Skier's Choice, timeline on production?

[brentburtrum]

I ordered my boat on February 21st, i don't think the actual order was turned in until the begining of March though. Well i talked to the dealer today and he said my "spray date" is May 4th, and i should take delivery about May 12th. I live in Michigan by the way.

Brent

[Shoemaker Mobius]

AustinLSV,
What color LSV did you order? Garaging sounds great - I wish I could. From your description, are you in the neighborhood down Cuernavaca? That looks like a great neighborhood perk.

[Jay Warren]

Hi Everyone, I'll see if I can clear up any questions. The dealers are given "slots" or actually spray dates for boats, the slots are model specific. IE. if you originally wanted an LSV, you can't change it with an outback. The whole production schedule is based on apox 16 mold rotation. I'm not at liberty to disclose our mold rotation, but I can give you an example (3 LSV's, 2 outbacks, 3 outback LS's, etc until you get to sixteen models) If you can imagine it is a cycle they go through and then they go through the line again. There are several factors that influence the mold rotation, such as maintanance schedules for the molds, orders for a particular model, and the number of molds we have for a particular model etc. etc. etc. needless to say it is complicated and we can't let the quanity demanded dictate our quality standards. To get on with it the dealers have these slots that are given to them based on projections set forth earlier in the year. (dealers didn't get all the slots they wanted) The slots are then spect out by the dealer based on the customer's desired options. The reason that is possible for a customer to order a boat later and maybe get it sooner than another again depends on the model ordered, mold rotation, slot reserved etc. Or a dealer/ customer can simply drop out and another customer from that same dealership may get the slot. In the case of someone dropping out we will insure that a sold boat, not a stock boat, is moved into that open slot. We appreciate everyone's patience and know that we are doing our very best to get the boats to you guys as soon as we can, at the same time, not compromising quality. Hope this explains a few things. Hit me up with any other questions.

Jay Warren
Marketing Manager

[austinlsv]

Thanks for the clarification Jay. It is just hard to wait, but it will be worth it.

Shoemaker, as a Tennessee alumni, I ordered the orange LSV. We are actually all the way up stream in Apache Shores. We have the last ramp on the left before the dam. It sure is some cold water up here, but smooth water.

[Shoemaker Mobius]

Go Rocky Top!!! We usually head up your way to get to the smoother (and less crowded) water. The water near 360 bridge was 68 degrees on Monday. I noticed previously that the water up your way was about 8-10 degrees colder. Monday we only went just past Emma Long Park. But, the previous weekend while we didn't get all the way up by you, we did get up by the Austin Resort & Spa. We turned back because there were huge patches of hydrilla just barely under the water surface, stretching all across the lake. Is hydrilla bad up by Apache Shores?? It doesn't seem to be too bad farther down from the damn. Given this is our first year, what can we expect from the hydrilla? (Where are all those hydrilla-eating carp)?

Originally posted by austinlsv


Thanks for the clarification Jay. It is just hard to wait, but it will be worth it.

Shoemaker, as a Tennessee alumni, I ordered the orange LSV.

Hey, I ordered a orange LSV too!, I'm in Michigan. Can't wait!

[brentburtrum]

Originally posted by austinlsv


Thanks for the clarification Jay. It is just hard to wait, but it will be worth it.

Shoemaker, as a Tennessee alumni, I ordered the orange LSV.

Hey, i ordered a orange LSV too! Can't wait to pick her up.

Brent

[austinlsv]

You will earn to not worry about the hydrilla, everyone wants to complain about it and I am actually glad because it may keep people from coming to Lake Austin ans send them to Travis. Those Carp don't work. I think the only way will be to bring in a mulcher each year when they drain it. Our neighborhood did hydrilla control this year around our dock, we will see. Hydrilla is not bad up my way, but around those 2 huge houses near the spa it is bad every year. I have been out 5 or 6 times this year and it seems a little early for hydrilla. You have a filter on your boat so no worries.

So how is the Red LSV riding? Have you completed your break in period?

