UWSkier

Since the migration ate the images in my post here, I'm going to link you to the Malibu forum where I wrote this up. Watch the video with some headphones on. https://www.themalibucrew.com/index.php?/forums/topic/72457-ghetto-exhaust-downturns-with-video/ Others here have done this as well with other elbows than the ones I used.

You mentioned kids. How old? Plan on them learning to drive it? The additional freeboard of the Sunsetter LXI as well as the bow design is more conducive to having kids aboard AND teaching them to drive it. If there's any weight at all in the front of an '03-06 RLXi, it's super easy to stuff the nose underwater even going back into your own wake at idle.

Agree. I ski regularly with two 196s and my Response LX from the same vintage. My vinyl has less cracking and it's generally held up better than the Nautiques, though the Nautiques are brick poohouses. Maybe fit and finish of the Nautiques might be slightly better, but Malibu's attention to detail at that point in time was better than anyone else's in the industry, and it's something they've lost since then, sadly. I mean, who else upholsters the hinge on the observer seatback so you don't have a bare metal hinge there? One of the many many corners they started cutting later in the '00s decade. On the noise, $30 bucks at Home Depot will have you running quiet, or you can swap out the factory mufflers, which don't really do much of anything, with something with additional baffling.

My boat is a 2001 Response LX. Wakes are a little firmer than that of a 196 bubble butt at 15 and 22 but better than something like a Nautique 206 or MC 197. From 28 and beyond, there's no wake. Boat has good amount of storage with the trunk and under-seat area. There are really no known issues with these boats other than the occasional leaking HDS box, which is a pretty simple repair. The GM 350 Vortec is about as bulletproof as any engine ever put into a DD ski boat, and parts are plentiful, cheap, and there are tons of people who know them inside and out. They're also great-looking boats. :) If you have any questions, PM me. I probably know more about these boats than will ever be useful... :) Mine (foreground) and my friend's (background) in a completely unplanned encounter last Oct.

Not sure what's up with reels but that link is not working for what I posted anymore. At least not for me lol

Spring Mtn skis great though. My fave of the PHX metro lakes I've skied. I like the depth. My top 5 personal bests are all from there.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CmsipxJoiO2/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y= Now if this is what they removed skiing on ESPN for, I might understand it.

No jump at Spring either. Not yet anyways. But it's more like an hour twenty from campus.

When my turns are garbage, it's usually because I'm not looking way down the lake at Apex. I tend not to look at next buoy until I'm hooked up and headed across the course. Maybe this is too late because I'm pretty bad at water skiing...

30k will get you a nice turn of the century Malibu Sunsetter LXi. If you have the room for a 22' boat, I'd go that way.

If there's no way to make a DD work, I'd recommend a lightweight outboard runabout over a stern drive. I grew up skiing behind a 1988 Concord Mach 1 with a Merc 175. Tiny, soft wakes. Better than any stern drive.

Had my first rides since Oct yesterday too. Got into a bad lean lock and passed the pylon on the follow-through... at 28 off... I was movin' lol

@Mastercrafter that's a sick setup. I wish I had space for that here!

Feels like someone has an axe to grind... or a particularly poorly setup TXi.

Just a guess, does the 200 have a two stage pump setup, i.e. a low pressure and high pressure pump? Seems maybe one of them isn't getting power? Do you have a fuel pressure gauge you could slap on there to check?

I do all my own. Gallon of oil and an impeller per year, so maybe $50. I've made numerous upgrades to the boat but I don't put that in the maintenance cost bucket.

I like islands that are set up so that you are pretty much lined up dead straight into the course after rounding them. Spring Mountain in Arizona is a good example. It doesn't require a ton of offset. If you stay tight to the island, you pretty much accelerate straight in. Easier on the driver and much more peaceful for the skier out there as they're prepping for their pass. I'd be interested to hear about your approval process digging a lake in WI. They're notoriously difficult with approvals historically. Always wanted to buy a farm near the Fox Cities where I grew up and build a lake.

Skiing is about functional strength. I don't see any skiers built like an NFL running back. Nate Smith looks like he's never been to the gym a day in his life. I'm almost always the strongest guy on the dock wherever I go... but I'm usually far from the best skier.

@Horton we need a crying reaction. Terrible news. Prayers to his family.

Irrationally: 2005 70" Monza Rationally: 2016 69.5" Vapor Pro (had one in Lithium clothing and it was excellent)

Too bad there's no way for her to show off a trick ski pass on the talent portion

Was just on my way to post that news. Good for the sport if more young women partake!

How did you take this photo?

Any northern school whose lake is frozen 6 months a year and doesn't offer scholarships and practices on public water and doesn't have skiers with sponsorships and doesn't come in last place at nationals.

I get golfer's elbow flare ups if I ski several days in a row, or if I do more than 5 pull ups or chin ups. Sucks because I used to love to bang out 50 or more pull ups in a workout set. Radius handle has helped a ton though, as has starting with both palms down.