Wally skier buoys

[LeonL]

Here's a couple of Wally skiers buoys. The one on the left was in a building all its life and the one on the right was a turn buoy for 6 months. Before you say "but not in the blazing FL sun", from mid May thru mid Sept we get more daylight hours than FL. Anyway the comparison is for your evaluation. The only drawback is the attachment loop. It's common with the buoy's air chamber. Get a nick at the connection point and you get a leak. And they're soft and kinda fragile in this area. We lost 2 to this malady. I'm not sure it was a nick, maybe just weak in this area. Looks more like a crack from flex rather than a nick or cut.

 

[MISkier]

We've used ours for two years and they look great. Excellent value and a quality product.

[LeonL]

Another photo. Different angle, not in the sun. Good color retention. You can see some evidence of ski "run overs"

 

[aupatking]

Thanks @LeonL. I put ours out a month or two ago, and was thinking about painting them with flexabar buoy paint, to preserve them. That appears to be fairly unnecessary. Though, my course stays in all year

[bishop8950]

I love these buoys. We ran them most of the summer in blazing sun CA and they still look brand new. Not sure why the attachment loop is Ike that but we haven’t had failures yet.

 

Also, we run them with very little air pressure and I think they are as safe as anything out there.

[A_B]

Two Ohio summers and will use ours again next year. We keep them under inflated so they are a little wrinkly. I ran over one in the sun glare this year and kept on going.

[John Brooks]

@LeonL yes they are great buoys. You may want to use less air in them. We have found that they need no more than 2 or 3 pumps and believe they are very safe. With less air, sometimes we need to squeeze the dimple out, you hit them with a ski and it is much less impactful.

[LeonL]

If you'll note the second photo there are several ski marks, so it's apparent that it has been run over several times. No one hurt.

[Skoot1123]

Absolutely love our WallyBuoys. Best money ever spent. Just removed ours for the season. Next year will be season three on them.

[lcarnes]

We absolutely love our Wally buoys. Unfortunately, the jelly blobs love them too! By the way, that buoy is at least a couple of years old and has been in the course the whole time.

 

 

 

[Orlando76]

I don’t know how y’all get such life out of a buoy. We get 3 months tops and ski 12 months year.

[oldmanskier]

We are starting our fourth year with same the Wally buoys in the course. They are still a bright color. I avoid hitting a ski buoy at all costs but I have hit these hard on rare occasions with no injury. We run as little air pressure as possible and they work great. Most of the guys in our club do not want to pay the $17 dollars a buoy. So one other member and I supply them due to we have the worst ankles and these buoys are (in my opinion) one of the safest you can use if they are aired up correctly. The cost has not been an issue due to the buoys last so long. I highly recommend them.

Oldmanskier.

 

[Nando]

Um, @lcarnes, just for an ignorant guy up on the frozen tundra, what the hell are those jelly blobs???

[Horton]

Wally's ball are the best.

[santangelo]

Yeah, they are good. We bought about 160 of them. Well worth the money.

[lcarnes]

@Nando Here's what www.asknaturalist.com says: Freshwater bryozoans are tiny colonial animals that can form jelly-like masses, which are often found attached to sticks or docks. Bryozoan colonies can be as much as a foot (30 cm) in diameter.

[jerrym]

Our club has used the wally buoys for a number of years with good success. We change them out once a year as they fade a bit, but we can spread the cost over the club membership. No ankle injuries to report. We get some moldies on the underwater portion of the ball but fortunately we do not have jelly blobs!

[Phil]

I was going to order a new set of turn bouys for our October event this year but before i did i took a new spare one out to the course and compared it to the existing bouys which are now 2 years old and the old ones were still holding great color so i didn't change them . They are great and would recommend them to any one and his service is excellent also .

[Zman]

Great buoys! Put ours in the water spring of 2016. Being in south Bama, they stay in all year. Still look great. And, like others we underinflate so they are very wrinkled underwater.

[jayski]

@scotchipman the "non soft" I use for gate buoys and they can take a beating, I WOULD NOT use them for turn buoys, much too firm for my liking. Compared to Polyform I would say they are stiffer

[MISkier]

@scotchipman, why do you think you need the hard buoys? We have had our Wally buoys at one site for 4 years with 20 very active members (350 - 400 boat hours per year), all levels of skiers, several tournaments each season, and occasional collegiate practice days. We have not needed anything other than the soft buoys. I think they are the same price, so I’m not sure of the driving factor for the hard buoys.

 

I just convinced my other site to buy them and we will be installing them soon.

[DW]

Personally would prefer a soft at least for RH gate. I just helped a ski buddy put in a set at his lake, man the yellow boat guides are nice and bright, should be great for those dusk runs. Turns are nice and visible. Everything sure seems durable.

[2Valve]

we've had ours in for two years. Springtime last year, we raised it and everything was fine except a slight cast of mold on the buoys. Some Scotchbrite and a little elbow grease is all it took. We''ll raise 'er up this weekend, expecting the same minimal routine. We love ours. Lots more course time. Only about 10min. to raise, 10 min. to lower. And in between, open a beer and review your faceplants on the camera. :)

[jayski]

@scotchipman Yes I would keep them as gates, they have multiple fin marks across them and no one has ate it because of their 'firmer' structure. 1 year, 18 rounds of tournaments they all still look like new

[Andre]

Do you guys put some water in the soft turn bouys too or just underinflate?

