BraceMaker

Votes her way...

BUT - I disapprove of her lack of liederhosen.

@jipster43 - all the intuition liners (RS-1/FM) are really quite toasty, nothing like 1/4" closed cell foam bootie to act like a wetsuit.

If you add the top strap (like a downhill ski powerstrap) you can really seal the water out of the liners for warmth.

Heck I am making a winch just to save gas with all the pulls getting people(kids) started.

A cable means you could take some sets on wake skis. Trick skis etc and have some fun instead of waitibg for your pull.

Before you get too crazy...

How often has this boat been run lately? In some cases, moist environs, and lack of running time leads to moisture condensation in the blocks, you'll see this in boats stored on the water but not run frequently. Good solution is to change the oil and see if the problem goes away.

@razorskier1 - do you still dredge mud when you fall @ a the shallow side?

Favorite thing on the IA river was all the little fish flopping in the skis spray.

To be fair RTM just means you assembled the dry parts in an expensive mold and pressed resin into the mold.

Does it make a consistent product? Surely.

Is it a cheap method? Nope. Will you want to retool every year for ski updates or make one ski for years?

I agree on needing a site near IC,

I always thought that low area around the Hawklot would work, or perhaps the park by mayflower.

@AB - I don't think you can make that conclusion. PVC vs. PU is a matter of having a ski with dimensionally identical cores, with laminated fiber product and resin wrapping it. In the hollow skis, there is still something inside. In the case of AM I think what they were doing is assembling a ski rather like a boat is made.

Your boat has an outer hull, inner webbing "stringers" and then a top deck.

I think the AM ski is an outer lay up forming the bottom "hull", a "stringer" system instead of a core, this stringer provides the mechanical/structural element, and the design of the "stringer" gives you most of the mechanical properties of the ski, and then a top deck.

A foam core you have the same system, but the "stringer" is the core, and you cannot modify the performance of a solid foam core that is machined in the same way that you could a matrix of carbon.

That is atleast how I think he is building the ski, until someone mails me a hollow AM to cut in half on my bandsaw....

Also I think if you take a chunk out of any modern ski, you probably don't want to patch it up with some bondo and take it back on the lake.

I had a concept, and really like my current Nomad - Many of the older D3 skis are pretty good values!

I would actually strongly suggest

http://www.d3skis.com/product-p/x7-fts-w-z7st-graph-(2011).htm

Essentially D3's Blemish skis, you dont' get the warranty, but it is a great value, and available at 65"

Also, I have been very impressed with durability in Connelly and D3 over the years.

Eh, midwest, Menards is way bettern than HD.

Point stands.

For an easy rack, if you have basic welding skills, get an angle iron from menards, get some round bar or allthread. Weld the rod at the angle you want so that it displays the bottom of the ski. Finish the rack by slipping a large rubber or plastic washer over the rods down to the end, then slip rubber hose or heat shrink tubing of appropriate length over the rods.

If you want the angle irons to look cool, paint them black, then take the mesh rubber drawer liner stuff from walmart, and use it as a mask to spray silver over the black. FInishe with clear and it looks like carbon fiber.

Cover the rods with colored rubber for pizzaz?

@skoot1123

The one issue with Chicago, all the lakes are really not really near Chicago, Nationals were down by Wilmington, IL which is ~hour or two depending on traffic from Chicago.

I think it is an interesting year for midwest waterskiing in general, mad props to GVSU.

Also note, in midwest collegiate skiing,

Wisconsin Lacross, Purdue, Miami Ohio, Cincy and IA State Cyclones, all went Division I, and wild cards MI for div II,

I think we should all note that collegiate skiing has HUGE strides to make in the northern states, the more exposure we can get for some of these schools, particularly in WI, MI, IN, IL, and IA the more the sport stands to grow.

Imagine if you could mobilize a Chicago ski industry like they have in the southern states.

Everyone buy those Collegiate Team T-Shirts and wear them. You will get the "________ has a ski team? My son is going there, he skis!" all the time.

What I don't get is the concept of "foot on the ski" = "control" frankly, if the boot is giving support you are transfering control/force from the leg to the ski, not the foot to the ski.

Would seem like the ideal way to transfer force to the ski is to eliminate padding/play between the shin and ski, not the foot and the ski. If my foot transfers forces to the ski I'll always be loading the left edge, as I cannot roll my forward foot onto the lateral side (soccer sprains), so I rely on the upper boot cuff to do the force transfers.