justcuz

All, this boat is still available. If there is someone interested to take it before winter, I'd let it go at $3700. Otherwise price goes back up in the spring! Paying a commission (or donation to a charity of your choice) of $100 as well if a baller initiates the sale.

@Moffattra that's tough to compete with. Can't offer "assets" like that! Fixed link. Thanks.

As many of you probably picked up on my other thread, we've moved on to a different boat. As such our American Skier is for sale in the UP of Michigan. Chevy 350 block, Indmar marine. We're the 3rd owner and have had it for 10 years. We bought the boat with very little hours and have done quite a bit to it since it sat. Every since, it's been a good boat for us and we've made lots of memories. I'd say for 1987, it's pretty much as expected. Asking $4500 but will work with ballers to ensure a fair price. https://up.craigslist.org/boa/d/1987-american-skier-advance/6657094972.html Spread the word if you don't mind!

@UWSkier when we took it for a test drive, she took three swipes with the slalom ski and dropped the rope. I thought "crap...that's not good". She hopped in the boat, didn't say anything and grabbed her trick ski. I was sweating bullets by this point because we drove 7 hours one way to drive this thing. Thought for sure she was going to be pretty bummed. Turns out she didn't want the seller (who was SUPER cool btw) to see how excited she was about the wake. She's a keeper ;-). It's a great boat. We looked at a couple sunsetters too but the hours, location of the sale, and prices just didn't quite match up.

After all this we went with the Supra. Thanks a million for all the input and suggestions. We’re super excited and have put some hours on the boat already. Kids couldn’t wait to wash and wax it!

@bmalec east end as in south entry? Or close to portage Lake? We will look for you. We live right in town on the water so maybe you’ll need a “real” pull behind a “real” craft. No courses right now in town. One in twin lakes and one in lac la belle.

Yes. Going to drive both the Supra and a sunsetter at this point. After which we will re evaluate. The extra length on the sunsetter is pretty compelling. I’ll be interested to drive them both and ski them both.

Nobody get any ideas on that boat. It’s probably mine (haha)

@vtmecheng sounds about right. We tell unbeleivable stories because nobody will come up to validate them

@UWSkier or any of the others that have offered great advise: we're headed out this week to look at a few boats. Couple Sunsetter LXI's, and thanks to another baller we have a couple of 197's. In the meantime anyone know anything about the early 2000's comp LTS similar to this: https://detroit.craigslist.org/mcb/boa/6650034738.html ???

@epnault we live In Houghton. Where ya from!?

@Jmoski the moment was related to seeing some milky oil. I seem to have that licked at though. There are a host of other smaller issues with the boat. The words ticking time bomb come to mind. It's just a boat and it wouldn't ruin our life to not have one, but I wouldn't mind getting ahead of the curve. Sounds like general consensus is to stick with a DD, and one that keeps coming up is the Response or Sunsetter LXI. Might start there.

Thanks all! Will be on the lookout for the above suggestions. That sunsetter for 19k actually seems like a decent deal.

@UWSkier good questions: 1) usually it's the four of us. 2) Kids do bring friends, but we try to limit it to one. Mostly because I'm lazy and don't want to be responsible for other kids. 3) No length requirements, BUT it'd sure be nice if we kept it under 3600# so I don't have to buy a new lift! 4) Wife does lots of trick and swivel skiing. If we could surf it, that would be an enormous plus but I realize that's asking a ton. We do have friends with surf boats but it would be fun. 5) We do run the boat down to our friends (about a 20 minute run at 30mph) regularly. We do not use it for pontooning, however, as we do have one of those. So larger family adventures for dinner cruises usually take place on the pontoon. Thanks!

Story time: 10 years ago we were younger, didn't have kids, and could ski whenever. We purchased a P.O.S. American Skier that we nursed back to life and the thing has been ticking ever sense. It owes us nothing and has been a GREAT ski boat. Wife is a serious/dedicated skier. Grew up with it, skied on a pro level. I ski rather recreationally but really only slalom. I guess I'm fine at it and typically give er' as often as possible. Wife does it all. We have two kids picking up on skiing; one just learning, and the other working on dropping a ski. We go through the "should we get a boat" discussion every year. So hard to justify with a perfectly capable boat that has probably the best 30 to 36mph wake I have EVER seen. But alas, it doesn't come without it's rather significant challenges. This year we had a little "oh shit" moment with our boat and thought it's probably time to start getting a little more serious. We live on a lake. We spend significant time on the water. Wife is off in the summer and they mess around and sends me pictures of them out on the boat during the day while I'm fighting the man for tps reports and pc load letter errors. As such, we would like to get a boat that we'll keep for the next 10,15, or heck...even 20 years. We live in Upper MI (think above Wisconsin and closer to MN). We are completely open to options and have limited criteria: -Prefer less than $25k -Prefer open bow -Prefer less than 600 hours -Please, no projects. I don't have time to take a crap and read BoS as it is. Other than that, we are open to a V drive, direct drive, big, small, pink, blue----whatever. Sorry for the long post. Please send along anything you've seen or even better, something you personally know is available.

