Greg Banish

Masters Swimming. Being in good cardio shape for the start of our spring season here never seems to be a problem. Racecars and fast street driven stuff eat up a bunch of time too, but I wouldn't argue that it helps my skiing that much.

No budget? Get a new ProStar. On a budget? Get a SN196. Both should also be much better than the TXi at -15/-22 at those speeds. My neighbors got spoiled behind my 196 and now the TXi sits at the dock every morning.

File this under "don't try to look like this at -28" ? Looks pretty violent.

Last time I vacationed there, I drove down to Seth Stisher's place outside of Charleston for a morning set. Totally worth it.

I train year round with a Masters Swimming club. I'm not sure what the Australian equivalent is, but it's zero impact training that will absolutely bust your butt and help promote a strong back/core.

Can you comfortably do leg press and squats at the gym? Work up to it there and the water shouldn't be a problem once you've healed.

I spoke about boosted downsized engines with one major marine engine supplier, and I know they tested one very rough iteration. The problem is, they quickly got to the limit of their traditional understanding of controls, heat transfer, calibration, etc and hit the brakes on it. If a marinizer hires me to work on one, I'm confident that anyone here on this site could ski it an like it if I never opened the cover to show you the engine. Tuning it to a flat, ramping or bowed torque curve is actually really easy for me. I teach this stuff all the time and work on it daily. All I need is time and a budget from an interested company.

@LLUSA I typically run my SN196 with 1/4-1/2 tank when we ski. It's noticeable even on my (much lighter) boat. Fuel is 6#/gal, so I typically only have a swing of about 50# max there. On days where we have that one extra person on board, you can definitely feel it more than the fuel load in the wake at -22/-28 and that's with the person at the "good spot to add weight" up front. As an engineer, I know of few better ways to displace less water (which is what makes a wake) than to reduce mass. Until they put a foil in the water under the hull, this will continue to be a primary factor. I could easily pull over 100# out of the powertrain without the skier noticing, but this market still seems scared of anything that isn't a naturally aspirated V8 for some reason. I consult on that kind of stuff all the time, but the marine industry is a very slow adopter of change here. @BraceMaker with the premium they charge for the 6.2L DI engine, I could easily put together several engine options that still perform great using boost, fewer cylinders, and a lot less weight. Since the older 200's were also available with the H6, one has to assume that a lot of the price increase here is due to the (limited) use of carbon and amortizing out the engineering cost of a new vehicle.

So, all the cost of Carbon and it's still over 2900#. Either they didn't use as much Carbon as suspected in the layup, or they just couldn't help but let all kinds of other stuff bloat this thing up to a higher weight again. I'm pretty sure all those engines have aluminum blocks and heads, so that saves 120# and 50# respectively vs the old 350, but a closed cooling system adds 50# right back in. Lots of "styling" details on the deck, rear step/seat, gunwale storage, gunwale step, windshield frame, bow structure, etc. means more mass and it shows. Honestly, I was hoping to see something closer to 2700#. It's a step in the right direction, but there's still room for improvement, especially considering the price. That said, I'd absolutely love to go ski behind one and see the wake.

OK, I'll bite... How much lighter do we expect the "Carbon" boat to be than the fiberglass one? The Centurion CP was only partially Carbon layup, and still had lots of mass from gelcoat, resin, and fiberglass. I seriously doubt this new CC will be ALL carbon at only $130k. Modern towboats have gotten significantly heavier than previous generations, albeit with much improved hull designs that seem to tame the wake. Do we really expect a new boat to get back down to 2500# loaded weight? If they were really serious about weight reduction, I bet one could pull more weight out of the engine by going to a smaller boosted engine that still offers good power/torque and get the same benefit (with improved fuel consumption and emissions!) as a carbon hull.

It's like my SN196 keeps paying me every time I ski it. Here's to a strong secondary market, I guess. CC just put the cost of a 5.3L repower and completely new upholstery in perspective. I don't need either any time soon, but I need a new $130k tug even less if I ever want to retire and use either boat more often.

Almost any common $100-$150 modern single-DIN CD receiver should work fine in a SN glovebox. Bluetooth is standard on most of them and 20W/ch is plenty for the 6" speakers in a boat. Run a decent mono amp to a sub tucked all the way up in the bow by the cleat and you won't lose much storage and it'll still project well. I have a Pioneer in my 2003 SN196 and they have a Bluetooth app (ARC) that allows you to control the head unit with your phone as a wireless remote. I replaced the round Clarion remote in the dash with a phone holder so I don't lose my phone and can easily access radio control without opening the glovebox. A single 10" up in the front storage has a surprising amount of bass. With that there, I make sure I have a 100Hz high pass on the four normal speakers, which prevents them from trying to play the low notes that they really can't do anyway.

Ed was a great host when I skied with him a while ago. Be forewarned, Firebird lake is the saltiest body of water you will ever ski though. The water is kind of nasty between the mineral/salt content and leftover race fuel in it. But hey, you're skiing...

