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Building a clean Surf Wake on an 04 LSV


RiverRunner

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This is a follow-up to the topic 857 vs. 537 prop on and 04LSV created a new topic for those that might be looking to weight a 04 LSV for surfing in the future. Sunday with the same prop the boat came with a buddy and I (he is 200lb and I am 240lb.) put the boat in at Lake Conroe around 11:30am and headed to the dam in 15mph winds and choppy water. Once at the dam the water was not quite as bad but, still choppy I dropped the wedge, filled the front tank 500lbs, the middle tank 500lbs, the fuel tank was almost full around 400lbs, the passenger side rear tank 250lbs and (2) 440lbs. in the passenger side rear locker, ran up to 9.8 on perfect pass and took a picture (see W1) of the wake nothing fantastic with just the two of us in the boat. Next we filled up a 500lbs sack lying from the back seat long wise down the bench seat on the passenger side, ran up to 9.8 on perfect pass and took a couple more pictures (see W2, W3 & W4 also the first segment in the video clip Building the Surf Wake) at this point you can see the rooster tail mentioned in the original email 857 vs. 537 splashing down the face of the sweet spot. Next we turned the first 500lbs. sack at a 30 or so degree angle across the corner of the passenger side rear corner and laid a second 500lbs bag on top long wise and filled it. Ran the boat up to 9.8 on perfect pass and took some more pictures (see W5, W6 & W7 also the second part of the video clip Building the Surf Wake) On an 04LSV you do not want to put any weight on the side that you are not surfing on load the front, mid and back corner you are riding on hope this helps.

Building the Surf Wake

Surfing Fully Loaded with BradB and Crew

The first clip is me, the second two are my son

Edited by RiverRunner
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I really think that is the difference between a Diamond and Wake hull. You don't need the weight on the non-surfing side on the Wake hull. You don't have those chines trying to work against you on the Wake hull. It is a little more difficult to surf both sides though if you have a goofy on board.

BTW Ken...your figuring a little heavy on the factory ballast.

Bow = 350 lbs

Center = 500 lbs

Each rear locker tank = 200 lbs.

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I really think that is the difference between a Diamond and Wake hull. You don't need the weight on the non-surfing side on the Wake hull. You don't have those chines trying to work against you on the Wake hull. It is a little more difficult to surf both sides though if you have a goofy on board.

BTW Ken...your figuring a little heavy on the factory ballast.

Bow = 350 lbs

Center = 500 lbs

Each rear locker tank = 200 lbs.

Ronnie, do you know that for fact, I would love to know for sure, the average of what I was told was 500 front, 500 mid and 250 each side who knows for sure

Just for test purposes did you ever try no bow or no mid weight?

No just what I described we did not have a lot of time and once the wake was good enough to surf I was in the water, guess I would not make a very good lab tech.

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BTW Ken...your figuring a little heavy on the factory ballast.

Bow = 350 lbs

Center = 500 lbs

Each rear locker tank = 200 lbs.

I've always wanted to fill each ballast tank from a fake-a-lake or something like it then empty each ballast tank into a known size container, such as a garbage can etc, and see how many gallons it will hold in the space allotted. Then calculate pounds per gallon to determine total weight.

I have also noticed that I don't fill 100% of my hard tanks on the water because of bow is a little higher.

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my front tank does not seem to fully drain until i have it on the trailer then it spits out a couple more gallons

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I'm assuming that 'the prop the boat came with' is the 857. You've never chimed in on that.

So you're going to follow up this outing with switching it to the 537 that's in your prop kit, right :)

Would love to see the differences.

BTW - we almost always run it at 11 MPH. Seems to be cleanest for us.

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I'm assuming that 'the prop the boat came with' is the 857. You've never chimed in on that.

So you're going to follow up this outing with switching it to the 537 that's in your prop kit, right :)

Would love to see the differences.

BTW - we almost always run it at 11 MPH. Seems to be cleanest for us.

Yes what I believe to be a 857 is still on the boat I have not changed the prop. I want to play around a little more before switching to the stock (537) prop. All the pictures and video were taken at 9.8 but, I believe I was surfing around 10.5 but, I think that the speedo is a little off, so next time out we calibrate the speedo.

Edited by RiverRunner
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I don't have a 23 LSV, but I do have a v-drive with a diamond hull. I have gotten a very nice surf wake with the mid ballast filled, the tank on the surf side full, the opposite tank empty and the wedge down. I have found that the optimum clean wake happens between 10 and 11 mph. I run the 537 prop.

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I have thw 23LSV with the diamond.

We always fill ski locker and both trunks and then load the surf side with everything else.

I think Ronnie has the right idea that the difference is the hull and the wake hull may not do as well with both sides filled.

But its also easier to swap sides when they are all filled - thats really why we ended up leaving all filled and its worked for us.

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I don't have a 23 LSV, but I do have a v-drive with a diamond hull. I have gotten a very nice surf wake with the mid ballast filled, the tank on the surf side full, the opposite tank empty and the wedge down. I have found that the optimum clean wake happens between 10 and 11 mph. I run the 537 prop.

I don't think the SS VLX is a diamond hull, the tech section in this site says a wake hull.

