The Silver Surfer is coming! (long)

[Afun]

dealer is finishing up, they just sent me this. I am really liking the 22's. Will look awesome with center caps installed.

I'm into satin black or matte black these days, but they do look Gnarly. Be careful with your curbed wheels, if any. I have one of those every once in a while.

[Stevo]

I'm into satin black or matte black these days, but they do look Gnarly. Be careful with your curbed wheels, if any. I have one of those every once in a while.

I Detailed my boat last week and used a sealer/polish, while waiting for the haze to dry it gave the black a satin mat finish look to the black that looked sweet. I'd definitely consider Murdered out satin Gel with some accent colors

[DarkSide]

I'm into satin black or matte black these days, but they do look Gnarly. Be careful with your curbed wheels, if any. I have one of those every once in a while.

I have curbed a couple times. I have been paying extra attention recently knowing these are coming. Most of the curb issues were when i first got it. I was not used t to a trailer that long. Then i had another bout when i went to the longbed dually, all good now.

[JoeA]

DarkSide--

That boat is a beast. You have to be super proud of it.

[DarkSide]

So we put a few "break in" demo hours on it yesterday morning, then went home started some of the mods and then i took my better half, Mrs. Darkside (brightside) out for a cruise and dinner at the marina.

Here are my impressions from yesterday.

LSA is a BEAST! Holy power Batman. Top end is still 39.8 (GPS) not that anyone would by a 24 MXZ as a barefoot or slalom tug and that is way faster than i ever go anyway. After a couple hours we wakeboarded with just mls and wedge. After seeing how effortless the LSA was handling this i decided i would be ok to surf.

So i filled the bags and took it for a test ride, wave on the goofy side did not really change, not a bad thing as my goofy wave was very good. However standard wave is much better, i am not sure if it is a difference in prop 2247 now vs 2419 previous, or if it is PW2 or combination of both. Whatever it is/was huge improvement, still not as good as goofy but much better.

I was also able to try even weighting this time, the LS3 required me to drain 200~400 pounds on non surf side to hit 11.2, the LSA didn't even really notice the weight, crazy power! Surfing at 11.2 3000~3100 RPM, so not really working that hard.

A second observation there is time to speed is fantastic, i used to pop up, carve out to the side and ride out in the flat waiting for wave to form. Yesterday i would pop up carve to the side and by the time i got my feet adjusted on the board wave was there, no waiting!

The dash, WOW it is incredible, i did not find any thing i dislike about it yet. I would say this dash is a home run, but more accurate would be gamewinning grandslam eorld series home run. It is awesome! I am a nerd so things like this really appeal to me.

Having no stereo SUCKS! That will be remedied this weekend, nothing outlandish, just 1pr rev10, sub, amps, and eq. Sub box is built so just install time.

[DarkSide]

One other note on wheels. If you pick a wheel with flatish center cap it will not fit, the bearing vault sticks out way too far, so center caps will not go on! This can be rectified with a 2 1/4" hole saw. Yes, i had to cut holes in center caps. However it actually looks surprisingly good.

A bunch of pics coming later today.

[DarkSide]

Rev 10's installed with wedge spacers i made out of plexiglass. These point speakers up a little, so they are not right at the passengers, also points them at the rider vs water right behind the boat

[Afun]

Sounds like the LSA is powerful

[nyryan2001]

Dark, how much clearance between the tip of the 15" prop and the hull?

[JoeA]

Dark--

I'd be curious to hear about your fuel consumption. If the LSA is not working that hard as compared to the previous LS3 I'm wondering if your fuel economy will be better. At 3,100 RPM I am going to guess you are in the 7-8GPH range.

[Fman]

Beautiful boat! and great idea on tower speaker shims, PTM should take note of those. Congrats and enjoy your new ride!

[DarkSide]

Dark--

I'd be cgood,ious to hear about your fuel consumption. If the LSA is not working that hard as compared to the previous LS3 I'm wondering if your fuel economy will be better. At 3,100 RPM I am going to guess you are in the 7-8GPH range.

