BraceMaker

A thing to make sure you understand - While windchill does not change the temperature of a physical object - that is 27 degree air, be it stationary or 40mph wind will chill metal/water to 27 degrees. The rate at which it will chill metal/water to 27 degrees is influenced by the windchill factor - So if you have lots of airflow, it can be possible for blockwarmers, light bulbs and the like to be overwhelmed by the windchill. Cutting that down can really help a lightbulb do the job. But I would still dump the water if you aren't going to be using it reliably.

@purdueskier dunno if its really boilermaker gold. Indiana is Nautique country ain't it?

My lady friend points out that the colors are the new south african colors...

Harlequin VW - http://jalopnik.com/assets/resources/2008/07/Ten-Color-HarlVW.jpg Harlequin Cat - http://snoopercat.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Snoopy-Sand-Kitties.jpg Harlequin SN-200. It fits.

@KTM300 - perhaps he just needs the soundtrack to make BOS just normal enough.

I've always liked the AM swerved logo personally - Symmetrical.

Wileycoyote a big hazard of letting go with slack is the risk of your hand going through the handle. And tossing or throwing a handle can make it bounce off the water. There have been a number of arm amputations and some deaths from going into the handle. Hence the various handle guard products.

Presumably your handle. I have an old one hanging in my rafters for toughening up my hands.

Tie a rope to your basement plumbing.

@eurosport - Its a really good price for the bindings/ski. However be aware that the e-series has some moving parts, which are find for most adults, but if you don't want to be adjusting your kids stuff for him every set, I would probably go for a simpler binding, of course I was that age riding a too big for me ski and broke my leg, so perhaps it could be a good idea.

It kind of grows on you. For the appropriate amount of not spending money, I would proudly have it on the lift.

Bookmark this: http://www.ski-it-again.com/php/skiitagain.php?topic=Search&category=Jr_Equip Watch it regularly. Don't go 350 on that revolt though. You can go new with Wiley's for 280. https://www.wileyski.com/shopproductdetail.asp?prodID=4385&catID=92

Do you think a firm rubber tubing over the first ~6 feet from the handle would reduce some of the tendency of the handle to "wrap" around things?

Little further up the ski it would have been around your boot! Makes me wonder if it might not be the worst to have someone pin slalom skiers too.

@tfriess, don't worry the ladies were pretty scared off while that guy lubed his bindings, applied his glove liners and gloves, donned a neoprene beanie, a wetsuit, a vest, his spray leg, and his neoprene eardrum protector, Then ROCKED out some slalom skiing. Way sexier than struggling out of pull over vest.

With arm chafe only solution I have found is to wear a long sleeve heater top for a few days till it works itself out. @ThePantsManCan - Sharing one vest! nothing like putting on a dry vest. I have two in the boat usually, but will normally just leave my vest on after skiing if I plan to ski again.

Embarrassingly, normally a cell phone. I have a brother who has a DSLR, and another one is slated for a GoPro christmas gift... - selfish +1

There is technique to the pull over - just need to grab the bottom corner in the back and pull it over your head sideways. Works fine - I dont' really like em that much - but they are OK. Nice if like me you tend to get rashed forearms off the webbing if you ski TOO MUCH.

Very nice work there. Did you get a bottoming tap to get to the bottom of the inserts? Or does the stud bind up so it stays put?

@Gaj0004 - Heck if you have a boat on the lift anyway.... just get a ratcheting come along, lower your craddle all the way, ratchet the lift up using the bouyancy of your boat, then put the wheel kit on, lower it back down and tow it up on shore. Pier pleasure lifts will sell you a post to stick in the ground on shore so you can use a rope strung through it and you pull the lift up with your boat. Or you can use my method which requires a high lift offroading jack and wheel kit.

@ShaneH - Good luck getting them to travel to Northern Michigan~!

I'm a bad person to ask about the effort. I have shells on my coffee table, cuffs on my couch, ratcheting buckles, t nuts and hardware spread out. And just put some new skate boots on my FM plates. So for me its just fun. Even if you don't like this stuff so much, these systems don't have that much hardware, good assembly and your screws won't back out. Reflex has the user manual on the website. I don't think there is much in terms of home servicability on a silvretta unit.

Set up on the Reflex is pretty uninvolved in my book, largely because they have plates with holes, not slots, for positioning of the Toe loop and the heel release. You look at your shell to get the number, then you put the toe loop and the heel release on the plate, torque the screws down. Then you have the binding shell itself, which of course you make sure is assembled, and importantly, make sure the liner and shell are comfortable, thermoformable liners are nice if you have feet like mine - stradas have em too. I thermoform my own liners, but I have infared ovens at work. There is a published number for the heel ledge height, but I don't think this is even really an adjustment on Reflex boots. Maybe it used to be, but I think now its just worth a quick check with your caliper. Then I would look at the chart for a recommended release number, it is based on weight primarily. Put it to that number, then do some releases of the boot before you ski it, make sure on good hard tugs you don't feel like you're breaking your foot, the boot, or your ankle. And that's where you start skiing, thing is you also want to make sure you aren't so light on the number that you prerelease, or so heavy that you sprain your ankle. No such thing as a miracle binding. And you need to adjust all your buckle tensions, and mark them so you use the same everytime. Otherwise somedays you have edge control and somedays you do not.

Interesting about the boots rocking off the ski. FM for instance uses a pin release in the rear of the 66 binding system, but they also have velcro under the middle of the binding plate, which keeps the bindings engaged to the ski during static activity with a low retentive force. Their Revo/silvretta systems use a toe block or toe clamp to keep the front of the boot down, and then it is clamped down in the rear to keep it engaged to the ski. Reflex uses toe loop and silvretta heel - also stops rocking by holding the boot to the ski. Think you could snap a pic of the boots coming up? I would be curious if perhaps they are coming up because you are capable of putting edge forces into the ski which would just roll the ski when on water, but of course... ski on solid ground. One thing about setting up the Silvretta heels regardless of who made the binder (reflex, ski tech, quantum, fm, Mountaineering/Downhill) - you have to bear in mind that the silvretta system essentially allows you to set up almost any boot onto the binding. Folks used to take welted hiking boots and clamp them under silvrettas to do back country skiing. When used in watersport they are adapted to shells that are basically roller skate boots. Not that this is a bad thing, but if you look at the systems they are adapting, more and more components are engineered for the system so things are getting a bit more easily set up.

Don't worry, its Lake Charlevoix so its a big rough lake, that's fairly cold, and freezes solid. You'd love the house, but you would start wake surfing instead of skiing.