[Shoemaker Mobius]

Yep, breakin is done. We have 29 hours on the boat now. This is our first boat so it has been a learning period. We're real glad we got the boat in February so we could get a little seasoning in us before the crowds. We took it out on Lake Travis the first two times from a private marina South Austin Marine uses for demo rides. Since then, we have been going out on Lake Austin at the 360 bridge. Between learning to handle the trailer, my wife driving the boat on and off the trailer, and parking the trailer, we now feel like we can safely do it all and not tie up the boat ramps. It would have been a nightmare trying to learn it now with the crowds on the weekends. We also have had two mishaps that people have told us have indoctrinated us into the boating world. The second time we put in at the 360 bridge I forgot to put in the drain plug. We launched the boat and I parked the trailer. When I went to get picked up, I noticed the bilge pumping water and it seemed the boat was riding low in the water. I realized I hadn't put in the drain plug and frantically signalled my wife to drive the boat in. I ran to the car and did the fastest trailer backing job ever. My wife was about to circle again, but I yelled at her to "bring it in NOW"!! The swim platform was completely under water. She got it in and on the trailer, whereupon she demanded to know why I was yelling at her. After I told her about the drain plug and how I really didn't want our new boat at the bottom of Lake Austin, she understood. I pulled the trailer up and let the boat drain out, put the plug in and we proceeded to have a great day of wakeboarding. That's the first mishap. The second was on a day when only my youngest son, my wife and I went out. Since my youngest son doesn't wakeboard much, we spent some time just cruising around. We headed up toward Austin Marina and the Hula Hut. On the way back we noticed some side inlets with houses and docks and we thought it would go thru to the County Line, so we cruised on in. We got about 100 yards in with more boat docks up ahead (with some relatively large boats), when I looked down and realized we were in extremely shallow water strewen with a bunch of boulders. I hit the reverse and backed up until we could safely turn around. We didn't hit bottom, but we sure stirred up a lot of sand/dirt. As we headed back to the 360 bridge, making a note never to go into those inlets again, I glanced at the temperature gauge and saw it was heading towards 220 degrees. I immediately shutdown and we floated, hoping it would cool down enough to get back to the bridge. After about 10 minutes I started it back up and we were able to go for about 3 minutes before we were back just over 200 degrees. I called South Austin Marine from my cell phone and described the situation to the service guy. He told me that most likely we had sucked up enough sand and dirt to completely clog the strainer. Since it is a V-drive, and I sure didn't even know what a strainer was, he suggested we either get a tow or do a run/shut down-cool off until we could get back. At that point, I knew we couldn't make it back so I flagged down a boater who graciously towed us back to the bridge. By then the engine had cooled down nicely and we were able to start it up to drive it onto the trailer. We took it right over to South Austin Marine where the service guy showed me where the strainer was, removed it, cleaned it out (it was completely clogged), checked a few other hoses and things, then sent us on our way (no charge). Since then, its been running great. My wife is now pretty comfortable with driving the boat and I just started teaching my soon to be 16 year old son how to drive.

BTW, when we got the red LSV, they had a black LSV and an orange LSV they were selling. I know the black one sold, but I thought the orange one was still there. Was it sold when you ordered yours or was it not equipped the way you wanted it???

[purplepower]

Been there, done that! Try not to let the pressure of launching your boat at a crowded slip ruin your day. You are doing the right thing getting a little practice in while it is quiet. I clip my bilge plug to my ignition key when the boat is on the trailer. If it is still there when I put the key in the ignition, that gets my attention!

A few years ago, I was watching four guys launch a boat. There was not enough incline so the car couldn't get in deep enough to let the boat float off. Plan B was to drive the car back up the ramp, unhook the trailer, and hand launch the boat. As soon as they unhooked, the boat was away. It became obvious that they could not control the weight of the boat. So picture four guys using all their (now rapidly declining) strength just to stop the boat from rolling away. If one of them let go to retrieve the car, the boat would be long gone. In the middle of the panic, my wife and I strolled over with a couple of logs and chocked the wheels. It took some time to convince these guys that they could now release their death grip on the runaway boat. They were so embarassed that they hooked up and left.

So, moral to this story? Not really. Just have a system that takes a minimum of time but gets everthing done safely. Stick to you system even when you feel pressure at a busy ramp. If you foul up, remember it is nothing other boaters have not done before (well this boater anyway). It is not worth ruining a day on the water over.