[jayski]

@Andre they have almost no air in them, you put air in them till they are round, reinsert inflation needle alone and let all air escape on it's own then give the buoy a couple little squeezes and it's ready to go! The water compresses the bottom half of the buoy to create a 'dome' once in the lake so when you strike it there is little resistance to the skier

[DaveLemons]

@Andre I have a portable course and it does take water to get them to float at the right level. I wouldn’t think it would be necessary on a permanent course

[Zman]

@DaveLemons

Recommend you NOT put water in your Wally turn buoys.

For a floating course, it is much better and safer to hang a 3 pound weight at the end of the arms for each turn ball. And, slightly underinflate them. They will float half submerged, and when hit by a ski the air will displace into the submerged half.

If you speak with Wally, he will tell you the same.

Most people will first fully inflate Wally buoys (not stretch) to remove the fold marks and give them the spherical shape. Then let some air out before using them.

[alex38]

Plus one on “end weight and deflate” get em slightly below the halfway point and you can defy death when you go right at it.

[TEL]

I am ready to buy some yellow heavy duty round wally buoy boat guides. For the people that leave them in all year, how long do they last and hold their color. Living in Orlando the sun is brutal.

[Not_The_Pug]

Has anyone tried the Orange vs. Red? Looking for which one is better to see. Also will the orange last as long as the red?

[Weappa]

@tel We have the Wally yellow boat guides and green 55M's along with Wally turn buoys. We just put them in for the third season and they look great. I also compared to a new one from the shed and very little difference in color. We're in Colorado at 5000 feet elevation with intense sunshine and they are in from the beginning of April to the beginning of November. Prior to this I was painting polyforms every year.

[kc]

I have the same question as @Not_The_Pug orange vs red? Pros or cons of either? Getting ready to order our first set of Wally buoys for our site in Indiana. Thanks

[skiep]

I had red now orange and you can see them very good!!

[kc]

Thanks Keith!

[MISkier]

We just ordered and installed the orange recently. Great visibility.

[cruznski]

We were on 2nd season with Wally buoys at gates and turn, as mentioned they are designed to have almost 0 psi in them, as alluded to above (a couple pumps) or a couple psi . They have been great ( we have Red) and completely hold their color in the CA sun. We just installed Wally boat guide and 55s 6 weeks ago, they have great visibility and are new so no road test results. We had adjusted our turns and gates so they sat in the water below the equator line. For those that use weight adjust courses like ours that is 3kg. I love them and indeed support is excellent shipping fast.

[The_MS]

Good product. I never used them until I got down to Fl.

[JeffSurdej]

Website to buy these?

[skierjp]

@JeffSurdej wallyskier.com

[jhartman8]

What is the best method, hook or device to use to secure the wally buoys without compromising the loop on the buoy?  

[Horton]

@jhartman8 this is what I've always used with 3/8 bungee. I'm not sure what you're worried about as far as compromising the loop. These work fine. I installed them at my previous lake and they were there for about eight seasons. ( until I ran away from that dumpster fire of a HOA )

Erickson 05296 Adjustable... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005JCPT5U?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

[wski1831]

We just reinstalled our Wally buoys. We use an 8 pound counter weight (I think might be 7) they seem to float at maybe 1/4 of buoy visible. We’re going to try a little more air before cutting or drilling the counterweights. Anyone else using counterweights with Wally’s. 

[Horton]

@wski1831does your water level go up and down?

[lpskier]

Most buoys expend to the proper size ( i.e., tournament specifications) with air. Wally buoys are made to the proper size. If you put more that the suggested volume of air in the buoy, you run the risk of it making the buoy larger than desired. 

[kc]

@jhartman8We use 3-4’ of rubber tubing to attach our Wally Buoys. On the buoy, we thread the tubing through the attachment hole, then zip tie the tubing a few inches down. On the other end of the tubing, we zip tie a plastic snaphook that clips through a snaphook by the sub-buoy. We buy the snaphooks from Wally Skier.

[Mastercrafter]

Some vinyl tubing works great, if you’re using bungee. 

[wski1831]

Just weighed the counter weight cable and all is almost #10 pounds. 
@Horton yes our water level varies 1-2’. 
@lpskier they don’t look oversized. Essentially if they float almost enough they have no wrinkles. 
@Gloerson I like the addition of a sub float. It looks like we need to lighten the weights and add sun floats. 
 

[igkya]

We use zip ties around the Wally sinker eyes, then attach plastic hook and bungee to a sub-buoy.  The zip ties act as a safety break away point if a skier hits the ball.  

[Zman]

A bit different story with our floating course. We like to add about 4 lbs. for pulling down our Wally turn buoys, attaching at the anchor point at the end of the pvc arms. We underinflate the buoys so that much of the submerged half is collapsed. This allows the top half to give if (when) hit. Has probably prevented an ankle sprain or 2.

Also, what is used as a counterweight matters. Lead or iron works good because they don't displace much water that creates offsetting buoyancy. I've heard of people using milk jugs filled with dirt. A gallon jug of dirt would weigh about 12 lbs out of the water, but only about 3.7 lbs under water. (Buoyancy = the weight of water displaced).