aupatking

I’m with @skialex. I wish I could be more “it’s just equipment” minded but nicks and scratches and anything like that drive me nuts. Thats honestly not even my concern here though. Did you see the light shining through my old plate? It has eaten through the Carbon fiber layer all the way to the fiberglass layer below (it’s white-ish so I’m assuming that it’s fiberglass). If that kind of wear was on a ski, I’d be seriously concerned about structural integrity. I don’t know if that is a reasonable concern but skis that are fully intact break. One with a one inch hole in the top sheet is just asking for a broken leg one more thing: if you can’t fix it with duct tape, you have an electrical problem

Are you talking about drilling new holes, front and back for toe loops and release mechanisms? If that’s where you’re going, it sounds a bit like you may be going safety to the point of being unsafe or, at least, less safe. I agree wit @Horton, if you’re going that far, you really need to contact @mmosley899 at MOB. i have a pair of extremely sharp emergency scissors in the boat for just this type of emergency as @BraceMakersuggested above. Those thing could even cut a hard shell off.

Well, there you go! I still wonder how long it lasts. If the boot can eat through a carbon sheet, a thin layer of adhesive seems pretty temporary

@RobHazelwood I’ve been wondering about that as well, especially with their release of the hard carbon flat bottom for their boots. It would have to be something “peel-away” and replaceable because I don’t see it lasting very long (X number of sets). Honestly, that may be a good option. Something thick enough to prevent the chafing but not so thick that it negates the positive attributes of a direct contact setup.

I meant to find an old plate sooner to show wear. This is why I question top sheet wear of a direct connect setup. The first one shows a bit of wear but you can really see just how much wear it really is when I hold it to the light. The wear is pretty deep by feel. Honestly, I wouldn’t warranty any ski that had this kind of wear, if I were a dealer (I am) or I were a factory (I’m not). It really may be a great setup, but that is definitely my concern with it.

@Horton I'm guessing it's part of the same issue you reported but it appears to be getting to anyone's profile. Same "something went wrong"

@thager a full pass? Can you share a picture of your boot setup? Wasn’t it @BKistler who makes Carbon, fully customized boots like Apollo Ono’s speed skating shells? I remember a few years back seeing full casts of feet and boots made specifically for them. They looked a lot like what Joel Howley has as his rear boot now. I also remember (possibly wrongly) the boot fitting concept to have figured into Adam Caldwell’s modification to his Supershell

I really like this thread! @Horton Connelly example made me think a bit differently about the question. Two different skis could, theoretically, be set up to make the skis act much the same if they were designed to function the same. But, a ski designed like the 24 Vapor that could almost ride tip-down without a fin (not really but I think you get what I mean) and a ski like the original GT would likely never ski like the Vapor. I love them both but they are designed to do things totally differently. That said, they are both designed to do the exact same thing: to run six buoys as short as you can get. It really makes me think how every high-end slalom ski ever has been designed to do that exact thing but you can’t tune two skis designed to ride differently to do it the same way.

@FunoRyota are you asking, could all 67 Radar Vapors (just an example ski) of different shapes/models be setup with the same fin numbers or boot placement? Or a 67 inch HO Works O1 be setup the same as a 67 inch Vapor? I’m no shape engineer but every different shape/model is going to have such different characteristics, shape, bevel, tunnel width, depth, tail width, the list goes on, that I really don’t think the setup can ever be the same. I do believe fin numbers can often be reasonably close, but that’s never going to be reliably consistent. I think I may be misunderstanding the question

I have a few old Reflex plates that show considerable wear from where the boot “moves” on the plate. It’s likely wear due to vibration more than anything else but if it were me, I’d go with the plated version. I don’t want that kind of wear on my ski. I’ll dig a plate out tomorrow and post a pic

Not that my opinion is worth anything but I agree with @ColeGiacopuzzi. I’ve always gravitated toward the L/S settings on other Vapors but the “24 felt better with S/D to start. Now that I am comfortable with what the ski wants, I feel like I can go back and mess around with the L/S

I was going to say what @Zman said. He’s wise almost to his years 😁. I’ve never taken apart a T-Factor though, so I don’t know if you can remove the plate and put them on another like a lot of other boots. Can you? I also agree with @Horton that the back binding is not as critical. I have an old write up by Schnitz that says the back boot is not as sensitive. That’s worth way more than my opinion. I’m sure there are other opinions.