I am expecting a significant improvement, 7~8 would be good i hope to get to 6~7. I may be able to prop up a bit, i want another trip or two before i do much changing. That way i can get a good baseline

[DarkSide]

So spent the vast majority of the weekend doing stereo install. Finally got everything installed and started to tesy, then all the smoke leaked out of one of my REV 10's. everything else seams to work like a champ. So on that note, i am going to see minions! Still some clean up needed, here is a pic of the amp rack. I used the factory board so one end has a larger hole. Looks decent not great but decent.

Rfx 6000, audio control EQS, p1000x2 (tower), p600x4 (interior, p500x1 (sub), p300x2 (future sub)

[nyryan2001]

Not sure how you smoked a Rev10, that amp is on the weak side....you're likely at 225w to each Rev10 with the engine off

[DarkSide]

Defective speaker, the other one is fine.

[DarkSide]

Here is a couple more pictures. This is with wheel center cap cut to allow the bearing vault. I am very happy with how this turned out.

Edited July 28, 2015 by DarkSide

[DarkSide]

Window tinting is complete. I think it makes a huge difference. 20% film, i do go out at night so having some visibility is a good thing.

[Sunscape fan]

Window tinting is complete. I think it makes a huge difference. 20% film, i do go out at night so having some visibility is a good thing.

Wow...very impressive looking boat!!

[PrestigeLakeWide]

Window tinting is complete. I think it makes a huge difference. 20% film, i do go out at night so having some visibility is a good thing.

That is the icing on the cake. Beautiful!

[ahopkins22LSV]

Tiny does really compete the look on that boat! Again very nicely done.

[IXFE]

Here is a couple more pictures. This is with wheel center cap cut to allow the bearing vault. I am very happy with how this turned out.

Looks great... like the bearing vault is the center cap of the wheel!

Nicely done.

[DarkSide]

I have been out 3 times and here is my initial thoughts.

1. No M-grain on the vinyl is AWESOME! Cleaning is much easier. The grain tended to trap dirt.

2. Absolutely love triple trailer. Went to my primary weekend lake on Saturday, 90+ miles each way. Triple is just smoother, i also like the look better.

3. LSA is awesome, well worth the $4500. Actually for me it will pay for itself. IF averages continue, i am now dosh to 3000~3100 RPM, with a prop change i think i can get down to 2800. Fuel usage is averaging just under 7 GPH, on the 14 with LS3 i was 12+ consistently, and sometimes as bad as 14. Even if my average goes up to 8, that is still a 4 GPH improvement. Last year i did 200 hours, IF i do that again this year, and next LSA was FREE. Paid for via fuel savings. @$3 a gallon it will take 400 hours or less to cover the cost, plus i get the fun the LSA includes. For the 2016 folks it will be even more dramatic. The 550 gets 1.5:1 tranny, the others get 1.72:1, so smaller engines will rev higher inherently. That will be an extra 400~600 rpm which means more fuel consumption.

4. Ballast pumps, not as slow as my 14, timed fill on Saturday. 9:49 for rear, 4:38 for center, bow was just over 3 minutes. So new plan

Add augmenting fill pump to each rear. And replace center tank pump. That should get me close to 3 minute fill target. I am absolutely not concerned with drain time.

4. Vents ~ ok here was my logic. Gravity drain is marginal, hard tank empties way faster than bag can drain into tank. So i moved the vent so hard tank vents into the PNP bags. Then venting the bag, my bags are in 100% of the time, so i am not worried about not being able too vent the tank separately. This will also provide a 3rd path for water from the bag to the tank, and should force the bag to drain entirely before hard tank starts to drain, as the hard tank no longer has separate vent. This is not tested yet, i will test later this week.

Also water pics coming soon

Edited August 3, 2015 by DarkSide

[DarkSide]

on the water this last saturday. Roosevelt Lake AZ about 2 hours before the monsoons...

[euroman]

Thats one sweet boat Darkside, congrats!

[shawndoggy]

For the 2016 folks it will be even more dramatic. The 550 gets 1.5:1 tranny, the others get 1.72:1, so smaller engines will rev higher inherently. That will be an extra 400~600 rpm which means more fuel consumption.

Also water pics coming soon

Only assuming identical props...