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vRide Surf Wake Tips


Rancid

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We have a 2008 vRide and we need some ballast tips for wakesurfing. Currently, we have the stock middle ballast full, the stock surf side ballast full, one 400 lb sack in the rear surf side locker, one 400 lb sack under the surf side seats, and one 400 lb sack on the surf side in the front. We also add about 180 lbs of water jugs on the surf side floor. We usually ride with about 4-6 people in the boat on the surf side (minus the driver), one person usually on the rear deck. The speed is usually set for 10.4-10.6.

The wake has good size to it, but it doesn't seem far enough away from the boat. Should we increase the speed at all? More or less weight up front? Other ideas? Here's a video of me on a Hyperlite Landlock to get an idea of the wake size. Thanks for any help!

Ian

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Definetely need the wedge down. When we have around 5 or 6 people in the boat, I fill the mid tank, stock surf side rear, wedge at lowest position and get everyone sitting on surf side. I find the best speed is just under 10 and I think that throws a pretty good wake especially goofy side.

Smedman still has the best looking wake for a vride, nice and long. I'm going tomorrow to buy a fly high 750 sac to put in the rear locker to further improve the wake.

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This weekend we were riding an 03 vlx (same as the newer v-ride) with 750lb sack in the rear, 500lb sack on the seat, 500lb. mid ship, wedge, 9 people in the boat, and me hanging on to the boom. The wake was big and tall but too abrupt for my liking. Last weekend, in the same boat we had wedge, 750lb. in the rear, 500lb in the bow, 350lb on the seat, 500 mid ship, and 4 people in the boat, and one hanging on the tower and it was much better!

*This was done on a small, non-patrolled lake*

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Weight seems a lot like what we run in our VTX but we have the front ballast tank and that extra weight up front sure seems to lengthen the pocket. We used to run a smaller fat sac (300#) up front surf side and had a wake shape more like yours, then switched to the bigger (440#) up front and that helped us get a lot further back with a little less steep.

Maybe try more weight in the front...???

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Hey Rancid,

After looking at the video and considering the 4-6 peeps (assuming they are average of 150#) and also considering that you have no wedge - I think you are getting close to what is possible for the "regular" wake.

Since I've been letting FAE "Fresh Air Exhaust" owner Larry M use my boat as a "test subject" for several Wedge prototype mods that would work with the FAE -- I have had a chance to surf quite a bit without the wedge lately just trying out different configurations. The "tribal knowledge" that the wave is better with the wedge down is definitely true. We've gone back and forth with the set up a bunch over the last month or so and it is a very noticeable difference in wave height with the wedge down.

Have you considered adding on a manual wedge?

Snowrider -- 12.2? Wow! Would love to see some video of that. Port or Starb? What type of boards? I need to GPS ours as we are running about 10-10.2 for surf and around 9.0 for skim. I'm not sure if that ours is correct though. Larry was surfing at 9.2ish on one of his Trickboardz and we overtook another boat that was trying to surf...

Jentay -- thanks for the props

Jetski -- does that 03 vlx have stock ballast or just the fatsacs?

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The manual wedge seems like an expensive option, and we have a FAE so that would have to be modified: $$$.

Does sinking the rear of the boat more help push the wave further from the boat?

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Perhaps I need to GPS our speedo, but we have found best results at 12.2-12.4

Any slower and it seems to not hold shape or length. For us the wedge makes a

huge difference. I have forgot to lower it a couple of times and the reduced

wake is noticeable. I emailed Matt a photo but couldn't post it here.

We typically run the following weight:

center ballast filled

rear surf side filled

750lb on floor shifted to surf side

400lb on surf side seats or replaced with people if we have 3+ in boat

150lb on surf side in front.

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Hey Rancid,

After looking at the video and considering the 4-6 peeps (assuming they are average of 150#) and also considering that you have no wedge - I think you are getting close to what is possible for the "regular" wake.