What’s wrong with that green loop Horton? Don’t you know that the weld is the strongest part in metal? That rope looks so worn it’s welded the strands together. Must be stronger now😂. for all of you who can’t understand sarcasm, poly ropes do not work like metal. That rope is used up, dangerous, trash, whatever you want to call it. Use it in your shop to tie up extension cords. Should be plenty safe for that

That’s a great boat. As for upholstery ideas, my before and after: well, when I posted it, the photo order changed to after and before. You get the idea

@mmosley899 I'll see if I can figure out exactly how they are mounted in Tynes' 196 and shoot you some pictures and measurements. For a small fee. Maybe a set on Divorce Lake

I cant imaging they cut in all the spray relief pockets on the under side of the hull like the glass boats. But, looking at the inside of that boat, they got a ton of angles in there I wouldn't expect with welded plate surfaces, so maybe.

I really like the idea of the skier getting a song! We used to have Sean Hunter's dad at all of our tournaments. That guy on the mic was awesome. I loved his "little known facts" (lies) about the skier on the water. If skis weren't so damn expensive, it would be fun to do some kind of raffle to keep everyone who missed their opener excited. Maybe I'll sponsor one with some gloves this coming season. I used to toy with the idea of a mobile party truck for tournaments. Food truck/Speakers, music, volleyball equipment. That sort of thing. Aside from it being an obvious money loser, I'd have to figure out the living arrangements in it when my wife kicked me out of my house after the 4th tournament. After all the beer talk, maybe I could add a couple kegs of really good beer and taps to the imaginary truck.

It’s not real if you don’t post a picture 😎

War Eagle! I can get you in touch with the current president if you like. @mmosley899 is heavily involved and doing a ton for them. And @Horton said it correctly, that lake is freaking awesome! I’d also agree with @lpskier the community and culture of Auburn University is very positive. The creed is something I still believe strongly in. “Nothing in this world is given. I believe in work, hard work”

@Than_Bogan I have two T3’s. One perfect and one broken. I’m very curious

I agree with @Hortonon the “possibly boots back 1/8”. As soon as I went back with the boots, the world got better. @ColeGiacopuzzi I took my Reflex block screws to the bench grinder and then put them in backwards.

@Hortonthat boat has an Excalibur. No need to repower. $5,000-ish will get you in a ZO boat for just under $20k. I did that in my 02 196 and I swear it’s the best slalom boat I’ve ever owned. It may be closer to $6,000 now (inflation). I sent that listing to one of our guys looking for a boat the day it showed up on SIA

Recently we were discussing @Cooleo15 rear setup. I’m pretty sure that was where he said that (basically) for the rear, he liked or felt it was best that the rear should not go above the ankle much. Forgive me for butchering what he said. I have heard that basic theme a bunch though. For the rear, the less restrictive the boot is above the ankle, the better (that’s the way I take it). I’ve played with different rear setups but always end up going back to the R-style. My ski partner won’t run anything but a Wiley rear. @adamhcaldwell was it you that said anything above the rear ankle tries to fight some other aspect (roll angle or something like that)?

For the amount of time you have to put into finding boots with decent buckles, and the work it takes to remove them, I’d definitely suggest going @lpskier route. I could never find buckles that good. Living where it never snows, you really don’t know where to source those things. I’m actually about to order some from that site

Goodwill typically has OLD snow ski boots. It takes a dremel with a cutoff blade and murdering the boots but it gets you 4-6 buckles of various sizes for about 6 bucks