Rock You Like A Hurricane..........Apex

[fox river pwc]

Re: Rock You Like A Hurricane..........Apex

Cable routing with the longer WR3 cable is much better. No more having to run it under the gas tank and against the waterbox. Nice that my raised battery tray makes for the perfect spot to route the cable. Hard to see, but now it rubs on nothing, but I've still sleeved it for protection.

Oh, I also cut down some WR3 nose foam I had saved and stuffed it in the nose of the Apex. Easy enough to do now, so I figured why not.

[fox river pwc]

Re: Rock You Like A Hurricane..........Apex

Swapped out the old repitched (14/18) Solas I prop I started with for a nearly new Solas 13/17 Concord this morning & got a tank through it today. Bottom end and midrange hit are significantly stronger & top end is the same. Pop off boat wakes is much nicer.

Now that the carbs & pump are all dialed in, I'm less revved up about swapping in the big bore motor I'm building for it this fall. Oh, finally got around to checking compression last week, 205/208psi (33cc domes, 81mm), so with the dual 38s it sips gas...7mpg. Did several river runs, and getting 30+ miles out of the OEM tank is no prob.

[fox river pwc]

Re: Rock You Like A Hurricane..........Apex

Quick update.
Blowsion OVP steering system spit out the large oring, and it needed a rebuild anyway, so now that's been done.

Started pulling some stuff off my open vintage race SN lately, and it has a pro-tec drop nozzle setup on it, which can be converted into a flip nozzle, so that's going on the Apex this winter.

[fox river pwc]

Re: Rock You Like A Hurricane..........Apex

Got another tankful through the Apex today.
First time in years that I'm sad the season is coming to an end, especially since I've literally just gotten everything sorted on the Apex. Don't get me wrong, it's been a solid ski since the get-go, but it wasn't 100%. Been dealing with all the typical stuff...carb tuning, then the pump changes, then I broke the steering cable, then the steering system needed rebuilding....never really liked the first 3 throttles I tried, but the 4th was a charm...and it had been taking on water under the tray. Already has the little glue in drains...turns out THEY weren't glued I very well and water was leaking in around them, and some around the exhaust tube. Got all that sealed up now and it barely took on any water on this last ride.

Now I just really need to decide if and how much I want to change on it for next year. I could honestly be really happy with it just the way it is, but the ideas of adding trim, adding 20-30hp, and adding a big hub pump are going around in my head, so we shall see.

[fox river pwc]

Re: Rock You Like A Hurricane..........Apex

...and I never even rode my original Sleeperjet the entire year.
Already winterized it last weekend. Crazy, but sh1t evolves and changes, even if I am 10-20 years behind the curve...on a 2018 aftermarket hull

[WFO Speedracer]

Re: Rock You Like A Hurricane..........Apex

It's ok Paul all of us can't be ahead of the curve.

[fox river pwc]

Re: Rock You Like A Hurricane..........Apex

75F and sunny today with PTO to burn at work.
30s tomorrow and here on out in WI...
Time to hit the Apex one more time this year.

[bird]

Re: Rock You Like A Hurricane..........Apex

Pulling my SXR tonight. Cheers

[fox river pwc]

Re: Rock You Like A Hurricane..........Apex

Got all my stuff for adding trim gathered.
Not sure yet what I'm doing this winter, pump-wise.
Either installing the thrust afterburner stuffer and big hub Skat impeller I've got in my stash, or I'm just going to grab the solas mag with 10/16 hooker out of my Sleeperjet and stick that in the Apex.

[fox river pwc]

Here is a crappy vid of my Apex in action. Shot this on Halloween Saturday last fall. I drove up to Minneapolis (about 5.5 hours each way for me) for the annual TCJP Halloween costume ride, so I could ride a bit and also delivered Kawi Dave's 08 SJ (the one I redid for him the winter before but never got picked up) back to MN. Anyhow, so the pal that sold me the Apex hull, Brian, didn't get an opportunity to ride it all last summer (we live 6 hours apart), so I made sure he got at chance to ride it for Halloween. Some of the vid is decent enough to demonstrate how it rides/handles. Fun fact is later that day, once everyone else got there, I drag raced the Apex against a new 4-stroke SJ and beat it pretty solidly. Not that the Apex is a top speed machine, but it kinda could be if someone wanted that. I just like the fact that it's fun and pretty easy to goof around on yet it can still be held pinned for as long as you want to chase down wake boats.

It was a long day though. I left home at 5am, drove all the way there, rode and hung out for about 5 hours or so, then drove home... think I got back home around 9pm. Then we had that one crazy warm Thursday in November soon after and I still got one more good Apex ride in before fogging it for the season. Almost time now to get it back up and running again for 2023... if the rest of the snow in my yard ever melts.

https://youtu.be/5MTGJSeLTI0

[WFO Speedracer]

But dioes it have rouge ODI's ?

[fox river pwc]

Of course it has Rogues. I have man hands.

[fox river pwc]

Old man poser with reg decals that finally match the graphics on the ski, lol.

[fox river pwc]

So I showed up for Jet Blast 2023 with just my Apex and my dog, Ruby, as I'm still quite injured and hadn't even been able to ride yet this year. Just making it to JB23 was a bit of a miracle. Plan was to hopefully ride at least a little bit and also let anyone who wanted to test ride the Apex do so. I did manage to ride all 4 days (wed-sat) for at least a little bit. Probably burned 4-5gal of avgas myself, but keep in mind this Apex sips gas - dual 38s and 205psi (without porting) is a great way to have some decent power without guzzling fuel. Anyhow, at least 15-20 people also got a chance to rip around on it, and I really enjoyed watching everyone, of very much varied abilities and styles, and everyone came back with positive reviews... More than a few SJ guys are now ruined for their SJs, LOL, same as me. Yeah, the Apex isn't a ski you're going to start tossing flips on, but it truly is a hull that really any stand-up rider can hop on and enjoy for rec/surf riding.