Since I've been letting FAE "Fresh Air Exhaust" owner Larry M use my boat as a "test subject" for several Wedge prototype mods that would work with the FAE -- I have had a chance to surf quite a bit without the wedge lately just trying out different configurations. The "tribal knowledge" that the wave is better with the wedge down is definitely true. We've gone back and forth with the set up a bunch over the last month or so and it is a very noticeable difference in wave height with the wedge down.

Have you considered adding on a manual wedge?

Snowrider -- 12.2? Wow! Would love to see some video of that. Port or Starb? What type of boards? I need to GPS ours as we are running about 10-10.2 for surf and around 9.0 for skim. I'm not sure if that ours is correct though. Larry was surfing at 9.2ish on one of his Trickboardz and we overtook another boat that was trying to surf...

Jentay -- thanks for the props

Jetski -- does that 03 vlx have stock ballast or just the fatsacs?

It had stock ballast (400 rear, 500 mid ship, and wedge) but we removed the rear hard tanks and replaced them with 750's

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On my 08, we have:

mid ship ballast full

Wedge down...floater

750 in surf side locker

400 on surf side seat

11.6 mph

that gave a sweet wave....

I am getting another 400 for the bow, and will try the speed settings this weekend. My issue is finding the spot to go ropeless...I just cant seem to find where to ride. I can get 2 finges with no pressure on the rope, but then seem to "fall off" the spot and need to pull back in.

I have 4.9 broadcast and am 5'10....185lbs.

Am I on too small of a board?

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Water depth makes a significant difference in the quality of the surf wave too. I've found that when the water is <10ft or so the wave stinks. >10ft deep and it gets much sharper and less mushy.....

I surf with wedge down; in a V-ride with lots of surf-side weight.

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We went to a surf demo day this weekend and added some more people to the boat. It likes alot more people/weight up front! Time to do some more ballast hunting...anybody integrate an under-the-seat sack in the front of a vRide?

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  • 1 year later...

Bringing this one back from the dead....

vride owners, should I expect to get more than this? Wave has decent push, but I'd like a longer pocket. This is at 9.6 on the cruise (not GPS verified tho). Midship and rear surf side tank full + 750 in the back, 400 in the bow, 150 brick in the walkway and 150 on the floor, surfside rear.

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Yup ours pretty much sucks with the wedge up. Just yesterday we were doing some experimenting and re-verified what I already new about this.

We have been doing pretty much the same. 750 rear locker (never fills all the way though) 400 on the floor surf side, mid ballast full, about 200 tube under the seat and a 400 in the bow. The biggest thing I would like to change is the shape of the pocket. The "V" shape adds challenges that aren't there behind the newer boats. I don't think that can be changed. :(

That said I think there is room for improvement based on what people say, but not sure how to go about it.

Edited by Ruffdog
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Yup ours pretty much sucks with the wedge up. Just yesterday we were doing some experimenting and re-verified what I already new about this.

We have been doing pretty much the same. 750 rear locker (never fills all the way though) 400 on the floor surf side, mid ballast full, about 200 tube under the seat and a 400 in the bow. The biggest thing I would like to change is the shape of the pocket. The "V" shape adds challenges that aren't there behind the newer boats. I don't think that can be changed. :(

Oh yeah... that vid is with the wedge down. Mine is unrideable with the wedge up... or maybe better stated, I've not screwed around with the weighting enough to try to get it figured out with the wedge up, and it's definitely not obvious.

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Replying to my own thread in the interests of helping someone find the answer later.

So before I was running wedge down, rear surf side and mid mls full, 400 in the bow, 150 brick in the walkway and 150 brick on the surfside seat above the cooler.

This weekend we switched it up and moved the 400 to the rear locker, ON TOP OF the 750 (so running the 250 hard tank, 750 as full as we could get it without making too big of a mess, and 400 about half full on top of that), 150 brick in the bow and 150 brick on the surfside seats.

Wave was definitely steeper and the pocket felt about as long. Wave even had some curl to it at the back.

I can't put anymore weight in the back than this... we're down at and even sometimes over the rub rail. Only a few inches from the gas cap, actually.

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Replying to my own thread in the interests of helping someone find the answer later.

