04196

Abigail? I would say that is Rhoni Barton a few years ago if I didn't know better! Except she most likely would not have driven a MC.

@UWSkier hate to break the news but the mortality rate is 100%

I believe I had the first application of Seadek on my 2006 196. I had to pay "extra" for the template since one did not exist yet. This was maybe 1.5 years ago. They took my platform up to the shop in Seattle and did all the work, was near $650 as I remember. Final product was AWESOME and sooo much better than the stock hard black rubber. I had the "N" Nautique logo in the center and they had to contact Correct Craft for permission to duplicate the logo even though it was going on a Nautique? Go figure.

Hey @LoopSki, I thought you had inside access to the new 2021 Mastercraft :D Oh man, I can feel a panda and hate mail coming for this one!

I am considering selling, It is an '06 though. My mind says NO but my body is telling me it's time :'( PM me if you want more info - boat is in University Place WA

@zakdog - do you have a copy of the ccr's you can send - wondering about structure requirements, build times or permanent RV pad

For me it is when I try moving to hardshells, I ski in animals and when trying hardshells I invariably end up in lean lock

Here we go again S$!#$%$#@! Another paycheck, lies to the wife, DAMN you RADAR!

My favorite was a t-shirt that had a pic of a slalom ball and the statement - "No Falls - No Balls" wore it till it evaporated!

@BlueSki If I understand your question correctly, no. I had a friend make the brackets (that are now bolted to the factory design) as shown in the top photo of my post from May 23, the holes you see in there are ones I drilled to mount the curved brackets. I drew out a pattern I felt might solve the issue but didn't, flipped them over and it did. I first felt lowering the roller was the right direction but turned out raising the roller to get it above the bow eye was the answer.

My original "fix" was not completely successful as the bow eye still hit and got hung up on the bow roller both launching and loading, yes our ramp drops off very fast. My fix, which solved the problem I was having, was just to reverse the brackets I had made. This placed the roller above the bow eye and eliminated the problem as well as the concern of not allowing the boat to move "up" the roller on a panic stop. It did move the boat back on the trailer about 3" which I don't see as a problem. The bolt blue circled is the original roller location. I am curious if anyone sees an issue I have not thought of? All feedback is much appreciated.

@skiinxs yes, it is crazy steep so I have to have the trailer in deep to get over the bow stop. Same when launching, if the bow eye is over the roller when trying to launch, I can't even power off unless I have the trailer very deep in the water. @bracemaker The boat could go up the roller in the original position just as easy, the ratchet strap and safety strap would allow the boat to go up the roller a short distance, as the stern tie downs might allow also. Would have to be a panic stop, which is certainly possible but in reality I don't think it can go too far forward, hopefully the back of the SUV would stop it also :o I think I could also put a through bolt in the first hole forward of the bow roller, make a short safety chain attached to this bolt and quick connect to the bow eye which would prevent the boat from a forward slide or potentially run the current safety strap on the boat side of the bow roller

I ordered a 2018 Boatmate for my '06 196 last year, $6.5K delivered. Filled out the "build sheet" with how I wanted the trailer built. Trailer arrived at my local Nautique dealer about 2.5 months later and when I picked it up I noticed it did not have the boat guides so I asked where they were. Was told by my dealer that "I must not have checked that box as they are an option". What? I went back to the website for boatmate and confirmed there was no "check box" for boat guides and read on the site that boat guides are standard equipment on ALL tournament boat trailers. In talking to Boatmate it was discovered they did not even weld in the boat guide supports or anchor points so could not just have them shipped to me and place them in. They at first were going to find a local welding shop to do this work but I knew after paint and the placement of the Seadeck, it would never look the same as original so nixed that suggestion. They were very apologetic and offered to build me another trailer which I was pleased with. Second trailer arrived and I assume was built off the same build sheet I had completed but: 1. Trailer fenders came "teardrop" instead of straight 2. First trailer tires were 15", now new trailer has 14" 3. Runway lighting was spec'd in red and came white 4. No mounted auto retracting stern tie downs as spec'd - no big deal as dealer had a set and bolted on All in all I was happy with getting a new trailer with the "standard" boat guides but disappointed the trailer could not be built to my requests, but I can live it. Now to the issue with loading and unloading - the same as many of you have had with the bow eye and trying to get the boat on the trailer with the bow eye "above" the bow roller on the trailer. Damn near impossible without putting the rear tires of my SUV ('18 Explorer) completely in the water to either load or launch the boat. A true PITA x2. Someone has totally missed the design on the front bow roller positioning or the bunks or both. I have had a couple of plates made that I hope solves the problem, mounted them last night and will launch/load this weekend and see if this made any improvement or needs further tweaking. I will repost my success or failure with this attempted fix. Original roller position New roller position Front view Boat inplace The boat sits in nearly the same position on the trailer and hoping the bow eye now does not conflict with the roller on loading or launching. Have less than $25 invested

