BugHunter

Most of the testing was done during slalom but we did some trick sets and it worked as expected. It is very easy to adjust the trigger speed when switching to tricks. The difference with slalom is that with tricking the boat does not stop at the end of the pass but turns around. At least that is what we do. As the boat is not going under the trigger speed while turning, the camera will keep recording. So you will not get the videoclip-per-pass as with slalom.

About two years ago our little ski group here switched to using GoPro as a training tool and quickly realized that having a way to automatically start/stop recording a la Wakeye would be great to have for the newer GoPros. I'm a software engineer by trade, so I started this little project as a hobby project. It was not intended to grow into a real product, but with more interest coming from the waterski community and even more from the car enthusiast side, I decided that it was time to make it available in the mobile stores as a product. Now after two years and hundreds of hours of testing/use later it is available for IOS and Android. Features used for skiing. Start and stop recording at a configurable speed. Force the GoPro preset selection to a configured preset. Turn camera on/off from the app. Supports GoPro Hero5 to Hero12. Hero4 only on IOS. If your phone can control the GoPro with the GoPro Quik app through Bluetooth, HydraPro will be able to control it as well. More info: www.lakeshorelogic.com/hydrapro

And for all you GoPro'ers out there. Always run a shock tube and attach a float to your camera. We had two instances where due to either a shock from rope release or from the rope wrapping around the camera, the little feet of the camera itself broke of the camera. One is on the bottom of the lake and the other luckily landed in the back of the boat.

I would go with the Hero 9 at least. That is the first model with the new better battery. 8 and under have smaller batteries. Those batteries will be harder to buy new now as well. I have from 9, 10, 11 and 12 now and for skiing there is not much improvement going from 9 to 12. The 12 is better if you want to slow-mo your videos afterwards and it is also better in lower light conditions (early or late sets) but it is also $500...

We got our Touchless cover in 2007 and it we have not regretted it ever. It does hold up very well too. The only maintenance we do is replace the pulleys when they eventually wear out. We had to replace the motor in 2010 after a lightning strike on the dock, which fried everything electronic in the boat and melted the steel cables holding the cover, dripping molten metal on the boat 😞 And one of the near-direct-hit hurricanes we had ripped the cover. The company's advice is to keep the cover down in a storm, but we now take four heavy straps with ratchets and tie it to the roof of the dock. And it made it through the last storm without problems. The dock and cover were made initially for a 24' wakeboard boat with the tower up, so it is wider, longer and much taller than is needed for a ski-boat.

We replaced the steering cable in ours earlier in the year because it was stiff and had a lot of play. The cause of the play was the mechanism behind the steering wheel. There were some metal shavings stuck in the grease, so it was worn for sure. After replacing that the play is now completely gone. Replacing the cable was an adventure though. We knew about the gas tank having to come out etc... But the main drag was that the factory had zip-tied the steering cable to other cables going from the front, under the engine, to the back. Finding and cutting those zip-ties was the biggest challenge. This is on a 2019 SN 200.

We now have a new boat with a heater and it indeed does solve the fogging problem. Thanks for the guidance.

The Kevlar. The rubber on the handle is holding up good, so I will stay with kevlar if I have to replace them.

Switched to Stealth gloves more than a year ago because the other gloves I was using kept on falling apart in a couple of months. Been using the same pair of Stealth gloves now for over a year and the do not even show signs of wear yet. The way it is going the velcro strap is probably going to go before the rest of the gloves.

Amazon link; https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B00F8FEGMK?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

Nothing worked as far as products to put on the windscreen. It would fog up on the outside and on the inside. So I found this little tool that is designed to clean windows and it works perfectly;

https://www.onlyinboards.com/2019-Mastercraft-Prostar-190-for-sale-FL-Palm-Bay-Florida-145321.aspx

We actually started using a shock tube to protect a GoPro camera from being ripped off the pylon mount due to a recoil. It happened three times this past year. Luckily, the camera landed in the boat each time. Did not think about the safety issue until this thread...

I have the same ski but it will be 3 years old next month. In the summer I average 50 passes a week, in the 2 month winter here in FL probably 20 a week. No problems yet, but this makes me think though!