, epnault said:

@Sethro @UWSkier

Thanks guys.  How did you determine the vertical length (downward) of the tubes?  Straight edge off the bottom of the hull?

The transom has a hook on it so it's not an exact science, but yeah, pretty much.  That and the eye test once underway to see if there was a bunch of spray being generated.  Minimal spray is fine.  No more than a micro-tuner creates... :)

2 hours ago, Sethro said:

I copied @UWSkier parts list. It was a bear to get the port side Fernco reducing coupling on due to the wedge bracket. The jury is still out for me. I haven’t listened on shore, just behind the boat. I’m not sure I notice a huge difference yet. I think trick skiing might even be louder????

My next door neighbor has the same boat (2006 RLXi) so when he finally gets his out we can do a comparison from the shore. 

interesting.  For me, the difference was huge.  Pretty much exactly what you hear in that video I posted in the first page of this thread.

For a quick and easy test, loosen the smaller band clamps and remove the ABS elbows, leaving the Nibcos in place.  Stand on your dock while someone does a holeshot away from you.  Then repeat with them in place.  That or do two ski rides back to back.

7 hours ago, epnault said:

We did a shoreline pass by and drive away.  There is an improvement but…. See video.  We were recording with an app so not super accurate.  

Is there no way to slip a silicon boot over the tips you put on there?  The boat won't be FAE quiet, but the sound reduction of making a full 90 degree turn and releasing right above the waterline is substantial.  Would suck to go through all that work and have to dump it.

So cool.  Is it just a perspective thing or is the lake going to be extended slightly beyond those 55s right at the end of the vid?  Seems short, but again, can just be perspective.

24 is really slow to try to work on body position unless you're on a very wide ski. Even on my Radar Terrain wide ride I feel like I am sinking below 28 mph. 

How fast do you free ski? I'd start by dropping the boat speed 2-4 mph from that and just work on spraying the buoys and don't even think about gates yet. 

6 hours ago, buechsr said:

I’d say only Ron Scarpa to Malibu is on par with this change. 

Parrish to Nautique from Malibu in his dominant era maybe close.

10 minutes ago, kmenard said:

It will heretofore be known as the Malibu closed

2 hours ago, NikolG said:

Draining it, dam on one side and refilling it. Course will be moved to the grandstand side. Ski on!

For real?  They're putting fresh, clean water in it?  This just went from bad to awesome if true!

Those metal down-turns don't turn enough and run too far from the water line to make a big difference in overall sound.  They change the tone and intensity of the sound slightly but they don't redirect it as much as the custom jobs others on this thread have implemented.

On 4/1/2024 at 4:13 PM, Slaloman said:

I went to the boat show 2 weeks ago and the Malibu rep did not comment on the ski boat but he did say they are seeing a big drop off in Wakeboarding. Surfing is so easy, you're close to the boat and the social media aspect is right on top of you, Grandma can watch the kid on Face Time. Interest is picking up in hydrofoil surfing since you do not need a big wake to propel it, the only problem now is the price of the boards which demand will fix.

At the local public lake last week, it was my Malibu and two guys in a ProStar out at dawn.  We were doing only slalom.  They were alternating slalom and foil-boarding.  The fact you can ride a foil behind an un-weighted ProStar gives me hope it'll catch on and become more popular than surfing.  Though from a tricks perspective, you are more limited on a foil.  You can't go backwards, can't do spins, etc...

Bummer!  Maybe they can drain it, then re-fill it with fresh, clean water!

Any chance they only fill in half of it and still leave enough length for a course on one side?  Who owns it now?

Bronco

Question on the foam removal... How dense was the foam?  Could something like a dryer vent cleaner on a drill bust it up sufficiently to suck it out?