escmanaze

I have hit our Wally buoys now a couple times and so far so good. I will note, though, that I think I inflated them correctly, in that they weren't even a full round shape when I was done, they still had that little bit of "pucker" that @skibug mentions. To the point that @RGilmore is trying to make, it took months, many months, for the little ridge to go away. I decided not to care, and just let the little ridge be there, but it really did take a long time to finally go away.

Sad to hear @SkiJay is not on this site anymore. Would love to know what happened...but...don't want to stir up a hornets nest either.

I'll be one of those folks hating on the long line slow speed wakes of the 197, but I will say this: That is the sexiest ski boat EVER created.

Well, yes it does indeed seem like a nice boat, but keep in mind that there has to be some reason that it is still "for sale" and not "sold". My guess here is that price. I will be really surprised if that boat sells for 16.9. I'll be elated, as it can only help the value of my SNOB down here in Utah, but very surprised. If this Prostar really does have the lower pricing that it appears it should, that will begin to finally put a lot of downward pressure on the pricing for the whole market. Frankly, the market kind of needs that right now.

My little 7 year old girl is pretty particular about how things go. So she puts the skis on on the deck standing up with the fins hanging over the water. Then, when she's in, we face each other, she bends over, then I bend over her and grab my hands around her stomach and lift her feet up. I then rotate and put her in the water feet first. It might sound funny, but it works great. If she was older and heavier, I would just force her to put the skis on while just sitting on the deck, or be really aggressive and just do the one foot jump like RTP guys do getting in. But I'm pretty sure she'll be on 1 ski before she gets very heavy.

@Horton I can give you a plus 1 on the mountains east of Arvin being brutal. in 2012 I had a sweet 92 suburban and I used it to tow the boat away from the Arvin lakes back to Utah. That mountain pass to the east was absolutely brutal, and I'm pretty sure it was the main factor in the head being discovered to be significantly warped shortly after. And that was in September, I can only imagine July. With that being said, don't forget about the 1/2 ton offering from both Toyota and Nissan. Which of the 4 would I choose? The one with the fewest MPG gimmicks. I don't want cylinders shutting down. I don't want the engine turning off at stoplights. I really don't even want a turbo. I just want a big old engine with a decade or so of refinement at the factory with no gimmicks. Just big power and poor gas mileage!! Right now, the Nissan and Toyota seem to be built more that direction. I have a Nissan Frontier. All the car review magazines hate it. They sit and cry about how it needs to be updated. I LOVE that it hasn't been updated. Just an old school truck. Exactly how I like it.

@UWSkier Oh, ok, yup, I just reread it now and I see how I misunderstood. Thanks for the clarification.

@UWSkier Did you just say that the SSLxi wakes are better than a 200? Really? I don't think I've skied even a response that had better wakes than a 200 let alone a sunsetter. I understand that the SSLXi is an amazing boat, but to say it has better wakes than the 200 does not reflect the experience I have had anyway.

Also, I will disagree with @keithh2oskier that the mastercraft of that age will be an equally good ski boat. 2002-2013 MCs are fairly well known for having a larger wake than the competitors especially for slower speed longer line skiers and it sounds like your boat will be full of mostly slower speed longer line skiers.

If you stay on the market long enough, you should be able to find a 2010+ Ski nautique 200 with an open bow for under $40k. It will definitely only have a 5.7 engine, but for your purposes that will be fine and it will likely have quite a few hours on it. But it is there if you look hard enough and wait around long enough. If you don't want to look that hard or wait that long, then Malibu had the open bow walk through way back to the early 2000's, so across their models, you should see a nice linear scale of age and hours vs. price. Meaning: for malibu, 40k won't be a "weird pricing point" as @keithh2oskier mentions. You won't have to look as hard and wait as long to find an open bow malibu response right in your price range. And the case could easily be made that it's a boat better suited for open water anyway. Also, a separate note and some input you didn't ask for - if you are taking larege-ish groups out onto public water, I would highly recommend looking for one with a tower. A tower makes big group public water life SOO much better. But, adding the tower requirement will make it even harder to find a SN200 for under 40k, and will push you even more toward a malibu given that price constraint. I love Nautique. I own a Nautique. But it sounds to me like the right boat for your situation is a malibu. Something like this boat being a good starting point to begin your research. https://www.ski-it-again.com/php/skiitagain.php?endless=summer&topic=Search&category=Boat_3Event&postid=53792

If this ad represents at all honestly what the boat is, it would be at the top of my list. Right here in the valley and with the big engine to make up for elevation. Being in Utah I assume it more likely than normal that you might want a tower and I might actually know a guy who would probably ditch his for a reasonable price. https://classifieds.ksl.com/listing/55906270

@Martin1980 I had the same thought the other day. I'm suddenly legitimately concerned that this could be the boat that finally makes Malibu throw in the towel and say screw it. I hope not of course. "Be careful what you wish for" right?

