scorban2

Webcast looks great so far! A bit quiet from the skiers on the dock interviews with Wade, but a top notch production!

@gsmith795 I'm just beyond where you're at skill wise from your description (and 98% free ski) and am planning to get a new ski via SIA before next spring at some point. That being said, when I bought my Senate 5 years ago, I thought I was skiing well, but have come a long way on it. I'm sure the ski helped, but most of that progress came from coaching and skiing sets with specific areas of focus each time. New skis are lots of fun, but if you're looking to improve, coaching has a better ROI.

@gpcarson Again? It always has been.

I was hoping there was a video attached when I clicked...

Sounds like I should start a business in 5 ish years to refurb electronics in ski (and wake) boats. Not an expert on boat manufacturing, but I work on electronics, including touch screens, on equipment thats a bit higher volume than ski boats, but way less than automotive. Almost everything we use is automotive based, to take advantage of their volume pricing. Sure, we customize a few things to standup to our application, but the technology and interfaces are the same. The fact that there are millions of cars with similar parts ensures availability of parts that are at least similar well I to the future, even if it's not from the OEM. I'm with @UWSkier, keep buying boats so I can get one in 10-15 years.

The port side windshield of my 97 SN got taken out by a rock on the road earlier this summer, so I'm quite familiar with the process. I got the same story from Nautique Parts and Taylor Made, and they sent me to Ocean Dynamics for custom glass. Their quote came back at $1288 for a poly replacement and between $4900-$5700 for glass. In the mean time, I also called up Liquid Edge, who added Nautique to their lineup last year, and they were able to find a replacement from Nautique. Now that they have it and the boat, it turns out it wasn't the exact same part, since it had the rounded frame edge vs. the square I had, but since my frame is fine, they are going to swap it out. It may be worth a call to a local dealer to see if they can try to contact Nautique before going the custom route.

First off, great job - that's good skiing for just getting consistent with deep water starts. I spent my first 12 years of slalom skiing behind various I/O's, and that while your wake may not be ski boat quality, it looks decent for the situation. I'd echo @Martin1980 on shortening the rope to 60' since it looks like the wake is a little smaller up closer, but it's also narrower. Once you get to cutting a bit harder, the wake will feel more like one bump vs. 2 if you find a narrower crossing point. As far as technique, the one thing I'd say to work on is trying to keep your cut consistent as you cross the wake. No doubt the wake will shake you a bit, but when you lay off your cut coming into the wake, not only is your ski flatter to hit the wake with, your also slowing down, which messes with your balance. In your case, instead of cutting out so far, go out half that far, and focus on consistent (maybe slower to start) cuts all the way through. The smart tabs piece intrigues me. My cousin has a similar era Bayliner I/O with them (oversized), and it looks like a ski boat driving around at 25 mph or so, but has the weirdest wake I've ever seen. I'm curious to take it out with just 2 people and see what it looks like at 30+ now.

@shufflehuff the mounting on those tips looks very similar to the ones on the new Prostar, but the Prostar tips have a turndown. Maybe you could contact Mastercraft or find the supplier to see if the turn down version would bolt up to your boat.

My 97 SN had a 45 degree turn down mounted on it when I bought it, without the flapper. Its not perfect, but the turn down is going to prevent water from being pushed up the tube like it would with a straight exit. Ive had no issues but don't spend excessive time in reverse either.

The tank must be different on the later TSC1s... Have you tried seeing what you can see from pulling up the floor board behind the motor? I can access the entire muffler (and rudder with some reaching) from there. The only other thought is trying a Bluetooth borescope may be a quicker way to check things out. I got one a few years back for $25 or so that uses your phone as a display and does much better than I thought it would for the price.

They've multiplied on our lake in the past few years, and are mostly on the south end where the nicer houses are. The lake has a fairly low clearance bridge to get between the two sides, and no boat with a tower can get through (some tri-toons are too tall without many people on). Last year when the county announced the bridge would be replaced due to age, a big group started pushing for them to raise the bridge. We had the opposite thought, hoping they'd stay the same to keep the big boats where they were. Luckily (or not) it's IL and the government is broke, so no raised bridges!

I know this is an older thread, but as a long time no-cover tower, I am considering one now after this happened 2 weeks back for my longer hauls (4-5 450 mi round trips a year). I think I caught a rock that got kicked up by a semi in front of me that drifted onto the shoulder. I also have a new truck this year that didn't have any mudflaps when I got it (already added them), so it could have been kicked up by my truck as well. I know the material isn't super thick, but a layer of sunbrella would likely decrease the point load from a rock enough to keep this from happening. On the bright side, other than looking quite odd, we really haven't missed the LHS windshield. I'm sure that sentiment will change come fall, but should have the replacement soon.

I've had impellers that looked fine to the naked eye not work well, so no wonder that one wasn't doing much.

Reason I ask is a bit of water could have something growing in it to get you your green stuff. Id feel and smell it. Antifreeze is usually a bit oily feeling and smells sweet.

Maybe an obvious question, but was the bilge dry beforehand, or was there something else down there? Does sound like it got hot.