WakeSurf Wake Shaping

[sabre]

All,

I just received my new ballast and am now weighted to throw a big wake for surfing. the problem I'm having is that it doesn't really form until I get to about 14 MPH.

I've got a 2006 23XTI and my setup this weekend was:

Rear MLS full (both sides to compensate for no engine)

750 fat sac in the walkway (full)

150 fat brick on the floor in the rear (center/surf side)

150 fat brick on rear seat (center/Surf Side)

750 fat sack rear Surf side seat (and on top of the other 750)

Front MLS full

3 adults and 3 kids in the boat

Wedge in various positions (none seemed to help)

I have an ACME 525 prop and was running in about 25ft of H20.

The wake was about thigh high (I'm 6'2") but was just white wash until we got to 14MPH+

Is that too fast to surf? (most seem to surf around 11 MPH)

I could go ropeless at the slower speeds but right on top of the boat. I didn't try at the higher speeds.

any suggestions on how to get the wake to form at slower speeds? Any suggestions on the ballast configuration?

I'll try and get some photos up this evening.

Thanks

[Ndawg12]

What about taking 1 or both of the bricks up to the bow and moving your other 750 all the way back to the surfside rear corner?? White wash tells me your weight might not be distibuted correctly and I didn't see that you had any in the bow (the 750 in the walkway might not be far enough forward). All together it sounds like you have plenty of weight to play with though.

Edited August 12, 2009 by nemire12

[bern3375]

Agreed, weight in the bow seems to help that problem. It should also make the sweet spot longer so that you're not right on top of the boat.

[txwakejunkie]

never been in a XTI but if with the amount of weight you have if the wave is still white washing at lower speeds then empty the non surf side. More list should help with the wash, more weight up front to get you off the top of the boat.

[Ronnie]

ALL weight on surf side. Under seats or on top of them, try to get it on the side as much as possible. No weight on non surf side. You won't need a lot of extra weight other that the factory tank in the bow unless you need a longer wave.

One thing I've seen several times when people are having a hard time getting the wave right is the speedo being off by a couple MPH. The speed is critical and a couple of MPH can make the wave never form or make the boat run away from the surfer. People try to setup the wave for a certain speed that they have heard or read about and if it's not there they often think it's the ballast problem when it's actually a speed problem. I've seen two boats setup identically and one have an awesome wave and the other can't make a wave at the same indicated speed. When they put a GPS on the speedo they found out why.

[steemin]

You may also want to confirm your speed with GPS?

Scott

Edited August 12, 2009 by steemin

[Ndawg12]

Sorry, I didn't realize he had a factory bow tank. How much is it, sounds like he still need more weight up there.

Don't fill anything on the non-surf side!!!

[Bobby Light]

Sorry, I didn't realize he had a factory bow tank. How much is it, sounds like he still need more weight up there.

Don't fill anything on the non-surf side!!!

Nemire21 let's see your surf wave.

Edited August 12, 2009 by 06vlx

[sabre]

This one shows what the wake looks like and how close I seem to need to be to get the push I think I need. I don't have a good image of a better formed wake at a higher speed (according to the Speedo) Once I have that I'll post as well.

Thanks again for all the suggestions.

Picasa - Surf help

[Malibugator]

Been a while since I have been on. This info is really helpful. I have an 07 wakesetter 23 lsv. Is the optimum speed 14? Ronnie have you done a WOW? We need to get back to the river. It is hard to got off Lake Athens.

[Molarbu]

Empty the non-surf side like everyone else said and put all the weight on the surf side. Put one 750 in the middle of the floor and the other on the seat by it. That wave should clean up just fine, the engine should make it so you don't need much more than stock ballast up front in my experience.

[Bobby Light]

Been a while since I have been on. This info is really helpful. I have an 07 wakesetter 23 lsv. Is the optimum speed 14? Ronnie have you done a WOW? We need to get back to the river. It is hard to got off Lake Athens.

14 is way to fast unless you are running a ton of weight and have a massive wave. 11-12 is more like it on the 23's.

[Malibugator]

Been a while since I have been on. This info is really helpful. I have an 07 wakesetter 23 lsv. Is the optimum speed 14? Ronnie have you done a WOW? We need to get back to the river. It is hard to got off Lake Athens.

14 is way to fast unless you are running a ton of weight and have a massive wave. 11-12 is more like it on the 23's.

