Maintaining a course on a busy public lake - too much trouble ?

[swbca]

There is an existing cable course on our public lake where the owner of the course now spends most of his time at another home in another state. When he spends a week at his home on our lake periodically, he raises the course by attaching all of the buoys. Then take it down when he leaves.

Another skier and I are talking to him about taking over the maintenance of the course and leaving it up full time for the summer months. He has a permit for permanent on-surface with some stipulation about it being maintained.

I have had years of experience with a pop-up course that was only visible when I was using it, but no experience with a permanent floating course on a busy public lake.

From the few instances when my course was up for 24hours while being serviced, I learned to expect losing at least 1 buoy to a prop per busy day.

Is it reasonably possible to maintain an always UP course on a busy public lake ?

What kind of problems and maintenance caused by other lake activities should we expect. I am concerned in might not be worth the trouble.

[Edmund]

@swbca There are about five or six of us skiers who maintain an always up course on a small public lake (around 400 acres). Our course is tucked into a narrow cove all to itself with no houses. You are correct about possibly losing a buoy a day on busy days. Other things we experience are wave runners using it as an obstacle course, buoys used as mooring ties by day boaters, and anchors being dragged across cables and arms causing a bend in the course that must then be straightened. Also, anytime of the day, from dawn to dusk, a fisherman could be in the middle of the course thinking it is a good fish attractor.

Overall, is it worth it? Yes, even with the issues that come with it. Try it for a summer and see how it goes. It may not be too bad. We were very lucky this past summer because we did not lose hardly any buoys, so you may have good luck with yours.

[jjackkrash]

We have a course on a public lake that is protected by lilly pads and its relatively easy to maintain. How busy the lake and how protected the course is will vary the calculus by a wide margin, but to me if you can swing it its always worth it to have a access to a course. But there is a good chance it is going to be a big pain in the ass if its in the wrong spot.

[Johnseed]

@Edmund , you forgot the worst part....the occasional pvc repairs or mainline splice. We were very fortunate this summer for sure. Last Wednesday night stunk for sure....perfect glass, one bass boat at each end of the course! We sat there in the middle for almost an hour and nobody moved. Go figure!

[BrianKennedy91]

Where are you located?

[BrennanKMN]

@Johnseed Did you go talk to the fisherman nicely?

I run a floating course on a public lake and probably 4-5 times out of 10 there is a fisherman or boat in the skiing path. I idle over and chat with them and let them know what the course is for and that I'd like to use it if they don't mind. Most people have no clue what it is and just explaining what we're going to do makes a big difference. Maybe 1 person every year or so is cranky and won't move. I have asked probably 30 people if we could have them move to ski this year and not one said no. Most were super polite and nice.

If I had to sit and wait for other boats I'd never ski.

[Johnseed]

@BrennanKMN most of the skiers on the lake practice courtesy. If it's one boat fishing normally we'll ask but with 2 my wife opted to wait patiently but they never got the 'hint' ;). Like you, only once in a while will a fisherman be a jerk. PWC are another story however. They tend to never care even racing into the course as we are starting a pass.

Truth be told Wednesdays are bass tourney nights and the cove with the course is listed on the KY fishing maps as a bass hotspot.

[jpwhit]

I maintain a course along with another guy on a very large public lake. The course is tucked way back in huge cove that has a lot of twists and turns. It's also fairly shallow so a lot of boaters don't come back this far into the cove.

I'd say we lose about 4 buoys a season and maybe one mainline cut a season. I think we've had one PVC pipe damaged in the last 3 years. The nice thing about having all the twists and turns, is we never get rollers on the course.

We try to meet and get to know all the fishermen and other boaters that hang out on this part of the lake. I'd say on average we know more than half of the others boaters we see in this area of the lake. A lot of them will come down and raft up with us on the weekends and just hangout while we ski.

[6balls]

Just gotta stock your boat with lines, spare buoys etc. Hopefully others who use the course will also help maintain anything they see--talk to them.

[Nando]

Yes, it's worth it. But, expect to lose a few buoys. IMO, it's important to have "fusable link" so that if someone snags a buoy they don't snap an important part of your course (ours is anchored). Inevitably, you'll get one or two people who simply can't figure it out- we have one guy who takes out at least one buoy every time he skis. We've tried to explain how they're attached, given him a drawing, everything, but he simply can't replace them properly. We finally just told him not to try- just leave the torn off balls at the closest dock with a ski boat. The worst was when he pulled one off, couldn't find the subfloat, and dropped in an anchored ball with a big loop of rope hanging out on the surface- that one seemed really dangerous...

