Ryno

We've gone way off the topic for this thread though! Z-box is great... Buy it!!!

@scotchpman Without speed control you're having to drive the boat with one hand on the wheel. Also did these boats have Hydraulic steering or cable? Honestly, with the cruise control and hydrualic steering on mine, it is no harder to drive through the course that my olds LXi.

@scotchipman The only way you'll be able to assess that (because you don't seem to believe me on how it drives) is to jump in mine and have a drive. But mate, it's not like I'm selling Flightcrafts, hell, they don't even make them anymore!

@OB In Nowra, New South Wales. - it's a couple of hours drive south of Sydney on the coast.

@scotchipman You may be right... But at those rope lengths it doesn't really matter what the wake is like as you are so close to the boat. If you read my earlier posts, I'm not trying to say my boat should be the new tournament standard. I'm just saying for the money it's a bloody good ski boat, and in my circumstances I have to use an outboard - so it's just fortunate that it skies as good as it does.

@OB Yes it is that good. Other boats I've skied behind (regularly) in the last 12 months include: 2004 Malibu LXi (My parents boat) 2011 Ski Nautique 200OB (Auckland Waterski club boat) 2009 Mastercraft X7 (mates boat) The worst wake out of these in my opinion is the X7, followed by the LXi, then my Flightcraft, then the Nautique.

@jipster43 Local dealers in Australia seem to have their hands tied in trying to compete with pricing in the US. Maybe the Australian distributor takes too much of a cut before shelling the product out to dealers, or maybe a container load of ski gear from the states just ends up doubling the price. Whatever the reason here is an example: A mate of mine runs a ski shop here in Australia, I bought a wakeboard with bindings from Wileys about 18 months ago (when the dollar was a little weaker than it is now) and with shipping it turned out to be $50 cheaper than his 'cost' price here in Australia. Now I'm all for supporting our local dealers as they are promoting this sport here in Oz, however it's not fair on him to make almost no margin to be competitive. With the world wide web making international purchasing so much more accessible, the distributors here in Australia need to work out how to be more competitive.

@jodyseal When I purchased my Stargazer kit from perfect pass 18 months ago, they didn't make an outboard specific kit. So I just purchased a generic mechanical throttle kit and fabricated the attachment that connects it to the throttle. I seriously doubt you'll start seeing new outboard boats enter the market and start to be used at tournaments due to the standard now being inboards. Though if someone is after a cheap boat to get into tournament skiing, I've seen similar vintage Flightcraft's (in the states) sell for around $8k. Then once you slap P/P with Z box on for around $1.5k, and you've got yourself an awesome boat that puts out a better wake than almost all current boats on the market. If a company was to start making a similar hull with my kind of setup, and a modern 4 stroke outboard, the running costs would be a lot less due to the fuel saving alone.

@OB 58kph and the 13m is the shortest we've used so far, but that's a limit on our talent - not the boats! @skihart Yes I installed it all myself. My model flightcraft doesn't have tracking fins, but tracking down the course doesn't seem to be an issue due to the rear mounted ski pole and the amount of hull I run in the water. If you click on my avatar you'll see what I mean by how much hull is in the water the the outboard trimmed all the way down. @6balls I initially had some dramas in using wakeboard mode, but this was due to the KDW value being too high. The stock setting is 80, but once I dialed that down to 50 the speed control at slower speeds became spot on. I think it helps that my engine is fuel injected with these slower speeds, as I know carburetor-ed engines can be a nightmare to drive at trick speeds due to the power delivery low down.

Probably the inboard mafia spreading rumors! ; ) Mine has the ski pole just in front of the outboard, and it tracks fine through the course.

@6balls When slaloming behind my boat I make sure the engine is trimmed all the way down, so it drives the bow of the boat into the water and makes the wake as small as possible. If you were lifting the bow on that other Flightcraft, it must have had the engine trimmed up a bit, as the bow doesn't budge on mine. The speed control works really well, and with a few more tweaks (as the standard settings are all designed around inboards) it will only get better. The great thing about the Flighty is that it weighs around 500kg less than a SN200, so that all helps in putting out a small wake.

