Waternut

Can't really make that decision for you. However, I will say that with you skiing 32mph in the course, you need to make sure you aren't on the upper limit of the weight range especially with the vapor. Minimum recommended speed for the Vapor is 32mph so if you ski that speed or slower in the course and you're at orabove the recommended weight limit, it's going to be a handful and you may never progress.

@Stejcraftben You have a bit of a walk through bow so that bimini can work. For us LX guys, you have to climb over the dash to get into the bow which would put people on their hands and knees...................Hmmm...I've just suddenly started thinking about how awesome a bimini top would be when the girls want to get in the bow seating. o:) I have a standard bimini top that I used once before putting a tower on. IMO the bimini is great for course skiing for only a couple people. For open water with 4+ people, the bimini is a real PITA. Then again I'm a morning or evening skier so it's kind of rare that I'm out midday when the sun is really bad.

I think a lot of it depends on your skiing style. If you're a smooth and clean skier, the shorter ski will likely work well for you. If you move around a lot, having the extra support of a bigger ski may help you and be more forgiving/tolerant.

@Mundo I run the white cuff boot and have the flexion brake on the most restrictive setting since that's about all the flex my ankle has anyway. I used to use the thick liner but it started falling apart so I switched to an intuition heat molded liner which is a bit stiffer.

The black shell offers a little more resistance moving forward which is the major benefit as seen by many people. However, most people who modify the black shell remove the plastic creating that resistance making it more like a white cuff without the flexion brake. I messed up my ankle pretty bad by continuously over flexing the black shell after modifying mine. The white cuff is free to move forward and back without much friction and there is an adjustable limiting strap to help prevent ankle injuries. Haven't tried the new Supershell but my understanding is it's basically a slightly stiffer white cuff shell with a few bells and whistles that some people feel promote stability. I feel as though they don't do anything but that's my opinion.

@wtrskior I'll respectfully disagree on many levels. First off, every single piece of water sports equipment has the same stupid warning of "we're not liable, for experiences skiers only, blah blah blah." So to say Reflex's statement is more sincere than every other company out there is purely a matter of opinion. As for harder falls at faster speeds and shorter line lengths... I agree that the potential for harder falls is there. However, experience reigns in once you're getting into 32, 35 off and beyond and better decisions are made, better posture has been developed, and I will say that you start to learn when you can push and when you should give up. You aren't going to pull like there's no tomorrow for 3 ball like you did at 30 mph and 15off because you now know that there is a tomorrow and you might not participate tomorrow if you go for it. So yes...3 broken ribs and a torn IT band all happened at 30 mph and below. I may have gotten a slightly sore ankle after getting the Reflex but that's about the worst I've had at 36mph, 34mph and up to 35off.

As someone who teaches 10-20 new friends waterskiing or wakeboarding every summer, I'd have to say that most women are just less aggressive and more reserved when it comes to pushing their limits. I personally don't care whether people want to do wakeboarding or waterskiing so long as they do something besides sitting in the boat or tubing (which is potentially grounds for un-friending people in my book). I've taught several girls how to slalom ski and could get most of them up on one ski pretty quickly but getting them to carry any angle or speed into the wake is tough. Same with wakeboarding...getting them up and getting them to jump isn't hard but getting them to clear the wake is like pulling teeth. It takes a special kind of girl to go push the limits and eat it hard only to get back up and try again. They're out there and they're awesome but out of 50+ girls I've had out on my boat over the years, I know maybe 2-3 that are go-getters and do really well and maybe 3-4 more than have actually progressed beyond what they learned the first or second time out. @mcvoska There are lots of athletic yet attractive bikini's out there. They're a bit harder to find and probably not as "cute" but they are definitely out there and the girls I know love them. When all else fails...a girl rocking a one piece on a ski is more attractive than a bikini babe laying on the beach who won't get her hair wet.

I also recommend Reflex. Some guys say they're more for advanced skiers but I disagree. Some of the worst and most damaging falls I took were while learning the course at slow speeds and long line lengths. If I had had a Reflex boot at the time, I don't think I would've gotten as hurt as all in the majority of those crashes.

What about just running the one in the link @oldjeep posted and buying a 60° silicone hose like this. http://www.siliconeintakes.com/60-silicone-bend/silicone-60-p-339.html

We're still skiing until about 7:30 here but there is about 30 minutes around 6:00 where we can't see either the gates or 1, 3 balls. I know they are where they're supposed to be but I'm usually not where I'm supposed to be so it makes it tough.

Any of the slalom modes will be fine for free skiing. You have to set up every speed you plan to use with the proper rpm settings. Read the manual on setting up slalom speeds and it'll take 5-10 minutes to set up the speeds. It's not hard and you certainly don't need a real slalom course or even a virtual slalom course...that just adds complexity. As for Zbox for open water....I'm not sure it'd be worth it. I've skied ZO boats and can feel the difference in settings and I can feel the difference between -, n, +, and ++ settings in PP when in the course. However, when I change the PP settings in open water, I can tell something is different but I can't tell what it is.