[MDB1056]

A lot of good information already posted. Agree 100% - keep a lot of spare parts & repair supplies on hand of course. IMO leaving a course up on a busy lake is just asking for trouble, as you're exposed then to everything. You risk every nut on a jetski turning buoys, irritated fishermen running over buoy lines, dragging a mainline, and much more. IMO not worth the hassle or risk including as soon as someone is hurt doing something stupid you may lose your permit . We ski either my portable course for an afternoon at a time, or a short drive to a public course but which is owned and operated by the city (municipality), and designated as the "Competition Ski Area " - as such fishermen are not allowed anytime a ski boat is in use. It's also been there long enough that the fishermen all know the rules and what takes priority. Haven't had any issues there in years . Beautiful laser straight course that stays in year round.

[Jmoski]

Definitely worth it. We maintain a course on a large public lake, it’s proximal to one side but is exposed. We lose more buoys to zip ties wearing out as the lake can get really windy at times. I put new zip ties on mid summer and make sure each season starts with new ones. I probably replaced 3 boat guides and 4 turn buoys over the whole season.

The course has been there for 20+ years, and people on our lake are pretty good about avoiding it. Occasionally we get someone that’s a renter for a week who decides to target the pre gates with their tube.

Most of the fisherman are local to the lake, so they usually move out of the course as we putt over at 7AM to ski.

For boat guides we use solid foam buoys as they can take multiple prop hits and thump the underside of any boat that runs them over - this acts as a nice deterrent…

We put our phone# on the buoys so if one gets cut loose we get a call maybe 50% of time.

When we pulled the course for the winter yesterday, we discovered 2 lines had been cut but whoever did it actually repaired it!

Good luck!

[lefty]

The headaches of maintaining a course are likely increased if you can’t see the course from your place. We install our floater early season and late season only to avoid the busiest months. it’s across the lake from our dock so can see if there’s anything potentially happening to it. If there was a good site within an hours drive I probably wouldn’t bother with my own. Between maintenance, weather and boat wakes it’s a challenge to get great conditions. I guess worth the trouble is a relative issue so I’d agree with the post above to give it a try and see.

[KRoundy]

I’m in a club that has tried to maintain a sinkable course on a very busy lake and this year we gave up. We have repaired the cut cable mainline and air hoses and bags more times than I can count now. Over the last five summers we have spent 100s of hours trying to fix the course and then skied it only a couple of times a summer - usually because it is damaged again. We are trying to come up with a better solution, but doubt leaving a course up permanently would be a good solution for the reasons noted above. Our current thinking is to put permanent anchors on each end of the course and put in an insta-slalom course the mornings we want to ski. If anyone here has better ideas we are all ears.

[swbca]

@KRoundy The better idea is a submersible course where everything goes tight to the bottom of the lake (except for the 5 foot leader on individual balls). One of the guys I ski with has a cable course with 2.5" aluminum cross tubes with a full length rubber bladder made from some commercial hose/tube. He runs a rigid thick walled plastic pipe (a standard plumbing product) from shore and down the center of the course with flexible tubing branched to each aluminum cross tube. One end of his course is about 350 feet from his dock. All of the plumbing is wrapped at intervals with a counterweight-metal sheet to keep it from floating Has an air compressor on shore with a pressure switch and an electric valve to let the pressure out. He has 40 feet of water and the cable and tubes go all the way to the lake bottom when its submerged. He has had this course for 3 or 4 decades. It requires counter weights wrapped on the aluminum cross tubes below each ball calibrated to hold the ball at 50% exposed above water.

The course is in Minnesota where the course isn't used for 6 months . . he he never removes the buoys. Just wipes off the crud in the spring.

Its a big project but it can provide permanent service with few problems. He just placed 3rd in M8 at the Nationals . . again demonstrating that unlimited access to practice is the foundation for an amateur reaching his potential.

[coach3]

@swbca I'd love to see a schematic or how it is connected. I have a sinkable course, but anchors have been tearing it up. I have to do something.

[BrennanKMN]

Not really related to the question, but another aspect is building the sport and access.

I know 3 or 4 guys who use the course I run that wouldn't ski a course otherwise. I also know of a few skiers who have become course skiers simply because they had access and exposure to a course.

A submersible course is fine and dandy, but it is really limited to only user. Yeah, I replace a few balls a year, but for me that is well worth it. It is a great feeling knowing the course I maintain is something that helps other skiers even when I am not there.