So before I was running wedge down, rear surf side and mid mls full, 400 in the bow, 150 brick in the walkway and 150 brick on the surfside seat above the cooler.

This weekend we switched it up and moved the 400 to the rear locker, ON TOP OF the 750 (so running the 250 hard tank, 750 as full as we could get it without making too big of a mess, and 400 about half full on top of that), 150 brick in the bow and 150 brick on the surfside seats.

Wave was definitely steeper and the pocket felt about as long. Wave even had some curl to it at the back.

I can't put anymore weight in the back than this... we're down at and even sometimes over the rub rail. Only a few inches from the gas cap, actually.

Wow I would never have thought to put that much weight in the rear locker....glad you did it first :crazy::)

I have been pretty happy with the 750 in back, 400 on the floor, 200 tube under the seat, 400 in the bow. Wedge down 10.5mph (unverified)

Couple of questions for ya: were you able to fill the 400 in the rear? What speed?

And I can't tell from your post, was it a big improvement over what you were doing before? Oh yea I just ordered a second tsunami 1200 from bakes :yahoo: .....cant wait so tired of all the filling/draining. :lol: Gonna build it like in your other thread.

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Wow I would never have thought to put that much weight in the rear locker....glad you did it first :crazy::)

I have been pretty happy with the 750 in back, 400 on the floor, 200 tube under the seat, 400 in the bow. Wedge down 10.5mph (unverified)

Couple of questions for ya: were you able to fill the 400 in the rear? What speed?

And I can't tell from your post, was it a big improvement over what you were doing before? Oh yea I just ordered a second tsunami 1200 from bakes :yahoo: .....cant wait so tired of all the filling/draining. :lol: Gonna build it like in your other thread.

We run @ 9.6, but I still haven't gotten around to verifying that on the gps, so not sure that that number is transportable to other boats.

Teh 400 only got filled about 1/2-2/3. Had to let some water out to get the locker closed.

Big improvement? An improvement, yes... the wave is steeper and a little taller. Not a huge improvement though. We had fun on it last weekend with the prior setup too.

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We run @ 9.6, but I still haven't gotten around to verifying that on the gps, so not sure that that number is transportable to other boats.

Teh 400 only got filled about 1/2-2/3. Had to let some water out to get the locker closed.

Big improvement? An improvement, yes... the wave is steeper and a little taller. Not a huge improvement though. We had fun on it last weekend with the prior setup too.

Aww man.... :( I was hoping you'd found the holy grail. I was getting set to reinforce my engine compartment panels...

I am getting along on the theory that our semi-weak surf wakes will make us really good surfers so someday when we get a better wake we'll be really good.....just a theory.

BTW-Boat running good? I assume that running new battery cables fixed it?

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BTW-Boat running good? I assume that running new battery cables fixed it?

So the price to run the 00 cable runs was gonna be about $200. Instead of doing that I just added a third battery in the locker (where I'd done the temp hookup) on a simple on off perko. So basically I've got the two starting batteries (one of which can be switched off manually) on one side of my add-a-battery, and the group 29 deep cycle for the stereo on teh other side of the add a battery. As a proof of concept I run the boat with it off and it will run great for half the day then will have a hard start episode. I flip the switch on the second battery and boom, it starts like nobody's business. Sortof a kludgy fix, but I like the idea of more battery reserve vs. just spending a bunch of money on battery cable.

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So the price to run the 00 cable runs was gonna be about $200. Instead of doing that I just added a third battery in the locker (where I'd done the temp hookup) on a simple on off perko. So basically I've got the two starting batteries (one of which can be switched off manually) on one side of my add-a-battery, and the group 29 deep cycle for the stereo on teh other side of the add a battery. As a proof of concept I run the boat with it off and it will run great for half the day then will have a hard start episode. I flip the switch on the second battery and boom, it starts like nobody's business. Sortof a kludgy fix, but I like the idea of more battery reserve vs. just spending a bunch of money on battery cable.

gotcha...glad you got it fixed. Wow I was way off :lol: You do know its really tough to diagnose things over the internet :whistle:

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