gapullin

It's just my observation, based upon watching real time video on a smartphone, but I think his ski broke as a result of the fall, not the cause of it. That fall hurt just to watch it.

My bad, page 4+5 didn't come up on my phone immediately. Glad you got it solved!

As I've already mentioned, your next step is to put a timing light on each plug wire sequentially, 1-8. Almost for certain, you will lose spark during a miss. What you need to know is whether you are losing spark to all cylinders during a miss, or just a portion. If you are losing spark to all, your problem is almost certainly ahead of the distributor. If less than 8, your problem is at or behind the distributor.

I skied on a river for 10 years, current was anywhere from 0.2 to 0.8 mph. Zero off wasn't created then, we adjusted our Perfectpass speed by adding wind. In terms of boat speed, this worked well. As far as the skier goes, I found it to be like skiing wind, but with glass water. I personally find it easier to ski upwind, and also found it easier to ski up current. Against the current, generating the same lateral vector, which is what is required to reach the line of the turn balls before actually reaching the turn ball, will generate increased lateral velocity compared to with the current. This gets us to the width of the ball earlier, with more set up time for the turn, on the up current pass. Like skiing with wind, one does need to pull longer going up current than down. I found that time pulling and slack issues were similar to skiing in wind. The other issue is the ideal speed for which the ski is designed. I've always used a 36 mph ski and skied at 34.2. Naturally, the ski performs ideally at a faster speed, relative to the water. So, on the upstream pass, I felt the ski to be more responsive. That said, the smoothest, easiest short line pass I ever completed on the river was a downstream 32 off pass. Can't really explain that.

I feel like this post started as a humorous take on performance improvement, and gradually became a bit more literal and serious than the poster intended?

Personally I prefer the cost savings of a two year old boat. Furthermore, I have a 2017, it's been a good model, and the year was generally reliable. Prostar have generally held their value well. The boat mates perfectly with the 5.7.

I'm an emergency physician with 26 years experience, and I must confess I don't believe I have ever seen a patient who has undergone PRC. This could mean I'm merely naive, but more likely that this is an exceedingly rare procedure. I can confidently claim that removing the proximal carpal row will radically change the mechanics and forces upon the wrist. Furthermore, once those bones are gone, there's no putting them back. I would recommend seeing 2 of th most highly recommended hand Surgeons possible and getting an opinion. If they differ, see a third. If you get two resounding recommendations to proceed with this procedure, consider it. If not, I'd think twice. If carpal bone prosthetic implants aren't out there now, they will be coming. It's usually best to try to restore native anatomy rather than eliminate bones. Sorry I don't have more knowledge about PRC.

@liquid d thanks for the explanation, makes some sense, I'll give it a try come May once the ice comes off the lake.

This is almost certainly a fuel or spark problem (I know that seems obvious, but bear with me). I don't recall Nautique fuel pressure off the top of my head, but it's less than the MC MPI systems. The guys at Discount inboard marine will surely offer this up for you. If pressure is good, it could easily be wet fuel. Sea foam will look after a little water, but more than a little will require methyl hydrate, and time to burn through the bad fuel. Decanting a few ounces of fuel off the fuel rail and allowing it to rest in a clear container will likely declare wet fuel (it sinks to the bottom, of course). Regardless, replace the filter in the fuel cell if it hasn't been recently done. The next thing to check is spark with a timing light, on each plug wire sequentially. I worked on a GT40 with a miss 2 years ago. Proved to be a bad distributor bearing, causing intermittent lack of contact between cap and rotor only at two cylinders. This condition was diagnosed with a timing light. And no, check engine will not be triggered with this issue. That said, the poster indicated the distributor is pretty fresh. I'd be guessing the issue is fuel, either bad filter or pump causing marginal pressure, or water in fuel. But the proper diagnosis starts with establishing fuel pressure and proper spark at all cylinders. How many engine hours, and is the check engine light on?

One issue is there is a disconnect between the US economy (booming) and those of Australia and Canada (contracting). Ski and wake boats can command big dollars/good profits in the US right now, so there is not strong incentive for manufacturers to hold prices down, in either the US or abroad. When the inevitable US contraction hits, it will be interesting to see how this affects US prices, and by extension, those abroad. 10% import tariffs in Canada right now are an additional substantial price detriment. The longer these reactionary tariffs persist, the more likely they are to become permanent. If I was an international dealer, I'd be holding my breath that consumers continue to open their wallets for boats that now virtually start at 100k USD.

