May 30, 2006

I Could See Myself with One of These

From the forums at Wakeboarder.com, comes this nifty little custom mirror. For some reason, innovations for basic items on wake boats are few and far between. So when something like this comes up, that makes a lot of sense but was built by a small custom shop, I like to highlight them and hope that the big tow boat companies are paying attention. Tower mounted, articulating mirror arms are very cool in their own right - but then again it is the same convex safety mirror we've had on our boats for about 15 years now, just with a different attach point. They work just fine, but the 'technology' of a small windshield or aluminum arm mounted mirror is getting a little bit dated. And the sort of innovation found in this mirror design is considerably more important in states that allow water skiiers and wakeboarders to go without a spotter.

The only "problem" if you could even call it that, is the mirror looks pretty long, as it was meant, and built for, a single frame windshield and wouldn't be compatible with the folding windshields used on most wake boats. That is ok. It would be perfect for an older Ski Nautique 2001 or any of the current crop of closed bow tournament ski boats. And this may seem surprising, but the members of wakeboardreport.com who are also avid water skiers, barefooters and take passes in the slalom course once in awhile too, pay attention to water skiing products with interest. Something like this would be very appropriate for tournament-level slalom boats, who tow skiers that at the apex of their turn, tend to be outside the view of even the steepest convex mirrors.

More photos:
Carbon back
Next to an Integrity wakeskate to show size
Alternate front view

Posted by erik