2005- VLX- Wake Washing Out- Tried Everything!!!

[watkinschad]

Can you have too much weight on a VLX and make the wake really bad? I have a VLX with a manual wedge, with 2 rear hard tanks, and a center ballast. I have 400lbs of sand bags in the front bow. I have a hard time going out with less than 10 people on the water... everyone wants to go. Anyway, at the lake this weekend I never could get the wake perfect... No matter how I arranged people in the boat one side of the wake would always wash out. The other side would be a freakin wall that we were doing bombs off of, but just couldn't even it out. I tried the wedge up/down, tanks filled/empty/partial... different speeds... everything. Also, there was a big rooster tail.

We were having trouble planning out, so we moved people into the bow, but then the nose kept going under when I would stop the boat after someone fell, no matter how gradual we slowed down. Is there a way to get around that? Do I just have too much weight on the boat? I added up the weight of the people on the boat one day and it was 1900lbs (13 people, yes I know the capacity is 11...) The perfect pass also was struggleing to maintain speed... tried to set it on like 22.5 and it kept going from 20.5-24.5 all over the place...

Any suggestions to get a even wake? HELP!!!!!!!

Edited May 25, 2011 by watkinschad

[REW]

Can you have too much weight on a VLX and make the wake really bad? I have a VLX with a manual wedge, with 2 rear hard tanks, and a center ballast. I have 400lbs of sand bags in the front bow. I have a hard time going out with less than 10 people on the water... everyone wants to go. Anyway, at the lake this weekend I never could get the wake perfect... No matter how I arranged people in the boat one side of the wake would always wash out. The other side would be a freakin wall that we were doing bombs off of, but just couldn't even it out. I tried the wedge up/down, tanks filled/empty/partial... different speeds... everything. Also, there was a big rooster tail.

We were having trouble planning out, so we moved people into the bow, but then the nose kept going under when I would stop the boat after someone fell, no matter how gradual we slowed down. Is there a way to get around that? Do I just have too much weight on the boat? I added up the weight of the people on the boat one day and it was 1900lbs (13 people, yes I know the capacity is 11...) The perfect pass also was struggleing to maintain speed... tried to set it on like 22.5 and it kept going from 20.5-24.5 all over the place...

Any suggestions to get a even wake? HELP!!!!!!!

For the speed issue you will need to change props. Sounds like you are still running the stock prop. Try the link below for some information.

http://www.wakeprops.com/wakeboard-boat-propeller-finder/malibu-wakeboard-boat-propellers

As for the wake washing out....dont reallly know what to say. You might try haveing someone move from the back to front while underway to see what that will do. The only time I have had an issue is with an unevenly loaded boat.

REW

[Lance B. Johnson]

First off fire a couple of your crew! Secondly move weight to the side that is washing out.....with that many people you won't need ballast so either move people or partially fill one of your rear tanks.

[bhay09]

I have the same weight as you and same boat, no problems, stock prop.

Add weight to the washy side.

[board brained]

which side is washed out?

[Lance B. Johnson]

which side is washed out?

The light side.

[watkinschad]

It is generally on the passenger side... Someone said it looks like the back of my boat (rear) is sitting out of the water too high. I only have the stock 200lb hard tanks in the rear, should I try to put some sandbags in the back or will that make it worse? I was having trouble planning out, but then again about 10 people were sitting in the back and 1 was in the bow...

I am just getting frusterated cause I like to grind on the lip of the wake and do tricks and its effecting my progress. Also, my toe side jumping is lacking due to the bad wake.

Edited May 27, 2011 by watkinschad

[shawndoggy]

If you have 10 people, why not try taking ALL of the weight out and moving the people around until you get the shape of the wake dialed. 10 people is plenty for a pretty darn big wake for 99% of us.

[board brained]

It is generally on the passenger side... Someone said it looks like the back of my boat (rear) is sitting out of the water too high. I only have the stock 200lb hard tanks in the rear, should I try to put some sandbags in the back or will that make it worse? I was having trouble planning out, but then again about 10 people were sitting in the back and 1 was in the bow...

I am just getting frusterated cause I like to grind on the lip of the wake and do tricks and its effecting my progress. Also, my toe side jumping is lacking due to the bad wake.

couple of things:

I run alot of weight in the little vride and just swapped out the stock prop for a 1235. took it out last night and man what a difference re getting out of the hole loaded. so I would look at your prop to help with getting the boat on plane. however nine people in the back and only one in the front is also an issue. you need to balance it out a bit better, but not to the point where u dip the noise under as u indicated in a previous post.

re the wake being washed out, my guess is it is purely a weight distribution issue. As SD just said in previous post use people to check this theory.....200lbs in the rears is nothing at all. u need more weight over there. I also don't think sand bags are the way to go.....there is a post somewhere around water ballast being neutral if you swamp....sand.....ahhhh no, thats not going to be neutral. get some fly high sacs for the rears.

how fast are you boarding at?

[REW]

If you have 10 people, why not try taking ALL of the weight out and moving the people around until you get the shape of the wake dialed. 10 people is plenty for a pretty darn big wake for 99% of us.

with the people you are about 1500 to 2000 # with all of it in the main salon you need to move some up front. I went out with a crew of 9 and had to get three in the bow to stop the wake from washing out on both sides. A good starting point is 60/40 stern to bow on ALL weight.

[Bobby Light]

I used to run like that in my 06' and never had any problems like that, it just got bigger and bigger. Almost sounds like you're running to slow? Did you try speeding up. I found that when I ran alot of weight I'd have to run just a little faster speed as well. You need weight in the front.

Not sure how you're stopping when picking up a downed rider but try it this way if you aren't already.

Rider falls

Let off throttle and bring boat to neutral

Turn wheel to right or left (your preference) do not give any throttle

Let the wake pass the boat and when it does this it will turn you the direction you have the steering wheel turned.

Then just barely put it in gear and pick up the rider

This will keep you from swamping the nose when heading back into your own wake. If your nose is dipping just coming off throttle try coming off throttle slower. It's all about trial and error, finding that sweet spot. Everyone's boat is slightly different.

To answer your question about having to much weight, my answer is no. I've seen vlx's with as much as 5k in them without issues. These were wake hulls, don't know if the diamond hull handles the weight different but I doubt it.

[CRASH]

Quit using the Wedge!!