@skihart Yes it has a mechanical throttle and the servo mounts underneath the engine cover without any clearance issues. See Photos: http://static.cl1.vanilladev.com/ballofspray.vanillaforums.com/uploads/FileUpload/75/782d5554f0c1b1f8046e26cb1cea12.jpg http://static.cl1.vanilladev.com/ballofspray.vanillaforums.com/uploads/FileUpload/d8/c0a2fb6e1f3b20f8b08abd0adc4d5e.jpg

Yep, the lake where I have my slalom course doesn't have a proper boat ramp (and is only about 5 feet deep throughout) so you can't really get an inboard off the trailer. My Flightcraft 18XL has a better wake than most inboards anyway, so with the Perfect pass it's a pretty sweet setup.

Just had mine on the water for the first time. The upgrade is definitely worthwhile. My boat has an outboard, so I'll need a few more tweaks to get it perfect. However for an open water slalom run, my boat (with standard stargazer) used to vary speed by + or - 2 kph. With the Z box it now varies by less than 1 kph, and feels much more solid when you're loading the line.

@auskier - If you can give me the details of this Aussie retailer that can get close to matching the price in the US, I'm all ears. But my local retailer (in Nowra) can't get close, so I'd have to get it freighted from within Australia anyway and that's going to add to the price. In any case this isn't really the issue at hand. The thing that annoyed me was when I messaged RADAR in the US about the sides of my boots (around the logo) falling apart, they said back that it is only a cosmetic issue and won't effect the performance of the boot. Maybe I'm the odd one out on here, but I take pride in my ski gear, and when you buy a premium product (like a top of line Strada boot) you expect that they shouldn't look like a homeless mans shoe after less than a years use.

@eddie roberts jr. The Australian Dollar is stronger than the US Dollar at the moment and has been very close to parity for the last couple of years, yet the price disparity between Radar product sold over here and in the US is massive. I can get a Strada boot from the States for $219 US, where as over here it is around $375 US. Multiply that by two for both boots, and even with shipping from the states, you'll save over $200 US to buy direct from the US. In any case it shouldn't matter where the product is purchased, the manufacturer should stand by it's product, and in this case the boot is clearly defective - The 2012 design seems to have been changed to rectify these issues. Another point to note is that my local distributor of RADAR products, doesn't even keep the Strada boot is stock, as they sell so few 'tournament spec' items.

I've had the same drama's with warranty issues with the RADAR Strada boots I have (liners shrinking and Radar logo on the boot falling apart). As I'm in Australia it'll cost too much money to return them to the US - I'll be better off buying a different brand that has better support for international customers.

Just installed mine; it was very straight forward. Should have the boat on the water Saturday, so hopefully it goes well.

Very seldom are the conditions perfect on the Yarra. Aaron is one of the most consistent guys in challenging conditions, so fingers crossed he'll make it three in a row!

There used to be a really good page on the www.schnitzskis.com website which covered how each fin change you make will effect the ski through the course. But unfortunately it looks like that page has been removed and he now charges for that information. It's a shame.

I've got an upgrade arriving here in Australia at the middle of next week. I'll post on here how it works out.

I hope this is what you're after. As you can see by the photo's, I use Superfeet in-soles underneath the liner.

I use Fluid Motion liners in my Strada Shells, as my Strada liners shrunk too much and I didn't want to risk another set of stock liners doing the same thing. I painted Plast-Dip on the seams to protect the lining from wear and it also helps the liner slide out of the boot like stock. Very happy with the change in liners, much more comfortable than stock and by getting the liner with the velcro strap on top, I don't have to have the boot laces as tight to feel secure.

The thing that is going to shift people's thinking toward buying electric vehicles, is the price of petrol... Period! Most people probably realize the "Hoax" behind the Prius being good for the environment (refining Nickel for the batteries etc). And sure some people have bought them because they use a little less fuel, but only suckers have bought one thinking they're saving the planet. It's great news that Nautique are currently looking into this technology though, as although there's probably not much of a market for an electric boat now, there will be in 10 years or so when fuel prices start going through the roof.

Looks like the GFC skipped Arizona!