EricKelley

Yes it is

 

I choose to think the sky is not falling.  I have a great time skiing and will until I can’t.  There are a lot of people who love the sport and whatever happens with the boat companies, the sport will go on.

Everything cycles and there will be better times for the manufacturers.  Increased interest rates killed a market that has been dependent on long term financing.   Just say a prayer for all those employees whose life’s work is going to have to change.

This was my solution I called a “goose gate”.  It works well the only pain is taking it off and placing it back on.  I just use our peddle boat for the task.  Beats cleaning the mess off and getting your beautiful wax ruined.

Thanks for the replies.  Jody called me and echoed the above comments.  He did give me a couple helpful hints.  The Allen screws on top of the exhaust manifolds are bleed points and after he fills the system he puts some coolant in there.  He recommends checking the screen near the thermostat and inspect/replace the anode.  He says in most cases no need to open and clean passages of the heat exchanger.  He recommends good clean up to this messy job and uses shop vac to remove excess coolant.  Don’t want your boat to smell like antifreeze.

Richard that tool is fantastic.

I own a fantastic 2015 Ski Nautique 200 with just over 600 hours.  I have neglected to change the antifreeze on the closed cool part of the system.  The Dexcool antifreeze has a max life of 7 years so this needs to be changed.  I have had no luck reading the manual or you tube videos finding out how to bleed the system so that no air pockets form or capacity of the system.  I think to drain you remove the large hose to water pump, the knock sensors to drain the block and the plug on heat exchanger?

No process to add fluid is given.  Anyone done this?

Thanks

Thanks to John and the Whitestone Club for a great event. I can't tell you how much work they did to make this a great weekend. The skiing was good but the atmosphere with the food and music was impressive! The officials did a great job as everything went pretty much flawlessly.

The best thing of all for me was to see the kids and young adults having so much fun. There were a lot of impressive 3 event performances from the kids.

Thanks again to the Whitestone Club, best event I have been to in a long time.

I will be there....

Marc will forever hold the record for the youngest looking “Big Dawg”

The Big Dawg series seriously misses you Greg. Great times.

Our families prayers go out to Marc and his family. One of my all time favorites, both in skiing talent and integrity.

Shoe Goo works very well. I cleaned the surfaces with alcohol. Applied the Shoe Goo in small increments and then taped them to hold in place while the cement cured. Did this 4 years ago and it still is rock solid.

We have had SportInsurance for about 6 years now. It is REAL insurance unlike the USA Waterski insurance. My insurance agent went through the USA Waterski policy and could not believe how limited and expensive it is. Like Mi skier is saying, save over 2/3 the money for real insurance.

Something that I do when I get to the point of is it good or not, is jump on one of my old faithful skis. The point is that the difference will let you feel whether you are where you need to be on set up. I think we all can compensate for a less than ideal set up with changes in technique. Typically I get through the “honeymoon” phase of a new ski then usually some degree of frustration sets in. Then I usually begin to question whether in fact I’ve just gotten older and can’t do what I could do before, the water temperature change makes my settings stink, someone moved my buoys, the driver must be off, I’ve skied too much and need a couple days off, I’m not doing some technique wrong.

It helps me to go back to one of my favorite skis of all time, a 9100, and take a couple passes. With doing this I have a point of reference for what I might want to tweak on my new ski.

Several years ago I worked on a new ski and got it to the point where it was very predictable, off side good. The ski felt great but I was down a pass. So I told my wife think I’m kind of losing it. I pulled the 9100 off the rack and jumped on it and instantly felt like the the course was way narrow. The new ski was just too slow. It was easier to judge this with a point of reference.

This is the “Ski Theory of Relativity” a little known paper written by Einstein.

6 litre 200 one of the best ski boat packages ever. If at all possible go with this.

Again, 10lbs not necessary, 16oz bottle with sand worked at least for regular buoys. The cylindrical boat guides would take more.

I had success with zip tieing a plastic pulley to the buoy.(found at lowes designed to work with clothes lines and were cheap. They were also about 3inches in diameter. As mentioned above the cheap metal ones dont work and the narrow diameter plastic ones don't work. The sail ones like Lpskier mentioned would be the best. Plastic ones... cheap, but lasted until I sold my lake. Didn't think they would but they worked well.

I am cheap so I used plastic 16 oz. soft drink bottles filled with sand. A wire run through the cap provided a way to attach the rope to the counter weight.

As mentioned before when we first tried it we found the rope down to the anchor and the counter weight part of the rope would get tangled. We fixed this by using a length of PVC pipe that was about as long as the bottle zip tied to the bottle.(rope from the anchor up to the pulley goes through the PVC pipe)

This is cheap and worked excellent. For the obsessive compulsive ones of us, which seems to characterize most of the skiers on BOS, reality is that you will lose 3 inches of tolerance in buoy width. This would not be record capable. Also this not a good design in a deep lake where it would be difficult to retrieve the system if the buoy gets cut.

Working on redoing some more things on the Rayson Craft. I had an intake leak. Fixed that and installed new ignition system. Redoing the transom and polishing everything.

 

I think the rules now allow for the LOC to provide 2 choices in ropes for this year.

Horton you touched on a big issue with driving in that drivers are not getting immediate feedback. At record tournaments it is a requirement that the chief boat driver or a designee continually monitor end course video. This needs to be done and there should be a private radio for the end course monitor and the driver. The end course monitor needs to help the driver real time. I would encourage this practice even at class C tournaments.

This is even more accurately accomplished with this Sure Path technology.

 

@horton completely agree that no ski lasts forever but I do think the pure carbon fiber skis(which are not composites) will outperform the resin infused carbon weaves. They are superior except fragility. Good point about dynamic reflex.

Several years ago for kicks I flex tested a decade plus old Goode 9800 with the same flex tester at the exact points and same flex tester. It flexed essentially the same as it did when new. I think the all carbons likely stay the same......until they break.

Nautique says has pulled more tournaments than other manufacturers. They have not received preferential treatment with events at Nationals having done so. What's the incentive is the question? Should manufacturers that pull more events get used in the Nationals premier events and get other rewards? Not an easy answer to this and Tournament credit numbers are murky because private owned non promo boats are not separated out of the numbers. That's why we really need to account for privately owned vs promo boats in the numbers. Rest of this...what Jody said.

Horton I thought you were a ULM alum... Dude you bought a Bama boat!

The sport needs class C tournaments to keep its base with easy access to tournaments. It also needs higher end skiers to go to these tournaments because they are typically judges, drivers, etc....

If class C scores would not count, I would only be able to compete in my tournaments in my state.

In Kentucky our class C's have always been legit.

The problem that needs to be solved is the officials who are not running things right. Let's correct this.

As a coach or parent or official you make a mistake when you make the top reward winning. Also you make a mistake by telling kids that if they do not win there must be a problem with the rules or competition in some way.

The top reward should always be Making Themselves Better. If they are progressing they should be see reward in that. If this is not enough to win they must see the answer is more time, dedication, and quality practice.

The people who win in life don't quit when they're not winning......they work harder.

There is value in these athletes learning how to compete when they are not as physically capable as their competitors.

This is what I preached to my son who is a National Champion and also what I coached to my youth football players.

I fully know this issue with speed, etc.... but this is a mistake.

I had to give a court deposition on these. Mine broke and apparently another skier was badly injured when one broke on them. The questions the defense attorney asked were crazy. Was a pretty intense deal. Never knew who the skier was who was suing EP. Mine broke in half when I hit the first wake. Think I got it from Lucky.