stevezie

I would appreciate any guidance on which material(s) to use for reglassing fiberglass exhaust mufflers from a 2014 Prostar. While I suspect just about anything will probably work temporarily, I’m suspect some are better suited and will provide longer lasting results.

You’re using the equestrian world to justify that skiing is affordable? Equestrian is more elitist than competitive skiing. Thats like saying “the polo club is doing fine so skiing must not be that expensive”. There aren’t many sports more high brow than competitive skiing but you picked one. People from modest means (roughy 90% of the US population) are not even considering equestrian, or competitive slalom skiing, because of cost. Athletes from tiers below the upper class have hobbies that are typically low cost like soccer, basketball, running, hiking, etc. The problem statement of this thread was never really clarified. Recreational waterskiing is not in decline. As many have a said, there are great uses boats for reasonable prices. Competitive waterskiing is in decline. Without zero off and a private lake, you won’t get anywhere. In 90% of the country there is no access to a public course or ski club. Ski boat manufacturers are also in decline. Can’t be any argument about that.

We have a 2001 Centurion Eclipse and the wake is extremely small. I'm sure many will disagree but I would put the wake up against any of the very best boats. The people who disagree are probably making assumptions and haven't actually skied behind one (there aren't many out there). It's a bit of a unique boat for that generation because it's significantly wider than others giving it a really large interior and somewhat functional bow compared to others from that generation. With the added space, it's a really good family ski boat. It's got absolutely great wakes at low speeds. My kids don't like skiing behind my 2014 Prostar and want to ski behind the Centurion solely because the wakes are so much smaller at slow speed. It's got a Mercruiser engine also so parts are super easy to get as well. The downside is it's extremely tricky to drive well. Free skiing is fine but driving in a course is really difficult. Ours is extremely twitchy with small inputs. Perhaps someone better at boat set up could improve it but our efforts have failed. It's also absolutely terrible in any kind of rough water. I'm not talking ski boat terrible. It's worse than your typical ski boat. Not only is it very flat, the deep chines down the edges of the bow act like a tri hull and seem to trap the wave energy instead of pushing it out to the sides. It rattles and shakes like crazy but has no stress cracks. The vinyl is thin and the hardware and build quality is typical Centurion stuff. It's a great free skiing boat and a great family ski boat, which is unique for this generation. It's perfect for the 765 acre lake we are on.

Skiing overall is not on the decline. It's growing in my area, as others noted in separate threads. Show skiing participation is growing as well. Competitive skiing is in decline and DD boat sales are in decline for a few reasons.

It does feel like the beginning of the end without a promo program though unless Malibu is going to change their pricing strategy. Buyers need to be able order their new Malibu for less (or at least comparable) than they can get a Mastercraft or Nautique promo to keep this going. Based on the previous TXi and LXi they might be able to do that and capture healthy margins but will they continue to sacrifice those build slots to lower total profit ski boats. Is it possible the downturn lowers their total demand below their total production capacity, which would make them happy to build any boat?

To further your point, show skiing is growing in the Midwest and it’s definitely not all boomers. The problem or problems are mostly specific to competitive skiing. Looking back at the people I skied three event with in college, I don’t think any still ski three event. Most of them show ski though.

You don't think publicly traded corporation has insurance? It wont cover all of the damages but certainly a lot of it. For all the doom gloom such as "revenue is down 37%" and "profits are down 50%", lets keep it in perspective. Despite being down, earnings were $37m. That's still a 17% operating margin, which is relatively healthy for many business. Large corporations frequently operate in single digits. Investors currently aren't happy and they have challenges ahead of them, but I don't think we should jump to the conclusion the company is going away.

I disagree and would suggest wake surfing tapped into an entirely different market and has almost nothing to do with the skiing market at all. A big chunk of that market it more interested in looking cool rather than a genuine love for the sport. Once it’s no longer fashionable, it will crash. Regardless, the surfing market is going down the same path. Look at the prices on those boats. The OEMs crank up prices continuously going after margins instead of volume. Water skiing, motor cycles, trucks, whatever, this works until you have narrowed the marked until there is no viable market left.