Not to mention I have made several friends meeting at the course. When you show up and see another boat skiing, 9 times out of 10 you make a new friend.

[swbca]

@BrennanKMN Good point about reaching out to others. The course we hope to use on our lake will always be UP. We plan to welcome other skiers with a feature in the lake's monthly newspaper. If a few are serious, they would be interested in helping if they are the first to find a problem. Skiers you pull into that circle will understand -not making waves- when someone is using the course.

[6balls]

Don’t do submersible on a busy lake. Any air tubing or sun problems are a major pain and disrupt the system. My brother tried it and aborted went to full time floating with buoys/lines/parts in the boat.

[morfoot]

So several of diehard slalom skiers on a busy 38,000 acre lake maintain a slalom course in what is known to the locals as "Skier Cove" It's semi-permanent as it's not a portable course but it's not permanent either. 25lb anchor at each end and a separate long (weighted with washers) rope attached to the anchor with a skier ball attached to the other end. Sundays we install the course by simply pulling up the anchor to the get to the rope that's attached to the mainline cable of the course pull the boat down and start installing buoys. The inside boat ball is left on when we sink it on while the outer guide ball and course ball is removed. The PVC sinks almost to the bottom but the lone ball keeps the mainline cable off the bottom preventing snags on stumps on whatever else is down there. Pre-gate balls and gate balls are completely removed on each end.

We leave the course up all week and have had pretty good luck this year not losing any balls or damage to the course. On occasion you will have to chase a wally out of the course or hydrofoiling around the course balls and let them know they are endangering themselves by doing so because if that foil snags that cable or ball rope they may come to a sudden stop and faceplant into the board.After the Friday morning ski we lower the course and sink it because the Weekend Wally's come out in full force and the wakeholes surf it up sometimes 3-4 at a time and rock that little cove. As the course is sunk even with the inside balls on we haven't had ANY issues all season except this past weekend. I assume some big 38' yacht parked his boat over the course and dropped anchor. When he left he yanked up the course with it. We went out last night to find the anchor, cabling, anchor guiderope/ball and pregate on shore. Took 5 of us 2 hours to get it back to a usable course.

Is it worth it? YES!!!! We enjoy it that much that its worth the headache. The homeowners on that cove say they enjoy watching the skiers run the course and hate the wakeholes because they are destroying their docks and shorelines. This time of year as fall is here we'll leave the course up 7 days a week til mid December when it's even too cold for us Georgians to ski the course. Free ski probably.

[6balls]

@morfoot great solution as well! Jim had a permanent course up, but during the week that ski buddies and myself stayed with him we put a portable out front and did as you describe.

[swbca]

Its not feasible to work with a portable course that goes in and out regularly. Most of my skiing is 5 weekday mornings before work, wind permitting. Its my wife and me and we have a 30 minute time slot for skiing before going to work. For 25 years I had a submersible course with a button in the boat for up and down. That was ideal . Now I need an "always up" course or submersible. Probably will try the "always up" for a season and see how it goes.

Anyone have a solution for this ?? I have never had a cable course, but I understand that the depth of the PVC pipe below the skier ball is based on the length of connecting rope between the ball and PVC. I was cautioned that when a skier ball is lost, the PVC may sink at that end causing the other end to rise to surface, causing a navigation hazard.

If you are unable to monitor the course 24/7 is that a known issue ?

If the course is always up could you add 15 pound anchor below each skier ball and an 8lb-bouyancy sub buoy at the end of the PVC . . that would hold the end of the PVC at its normal depth if a skier ball is lost.

[skiboyny]

If the water is deep enough to allow the arm to sink vertically it will raise along with the course line. If it's not too deep the turn arm sinks and its bottom no big deal. You can use a 3 ft capped piece of PVC located about half way to help mitigate that if the water isn't too deep. You could experiment with a sub buoy at the turn ball, trick is getting some flotation but not enough to raise the turn ball rope loose. Your idea seems good if you can work that out. We have one arm in very deep water and if the turn ball is ripped off for any reason it will rise. Fortunately we have a few people living on the lake looking out for us. We have had to repair that pipe in the past. We use about 3' of rope and a 15" bungie at each ball. The bungie is the fuse. In July prime time we lose quite a few balls most broken at the bungee. We probably get 3/4 of them back either along shore of local homeowners looking out for us. All and all very worth doing in our situation. It's been there for many years and that probably helps.

