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How Deep to Sink It?


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Is there any specific rule of thumb you can give for where the surf-side waterline should be on my VLX at rest? I'm sure I can "work it up" gradually, but I'm hoping to benefit from your collective wisdom...should the front ballast be enough to start to "level the boat out", or no? Enough people talk about ballancing, and not getting all the weight in back, that I'm thinking I can get the boat deepest in the water (SAFELY!) if it is a bit more ballanced......

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Shocking.gif By your post title, I tough you were planning to sink your boat for the insurance money and wondering how deep you should go not to get caught.
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do a search and you will find lots of info on how to set up your boat. rule of thumb is 60%-70% rear and the rest up front. my personal taste is that the rub rail in the croner should just be above the water line.for me thats almost 900# in the locker 600# down the side 500# in the center and 300#up front.

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do a search and you will find lots of info on how to set up your boat. rule of thumb is 60%-70% rear and the rest up front. my personal taste is that the rub rail in the croner should just be above the water line.for me thats almost 900# in the locker 600# down the side 500# in the center and 300#up front.

Thanks!

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My rub rail is still well above the water at rest, even with the amounts that I've been known to run. If you get that far with the current VLX hull, I'd guess that maybe it's too much weight & you'll get diminished returns at best. I honestly think that adding 1 bag at a time is the best way to go - that way you can actually see what each bag does where you put it, both to the wave & the handling characteristics of the boat.

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Ok, well I'm not after insurance money yet, so I just want to partly sink it :blush:

So, I'm gonna combine the advice (with some previous advice regarding sac sizes) by going to within a coupla inches of rub rail, then try distributing for balancing forward/rearward ballast. Once I get the balance dialed in, then I'll try pushing a little deeper....but not too deep, cuz I really like my new boat and dealing with insurance companies just isn't as fun as surfing. Thanks to all for responding.

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Ok, well I'm not after insurance money yet, so I just want to partly sink it :blush:

So, I'm gonna combine the advice (with some previous advice regarding sac sizes) by going to within a coupla inches of rub rail, then try distributing for balancing forward/rearward ballast. Once I get the balance dialed in, then I'll try pushing a little deeper....but not too deep, cuz I really like my new boat and dealing with insurance companies just isn't as fun as surfing. Thanks to all for responding.

One rule of thumb is you want the rub rail touching the water from the stern up to the back of the driver's seat while you are underway at surfing speed. Keep this in mind ,this is not while at rest, only while underway. You also dont't need just weight you need the boat to list to the surfing side. We here in Fl. do that by sitting on the gunnel feet inside the boat and hold the tower and lean out. This helps to clean up the wake and lengthen the pocket. Texas uses a sling from the tower with person hanging out. Oh. has a tower rack that you can put barbell weights on to get the boat to list. I think its safer with people mostly in the boat. One person sitting on gunnell between windshield and tower. The other sitting right behind the tower holding on and leaning out. Tower is the illusion X. Edited by Surfin247
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Yes, the lean is important. Just make sure that you know your laws about sitting on the gunnels, that's a definite no-no in Cali & will get you pulled over almost every time. The water cops don't like it much up here either.

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Yes, the lean is important. Just make sure that you know your laws about sitting on the gunnels, that's a definite no-no in Cali & will get you pulled over almost every time. The water cops don't like it much up here either.
Sorry, On a private lake, no access without personal electronic card. Keep forgetting about cops ,unless your in Texas than just about anthing goes.
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Yes, the lean is important. Just make sure that you know your laws about sitting on the gunnels, that's a definite no-no in Cali & will get you pulled over almost every time. The water cops don't like it much up here either.

Yeah, I had a sponsored rider working with me and he kept sitting on the engine lockers. I dindn't like it, but didn't say anything (no worries, and all). My pal got pulled over for that same thing a weekend later and it set him back $300. Gotta be sitting below the gunnels in my neck of the woods too, but I totally get the advice about listing....we will do what we can without dangling from the tower in all sorts of configurations. I appreciate the advice, and am really excited to give it a go. My Malibu dealer is incredible. They are demoing me 2 500 lb sacs and pumps (I live 250 miles away, so he won't see them back for a while either way)...If I like em I buy em. If not, then we will try something else. I'm going to go ahead and play musical sacs and keep one in the bow, and swap the other between lockers until I figure things out. Will adjust my human ballast, so in the next few weeks should be able to finalize and plumb everything in....

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  • 3 weeks later...
Sinking it this much works pretty good, it's up to the middle of the gas cap... :)

i have to tape off the gas tank overflow fitting. I wish I had ordered the boat with the overflow near the goofy side gas cap (don't surf goofy much).

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Yes, the lean is important. Just make sure that you know your laws about sitting on the gunnels, that's a definite no-no in Cali & will get you pulled over almost every time. The water cops don't like it much up here either.

Yeah, we just have people sit on our sun deck :)

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  • 1 month later...
Sinking it this much works pretty good, it's up to the middle of the gas cap... :)

i have to tape off the gas tank overflow fitting. I wish I had ordered the boat with the overflow near the goofy side gas cap (don't surf goofy much).

We had 10 people in our VLX last weekend. The surf wave was awesome but I did noticed that the gas cap was right at the water line. I am assuming that this is not a problem because there is an oring inside the gas cap. I was more concerned about the overflow fitting. I talked to the dealer and he said that it should not be a concern because the tube actually go up then down to the gas tank so every little or none should get in. Anyone heard any different?

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