I have re-read your posts and I am not sure the Dyne is the right boat for you. If you are happy with the wake behind your v-bottom, why not get a larger v-bottom? They are more efficient speed wise and they ride better in chop. They are also plentiful, and have more bling. jim
The Dyne 18' is not a good slalom boat in my opinion. When you are cutting hard from side to side you pull the rear pylon to the sides making the boat rock back and forth as you cut. I think it is too hard to keep the speed precise also during the hard cuts. It jumps too far up and down. I had a 150 Opti on my 18' and I was not happy with it for a slalom boat. I would always go behind my P's Supra instead. Greg
Again good input all. Is the slightly wider 17.6 any more stable than the 18 for slalom? Up until I became aware of the 17.6 XB Dyne, my target boat has been (and maybe still is) a 88-91 Mastercraft Prostar 200. This is the 20' inboard hull (no deadrise) hard chine, tracking fins a ton of room inside and no V8, typically a 200 Yam. $6-11K when they show up. I like that there is more room in them than an inboard. Later versions of the MC dropped the tracking fins, and added some deadrise (V) so it had a bit more top speed, and better footing wake, but not as good for slalom. Maybe more of a bling factor, but also a pretty narrow market in terms of resale. There are a few around, and since I am in no hurry I can wait until one shows up in decent shape The 17.6 XB struck me as possibly a smaller version of the PS200 idea. Not as big as the MC, but more room than my little CVX, better wake than a typical 18' boat with 150 outboard. If I am skiing the course I will likely be behind a friends Malibu or MC. I guess my self image as a skier says I want something more ski-specific. I can free ski 28 off behind a GX180 Glastron, but it's a pretty good bump. But yes that is another option. Thanks for letting me think through this outloud.
I would drive it/ski behind it if I were you. There is a reason it passed awsa tests back in the 80's, so it was deemed to be a decent boat for 3 event. I have driven a 17.6 through the course and it takes driver input, but it tracks quite well with the motor trimmed full down. Has a slight roll to it but maintains a good solid line.
The stock pylon in the 18 was designed for the tall straight six outboards. It could be cut down considerably with a modern small block V-6 like a 150. That should reduce the rocking. My tow rope just barely clears the motor with a kneeboarder, and I have not experience the rocking allthough my pylon is further forward than stock also. jim
I drove one of the new style boats in 1997. It was possible for the skier to pull the stern around on that boat. jim
What is the difference between your boat and the new '97 you drove? I thought they both came out of the same mold ?
The pylon on my boat is still the I/O pylon which is much further forward and lower than the stock Hydrodyne pylon. I am not sure it is any lower than the boat I drove in 97 since that had a 90 Honda on it and the pylon was probably sized for that motor. My pylon is more over the fin (or even maybe in front of it) which gives it an advantage in tracking. If you look at the pylons that RAJ uses, you can see that they move them forward quite a bit even on the 20's. We noticed the lack of tracking immediately when we skied with the 97 boat. The pylon needs to be as low as possible and further forward for best tracking. The further forward it is the lower it can be. I do not disagree with having the new style pylon in the boat since it gives more room for the back seat, unless it interferes with the mission of the boat, which in our case, it did. When I rebuilt my boat I could have put a pylon in it like the new style, and I considered it. As I have said on this forum many times before, my boat is a hard core ski boat with more emphasis on function than form. There are many subtle modifications which I spent many hours developing in the the boat that largely go unnoticed. jim
If I ever do another 18 (which I doubt) it will probably have a pylon something like this except much lower. Just enough to clear the shortest smallblock cowl I can find. The back seat would still be usable, but you would have to step around or duck under the pylon. jim
Jim, Because I'm new to this forum, maybe you can tell me how you define that? Your target use and optimal characteristics you want for that? (and I am only vaguely aware of the intircacies whole show skiing world - other than that I did go to Cypress Gardens in about 1981 when Ricky McCormick took a couple of trick skiing passes. And I've spent some time looking at photo galleries on showskier.com) Thanks.
