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The Wedge


Mbrown

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I can't imagine anyone who wants a good lip and tremendous pop off the top of the wake to ride without the Wedge, but I've been told by a very unreliable source that none of the Malibu pro riders ride with the Wedge. Can anyone put this rumour out of it's misery.

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I've seen numerous posts on Wakeworld where someone asks about the wedge and have been surprised at the number of replies saying that the wedge doesn't help much, only decreases performance of the boat with minimal wake effects, or more ballast is better than adding the wedge.

I am just the opposite, I added the wedge to my 97 VLX that already had 1600 lbs MLS ballast and I couldn't see not using the wege. It makes the wake so much nicer. I love the way it shapes the wake and give such great pop. I would also be curious to hear responses from some of the pros about this question. Even my girlfriend who is just starting jumping loves the wedge. IMO it was money well spent.

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Darin Shapiro and his crew use the wedge religiously. IIRC, Gerry Nunn used his, too.

The only time a wedge doesn't work properly is if the stern is too heavily loaded. The wedge is most efficient when the boat is running closer to level, which is why it is very important to also weight the bow of the boat.

JZ

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I have found that I like the wake best without the wedge. When the boat is weighted and the wedge down, its too much vertical for my riding style. I think its all personal preference. I've had several riders, better than me, that love the wake with the wedge.

Greg

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i'll go back to using the wedge after i get a 13x11.5 and more sacs for the bow. right now i'm running 700 at the stern and 400 midship. i want to put 400# vdrive flyhigh sacks beside the motor and 400 in the bow.

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I personally love the wedge. It puts a nice little peak on the crest of the wake. I have also found that the wedge helps to balance the wakes. The '05 VLX is very finicky on weight placement. And believe me its hard to have a balanced boat with just the wife and two little ones aboard. With the wedge down both wakes stay equal with no washout.

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I love having the wedge and it makes a huge difference. I have never tried weighting the boat and not using the wedge, but I know that when the boat is unweighted the wedge makes a night and day difference.

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Darin Shapiro and his crew use the wedge religiously. IIRC, Gerry Nunn used his, too.

The only time a wedge doesn't work properly is if the stern is too heavily loaded.  The wedge is most efficient when the boat is running closer to level, which is why it is very important to also weight the bow of the boat.

JZ

When Darren went for his personal run, on a 23 LSV we loaded all tanks, put an additional 250lbs in each rear locker and had the wedge down.

Last weekend, I went out had all my tanks full, but forgot the wedge. I was still able to W2W and get some pop, but the wake didn't feel right. My CFO asked me if I had the wedge down, told her I forgot, and she said "no wonder the wake looked smaller" :)

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I love the wake with wedge, but man it really loads the boat down on hole shot. I can have ballast full and when you drop the wedge it seems to take 2x the power to plane out, and the gas goes bye bye!

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I love the wake with wedge, but man it really loads the boat down on hole shot. I can have ballast full and when you drop the wedge it seems to take 2x the power to plane out, and the gas goes bye bye!

I totally agree with you, but what I think is even worse is how the boat steers. It goes from a sporrts car to an old truck.

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I actually don't think it kills handling that bad on my VLX, not at wakeboard speeds.

I can barely tell it's down regarding handling. Keep in mind I don't do Wally turns or drive very crazy when wakeboarding, but I barely notice it in that regard.

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It depends on whoch pros and when, from what I have heard. A few years ago, most didn't use the wedge. But now that more of the team got lsv's, the wedge is being used more to get the back down more (which is inherently tougher on a bigger boat). Note that the exmaples that people gave were from people who have the 23 (gerry and Darin). I think the cost/benefit of wedge on a 21 vs 23 Vdrive is much different (in terms of performance v. wake size). On a 21 with weight, the wake gets awfully peaky and drives cruddy. The 23's need it though imho. I'd be surprised if the guys (and dallas) that have 21 footers use the wedge. imho, it's much better wake and drivability with 2500#s, than the wedge and 1500#s. But, to each his own.

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We have a '05 WSLSV and I ride with stock ballast and the wedge. Lots of people say that the wedge only shapes the wake, but it is very visibly obviously (and when I hit it riding) to me that the wake grows in size when using the wedge. I now don't like to ride without it...but I also never ride with more than stock ballast.

With only a few people though the wake leaves something to be desired, so I just ordered 2 400 lb. sacs to put in the v-drive compartments. I'm hoping this isn't too much rear weight, but I think it will be fine since it's only 800 pounds. With stock ballast and the wedge there is very little bow rise in the 23' so I'm thinking you have room to play with (in reference to adding weight to the rear and not producing too much bow rise/un-even weight distribution).

Results will be posted after using them next weekend...

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I agree with others on the wedge and which boat needs it. I did not like the wedge on the 04 Vlx, and preferred more weight instead. On the 05 Vlx the wedge really helps. On this boat I actually do not run any additional weight unless the boat has 4 or less people in it. I run the 4 tanks and the wedge and about 10 people and the wake is nice. When we first got the boat and setting it up I ran 400lbs on each side of the motor and an additional 350 in the bow six people and no wedge and the wake was stupid big.

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Also when I rode with Gerry he did not use the wedge but we had 12 people in the boat, factory ballast(qmls) and a couple hundred lbs of lead used to even out the boat.

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I love the wake with wedge, but man it really loads the boat down on hole shot. I can have ballast full and when you drop the wedge it seems to take 2x the power to plane out, and the gas goes bye bye!

This is why I got the HH 383 :)

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Well, that's an interesting thought, but I find that with my measly Monsoon, it has enough power to spin the prop above the speed the boat is moving, so what's the point of more power if you have enough to overspin the prop anyway?

Make sense? In other words, from a dead stop I can rev to over 4000 easily. The boat catches up to the prop eventually, but it's not really a lack of power, it's lack of prop grip.

Reminds of of my drag racing days. Once I reached a certain power level, the tires would just spin going down the track. More power wouldn't do jack but make it more difficult to control the spin.

That being said, I wouldn't mind having a HH. ;)

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I haven't had any problems with a full boat, ballast and wedge and my monsoon. Its definitely not one of the things I wish that I had ordered. I can assure you that I will not be testing one with a HH because once I know what I'm missing, I'll be ordering a new one! ;)

Greg

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Make sense? In other words, from a dead stop I can rev to over 4000 easily. The boat catches up to the prop eventually, but it's not really a lack of power, it's lack of prop grip.

That being said, I wouldn't mind having a HH. ;)

That's why people prop down. The boats with the HH's are propped differently. When I give it full throttle, my boat moves :) prop spin = tires burning rubber, useless until it cathes hold.

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I ride with the wedge if there is 5 people or less. I feel that with the wedge down it makes the wake harder to crush threw and pops you up.

what way do you use more gas.

wedge down or

wedge up and add 800 lb of sacs?

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