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Removing power wedge to improve ski wake?


SKI LVR

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I'm finishing the fourth summer on my Response LXi, with Illusion tower and Power Wedge

My daughter is out of the country, so now we don't have much need for the power wedge as we only ski mostly.

I want the flattest ski wake possible, who knows how much it would change by removing the power wedge?

We take out all the gear, have 1 spotter, and the wake is good. With a second spotter or more kids in boat wake gets a bit larger at 15 and 22 off. Surely the weight from the power wedge hanging off the transom must affect the wake.

How much trouble to take off the power wedge?

How much trouble to replace it in a year or two?

How much weight is saved?

thanks for advice....

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I'm finishing the fourth summer on my Response LXi, with Illusion tower and Power Wedge

My daughter is out of the country, so now we don't have much need for the power wedge as we only ski mostly.

I want the flattest ski wake possible, who knows how much it would change by removing the power wedge?

We take out all the gear, have 1 spotter, and the wake is good. With a second spotter or more kids in boat wake gets a bit larger at 15 and 22 off. Surely the weight from the power wedge hanging off the transom must affect the wake.

How much trouble to take off the power wedge?

How much trouble to replace it in a year or two?

How much weight is saved?

thanks for advice....

If you are going that far, I bet the tower weights a lot more than the wedge.

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I'm finishing the fourth summer on my Response LXi, with Illusion tower and Power Wedge

My daughter is out of the country, so now we don't have much need for the power wedge as we only ski mostly.

I want the flattest ski wake possible, who knows how much it would change by removing the power wedge?

We take out all the gear, have 1 spotter, and the wake is good. With a second spotter or more kids in boat wake gets a bit larger at 15 and 22 off. Surely the weight from the power wedge hanging off the transom must affect the wake.

How much trouble to take off the power wedge?

How much trouble to replace it in a year or two?

How much weight is saved?

thanks for advice....

To be honest I think you are looking at a very minimal improvement...that is if you'll even notice. Weight in the front of the boat will have a larger impact on your wake than weight at the back. For the work involved in removing the wedge, patching the hull, then putting the wedge back in... I just wouldn't.

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I am not sure what the exact weight of the unit is but I am sure you could find out, I would also guess that it is not insignificant. To check the effect, try adding that amount of weight (and you can do it pretty easily with fuel at 6 lbs/gal) at the same location (or as near the back as possible hence the fuel suggestion). What you will be looking for is how much the additional weight hurts the wake that you currently have, and then imagine what the relative same improvement would be by removing that amount of weight. Another option would be to remove the platform and see what effect that has, might give you an idea on how much you want to work at lightening your boat and this change should be a good representation of removing the wedge and hardware.

There are basically two contributing factors to wake, outside the actual design of the hull itself, and that is total weight and location. The location is kind of what you are looking at since at the rear, and that will affect the pitch attitude of the boat. Additional weight at the rear is certainly detrimental to slalom wakes as the whole concept behind hull design elements such as transom hook and chines are to lift the back of the boat up or out of the water to flatten the wake.

The effects will also be more pronounced in colder water due to the hardness effect of temperature.

Edited by Woodski
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Right, that is what I was hoping to find out from someone with actual experience.

Has no one taken off a wedge?

Does no one know how much it weighs?

Of course the mounting bracket would remain, to reinstall in future.

We take out the rear seat, and everything else when we ski.

The illusion tower is really not an option to remove, kind of ugly bases would remain; and the weight is in front of the engine so less wake hump forming than weight at the transom.

Thanks for thoughts so far, any more?

Anyone experience skiing behind LXi with and without wedge/tower?

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Before we purchased our 2009 RLXI we test skied a 2008 RLXI. Our boat has a manual wedge and Titan S3 tower with a pair of Titan Alpha IIs. The 2008 was stripped. I really don't feel the wake is signifacantly bigger, definately not enough of a difference to effect the feeling when I cross the wakes.

Your tower is heavier than mine. The power wedge definately adds some weight, if it was 25 pounds more than a manual wedge I would be surprised. The funny thing is I noticed my wake improved when I had more people in the boat than we normally do but the weight was biased to the front of the boat. Normally we ski with just 2 people in the boat (driver and spotter). If we have more people we throw them up front.

I don't think the moving parts of the power wedge are that difficult to remove, however I forget if there are connectors outside the hull to unplug the actuators. I don't believe there are, so you might be cutting some wires or looking for an inventive spot to make the disconnection.

In my opinion there isn't much benifit to removing it versus the hassle.

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Right, that is what I was hoping to find out from someone with actual experience.

Has no one taken off a wedge?

Does no one know how much it weighs?

Of course the mounting bracket would remain, to reinstall in future.

We take out the rear seat, and everything else when we ski.

The illusion tower is really not an option to remove, kind of ugly bases would remain; and the weight is in front of the engine so less wake hump forming than weight at the transom.