“Ok, we can play together but I pick the game, we play on my court, we use my ball, and I get to make the rules…. I can’t believe no one wants to play with me. What’s wrong with all of you.” Please do not take this as a reference to you or to be about you. Just a generalization of the overall situation you have noted.

I don't post here often but have followed the forum and have been an avid skier decades. I dropped out of the tournament skiing scene shortly after college for several reasons. I think the recreational skiing scene is still alive, but it's diverged significantly from the tournament scene. From my perspective, the competitive skiing scene has shot itself in the foot over the last 15-20 years. In the pursuit of perfection and the perfect pull, the group has continued to innovate and invest (speed control, boat design, lake design, etc) without enough for consideration for how it would impact the accessibility of the wider community. These improvements have come at a significant cost, but the people making the decisions had the resources to afford them. The low cost skier was effectively cut out in the pursuit of the perfect pull. For example, Zero Off was a huge improvement. However, it's a design that could not be retrofitted to older boats like the previous generations of speed control. In hind sight, was it wise for the sport to fully standardize on a speed control that literally could not be retrofitted onto older boats? This was a big part of the divergence between rec skiing and tournament skiing. It created a huge barrier for rec skiers with an older boat to go into tournament skiing and most just decided to leave tournament skiing behind. Probably would have been smarter for the wider community to say "Zero Off is great but we aren't standardizing on something that cannot be retrofitted". I'm sure the boat manufacturers were all happy to adopt it in their short sightedness. However most companies favor immediate boost over long term stability. Then there is the move private ski lakes. In many cases, the people on these lakes want to host a tournament so they can set their scores on their home lake, but they really aren't that keen about having the "riff raff" come to their lake either. As a public lake skier who tried to come from the outside, it was a relatively cold experience. Basically got the feeling "you don't deserve to be skiing on my lake. You're only here because I have to let you in to hold the event". I'm sure others have had a different experience. I believe the outcome likely depends mostly on your ability, rather than your character. Additional to this are the challenges of putting a course on a public lake. It would be easier to get congress to agree on immigration than it would to get a permit for a permanent ski course approved in most states. A significant, and passionate, contingent of the community left the public lake scene for private lakes leaving the public skiers with less representation and power in numbers. From my view, the tournament skiing crowd doesn't engage much in the affairs of public lake skiing. For us recreational skiers, for the most part we are just as happy using a boat decades old as we would be with the latest and greatest. Everything the tournament ski crowd demands from their boat just doesn't materially change the rec skiing experience. Combine that with astronomical prices and why would the average rec skier upgrade their boat? Decisions are being made by the select few in the pursuit of perfection without enough consideration for accessibility of the wider ski community. All this creates a smaller and smaller market for new ski boats. Obviously just my opinion.

It does have a cavitation plate that is not adjustable. Doesn't look like its moved

Note sure what year they introduced CATS but this does not have it. Standard three skeg arrangement.

Hi guys, I'm wondering if anyone can help with out with a 2001 centurion eclipse. It has some very weird handling characteristics and I'm wondering if they can be corrected. It's tracks ok with no input to the wheel but is very twitchy with any adjustments to your line. Not very course friendly. Can this be improved? Also, it turns very odd. The initial turn in is normal enough as the inside slightly dips into the turn but after a moment it kicks out to ride completely flat. It's not really a problem but very odd and annoying. There is no added weight in the boat for balancing or any of other adjustments. It's as it came from the factory. Any tips or previous experience you guys are willing to share on how to set this boat up would be much appreciated.

During periods of heavy skiing I start getting sharp pain in my back during certain movements afterward. Particularly titling my head down. I feels like it's behind my shoulder blade toward the middle of my back. Feels almost like a pinched nerve but it could just be a tight muscle? If I take a little time off it goes away. Never get it during the winter. This year it seems particularly bad so I'm looking for answers. Some days it can be agonizing to sit at my desk. I would rather not pay a doctor to look at it just to have him/her tell me to stop skiing. Stretching helps but doesn't stop it or prevent it. Anybody else have any experience with this or know what it is. Better yet, how to make it go away or prevent it. Thanks for any help or input.