escmanaze

@eleeski "If "cheaping out" only affects maximum power by 4%, are you really willing to pay a 20% extra cost for 4% of an engine's power" Yes. For sure yes. Absolutely. Gas probably totals 10% of what I spend on my waterskiing addiction each year. So a 20% price increase in gas makes my overall cost of skiing go up a whopping 2%. I literally promise I won't notice - and it's not cause I'm filthy rich or anything like that either.

I can't imagine spending the money I spend to be a skier and then cheaping out on my gas when the manual clearly states / recommends otherwise. Wow!!! I can understand putting in lesser gas, if the good stuff is hard to find or is a really significant detour to get to. Here in Utah (4,500 feet) 88 ethanol free is very easy to find. But 91 ethanol free is very difficult to find. I get really picky and insist on 91 for my brand new snowmobiles, but I'm willing to just roll with 88 ethanol free for my 25 year old boat. What I really really can't understand is actually physically bringing a keg of gas to give to the boat owner as payment for the tow. I would personally just prefer to sponsor a buddy a tow and do him a solid than to throw his "mystery liquid" in my beloved baby. Different strokes for different folks I guess. Crazy how different we can be and still (hopefully) get along.

Simple Colors!! With a Tower!!! Yes!!! Now I just gotta find some darn money!!

Well, shoot, as long as we are talking about fit and shaft angles, I just realized I have a whole new problem. My bubble butt is the open bow variety. I'm told the shaft angle therefore changes and stuff. Is there a track record for folks successfully re-powering an open bow bubble butt? Or are all the past case studies the closed bow kind? Thanks

@lpskier @MISkier Thanks for the replies. It seems to me that the ZBS concept is great for allowing people to shorten the rope before they get to their max speed. It seems to me that it is less great if/when it allows folks to go over the max speed and gain 6 balls because of it. To the extent that this is possible, then it seems like that might be the best part of the rule to get rid of instead of just throwing the whole baby out with the bathwater.

The OP mentions a concept where you opt to go 3 kph faster than your age division "max speed" Is that a part of ZBS? I kinda thought ZBS only went one way - slower. I didn't know you could use ZBS to go faster than your age division "max speed". Suddenly kinda ruins the whole "max speed" concept and makes me start putting it in quotes. Clarification?

It would be hard for me to pay the same for a boat that is 5 years older. On that alone, I would probably veer toward the 196. The 196 would be a little better for better skiers and the PS would be a little better for less advanced skiers, but even those differences seem pretty minimal. To me the blue book value should be a good $2k or so less for the 5 year older PS, and that means something.

New Prostar seems to be the obvious choice. 2014 or newer.

I agree that slowing down is definitely the way to go. If you are getting 2 balls at 32 mph, then you ought to be able to make it at 28 with a fairly small amount of practice just to get the timing right etc. BUT, then the problem is your current ski will likely feel like it is just sinking when you are going that slow, so you probably do need a little bigger ski in order to feel right when going slower.

Wow!! That's pretty darn good. Nice!!!

Correct, you are putting too much thought into it. You have asked the question of whether folks like the Honda Accord better, or the Toyota Camry. The answer is both are wonderful. I happen to have the TRA just because we are a Radar family, not a HO family. It's wonderful. As expected. Kids omni would also probably be wonderful. My small slight preference is that I don't like HO's "direct connect" system that they use.

For clarification I will disagree with @Chef23 I have skied several early 2000s response LX. While their wake is nothing I will spend much time complaining about, it is definitely not as small and soft as my 97 SNOB.

If you already have a 2002, then anything else will be almost negligible and not really worth the hassle of switching boats. Yes, a 97 SN might be a touch better or a 94 prostar might be a touch better, but not worth buying and selling a boat and now have an older boat level of better.

@thager Thanks. Now I gotta go give myself a quick tutorial on how to sell stuff on ebay. Ha ha ha!!

@thager Is evilpay your pet name for ebay?

Yeah, actually it's the same space where I'm seeing guys pay big bucks for these vertical airs that they are also paying even bigger bucks for the old Maha.

So I happened across one of these skis and picked it up. From what I understand they are rare and desirable and go for a pretty steep premium. Does anybody know if this is still the case and if so, what it is about them that is so desirable?

@DaveD I think a more accurate way of saying it is that they attenuate but they do not eliminate. Really though, that's all you could possibly expect of such an item.

Ha ha ha!!! That's kind of what I decided. When I saw it, I was like "oh shoot, it's basically barely a step above half of a set of combos. But the price was $25 and I decided that if you don't like it...great, bring your own ski next time!! I mean, not exactly like that maybe, but at least for a time, yeah it will have to be good enough as a boat ski. I did buy it, so I can put up some pics just for the sake of history and research.

Thanks for posting that graph. It's fascinating.

I bought my boat in the fall of 2012. That graph makes me feel pretty good about having gotten a decent deal in a buyer's market. I'm pretty darn certain I could sell my boat for more than I paid right now.

Hi Folks, I'm looking for just a simple basic boat ski to keep folks off of my ski. I found what seems to be a great deal on an HO response. Anybody remember anything about this ski? Thanks

@RAWSki I'm not daring anybody to do anything. I'm just simply stating what is going on in my life in relation to my current boat and my current dream boat. But also, while we are here, I do have to say one thing: "hasn't sold" seems like an awfully oversimplified way of describing the recent history of this market. And then to add on "several times"? Case study 1 is carbon pro. What is case study #2? Let alone "several times"?

@swc5150 Yup, right on point. With a little effort, my 97 SNOB fits right into my garage like a glove, and I tow it around with my Nissan Frontier. I would love to upgrade to a new prostar, but the cost isn't just the difference in boat costs - it ends up being also the difference in needing to build an extra detached garage...which I want to do regardless...but realistically, I can't upgrade to a prostar until that garage is built...so add on another $100k for that project. Yikes.

Towers are still better though. All that storage.