What are some of our prefered online parts retailers these days?  Bakes is out of stock on the thermostat.  Whose next?

The handles are spring loaded so they seem to hold themselves closed pretty tightly. Haven’t been on the water yet so time will tell. 

Yes justgary, I figured it out.. does have salt package and hydraulic steering.  Found bleeder valves on ram  and fill on dash.. full of air… bleed system and tested on lake last night… waaaaaayyy better but still has air I think… while in surf mode lft it turns right which is expected but it’s like the rudder moves a bit and you have to turn many rotations lft just to keep the boat from making a hard right… going to bleed again and see what happens.thank all you guys for the advice!!  I was hoping for a bit of razzing but maybe next time!! 😁

2016 VLX 22 (new to me)

This one is set up for skiers, no surf gate, wedge or tower.  Works great, and still makes plenty of wake for my little kids to enjoy kneeboard, learning wakeboard, and looking forward to surfing, though they mostly still ride the tube.

Question is, where does the gear go?  We're coming from a 96 Chaparral 2330.  The VLX is a big upgrade, though similar size, but it hadn't even occurred to me to test the size of the rear compartments.  The big ones next to the engine looked cavernous and I stupidly assumed they would fit boards.  They don't.  My old boat had room for a half dozen or more skis under the floor, plus boards in compartments either side of the engine, and also in front of the observer seat.  On the VLX I think I could fit one ski under the port side bench.  

So ... where do kneeboards, wakeboards, and surfboards go?  I don't really want to get a tower just for storage.  Floor or bow passage works with 4-6 on board, but with 8+ it gets crowded.  Any ideas welcome (or laugh and tell me I'm out of luck).

I'd worry about loads and sag w hdpe but wonder about cost of reinforcing hdpe w a layer of carbon fiber.  Maybe mold the cf over a couple/few small diameter PVC pipes to add a bit of rigidity.  

Hijack on: Anyone here have history w cf that can add a cost wag to firm up a (wag u'x2') hdpe panel. Hijack off.