I'm an owner's manual reader. I love them. I spent a week pouring through the manual for our new T220 when we got it. My wife makes fun of me. I do not care.

We've taken our new boat out twice so far and are headed back out tomorrow, and I have a couple of questions that I'm sure I've read about but would like some opinions/advice from the community. This is our first surf boat so we're trying to figure out some of the features we've never had before!

1. Auto Lift. We have the Power Wedge III, and in my boat's configuration auto lift is enabled/on. When does this feature actually do something? It was my understanding that the wedge will go into lift mode automatically when we hit a certain MPH to help get the boat on plane. I can select 'Lift' on the wedge settings screen, but I don't think I've observed it doing anything automatically up to this point.

2. Our boat has the full ballast options including PnP. So far all I've done is hit surf left-load and filled everything up. We've tinkered with wedge settings and speed. What is recommended for helping make our wave a bit longer? Should I let some water out of the rear ballasts and leave the mid and front full? We're in deep water, 30-45 ft. We're all beginners, and I'm wondering if a longer wave may help find that "push" we need without feeling like we're right on top of the back of the boat. 

Thanks in advance for the advice!

33 minutes ago, Woodski said:

I will bet that beauty doesn't tip the scales at 3,100 lbs  (1,406 kgs for those metric minded)  like the current crop of 3 event ski boats!

It would also get pulled all over the place and would require significant throttle input.  

Towards the end of my saga I was in talks with a local manufacturer to reproduce a sensor. They needed a working sensor though since I didn’t have drawings so they could copy the output signal. Once I got mine working I didn’t want to give it up, just wanted to go boating. Plus the cost to make one was astronomical. Agree with you there is a market for these but I’m not sure how big. I recall in a thread somewhere Malibu quickly switch to a position sensor integrated in the actuator. I think in 2011. Hence only a few years had our sensor type.

Don’t let this spoil your efforts. I discussed the Volvo sensor with my Malibu dealer and don’t quote me but, they said they had tried that and it didn’t work. Something with the Volvo sensor output signal wasn’t what the Malibu computer was looking for. But again they couldn’t figure out what was wrong with mine. Turned out the tech installed the sensor in the wrong orientation so the output signal was not in the range it needed to be. The sensor rotates 360 degree and it needs to be installed in the proper 90 degree arc for proper signal output. Once I figured this out, all it took was repositioning the sensor and recalibrating the computer.

Good luck with your adaptation with the Volvo sensor. I hope you succeed for all our sakes. Keep us posted.

Yesterday I took a short trip in my truck and then used my heat gun to check the temperature of the rims, rotors, and calipers. The tires and outer rims weren't too hot, maybe 90-100 degrees. The rotor surfaces measured 110-150 degrees F. This was after a 10 minute trip.

Google gave me this:

The normal temperature range for car wheels is 100–200°F, but this can vary depending on driving conditions. For example, brake rotors and pads typically don't exceed 200°C (392°F) during normal street use, but on track days, temperatures can reach 1,000°F (483°C). Driving conditions that can cause the wheels to get hotter include frequent braking or driving on steep inclines. 

And this:

The wheels (ie. rim and tyre) will likely never reach 100C (212 F) but 70C (158 F) is not uncommon for tyres during a long drive in warm weather. The less pressure the tyres have, the hotter they will become. That's because the tyres constantly deform during driving, which causes the rolling resistance and tyre wear.

As far as touching the surface:

Medical studies have proven that over five seconds of contact with surfaces at 140 degrees is highly likely to cause irreversible contact burns to any average human.

I am not passing any of this off as truth, just food for thought. This would lead one to believe that rotors and brakes can go up to almost 400 F, but rims should not get above 200 F. Certainly at some temperature there would be damage to the rims, tires, hubs, and bearings. And at some temperature, it all comes apart and the wheel comes off. Unfortunately, I have some experience with that scenario. 

The below video is kind of interesting - it shows how rotors and wheels heat up during braking. 

All that said, interested in what you guys think.

Thanks

Sorry to bump an old thread, but I'm hoping someone from this chain can help me. I have a 2001 wakesetter 23 LSV. My swim platform brackets were worn down. I was able to find used brackets for the platform and then ordered new transom brackets from AlloyMarine. My question is related to help with the transom brackets. I was able to easily get the bolts off the old transom brackets, but the brackets seems to be glued to the fiberglass. I tried some gentle (ish) taps with a rubber mallet. Even tried a couple hard ones on the edge with a hammer and crowbar. Do I need to try and fit a putty knife between? Is this just a brute force thing? Lastly, once I have them off, what are suggests for new adhesive/sealing methods for the brackets and the thru bolts? Thanks crew. Jeff