[jhughes]

Couple tips in my experience:

1) make the entire buoy line bungee, about 5' worth for each ball. Connection point to the course and buoy are nylon flag clips like this

The bungee keeps the mainline tight (tension between the water and the course cable vertically) and keeps the arms and mainline safe with plenty of stretch and forgiveness when the water gets really rough or stuff gets run over. The flag clips hold perfectly until they can't, good safety compromise.

I buy the bungee in bulk on Amazon too, 1/4" by the roll.

2) Keep the course in good condition, make sure it always looks good and straight. Don't let anything get behind in maintenance. That's really for two reasons. If more than one or two buoys is gone that's when the real damage can start as arms get skewed and stuff floats wrong. Additionally, make the course look like someone gives a shit about it which "may" increase respect of the course. By that I mean put the right color buoys in the right places, don't have it look like some mismatched mess of buoys with different floating heights and colors and a big banana bend. If it looks like someone maintains it well and keeps everything sorted out I feel like that has helped us over the years vs. having it look like some mismatched mess of balls out there.

[swbca]

@skiboyny Very hepful . . thanks. I don't understand the 3 foot capped PVC. Can you explain where it is and what it does ??

[swbca]

@jhughes Thanks for your tips. I get what you mean about setting it up professionally as if its run by a tournament committee with high standards. I makes it more visible and and less like something for others to be careless with.

One thing going for us, the course we are talking about has had a permit for many years and has been up 24/7 for 1 week intervals occasionally each summer. We are talking about upgrading it and keeping it "up" 24/7 for the season.

Got a few good ideas here about mitigating potential problems.

[skiboyny]

@swbca Its just a length of Pvc maybe 3" with end caps glued on. A float that you can zip tie to the arm somewhere around halfway. Enough to keep the arm straight but not enough to float the turn ball. Placement is key, you will have to experiment.

[swbca]

@6balls @skiboyny @jhughes Someone address buoy height with a cable course. Does the weight of the PVC let you submerge a regulation size skier buoy 50% of its height, or do you add weight to the end of the PVC ?

[BraceMaker]

Eventually I'm going to get around to building a course where it is weighted airhose (like used for pond aeration equipment. To screw in anchors with "jellyfish bouys" which would essentially be something like a swim cap. Everything sinks when off the bouys float when aerated (gast pump or similar) and then lost balls/damaged balls will have a bubbler where they are supposed to be so you can service them. Some sort of restriction/check valve at the end of each hose and shazam.

[Killer]

@swbca fill the bouys with water

[6balls]

agree with @killer. @swbca partial fill with water using garden sprayer modified slightly to inject the water and air, top it off with air to size you want. I love these. They keep position better, less disturbed by waves or your ski, and of course are lower in the water so disrupt your ski even less for that reason. There is a thread somewhere about how to build your garden sprayer it was easy.

[Drago]

Buoys should be 1" below centerline

[Killer]

Exactly @6balls. Fill with water, then with air. Mine freeze solid through the the winter without issue as well. Get many years use out of them.

This is what I use, pretty sure it was shared here. Have had it for many years, keep it in the boat.https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/flo-master-premium-handheld-sprayer-1998tl

You just have to take the nozzle off and remove a piece inside and replace with a ball inflater nozzle.

[KRoundy]

@swbca How firm is the bottom your lake? Ours is a few feet of mud-muck-grossness. I don’t think laying our course on the bottom is even feasible? I’m curious about your very rigid configuration idea.

Some of us want to go to the city and see if we can come up with a solution. It has been unbelievably frustrating few years with our course.

Kevin

[swbca]

@BraceMaker what keeps the air line tight (vertical) between the anchors and jellyfish when the water level drops.

For the feed from your compressor to the course + down the length of the course maybe it would maybe be cheaper to use a thick walled 1/2 ID rigid pvc held down with strips of eco-legal metal sheeting. That's what the course in Minnesota uses; 1,600 feet all at the bottom of the lake. He started with something less durable but has had the PVC in now about 25 years.

[BrennanKMN]

I fill my floating course turn ball buoys with a little water like stated above. Even easier than a garden sprayer is a small hand held basketball pump in a 5 gallon bucket of water. If you submerge the basketball pump in water when pumping it pumps water.

Personally, any other means like weights, bungies and what not is just more crap to maintain on a public floating course. It works great on private water, but on public water simplicity is best in my opinion.

I use 1/4 poly rope in 5 foot sections with spliced eyes attached to the PVC and the ball with a single zip tie for a buoy leader. Easy to break away, but not a pain to replace. I found bungy line to only last a year or so in a full time water environment. Never once had an issue with my steel mainline or PVC breaking before the rope or zip tie.

