skier2788

I love my boat just wish it didn't have to be wide open to hold me at 36. I take six passes and burn an 1/8 of a tank. With the creeping problem I am still hoping that there is something wrong in my tranny and it will lower the rpm's. It is kinda weird if you are sitting on glass water with the pin pulled out in nuetral it will start creeping forward fast enough to steer the boat. The engine is set at idle at 720 so its not too high. I am now seriously thinking of a new prop.

Did you buy that 85 Advance you were looking at awhile back? How is your own boat design coming? I remember reading that thread a lot.

Thanks MCskiFreak I did not know there was an owners forum. I will have to check it out. I don't know I skied a set behind a SN200 the other day with a 6.0L and the guy said when ZO hit it was taking it over 5,000 to hold me at 36 boat still ran 16.12. I can't say I have ever been accused of being light on the line. My boat is full throttle to give me a solid time. I am thinking that with it still creeping forward when in nuetral there is something wrong in the transmission. From the suggestions above I think this winter I will look for an identical tranny then buy a new prop. Oh I forgot I also ski in Colorado at about 5,000 feet. That doesnt help either.

@6balls yes and wouldn't think twice about it.

I am currently running a 3 blade 13x13 prop the boat is powered by a new 5.7l vortec still carburated. I tack almost 4300 when I slalom at 36. I worry if I change to a higher prop I will lose a lot on the hole shot which isn't an issue for lake setup just tireing me out getting up all the time. Would a 4 blade prop help? like a 13x15.5?

Thanks guys appreciate the advice. I will check out that site SM. I was thinking of just rebuilding mine cause I am a mechanic and was a auto trans specialist when I was with Chrysler. I figure that if I can rebuild a six speed automatic I should be able to rebuild a one speed with relative ease. I do agree if I can find one just swapping is easiest.

I have an 86 American skier with 2330 hours on it. All summer it has been slowly driving itself in nuetral. I have come to the conclusion that the one way clutch in the torque converter must be getting stiff. I want to rebuild it but don't know where to get parts at. It is a velvet drive 10-17-004 with 1:1 gear ratio. I was also thinking if I could find a reasonable 1.25 or 1.5 to 1 trans that would fit I might swap out to that and reprop the boat. Gas is killing me at 36 and dropping some rpms would help that. Thanks for any advice.

Are you planning to switch ski's this offseason? Yes No If the right deal comes around.

This year I started skiing tournaments again after taking a decade off. I forgot how much fun they can be! Our ski season here in Colorado is coming to a very fast close and I don't want to be done yet. I started searching warmer climates to find a tournament. I am looking at the Harvest Moon tournament at Mission Bay. It is a little different in the fact that it has no entry fee listed and no maximum entries. In the events and classes category it says 2 round 4 pass minimum. Is this a real tournament or just practice with a bunch of skiers? Has or is anyone planning on going this year? Doesn't matter I will probly fly out and ski it no matter what just wanted to know what to expect.

I put pp classic on my 86 american skier this year. Just contact perfect pass it was like 1200 shipped had it in less than a week.

I put pp classic on my 86 american skier this year. Just contact perfect pass it was like 1200 shipped had it in less than a week.

I find this discussion of particular interest to me as I am currently making the jump from 35 to 38 and am struggling. The paast few weeks I started skiing 35 about 60% of the time and have tried 38 a hand full of times when I am skiing really well. I haven't made it past the 2 ball yet. I do feel that there is a certain mental aspect of " I am six inches short of the ball" I also have the fear of not being wide enough and thus tend to ski down course and then throw a big hook at the ball. I believe skidawg was dicussing time management above. I feel this is a big key to running 38 over 35. Getting over the mental part of vein short and settig up early for the ball will help. I don't feel it is like running a really good 35 because you have that extra time in the setup that you need to use correctly in order to run the pass. I don't know I am no where near you guys in talent but I think the basics of trusting the ski to do its job and having a good perturb are the keys to that pass. Now if I can get my head out the way to do it. Sorry for the misspelling typing on my phone over lunch.

Well all I can say is that my parents bought an 86 American Skier Advance brand new. We still ski behind that boat today. It is a great slalom boat tracks straight. Wakeboarding it is ok for. It has a great trick wake. I got into 38off behind it this morning. We still hand drive it but it isn't a bad boat. I keep looking at newer boats and can't find one that I like better. Also we have 2208 hours on that boat so it will last a very long time if properly taken care of. Spray is kind of an issue and we have had some issues with the spray rail leaking but that is more due to the way we dock our boat than anything else. The starter is weird it is a left hand wind starter so they are expensive. Like 500 buck I think. We just rebuild it when it goes out just get a brush kit for a normal 350 chevy starter and put in it. If the sherwood pump goes out it will suck water up into the cylinders and liquid lock it so I always keep spark plug socket in the boat but that happens like once every four or five years. No real big problems with it. Like I said we have 2208 hours so I have found most of the problems.