Thanks for the comment. We have been running 11-12 with all four stock tanks full and wedge at 3/4. We get a good wave but are just on the edge of enough push to go handle free. I will try no ballast in right rear tank to see what that does. With my long board I can get brief period of slack free but I want to glide!!! I really don't want to deal with extra ballast if I don't gotta. Any other suggestions are absolutely welcome! I forgot how great a resource this site is.

[Bobby Light]

Been a while since I have been on. This info is really helpful. I have an 07 wakesetter 23 lsv. Is the optimum speed 14? Ronnie have you done a WOW? We need to get back to the river. It is hard to got off Lake Athens.

14 is way to fast unless you are running a ton of weight and have a massive wave. 11-12 is more like it on the 23's.

Thanks for the comment. We have been running 11-12 with all four stock tanks full and wedge at 3/4. We get a good wave but are just on the edge of enough push to go handle free. I will try no ballast in right rear tank to see what that does. With my long board I can get brief period of slack free but I want to glide!!! I really don't want to deal with extra ballast if I don't gotta. Any other suggestions are absolutely welcome! I forgot how great a resource this site is.

You really need at least one ballast sac to get a good wave and go ropeless unless you're very good. Start with one 750# sac in the back locker and try the wedge all the way down, it cleans the wave up for me.

[Ndawg12]

Sorry, I didn't realize he had a factory bow tank. How much is it, sounds like he still need more weight up there.

Don't fill anything on the non-surf side!!!

Nemire21 let's see your surf wave.

I don't have one yet!! And if you meant to call me out, I was just offering some advice that I have learned from all the seasoned veterans on here.

[Tao of Wake]

Been a while since I have been on. This info is really helpful. I have an 07 wakesetter 23 lsv. Is the optimum speed 14? Ronnie have you done a WOW? We need to get back to the river. It is hard to got off Lake Athens.

14 is way to fast unless you are running a ton of weight and have a massive wave. 11-12 is more like it on the 23's.

Thanks for the comment. We have been running 11-12 with all four stock tanks full and wedge at 3/4. We get a good wave but are just on the edge of enough push to go handle free. I will try no ballast in right rear tank to see what that does. With my long board I can get brief period of slack free but I want to glide!!! I really don't want to deal with extra ballast if I don't gotta. Any other suggestions are absolutely welcome! I forgot how great a resource this site is.

I am able to surf ropeless quite easily with just the stock ballast (rear surf-side & center ballast & wedge all the way down on '07 VLX) on my Walker Project F-18, and I am 195#. I'm just an intermediate surfer. I think once you play around with it some, you will get the right wave that will push you with no problems. Just remember to get as much weight on the surf side as possible. The key is the lean. Once you get the boat leaning properly, the wake cleans right up. If you have any weight on the non-surf side, that just means you need more on the surf side to get it right. Also, I found that if I put the wedge up any, it washes out the wake. I use the lowest setting (all the way down), and it works great.

With your boat, you should definitely be able to get as good or better wake than mine!

I did add a 750# to the rear locker to get the wave even better. Bow weight is also very important to lengthen the wave. Without it, you will be surfing right behind the boat. You should really be at least 10 feet back. I usually fill a 440# in the bow. That seems perfect for me. The wave shrinks some, but it is VERY long.

[Malibugator]

Been a while since I have been on. This info is really helpful. I have an 07 wakesetter 23 lsv. Is the optimum speed 14? Ronnie have you done a WOW? We need to get back to the river. It is hard to got off Lake Athens.

14 is way to fast unless you are running a ton of weight and have a massive wave. 11-12 is more like it on the 23's.

Thanks for the comment. We have been running 11-12 with all four stock tanks full and wedge at 3/4. We get a good wave but are just on the edge of enough push to go handle free. I will try no ballast in right rear tank to see what that does. With my long board I can get brief period of slack free but I want to glide!!! I really don't want to deal with extra ballast if I don't gotta. Any other suggestions are absolutely welcome! I forgot how great a resource this site is.

I am able to surf ropeless quite easily with just the stock ballast (rear surf-side & center ballast & wedge all the way down on '07 VLX) on my Walker Project F-18, and I am 195#. I'm just an intermediate surfer. I think once you play around with it some, you will get the right wave that will push you with no problems. Just remember to get as much weight on the surf side as possible. The key is the lean. Once you get the boat leaning properly, the wake cleans right up. If you have any weight on the non-surf side, that just means you need more on the surf side to get it right. Also, I found that if I put the wedge up any, it washes out the wake. I use the lowest setting (all the way down), and it works great.