We have Eurasian Milfoil in Pine Lake (Michigan). We also have Zebra Mussels. The Zebra Mussels most definitely DO NOT hinder milfoil growth, but they do make taking docks/lifts in and out more challenging. Our lake was treated with 2-4-D for the Eurasian Milfoil and it seems to really help. It must be applied as a granule directly at the root at a specific water temperature. IIRC, it was about 50*F, so applications were early to mid spring here. Another note: harvesting Eurasian Milfoil DOES NOT WORK. The little bits you cut of will regrow, so you're only spreading it if you do that. You must kill it at the root. Beyond that, limit the fertilizer or nutrients going into to the water. Lawn fertilizer runoff is a big problem for us, but rotting leaves can also be a concern.

@dbski That looks like the site in Tecumseh where I got to train with Wade a few years ago. Incredible site, just wish it was closer to me. I'd still prefer a warmer climate. Our season of skiing comfortably is about 6 months at best. Everything else is varying degrees of misery. One of my retirement criteria is picking a location where palm trees can grow natively. This guarantees a better season length. Then you just need a site that isn't at the mercy of the wind.

Keep in mind that the wake barges that make up 98% of our "ski boat" industry are completely insensitive to engine weight. They keep making those boats bigger and heavier to perfect their surf wave. Don't look to them to drive low weight powertrains for our ski boats. The only way they will see it our way is to offer the entry level wake boat a more fuel efficient engine (boosted 4 or 6 cylinder) that still makes enough power to satisfy their loads under ballast. Luckily, making 300-400hp out of a boosted "small" engine isn't too difficult today. It gets easier when you have an infinite supply of intercooler under the vehicle to help keep charge temps down where power is good.

@Wish please refrain from breaking the laws of thermodynamics and energy conservation: 1) You can't win 2) You can't tie 3) You have to play (pay) Few things are as efficient (from well to road with all losses considered) as fossil fuels for continuous power delivery. See also: that coal fired electrical plant running around the clock that actually powers the electric vehicles. GM is making a statement about their LONG TERM plans and current posture as an eco-friendly manufacturer. Good for them, but don't hold your breath on an all electric fleet. Boats will lag even further behind since their powertrain requirements are even less suited to all electric continuous operation. It will take a ready supply of "free" energy (solar, wind?) and packs that can be rapidly charged/changed by the user to move this needle. In the meantime, my earlier posts about making boats with some alternative power plant such as a boosted 4/6 cylinder instead of a V8 become more plausible for our future. Those engines would also be lighter in our slalom tugs. ;)

Update: v9.10 still has issues on my 2003 196. After a tight turn at the south end, it will often overshoot to as much as 38mph (on a 32.3 setting) at the 55's, dropping to ~30 at the gate. This makes for an "interesting" start to the pass... We are driving around it now by manually controlling throttle in the turn (dialing back to ~27mph) then carefully throttling back up to 32 as we approach the 55's.

My update was to v9.10 I installed it this weekend and recalibrated everything. Overshoot and general speed control seemed better this morning, but we had a pretty light boat today.

I switched mine to a Pioneer CD player with Bluetooth. Pioneer has a phone app (ARC) that allows you to control everything from the phone, so I replaced my remote on the dash with a blank panel that has a cell phone holder attached.

I think by the time you get to 36mph and shortline, the differences between tournament boats become less. Saying that the world record was behind "X" boat is irrelevant to the skier running 30-32mph at -15/-22. This is exactly where the 196 shines for my crew, and we have all hit extra buoys behind the 196 compared to a TXi or even 197. There seems to be a real knee point in the learning curve after you are finally making the course but before you can go fast/shortline. Boats like the 196 make that transition time MUCH more enjoyable with a softer wake right where we spend a lot of quality time behind it as mere mortals compared to the tournament skiers. My boat has also never seen a trick ski.

@waterskibum01 how on earth is the TSC2 wake at 220ff undesirable? I switched to a 2003 this season and it instantly became the boat of choice with our ski crew. It is hands down smoother at -22 for both 30 and 32mph than the 2011 TXi and 2007 197 on the dock next to it. Our crew spends lots of time at -15/-22 at 30mph, and I ski into -28 at 32. The only thing I've skied recently that comes close on wake at those speeds and lengths is the new ProStar, which is 3-4x the price. Maybe I got lucky and bought a boat made from the "good" mold, but I'll have a hard time giving this one up any time soon.

I broke my ankle last year and moved to a Syndicate hardshell for this year. So far, it has saved me twice. Good investment.

I have V9 Stargazer 3 event on my '03 SN196 and it occasionally would have fits of overshooting speed coming out of the turn back into the course on the tight end of our lake. It wasn't so bad that you couldn't anticipate as a driver and manually manage the throttle a bit to avoid it. I never called PP about it, but I just got an update stick in the mail yesterday that is supposed to reflash the controller to address "short course setup". I'll get it installed for the weekend and we'll see if it helps.

I completely destroyed my ankle (broke the medial malleolus off the tibia) last fall. I'm on an HO Syndicate boot and Reflex r-style rear this year. It took a few weeks to get used to the feel, but I'm skiing better than ever now. The release worked and prevented a similar injury already this year, so I'm staying with it.