Thanks for thoughts so far, any more?

Anyone experience skiing behind LXi with and without wedge/tower?

I do know the power wedge complete weighs about 30 lbs. The bracket by far weighs the most so if your going thru the hassle, remove everything off the transom.

We have a lot of LXI customers that tinker and from what I've heard the biggest difference you can make on that boat is keep the fuel below 1/4 of a tank.

-Paul

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I do know the power wedge complete weighs about 30 lbs. The bracket by far weighs the most so if your going thru the hassle, remove everything off the transom.

We have a lot of LXI customers that tinker and from what I've heard the biggest difference you can make on that boat is keep the fuel below 1/4 of a tank.

-Paul

Thanks for your specific information. 30 lbs is not that much, as you say: a full tank of gas-30 gallons x 8 lbs/gallon = 240 lbs just in front of the transom.

We always keep the tank level low

Removing the wedge is not worth it

Thanks, Bakes scores again

Jim

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Before we purchased our 2009 RLXI we test skied a 2008 RLXI. Our boat has a manual wedge and Titan S3 tower with a pair of Titan Alpha IIs. The 2008 was stripped. I really don't feel the wake is signifacantly bigger, definately not enough of a difference to effect the feeling when I cross the wakes.

Your tower is heavier than mine. The power wedge definately adds some weight, if it was 25 pounds more than a manual wedge I would be surprised. The funny thing is I noticed my wake improved when I had more people in the boat than we normally do but the weight was biased to the front of the boat. Normally we ski with just 2 people in the boat (driver and spotter). If we have more people we throw them up front.

I don't think the moving parts of the power wedge are that difficult to remove, however I forget if there are connectors outside the hull to unplug the actuators. I don't believe there are, so you might be cutting some wires or looking for an inventive spot to make the disconnection.

In my opinion there isn't much benifit to removing it versus the hassle.

Thanks for your reports of specific experience skiing with and without wedge. Since you report no difference, that is helpful.

Proper weight balance, and of course increased speed are important factors in wake shape, for sure!

Thanks

Jim

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Personally, I would remove the entire assembly if you are not going to use it. The approximately 30 lbs is basically like an additional (fuel is 6.5 lbs / gallon) 6 gallons of fuel (you have to actually multiply the distance ratio of the tank and the wedge to the pylon to get the moment or real pitch effect so it will act like more than 5 gallons. Wayne's comments of improving the wake by adding people up front confirms the pitch effect since that is ahead of the pylon, thus pitching the nose down. As per my earlier post, remove the platform and give that a test, I think that is the closest simulation of what you are looking for and it is very easy to do. It also all depends on how serious you are in wanting to reduce your wake size, ten small changs suddenly will add up to quite a sizable change.

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I've got an '08 LXi with Power Wedge. Just wondering if I get some sand bags or something similar, how much weight I should keep up front all the time? Usually just skiing with the driver and an observer. However, because of our proximity to gas and other circumstances, I always fill up all the way and then ski till it's gone. Wish I could keep it under 1/4 tank all the time.

Edited by Brian M.
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I really don't notice that much of a difference on our boat from an empty tank to a full tank. Our 2002 Sunsetter used to ski better when low on fuel, but the 2009 RLXI just doesn't seem like much of a change to me. The wakes are so small and narrow already, the improvements seem minimal.

For the hard hitting 39-off guys, I've heard they throw up to 200 pounds in the ski locker to help with tracking in the course for tournaments. They are also skiing with 3 people in the boat (driver and a couple of judges).

Please take this comment as a friendly one, but if you think the wakes on a Response LXI are big I think you need to work on technique. With the right body position and focusing my vision to the horizon I don't notice the wakes. I free ski more than course ski (working on changing that), but when you have the bouys as targets the wakes really disappear. I have spent a lot of time focusing on technique, reading and watching video. The pros aren't even phased by the wakes, even when they slow the boat down to 30 MPH and go to 15-off. That should say a lot to those of us that don't do this for a living.

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Interesting timing to see this thread..

Our last trip out I tried filling just the front ballast tank. It "seemed" to take the sharp pitch out of the wake. It rolled more which seemed easier to get though.

Has anyone else tried it? I'm just wondering if I was recovering from the nasty crash I'd taken earlier :blowup:or if it really did work...

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...

The illusion tower is really not an option to remove, kind of ugly bases would remain; and the weight is in front of the engine so less wake hump forming than weight at the transom.

...

You might want to reconsider. The Illusion tower is very heavy, much more so than what you're talking about doing with the wedge. It's like the weight of a whole additional person in the boat, & that will absolutely have an effect regardless of its placement. The whole thing can be taken off, bases & all. Then you could use some white grip tape, eva foam (like Gatorgrip or Hydroturf) or traction pads to cover the holes in the top of the gunnels. I've got the instructions somewhere on how to do it if you like.

JMO

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