Justin_C

@hemlock performance has some pretty good deals on some of their demo stock right now (I was tempted by a vapor!). Might not hurt to have a look at that option too. Can usually save some money and they're really good at sending pictures of what you're looking at so you don't get any nasty surprises when you receive it! On a side note, if I keep recommending perfski do you think they'll give me a discount? Ha!

I order from Performance still. I find it cheaper than shuswap especially if you're looking for closeout gear. I do have the benefit of being about an hour and a half from the boarder so I can ship stuff within the states and pick it up there and bring it across then I only need to pay the cdn taxes. Just call down to performance though, they'll give you a quote on what it would cost to ship to your door!

Stargazer or classic? If it's Stargazer, I'd reset the system and run the calibration to make sure that your rpm is set right.

Another option for video coaching is through a new website that Jodi Fisher is running. www.theskiskool.com. I was down there a few weeks ago and he is an awesome coach who wants you to improve. It's worth checking the site out. For $10 or $15 a month you can upload videos right to him (or other coaches) and have professional instruction all season!

Thanks again for all of the input. Certainly a lot to consider. Looks like we're going to try putting a portable in first, ski it for a week or so to make sure the placement is perfect and then use that as a template to sink our anchors. It's about 6-8 feet deep and a very muddy bottom so hopefully both of those things will work in our favour when we go to drop the anchors. Has anyone used a portable course where water depth changes are frequent? We have a bit of a tide to consider. I came across a post somewhere about putting a 20 lb anchor halfway between the anchor and gate arms so that as the water drops that should keep tension on the line. Any experience with this or any other methods?

Thanks for all the info! I'm sure it's not just me benefitting from all of this. I'll keep you posted as to what we decide to do. Certainly lots to think about!

@Edbrazil thanks for the info. I've been in to see the guys there at perfect pass too. Great staff! Most people up here either use portables or put it in with the ice. I'm just very impatient haha! I would be interested in the pdf though!

 

@andjules Absolutely, that water is basically in my backyard. Up until now I've skied at the family cottage which is on a lake right around Fredericton!

That would be nice, but expensive. Especially with a poor Canadian dollar and shipping rates into Canada. Even just a poly mainline could run over $800 for me. Anyone got a extra they aren't using? Ha!

Sorry for the delay in response. It is a very silty bottom. I don't have gps coordinates on me but it's on a body of water called Kingston creek in New Brunswick. Not a whole lot of skiing in the area so I doubt anyone local would have a clue what I'm talking about. Probably just best to wait for next winter maybe when we can be sure that we're accurate.

Well, I'm from Canada and we had an abnormally warm winter and the ice never got thick enough to go out on safely. As for depth, it would be about 8 feet in the early summer and by fall probably down to 5-6 feet.

Does anyone have any experience installing a permanent course from in the water (as opposed to surveying on the ice and dropping anchors). I'm not looking at a portable course with permanent anchors, I mean individual anchors with sub-buoys on each buoy.

Thanks guys. Now when you talk about where it goes through the log, do you mean where it goes through at the packing nut or farther down the shaft where it actually goes out through the hull? And if we have to shim, what would we use? I'm assuming you would put some sort of caulking around it after...?

As for waternut, thanks for all of the suggestions and advice. Thoughts 1,3 and 4, or a combination of all of them I think is probably what has happened. Great thoughts, I really appreciate it!

That picture that looks like the oil pan is just clearing, isn't. It's actually up through the oil pan. It's a picture from last year's issues that clearly weren't fixed right. The oil pan is original as we found out when we were looking into how to go about fixing the hole in it last year and the engine is original as we have all of the paperwork and everything from when it was new. Like you suggest though, I have wondered about the strut. Thanks for the help!

thanks for your advice though! I am certainly going to challenge him on this and make sure it's aligned properly

he says he uses feeler gauges and he deals with a couple other ski boats as well that I'm sure he's had to realign. I just don't know whether to trust him, or my gut feeling and everyone saying that it's not aligned

 

My thoughts exactly! I've seen this video. Kind of tempted to send it to the mechanic who is working on it who just keeps telling me that it must be the previous owners who must have replaced those bolts and what not cause he insists that it is in alignment...

I am just baffled as to how the engine is sitting so low now, yet it's apparently still in line

Thanks, I'll have a look once things are back in. When you say that though, we noticed this spring that the drive shaft doesn't go right square through the middle of the packing nut, would that have anything to do with it?

 

We bought the boat last year second hand. Can only assume it was this way when we bought it and just didn't notice. It runs fine, no vibration, which is why I find it so odd that the engine is now sitting so low. My thoughts are the the strut is bent or the strut bushing is worn funny causing the drive shaft to come through the boat at a different angle?

 

And what that right angle looks like when the engine is out. It's worn that bolt right down.

 

Here's where the oil pan sits and where the right angle is digging into the hull

 

So if you've seen any of my other posts, I'm sure you can put together, I have a lemon. So the most recent problem is that the transmission blew (probably clutch plates or oil pump). What I'm thinking though is that this has something (or everything) to do with last year's problem when the oil pan went through a bolt on a tracking fin. I'm thinking that the engine alignment isn't right, after all, a boat with under 400 hours shouldn't have to have the transmission rebuilt. The thing is that the people at the shop, when they put the engine back in after the oil pan fiasco assure me that things were aligned right at the coupling. The engine still sits so low that the brass clamp on the hose coming out of the oil pan is digging into the hull. Any ideas as to how to realign things right so that maybe we might be able to get out of this mess before I end up on the streets?

 

Thanks

 

P.S.

Boat: '97 MB Sports Boss LS200

Engine/Transmission: PCM GT-40 EFI 1:1 (Ford 351)

 

 

Last weekend we went to pull someone out of the water and when the boat was put in gear the RPM's shot through the roof but nothing happened. Sounded like the engine was fine, just the transmission was not spinning. It could limp back in reverse (barely). We figured it was the damper plate but after taking it into the shop, they say that the damper plate looks fine. Fluids are fine. It's a PCM GT-40 engine in an '97 MB Sports Boss 200ls. Any ideas what the issue could be?

 

 

Turns out the bolt is pushed up through the oil pan. Anyone have an original oil pan for a PCM GT-40 that they don't need? Or any suggestions for fixing it?