Waterskiing is great for the whole family because it gets you wet.

Agreed....cut your own slot calipers. It's not hard. I took a die grinder and a semi-steady hand to mine. The slot is a little wider than the fin but I tried measuring straight on and at a slight angle and got the same reading. $10 for the calipers and I keep those custom slot calipers zeroed at 1.583". These slip off that zero every few times I use them but if you used the real slot calipers as your primary set, you'd have to zero them every time so not a big deal in my mind. A little ugly but they've been working great for over 3 years.

Incredibly expensive calipers are only as accurate as the conditions they're used in. You do have to remember that metal expands and contracts with temperature. The aluminum fin probably changes the most but I doubt you'd get more than 0.001" or 0.002" difference. The caliper jaws themselves won't move much but all the chips, capacitors, and other fancy electronics built into these things can start going nuts when they're outside of their calibrated temperature zone. Dial calipers use tiny gears and teeth to count revolutions but even those can give bad pretty dimensions in the wrong environment. We use a lot of fancy measuring devices at work but at home I rock the harbor freight calipers. Say what you will but when measured inside my house where I keep my ski's and never more than 5-6 degree swing, I've never been more than 0.0005" off of my starting measurements even after 3-4 weeks of using the ski. If I'm more than 0.001", I'll double check and reset the zero and it'll give me a perfect dimension again.

Probably just caught on an edge. Maybe put a screwdriver down in there so you can pull it down and sideways rather than up. Might be enough to get it past whatever it's hanging on.

I'll add one more thing. It PROBABLY doesn't affect perfect pass. If it's a multi-line display, it definitely doesn't. If it's got an old single line display, some of those actually used the pitot probes for non-slalom speeds instead of the paddle wheel. Depending on your perfect pass setup, it may still be using those switches but I suspect they aren't.

Had one in my boat. Our water gets to low-mid 50's in the winter. I liked shooting warm water into my ski boots before jumping in and warming my feet up after skiing. However, it was too much of a pain to deal with and was time consuming and messy. Put on neoprene socks and pulled it out of the boat. No more waiting for rusty water to come out, no more running the boat while stationery just for warmer water, and no more leaky hoses and nozzles soaking my ski locker all year long.

How about having the oil drain tube fall off the engine while skiing. Oil was gushing out of the engine and I plugged it as best I could with what I had in the boat. Managed to limp it home on a semi-slow 2 minutes drive watching the oil pressure. It was low but didn't go down to zero. Probably only had 1-2 quarts left in the engine and the engine was starting to back off power. Fixed the hose, refilled the engine with oil and continued skiing the rest of the day. I figured the damage was already done at that point so no harm in trying to salvage the day. Ended up running that engine 3-4 more months until winter when I could rebuild it.

Carquest Part number 398001. Costs about $25 at advance auto and fits right inside the existing heatercraft box. Use the coupon codes and you'll get it for even less. Both barbs are 5/8" and I think the heatercore one has a 5/8" and a 1/2" barb if memory serves correctly. The smaller hose will slide on but might take you a few extra minutes. I've been running mine for 3-4 years without any issues and another guy has been running his for 2-3 years as well. We're both happy.

I say put a 6"-8" riser between a shorter persons boot and their ski and let's see how they ski....Other than them not being used to being that high up or having such a high center of gravity, I'd say that's more fair than giving them 6"-8" of extra rope.

Searchtempest is a fantastic site! Checks all the craigslist sites in a specified distance and eliminates the ones with no hits. It also gives you a bit of an idea of who is being a jerk and listing their stuff and on every site within like 200 miles of them...these guys usually seem to be less flexible on price and usually don't know squat about their boat.

I think it's much less of an issue than we make it out to be. I've come close a few times but I haven't touched 38off in the course yet so hard for me to speak from experience. I do feel we all want to blame things on aspects of our lives we can't control. Rock climbers always say being tall gives a huge advantage but when I ask a short climber to hang on to lower holds that are awkward for me because I'm taller, they can't do that either. Yet I know a couple skinny 5' tall girls who can climb stuff that I haven't even dreamed of attempting.

One way to eliminate that steering cable issue is a small hydraulic pump, electric assist, or steering by wire for power steering. I'm sure steering by wire would scare people but throttle by wire scared people as well and it's been reliable. I think the biggest hurdle for that will be driver feel. We want a firm/loaded steering wheel at speed through the course but being able to throw the wheel 2-3 rotations at idle is massively convenient.

I would at least check the shift linkage and make sure it's moving properly. I'd also change the fluid. $15 in fluid and an hour or so is worth it before calling that transmission toast. I would think the engine would overheat long before the transmission.