With your boat, you should definitely be able to get as good or better wake than mine!

I did add a 750# to the rear locker to get the wave even better. Bow weight is also very important to lengthen the wave. Without it, you will be surfing right behind the boat. You should really be at least 10 feet back. I usually fill a 440# in the bow. That seems perfect for me. The wave shrinks some, but it is VERY long.

Awesome advice. Thanks. I will try it tomorrow!

[Bobby Light]

Sorry, I didn't realize he had a factory bow tank. How much is it, sounds like he still need more weight up there.

Don't fill anything on the non-surf side!!!

Nemire21 let's see your surf wave.

I don't have one yet!! And if you meant to call me out, I was just offering some advice that I have learned from all the seasoned veterans on here.

I didn't have to you beat me to it. I actually really wanted to see what you had for a surf wave, but you answered my question thoroughly.

[Stanley Wheelhouse]

Sorry, I didn't realize he had a factory bow tank. How much is it, sounds like he still need more weight up there.

Don't fill anything on the non-surf side!!!

Nemire21 let's see your surf wave.

I don't have one yet!! And if you meant to call me out, I was just offering some advice that I have learned from all the seasoned veterans on here.

I didn't have to you beat me to it. I actually really wanted to see what you had for a surf wave, but you answered my question thoroughly.

Apparently he likes the Enzo wave much better.

[jtrovato]

I wouldn't add anything extra to the bow except the stock tank full. I would put everything you have on the surf side and leave the stock non-surf side empty. Put all your sacks in the rear/middle and see how the wave looks. If you find that it's too close to the boat, then shift the weight forward a little. Experiment with it until you have it the way you like it. The first time I tried surfing I put all the weight in the back surf side, went through the speeds from 9-12 mph and found what I liked, then I moved some weight forward a little and did the same thing with the speeds. It shouldn't take you long to figure out the proper position of all the weight and the right speed.

Here's my wave with a 750 in rear locker, midship full and 400 under side seats, floating wedge down, nothing in the bow. It's an 07 vRide.

Edited August 16, 2009 by jtrovato

[Lance B. Johnson]

I wouldn't add anything extra to the bow except the stock tank full. I would put everything you have on the surf side and leave the stock non-surf side empty. Put all your sacks in the rear/middle and see how the wave looks. If you find that it's too close to the boat, then shift the weight forward a little. Experiment with it until you have it the way you like it. The first time I tried surfing I put all the weight in the back surf side, went through the speeds from 9-12 mph and found what I liked, then I moved some weight forward a little and did the same thing with the speeds. It shouldn't take you long to figure out the proper position of all the weight and the right speed.

Here's my wave with a 750 in rear locker, midship full and 400 under side seats, floating wedge down, nothing in the bow. It's an 07 vRide.

obviously your method works on your boat, and would not work on mine.......interesting because they have the same hull. I have a fixed wedge though.

I need to have a 400# in the bow.

[Ndawg12]

Sorry, I didn't realize he had a factory bow tank. How much is it, sounds like he still need more weight up there.

Don't fill anything on the non-surf side!!!

Nemire21 let's see your surf wave.

I don't have one yet!! And if you meant to call me out, I was just offering some advice that I have learned from all the seasoned veterans on here.

I didn't have to you beat me to it. I actually really wanted to see what you had for a surf wave, but you answered my question thoroughly.

Apparently he likes the Enzo wave much better.

yeah, apparently

[WakeGirl]

Sabre,

Before you go any farther with your tweaking, you really really really need to put a gps on your speedo to see how accurate it is. As Ronnie stated, speed is critical & if that's off then everything else that you do won't be right until that part is.

[jtrovato]

It really shouldn't matter how accurate your speedo is as long as you start off slow and then slowly speed up while watching the wake. You'll see where the wave forms best. My speedometer could tell me I'm going 35 mph when I'm really going 10, but I can still tell by going slowly up to speed where I need to stop and set the speed control.

[WakeGirl]

Well, of course that's the case if everything is functioning & set up the way that it should be. But if he's got an issue somewhere, not having an accurate speedo won't allow him the benefit of knowing that he's in the ballpark in terms of speed.