So where does the napa 7099 fit into all this? Is that the same as the 1069? Thanks for all the help everyone...good info for a dummy like me :) I just checked my boat and either the longer version or the shorter would fit fine...the shorter version is on there right now.

so does anyone know if a wix 51060 is the same as the napa 1069?

No worries on the question. The block is definitely stamped GM. It's an American Skier with an Indmar, and I've only ever seen the Chevy block in that boat if it's an Indmar. I'll double check again tonight, but yeah...pretty sure it's a 350.

K...this is somewhat frustrating. Can't seem to track down what is the "right" oil filter. I have a Indmar 350 (1987) engine. Napa gave me the 7099 Gold filter, which is equivelant to the Penzoil PZ3 (which I beleive is what Indmar recommends). That said, I had read that's not he case for the older boats. Anyone have any insight as to the best/right filter for a late 80's 350 Indmar? Maybe this really isn't something to get too hung up on...

I stopped buying their skis a few years back when I tried to buy a wrap for an old binding (wanted to keep the ski just for friends, etc...but never heard back from them and the dealer couldn't seem to help. I was looking at a V or a Radar Senate this year and decided, based on that previous experience, that I would just bag it...there are too many good companies out there. I'm sure it was an isolated incident but it's was enough for me...for now.

I get a pain very similar to that that is muscle related. It's in between my shoulder blades, but down just a little bit. When it's painful, I ice the crap out of it every night and morning. If it's a bad one, I've been known to wear one of those Ben Gay patches around the house in the evening. I literally lay on an ice pack before I go to bed for 30 minutes or so. I also do a Ibuprofen rigimen until it goes away, which it always does. I always take a day or two off of skiing, but I've always been under the thought that skiing is actually OK for it...getting up is a nice stretch. If it hurts I don't ski hard, I just stretch it out behind the boat and go for a leisure ski. Never lasts for more than a week. For the record, I have a pinched nerve in my lower back and the two are totally different pains. Pinched nerve is a shooting pain down my back and into my legs...I feel it in my calves, hamstrings, etc. I'm no doc, but I'd try the ice/ibuprofen/stretch thing if I were you. Like....lots of ice.

My boat is an 87 Chevy 350 Inmar. Two years ago I put 15w40 synthetic in there (Mobil 1). This year at the suggestion of my mechanic, I put straight weight in there 0-40 I think. I'm going to change back to the synthetic this year I think. Admittedly I didn't notice much of a difference, but I have it in my head that synthetic will be better in the long run. I was also told by another very, very mechanically inclined person that changing the filter is extremely important every season, but actually changing the oil isn't as crucial. Not sure if I'll live by that logic....but thought I'd throw it out there.

Just thought I'd give an update. I spent yesterday working on form, not worrying about speed, cuts, etc. I did move the front binding back one hole and double checked all measurements with a caliper. Indeed I am not stacked moving through the wake, which I'm betting is by far my biggest issue. I worked hard at pushing my hips forward and keeping my arms at my hips. I have a ton of bad habits to break I think. I also realized, even though I wasn't worrying about speed, I have to ski at 34 for this ski to work right at my weight (just a touch over 200 this AM), otherwise I get some pretty good tip spray. Makes me wonder if I shoulda gone with the 69 but the 67's price was much better. My hope is I will ski into this ski, rather than outskiing a 69. I have no issues getting up (in fact it's easier than my ol' F3), and am enjoying the challenge. Couple times I felt that "oh crap" feeling, but no slide outs and no OTF's! Thanks for the help all, looking forward to working on this for a while. It's safe to say I'm re-learning to slalom ski.

I had to hear all of the above. Thanks so much and keep the comments and criticism rolling. I was somewhat shaken last night, maybe bummed a bit....and worried that I "shoulda" bought the 69" at my weight, but I really bought that ski to progress and I didn't want anything like my F3. Got what I asked for.

Thanks guys. Yes, I have no doubt it's technique. I developed way too many bad habits on a forgiving ski over the past 10 years. I probably waited too long to upgrade. This OTF action happens on my on-side turn as I'm coming over the second wake. Sounds like one thing I need to do for sure is ensure that ski is in front of me.