@KRoundy - yup, I am sure, talked to Rob, Ron & Doug at the show. If you noticed the little, and I mean little, placards on each of the Nautiques, they said something to the effect of (in very small print) "brought to you by Lake Union Sea Ray". Rob will be staying on in some capacity but both Ron & Doug are out. Now time will tell if they keep operations "as is" but something tells me things will be consolidated. In either case, still a sad day to see "OUR" Nautique dealer sell. They were great guys to deal with.

@KRoundy the Nautique at the show had been "sold" to one of the partners, or past partners that is, of Pacific Nautique, sadly learned they had sold out to Lake Union Sea Ray, AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

Christmas Day - about 40 air, 43 water. Santa makes 2 visits on this day. Note the seaplane, just happened to be in the perfect spot for this shot on the lake.

All are true

83 degrees - 39 air and 44 water - Western WA. Positive note - we turn the corner Friday and the days start getting longer!!!

Rollers are from the boat during a crew change so boat was outside of the course to the top at this picture headed to the right, think they were running at 28mph at this point. Waves dissipated quickly and were not a factor at all. There was some current in the channel but it was actually going the OTHER way??? Go figure. Portable course in only for the tournament, the gate and boat guide balls looked straight and lined up but this arm in particular seemed quite out of tolerance. I thought the kids were way to close and should not have been allowed in the water, especially at the turn side ball(s), one nasty fall and/or a ski coming off shooting like a rocket and would not have been good, luckily no issues. I also felt this was a possible distraction to the skiers coming in to 1 ball. Just checking opinions as I have not attended an INT tournament before and was amazed no one seemed concerned about the alignment of the ball.

Went to an INT event over last weekend and this is what 1/6 ball looked like. There has to be some tolerances in a course and this can't be OK. No one received a re-run nor did anything occur to bring the ball back to a more "straight" position as it was 3' to 4' short or long depending on direction. Several other arms were not straight either but not this bad. Is this actually OK?

@LeonL - our course is around 6' - 7' under the surface, lake is 12' to 15' in depth through the location of the course.

@m_pags It may not sink without a weight attached to the end. If it did sink, I bet it wouldn't go under very far and much easier to snag and bring back up. I'm just thinking you may have to play around with the length of the capped PVC because too much, with a buoy on the end, you'll be floating the whole arm too close to the surface. If we loose both buoys on an arm, the PVC sinks and is quite difficult to swing back up so I'm going to try the capped PVC as sort of a "sub" buoy to keep the arm somewhat buoyant in that situation without putting too much buoyancy on the arm. Great suggestion @Zman

@m_pags a couple of things - Depending on water depth I would hesitate tying a weight to the turn buoy end if you're on public water, as I am, since we loose several turn buoys a year to the "wallys". If a ball gets cut the arm will sink, especially without intermediate balls, and be a pain to get up to re-attach another ball. To keep the arms straight(er), I ran cable from the end of the turn arm back to the main line at equal lengths and distances in a "V" (one each direction back to the main line @ a 40 or so degree angle) to keep the arm straight. Works quite well but yes takes a lot of extra line and some diving to accomplish but end result is straight arms that also are not effected by wind. We have the intermediate balls so no sagging issues but the capped extra section of PVC sounds like a great idea.

Thank you @brooks 2nd ride tomorrow, won't sleep much tonight!