I use 4 foot sections of 2" PCV capped with air and hose clamped half way out the turn balls pipes for a sub float. Keeps the arms level. I have not had an issue if a ball is lost either, the PVC section just floats down. It can easily be retrieved from the boat guides, walked out and turn ball replaced.

Each year when I see the 4-5 other boats that ski my course I hand out replacement buoy lines I have made up and they all carry a few extra balls and zip ties. This year we've replaced 2 balls and 1 ball leader rope.

In the winter we just cut the zip ties at each ball and sink the course and buoy leaders for the winter. In the spring I have a rebar grappling hook we drag perpendicular to the course and use that to pull it up. Walk down the mainline and attach buoys as we go. Typically about a 1 hour process.

[Jared]

Certainly worth it for us.

We have a group of 5 families that have kept a floating course on a big public lake since 1997. The Lake is 17 KM log, a few hundred boats on the water during summer weekends. We have a bay at the end of the lake with a steep hill to the west and fishermen who clog up the entrance of the bay. Surfboats are definitely making it harder to ski, we have to get out earlier and earlier, and even dusk seems be lost to the surf wakes, where 15 years ago it was just us and the fishermen after dinner.

Course goes in mid May, and comes out Mid Sept. We scrub everything, poles, balls, bungies, cable with steel wool as it comes out of the water.

In 25 years we've had to replace,1 pole section, 1 mainline, 4 full sets of balls, 8 full sets of bungies, and we lose about 2 balls additional balls every year (we usually just use our old faded balls to replace them).

1 hour to put the course in, with 3 people in 1 boat.1 hour to take it out, with 6 people in two boatsand I spend ~2 hours every year before putting it in making sure all of the clips, bungies.... are good before putting it in.

I think if you want to keep it going, you need buddies who are going to work with you to help you take care of it. It's probably going costs us $200 year.

[o2bnMaine]

@swbca I weight my course a bit with Gatorade bottles filled with sand. The bottles go at the end of each buoy arm. That helps keep the buoy arms flat in the water. If you don't add some sort of flotation mid-way (foam in the PVC) or weight to the end, you could end up with a slightly narrower course. I tried this method because I'm not a fan of hitting a water-filled buoy. Having the extra weight at the end of the arm counters the buoyancy of the buoy...I think.

[swbca]

RE: PREVENT PVC FROM GOING VERTICAL

@o2bnMaine @BrennanKMN The course on our lake runs perpendicular to shore so the water depth ranges from 15 feet to 50 feet from one end to the other. We have to prevent the end of the PVC at the skier buoy from sinking when the buoy is missing so the gate end of PVC doesn't get close to the lake surface.

Even though it adds a bit of complexity, for the 6 skier buoys I still believe we need a small anchor and small sub-float to hold the PVC at a fixed distance from the bottom of the lake, with or without a skier buoy . . . . so the PVC doesn't create a hazard by going vertical when a ball is ripped off. The course is in a permanent fixed location and will be sunk for the winter.

[jpwhit]

I use 4lb Cod Weights attached to the end of the PVC pipes right below the turn balls to have the balls sit correctly in the water. I prefer this to filing the balls with water because it just makes it easier for anyone to replace buoys. Folks can keep deflated buoys in their boat with a simple ball pump and some zip ties. Ebay is the best place to buy large size Cod weights.

I've also found that maintaining the course is much easier if you invest in some tools and good hardware. Here are some of the things I use a lot. I use the Carabiners for ball hooks along with double zip ties at each buoy. Doubled up zip ties still break if something really snags a ball, but I've found we lose too many buoys because a single zip tie breaks too easily. We do have a few jet skis that go through the course and we don't lose buoys from them with the carabiners and double zip ties. We have made friends with the jet skiers and encourage them to use the course, and they are good about staying away when we're skiing. Then everyone's happy.

Crimper

Carabiners

D-Rings

[skiboyny]

@swbca Being that your course will stay where it is by all means go with a sub and a weight on the deep turn arm or whatever you come up with. In and out every year makes this less inviting to persu. You have to streamline as much as possible lots of work.

[skimtb]

Can you just put a novice course buoy on to keep the pipe horizontal if turn ball comes off. Maybe like 10’ in or so?

[MDB1056]

Yes @skimtb - that’s what many do to help eliminate arm sag and helps float the pvc arm if turn ball is lost. Just put a novice course buoy at a consistent mid arm length, or 5 ft in….. whatever you prefer. Works great

[6balls]

@skimtb two functions. Keeps the PVC level so you don't have a narrow course, and if a wally clips your ball it doesn't sink the arm to the bottom thus raising the far side boat guide perilously high.