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I don't have a 23 LSV, but I do have a v-drive with a diamond hull. I have gotten a very nice surf wake with the mid ballast filled, the tank on the surf side full, the opposite tank empty and the wedge down. I have found that the optimum clean wake happens between 10 and 11 mph. I run the 537 prop.

I don't think the SS VLX is a diamond hull, the tech section in this site says a wake hull.

The 2001 Sunsetter VLX has the diamond hull, all other years have the SV23 wake hull.

Here's the chart on the site.

Edited by obski
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That's pretty much what we had found out. Fill the surfside as much as you can.

Filling the bow tanks and center ballast, just lengthens the wave. Not using the front and center, steepens the wave and creates a smaller sweet spot.

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I really think that is the difference between a Diamond and Wake hull. You don't need the weight on the non-surfing side on the Wake hull. You don't have those chines trying to work against you on the Wake hull. It is a little more difficult to surf both sides though if you have a goofy on board.

BTW Ken...your figuring a little heavy on the factory ballast.

Bow = 350 lbs

Center = 500 lbs

Each rear locker tank = 200 lbs.

Ronnie, do you know that for fact, I would love to know for sure, the average of what I was told was 500 front, 500 mid and 250 each side who knows for sure

Just for test purposes did you ever try no bow or no mid weight?

No just what I described we did not have a lot of time and once the wake was good enough to surf I was in the water, guess I would not make a very good lab tech.

All I can verify those weights with is on the '04 DVD I have and the '04 hard cover sales book I have.

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I don't have a 23 LSV, but I do have a v-drive with a diamond hull. I have gotten a very nice surf wake with the mid ballast filled, the tank on the surf side full, the opposite tank empty and the wedge down. I have found that the optimum clean wake happens between 10 and 11 mph. I run the 537 prop.

I don't think the SS VLX is a diamond hull, the tech section in this site says a wake hull.

The 2001 Sunsetter VLX has the diamond hull, all other years have the SV23 wake hull.

Here's the chart on the site.

Oops, I stand corrected thank you.

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All I can verify those weights with is on the '04 DVD I have and the '04 hard cover sales book I have.

Ronnie, no reason not to trust the '04 DVD and hard cover sales book thanks for the info.

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Am I missing something here??

We have a 2004 LSV, and We find it almost impossible to wakesurf on the passenger side. Surfing the driver's side is almost a no-brainer. Drop the wedge, fill driver's side rear, fill front and mid, put all of the people on the drider's side. The surfing wake is huge and it has a great shape. One of my kids is goofy, and the other two are regular. They all can surf the wake on that side no problem.

Surfing on the passenger side, you're fighting the rotation of the prop. I believe it is almost impossible to get a clean lip. Just one man's opinion for what it's worth. Crazy.gif

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Maybe it's becuase the driver is so heavy? ? ? :)

Wacky though, our wake is MUCH cleaner on the Regular Foot (port) side. Our Goofy side is the more washed out side.

One trick we learned from the TX boys, is once the rider is up and your driving in a safe direction - the driver can stand up, move to the port ('passenger') side of the boat and look back at the rider. Hold the steering wheel with your left hand.

- Get as much weight to that side as possible. And make sure you're always looking over your shoulder at the direction your boat is going :)

Go here to see small video of what my wake ('04 23 LSV) looks like on Goofy side.

LINK

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  • 2 weeks later...

This is a follow-up to the follow-up to the topic 857 vs. 537 prop on a 04LSV. Sunday morning I switched the prop the boat came with a 537-13.5 x 14 back to the original/stock prop a 537-13.5 x 16. At this point I am a little confused, I assumed talking with everyone that the boat had an 857 on it. The prop I took off Sunday was a 537-13.5 x 14 is this the same as an 857? The only difference between this time and the last time out was that the wind was not blowing as hard, meaning that the water was not as rough. Which should not have had that great of an affect and instead of the buddy from last time the crew was my wife and a girl friend of hers that give or take a couple of pounds together, they weigh about the same as him. Once in the water without any ballast hole shoot seemed smother less rigid than before. We found a cove that was not as windy as the rest of the lake about 20ft. average depth, dropped the wedge, filled the front tank, middle tank, the fuel tank was almost full around 400lbs, the passenger side rear tank and (2) 440lbs. sacs in the passenger side rear locker. Ran the boat up to 9.8 on perfect pass and took a couple of pictures (see W2-1, W2-2, W2-3 also the first part of video clip) of the wake, nothing fantastic but, the rooster tail is not splashing into the sweet spot. Next we filled up a 500lbs sack lying from the back seat long wise down the bench seat on the passenger side, ran up to 9.8 on perfect pass and took a couple more pictures (see W2-4, W2-5 & W2-6 also the second part of the video clip) at this point the wake is as big as when we had two 500lbs. in the seat the last time out. For me the trade off of hole shot power for a obstructed surf wake is not worth it I will be staying with the 537-13.5 x 16 on the boat and using the 537-13.5 x 14 as a spare. Like I said before the only big difference I saw between the two props was that the 13.5 x 16 is much smother than the 13.5 x 14 the boat felt less rigid and I really did not notice that we lost that much hole shot. When it warms up I might notice the difference with a boat load of crew but for now I am going back to stock.

Surf Wake with 537-13.5 x 16 Prop

Edited by RiverRunner
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