One more thing: I plan to use 22 sinkers, one for each floating ball. That way no asymmetrical forces are generated. Pregates will be independent.

Thanks for the comments. I'm in British Columbia. No issue with lead up here. As far as variable depth goes, not an issue, only the lead "sub weights" sink to the bottom. The buckets/bladders sit about 15 feet (1/2 atmosphere) below the surface. Love the idea of air bladders, of course this will likely require a vacuum pump to extract air, otherwise I think they might drain quite slowly. My original plan was to use the pails themselves as air reservoirs. That plan involved about 20kg of concrete poured in the bottom of the pail with a hollow tube entering the bottom of the pail and travelling through the concrete. Opening a valve at the inflate end of the high pressure hose allows air, which of course is lighter than water, to drain out, permitting water to enter the pail through the tube. Once all air is displaced, the bucket will sink, with the assistance of the lead weight dangling 15 feet above the lake bottom. Once the weights hit bottom, the course remains suspended 15 ft below the surface. Using compressed air through a Shraeder valve on the surface will displace the accumulated water out the bottom of the bucket through the tube and allow the guide/turn balls to float the pails and lead weights. I think the advantage of inflatable tunes is that they will create a more reliably sealed system that is less prone to leak over time. Does all this sound reasonable?

I think $50 a set is reasonable, especially if its in CAD, AUD, or even better, NZD. BTW, when did a standard set become 6 passes? I feel like it was 8 during the majority of my ski school days in the 1990s (has that much time really passed?)

I hope my above comments aren't construed as complaining about HO quality or customer service, as that's certainly not my goal. Just wanting to get a gauge as to whether this has been an inherent problem with the 2017 boots...

Agree with the customer service comments above regarding PerfectPass. In my frequent experience, there is no better customer service I have encountered with any product supplier.

I'm LFF, ski with my left palm up, because its the same way I hold a bat, hockey stick, or golf club (I do all of those "left", and no, I am not left handed). There is no way I can comfortably shift my grip, there's too much muscle memory to maintain it as is. I'm not a professional, nor an instructor, so I may not be recognizing something, but I fail to realize the importance of "the proper grip". In the turn, when one hand is off the handle, the remaining hand rotates to the natural position for the turn. The only place I can see it making a difference is in the pull behind the boat going from left to right, but I don't feel I struggle here.

Sorry, not sure why photos didn't post...

I know I'm late to the party with this, not to mention slightly off topic. I've converted to the HO Hardshells for the 2018 season, and have had no issues so far, but no hard falls either. My concern is with the 2017 VMax boots and repetitive premature breakdown, where the rear sole of the boot separates from the upper. In New Zealand last month I used a pair of brand new 2017s that I had left there (never used) the fall of 2017. I finished my first set and discovered separation of the rear sole from the upper on my right (rear) boot. As you'll see in the attached photos, my New Zealand buddies have experienced the same issue. In their case, the failure occurred just after the warranty expiration. Has anyone else experienced this problem, and is HO aware? My boots are out of warranty, but the failure occurred with the first use, which I think should count for something. I don't like pulling out the "loyal customer card", but I am: I've used nothing but HO since 2004, with a new ski most every year. Thanks for the input.

Interested in converting our Accufloat course to a sinking version. Planning to construct a "homemade" version of an Accusink, but if anyone has a used Accusink or Wally Skier available at a reasonable price, I'd appreciate a reply. Also, if anyone has pearls regarding construction of a sinking unit from scratch, feel free to provide input. The course is in variable water depth from 25-100 feet. Plan is to use 5 gallon sealed pails for air bladders with slightly positive buoyancy when saturated, and lead weights dangling about 10-15 feet above bottom attached to the pails. When the course is sunk, this will keep it at an even depth. When the pails are air filled, the combination of buoyant pail and negatively buoyant lead weight creates slight negative buoyancy, just enough to hold the assembly down. 1/4" high pressure air hose will supply the needed compressed air, provided by a refillable portable compressed air tank. Thanks in advance for input.

I'm in British Columbia. Have you received a cheque yet?

I'm interested in purchasing either one or two pairs of Mastercraft aluminum 7.7" speaker cans that would fit the ZFT4 tower, preferably including the JL speakers, or even better, a 2018 set with Klipsch speakers. If anyone has a pair or two that you've removed, in excellent condition, feel free to respond.

I would say Terry Winter. He's at such a disadvantage given his height. If it was horse racing and he was a jockey he'd be the greatest ever. His ability to height ratio is #1.

Do you have any photos available? Please pm me with any you might have.