I only know automobiles but in order to discharge the capacitor the easiest way is to take both cables off the battery and just touch them together instant discharge and will clear all memory. Thats the easiest way without a scan tool. An auomobile will keep the light on after the fix usually for about four warm up cycles but it can stay in the memory for up to forty. I dont know how boat pcms work. I know they are different from OBDII we use. Besides all OBDII has a standard 16 pin connector I have no idea how you would connect to a boat.

well, considering I just started snow skiing I can't give you a great answer but from my experience the two biggest advantages are that it works your knees and since it is usually at high altitudes it keeps your cardio as close to your late season ability as possible. I have tried running and doing all kinds of cardio in the off season but nothing beats doing a workout at 13,000 feet. Keeping your legs and back strong is also a plus. I also feel that most waterskiers are very competitive and would rather be doing a sport outside than sitting in a gym for a majority of the day.

I have wondered about a constant velocity transmission instead of the normal planetary gear set that they currently use. That would eliminate the need for a shift at full throttle. I dont think they handle a lot of torque very well so they could fail. I am just a mechanic not an engineer like you guys so I don't know. This is a little off topic but instead of building a whole boat I wish someone would offer a relatively affordable engine upgrade kit. I could take my old boat and for about 8K I could put in a new fuel injected motor with an ecm and wire it all up. I dont see where it would be that hard of an install but in my little bit of research on it, the parts are currently way too high. I am with some of the others on here I still love my old hull just wish I could have ZO on it.

Colo_skier, Where do you ski at? I am moving back to Colorado and have a private lake I have been on for years there. It is between Fort Collins and Loveland. I might be looking for a ski partner for next summer. If you are close you can come by and take a ride with me.

Richarddoane, Yeah, I was thinking that this year I would tie a brick on to the end with a seperate rope. You said two bricks.... I was worried about the additional weight possibly breaking or bending the pvc if the bouy came off. We tend to have some on our lake who like to run through the course with tubes and so we are always putting bouys back on. I will have to give it a try and see what happens. I definitely want them a little lower in the water.Â

Well, the president of our club doesn't really slalom so he for whatever reason always inflates the balls to like ten inches. The old guys like it cause none of them ski short line and it helps them see it but more importantly they feel the ball slap their thigh which they like. I ski 28 off and once in a blue moon 32 off so they are a bit of a pain for me but I look at it like a practice technique it makes you ski wide. http://www.ballofspray.com/vanillaforum/js/tinymce/jscripts/tiny_mce/plugins/emotions/images/smiley-laughing.gif Nobody has gotten injured by them so thats a plus. FYI i am the guy in the picture.Â

Here is my 2 cents for what it is werth. I feel that quality over quantity is the major thing. That being said I ski in Colorado and with being away at school and our lake being an irrigation reservoir we can only ski from Memorial day to Labor day. As a result when I am at the lake I ski and ski and ski. I take like a minimum of five sets a day. I mostly only get weekends too so its not a week long five sets a day thing. I have always felt that if I had a longer ski season and could ski the same number of sets but spread out over more days I would improve a lot more. I am truely jealous of people who get to ski two or three times a week all year or most of the year. That is how in my mind you get to be a really good skier.

I like the steps especially step number 11. I start about mid march when I take a shower to crank it all the way over to cold and stick my face in it and hold my breath so I am used to the 40 degree water when we start skiing in the spring. I think off season visualization is an important step in becoming a better skier. Some people say I am crazy though.

Thanks guys. I know being light on the line will always be a problem for me. I am 6 foot 2 in, and 220 pounds. I am not exactly what you would call a small or light skier. My technique has always been to out muscle the boat which doesn't work either.

Scotchipman- thanks that answered my questions about being able to do well behind a ZO boat if I practice behind a SG boat. Richarddoane- I am definitely a lot less scared of putting a hole in my boat now. I think I even found a good spot if I choose to go that route. I talked with the people at PP they said that if I only want it for slalom that I don't need the paddle wheel for digital pro PP just magnets in the course.

Thanks chuck and 6balls. It sounds like there is some setup and calibration to be done when you are first setting it up and you might be playing with a lot of settings to get a perfect time. Once you get it there though it does a great job. It also sounds like a lot of people dont have a problem bouncing between a good PP and ZO. Overall I think a PP system is my best option it is cheaper than a new boat and I can get it installed before next season.

richarddoane- I have one question.... Why is it that you have to be able to reach the paddle wheel from the top and the bottom? I am as my father would put it "young and dumb" but if there is a problem with the paddle wheel can't I hold my breath and go down and fix it? I am also ignorant on the system. By clean water you mean anywhere other than behind the prop or the skags on bottom right? That system is also way cheaper than SG and I have heard a lot of people liking it better than SG. Thats a lot to consider. Thanks for the advice.