Monkstr6100

Skied yesterday at a charity event in Lake Geneva WI. Air temp 13 and water at 38! And of course they had ALL HUGE wake boats so the first time I went to go through the wakes I OTF HARD! Awesome.

Thanks guys. @madcityskier I will def give ya a heads up if I head out that way, only about an hour or so west of me. @bogboy the gts is what I originally was looking for. A lot of people say it had amazing wake and pretty darn good tracking with being so small. But that small closed bow would not hack it for me with a little growing family. But for a private or small lake that would be the hot setup. The GTR has a sweet small wake and really does track like its on rails! Call up Mark Overbye, owner of Gekko. Super cool guy, has set me up big time and helped me out with questions on my GTR. Great to deal with a company that you can call and chit chat with the number one head honcho.

And yes, my orange bungee cord BIMINI hold down is cheesy, but it works great.

Here are a few more pictures. Cant say enough good things about this boat. I have not been in, or behind, a TON of DD but Gekko is pretty awesome for sure. Especially for the price!

Finished winterizing the Gekko yesterday and put her away for winter hibernation. Then it SNOWED today her in WI! But, I am glad I had a great season, learned a TON from you guys at BOS, met new great people through BOS that I skied with, and drastically improved my skiing this season more than ever. Bought my first Direct Drive (always just raced around outboard speeders) Gekko GTR! Spent more time on the water and behind the boat than ever before, even with a new born daughter who is 10 months old today. Got on a course for the first time ever, and hacked it horribly, but opened my eyes to a lot of my bad habits (thanks Rob and Boomer). All in all I am a very happy guy with this season. I have a long ways to go, but there is always next season. Now its time to wait out this HORRIBLE long winter, with that slippery, cold, frozen water that falls from the sky! Thanks again everyone at BOS, glad I came across this site! Zach Jachowicz

Wondering what is the best way to winterize my merc black scorpion? Its a 2006 5.7L. I live in WI, so it gets VERY cold, unfortunately! I contacted Mercury and they replied by email that they can only send me to a dealer to have them service it properly, because it is easy for us comon folk to mess up. And i cant see forking over $99 for the service manual! I want to add antifreeze to the system, so more than just pulling the 7 or so blue drain plugs. Thanks in advance guys.

Just wondering what fuel grade i should really be using in my Gekko for my 5.7 black scorpion. Been using premium, but i see some places it says that merc designed it to run on regular 87? And i am lucky that my local gas station sells ethanol free (for extra $) so that is all i have ever ran in my boats. Thanks in advance, Zach

Also, very recently replaced the water/gas separator filter when I replaced the plugs. The boat has 370hrs on possibly original spark plug wires/cap/rotor?

Called and talked to mark overbye today at Gekko. He said they did a ton of testing and the acme 515 was the BEST prop for the GTR with the scorpion engine. Wonder if the previous owner had the 449 reworked before I bought the boat? Either way, I am quickly running low on time to even benifit from a new prop purchase this season yet. And my wifey will not be to pleased if/when I order this. Mark is setting me up with a good deal on a Gekko cover for my boat for winter storage (inside of course, just for dust/critters) and that needs to be purchased SOON here in WI!

@Wish, great point! Had that issue and fixed it already. Had some home made aluminum bracket and a WAY to short cable that would only allow a little over 3/4 throttle. Perfect pass sent me the right cable and correct factory bracket. Picked up a few hundred RPM with that. Cleaned throttle body just now, and it was pretty gunked up. Didn't locate that second fuel filter? Will be a few days till I get on the water and retry it. Leave for work at 5AM and not home till 7pm! Will keep you guys posted. Going to shop for the 525 prop also. Thanks everyone! Zach J.

Top speed is with perfect pass and then also with GPS, and def not hitting rev limiter @colo_skier . @boarditup i will check for that fuel filter tonight and check that BFA/throttle body. I only run ethanol free gas in my boats, but who knows what was ran before me.

thanks guys. I will check the fuel lines. I will look for that 2nd filter. Just replaced the filter/water seperator. What is the "BFA"? And look into the 525 lower pitch prop.

@6balls yeah that's what I figured, so something must be up!? Been this way since I got it this spring.

I have a 2006 gekko gtr with the 330hp merc black scorpion in it. I am only able to turn about 4700rpm and a top speed of 42/43. Seems like the last ~700rpm make little change to speed? Is this normal? The prop says 449 13x12.625V L. And also has a 2 stamped on it. The engine runs great, just installed new correct plugs. Look to be original wires and cap. Boat has 370 hours on it. Thanks for any info in advance, Zach J.

The vice rocks. Best move in the sport I have done. But, this is considering I was riding a 10 year old HO extreme. The vice took about 5 min to get used to, then rode better than I have ever in my life. Now just to finally get on a course.

Hope they can find the scum that took your stuff. They are pretty bold to actually walk into a shop and try to sell the stuff. Most criminals don't make it very long because they are not very intelligent. Good luck.

So the weight plates are just r+d right? I think otherwise that seems like a back breaker hanging over you boats side from pier to lower them into the boat, all back strain, no other way to do it. Or am I missing something?

This is off topic, but why did my comment earlier about getting a gekko get flagged "off topic"?

Can't ind anything on radar site about it? Some special release thing? Not even on the market yet?

Not sure why it really matters to me, but been really wondering how much force/weight is on the line/pylon when a skier is cutting hard? Just something that has been on my mind recently. At work I have access to dynamometer but I don't think they would be thrilled with my reasoning to take it home and hook it on my rope. Thanks in advance experts, Zach J.

I have the radar vice and love it. If you just free ski i would not go with the senate C, it will not flex and be rough to ride in the rougher waters free skiing. Go with the regular, and less expensive senate or vice. Not spoken from experience, just the good advice I got from the radar rep and the guys at Munson ski and marine. Totally made sense to me. I can relate as well. I was skiing a 10+ year old hoe extreme. Huge improvement.

@webbdawg99 that's an excellent video for sure and makes a ton of sense. Excited to get back on the lake and put that all to the water. I never thought about how the further I held on to the pull, the more down course direction I would be traveling. It's so simple now that I feel a little foolish. Thanks again everyone.

Webbdawg, I think you may be onto something with me pulling to long. With it being my onside it feels better so maybe I stay on the gas for to long. And never having a chance to get on a course yet I can't fully gauge how far out I need to get either.

But still keep running with no wing? Thanks.

I am getting a lot of slack at the end of every one of my onside turns. I know without video it hard to say, but what am I possibly doing or not doing? I have my fin set at factory settings (checked it with caliper) and have never used the wing. Should I try adding the wing? Oh yeah, it's a 67 radar vice with dual vectors, LFF, free skiing at 32mph @15 off with perfect pass. I am putting alot into better stance, elbows to my vest with hips out, and looking up the line instead of looking into my turns and that all has made a huge difference. i think with that added speed across the wakes is where i am getting my extra slack, but not at the end of my offside turns? Any advice would be awesome. Thanks. Zach J.