All of this talk almost makes me want to maintain a course again! We had 4 within 10 miles of my house all designed for different wind directions with gentlemans agreements that any 2 of the 4 of us could use one anothers boats, no questions asked. Was pretty ideal.

[lpskier]

I hate extra balls on the surface. You can use an extra gallon jug half or so filled with water to get just the right amount of buoyancy about half way between the inside boat guide and the turn ball. Zip tie it directly to the pipe. Or slide a couple swim noodles inside the pipe. This will keep the pipe from sagging and will make it somewhat easier to get the pipe to the surface if you lose a turn ball.

+1 for 1/4” or 3/8” bungee cord for all buoy attachments. Pre cut them to a universal length. I used to use three feet.

+I for partially filling the turn balls with water. If you don’t, you will need weight at the end of each pipe to keep the turn balls at the right height. Adding weight makes it harder to get the pipe end to the surface if you lose.. excuse me, when you lose a turn ball.

Use foam bullets for boat guides and add some weight between then to keep them sitting deep in the water. You’ll pull off fewer boat guides that way.

Pay attention to the ski line with a fallen skier so you don’t pull off turn balls and gates.

Only use bowline knots. They will always let you untie them.

If your water level fluctuates, attach a large detergent bottle on each of your anchor lines about half way between the anchor and the course. The jugs always float up, keeping the course tight as the water level drops.

Avoid anything mechanical to tighten the course. If the course has a week link, you’ll quickly find it using mechanical advantage to tighten the course.

Keep several spares of everything you might need to fix the course, including spare buoys, in the boat together with a sharp knife, pliers and screw driver. A multi tool is handy. A small bike pump and a couple pump needles. And zip ties. Lots of zip ties.

A boat hook is also handy.

[6balls]

@lpskier great stuff! You got me on the detergent bottles on the mainline--smart.

Will also say this, if using mechanical advantage to tighten--no inboards. Hard to direct, only in gear or out.

A small alumacraft or whaler in REVERSE with the line tied center front. Total control, gentle pressure, can see right down the barrel of the course...pop it in neutral when done and the anchor sits down tight.

[Killer]

Like many in the north we put our course in the same spot every year and leave it in for the season.

I have permanent anchors at both ends with sub buoys so when we connect in the spring the subs stay on and act as the float. Definitely works well!

Our water drops a few few during the summer so Also I use a little rope come along with loops at one end to tighten it by hand, have to swim down to the gate diamond but it works great and no mechanical issues. It's typically dead straight unless a big wind is up, which you're not skiing in.

[WoodySkier]

@lpskier we just use a 2 foot long piece of PVC with caps on the ends and zip tie it to the PVC arm. We also have trainer bouys for the kids, so if we have those on the pvc doesn’t sag at all. We used to drop the course on the weekends on our lake, but have left it up all summer the last 2 years. We lose a few balls here and there, and occasionally someone snags the mainline with an anchor and we have to pull it straight, but that only happens maybe twice a year. The course has been on our small public lake for 20+ years so everyone is used to having it there and so no one usually messes with it.

[swbca]

@KRoundy Check your messages for a reply

[GaryJanzig]

Lake Latonka is similar conditions to a public lake. We have an Accufloat Course. We attach the buoys with mason string and brass clips to the eyebolts. If a buoy gets snagged it will break off without ripping the whole course out. We swap out the buoys with the jugs half full of water for the gates and 3/4 full of water for the skier buoys and sink it for the winter. The waterline on the buoy down to the eye bolt and clip is about 6 feet. It is out in the middle of the lake and it is about 15-20 feet deep. We tightened up the anchor and cable by hand as much as possible. We have a ratchet at one end to adjust the tension. No tools required to submerge or bring it back up. Canoe, rowboat, and grappling hooks. When submerged it floats about a foot off the bottom. We use the jugs so we can make adjustments to the buoyancy if needed. During the season we keep a few spare buoys in the boats. I only had to replace 2-3 buoys that got snagged and broken off. The yellow bullet shaped foam buoys work very well with the eyes made out of rope. Only lost 1 this year. If you use the foam buoys for the gates they can take hits from a prop, they last for years, can be refurbished with SEM Marine spray vinyl, but if you use the metal eyes and mason string you will lose buoys more frequently since the metal eyes will wear out the string from bobbing around in the waves. Hope this was helpful!