Here is ours. https://utahwaterski.blogspot.com/p/club-rules-course-maintenance.html?fbclid=IwAR3jZqP6eUzD6f2oJBTZWkwomQG0hRkKinVwoXZRpNpcUSXsMBH-Rx0BTcI

If he has money for a new boat, then a Prostar seems to be the best among current models. I would actually suggest that the Prostar is a tiny bit better than my bubble butt, but both of them have absolutely fantastic wakes. TXi wake is bigger at those speeds/lengths, but typical for malibu is also pretty soft. 200 is just a bit bigger than mine, but not very soft. That's been my experience anyway. I haven't been able to rip the new Nautique, so I can't place it in there anywhere. I've also still never skied a carbon pro, so I can't comment on that either.

@Roger Thanks for the reply. It didn't actually happen that it ever hung up in there, it just kept "dropping into the indent" as you mention and every time it did my brain would go on red alert and get all scared. But you're right, it did just pop out every time as well. It sounds like, combined, you guys have thousands of iterations and no problems, so that explains to my why they didn't "fix" it for the 2021 model...cause it wasn't broken!! Thanks guys, that actually puts my mind at ease.

So I got an opportunity to spend a day on a 2018 a couple weeks ago. Obviously a fabulous boat. But I did have one way it would seem that it could have been made better. I currently own a 97 bubble butt, and one of the most beautiful things about it is how the rope so easily just flows off the side and the back corner of the boat after stopping and then getting back to going straight. I'm not sure any boat has ever done as well at this task as the bubble butt, so I don't want to hold the prostar to that standard. However, when I was out on the prostar, the #1 place for the rope to get caught was always right at that little indent where the gas can is. So it's bad enough for the rope to not slide right off the back. But it seems a lot worse for it to possibly get caught up on something really really important and seemingly somewhat delicate as a gas cap. Again, I've only spent one day on it. I'm curious to hear from folks on this topic who have spent a lot more time. I wonder why the gas cap couldn't at least just go on the other side.

Also, Joel says I have a "pretty nice ski site at the bottom of some massive mountains" in case you want to ski the scum on Utah Lake. It's...uh...quite the experience. You're better off taking up Chipman on his offer for Stillwater - it's beautiful up there, but if something goes wrong there, Utah Lake might be a decent backup.

Also, just looking at your map, maybe a hybrid is best. From Utah, go to I-70, but then stay on I-70 until Denver. I have seen some lakes in Grand Junction. Likely you could get something there. Plus that I-70 drive through Colorado is WAY prettier than the I-80 drive through Wyoming. Also, to get to I-70, use Highway 6 instead of I-15 or Hwy 89 like your map shows now. That's what I would do anyway.

@TEL Scot Chipman asked me to post for him on this thread. He's a great guy on a great site and would be up for a pay for pull out at stillwater in Syracuse, UT while you are here in the valley. Hit me up, if you're interested, on a PM and I can get you contact info.

Dude, don't even think twice. Honesty is ALWAYS the best policy. I absolutely appreciate the honesty. Imagine how sad life would be if I missed out on a terrific possible opportunity to be a better skier because you felt you had to spare me some feelings. Absolutely no apologies necessary. All love. Thanks tons.

Thanks tons Joel!!! You are the man. I really appreciate the help. For those wondering, His Description on this video said to submit to him for feedback, so I did down in the comments, give him the link to my youtube video. He then put together his video, embedded mine, and gave me feedback here at this video. Super awesome. Thanks again Joel!!!

Yes yes yes, you should upgrade. When you say you "just like making some hard cuts" that makes me think that my position paper might just apply to you as well and that you might likely will be the most happy with a ski toward the top of the line typical labeled as "course" skis even though you don't ski the course. You can find it here. It's somewhat controversial, but worth considering nonetheless. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-NiENHZt0sC7WDBaeVk6QK9OJzQ4-DYISGE1h_PPjPI/edit

IMO, excellent choice. If your experience is anything like mine, the move from old rubber bindings to new modern bindings will have literally 0 downside and will be nothing but awesome. I didn't feel one bit like I had to re-learn to ski. I just felt like I had a really comfy binding that was easy to get into and wonderful. I hope you have the same experience.

Does anybody know if you can somehow ditch the raised lettering on the sides? I really don't want to try to keep all those cracks and crevices clean.

Goodness Gracious this boat seems like it has some real potential to be really amazing. If they keep those same soft small wakes at slow speeds and long lines, then at these prices shown, this just seems like an absolute winner. I'm not sure I've ever been more tempted to just be absolutely financially irresponsible and just get one configured exactly how I want it and just throw caution to the wind and order one. I really want to see some slow speed long line wakes.