ugh, this wake!

[triscadek]

Have the driver drive straight. It will keep the wake and pull from the rope a lot more consistent.

Judging by the marina in the background, he was probably getting to where he needed to loop back around...

[05hammerhead]

Thats me... I finally got to where I am getting the wake to wakes, we've only had a few non-rainy days in the past few months... she only got a couple pictures, this one best portrayed the wake and I believe was right at the beginning when I was kind of testing it out before trying to kill myself in a face plant. I was only able to make three runs totaling about 10 min combined, landed out in the flats and lost the claw to my hyperlite bindings. Ive been behind the boat a decent amount, the wake this day finally made it easy for me to get across. The rope is at 65'. My buddy bought the sacs for the boat since he likes to surf, so I figured what the hey, load it up and lets see how big we can make it. I will try the 750 and the wedge. Definitely open to having a good wake with less weight... She sucks the gas a heck of a lot quicker!!! Im more worried about the extra stress on the driveline though than the gas.

Thanks, Cale

Yeah, dont bother loading it up. Just makes the crashes hurt more and the gas tank empty faster. If you are having trouble getting over the wake, speed up a little and thatll narrow down the wake.

[boardjnky4]

From the picture above, either the driver needs to straighten up, or your passengers need to slide over toward the port side. Your driver needs to be able to instruct passengers where to move in the boat so that the wake is even and not washing over heavily on one side. That will make the wake much better. Rule of thumb here is to move passengers TOWARD the side that is washing over.

Other important notes on wake and boat setup:

- Have you calibrated your perfect pass? Most systems are not calibrated correctly so it's hard to get the speed right. For a Malibu, calibrate it with GPS on your phone (use an app that displays the speed in tenths, ie. 23.4mph).

- Once calibrated, set the speed to mid-22s. I like 22.2 or 22.4.

- Rope length should be around 60-65 feet for beginners.

- Beware that at slower speeds, the wake will be steeper. Especially so when running a lot of ballast. If you want the wake more mellow, use less ballast (or more bow ballast perhaps) or speed the boat up into the 23mph range.

Edited June 23, 2015 by boardjnky4

[triscadek]

From the picture above, either the driver needs to straighten up, or your passengers need to slide over toward the port side. Your driver needs to be able to instruct passengers where to move in the boat so that the wake is even and not washing over heavily on one side. That will make the wake much better. Rule of thumb here is to move passengers TOWARD the side that is washing over.

Other important notes on wake and boat setup:

- Have you calibrated your perfect pass? Most systems are not calibrated correctly so it's hard to get the speed right. For a Malibu, calibrate it with GPS on your phone (use an app that displays the speed in tenths, ie. 23.4mph).

- Once calibrated, set the speed to mid-22s. I like 22.2 or 22.4.

- Rope length should be around 60-65 feet for beginners.

- Beware that at slower speeds, the wake will be steeper. Especially so when running a lot of ballast. If you want the wake more mellow, use less ballast (or more bow ballast perhaps) or speed the boat up into the 23mph range.

[triscadek]

There was only 3 of us for this. I purposely put a little more on the starboard side to insure the wake was clean for the whole run. Heel side is my comfortable side. I haven't quite got to toe side jumps. They will come. It was kinda hard to judge what was "even" bc the rear bags weren't all the way full. My driver is solid, better at pulling people and holding steady speed than me might I add lol.

As far as the ballast, maybe I'll try the 750 in the nose and the wedge only but without decent ballast I can't seem to get across. Even blasting at the wake. She just doesn't produce much, maybe the diamond hull? I watched a few videos that were taken of me Friday and my "pop" is being anticipated. Something I definitely need to work on. The weight made it WAY more easier to get across and even land a good 6-10' in the flat the last run when the binding broke.

...and I don't have perfect pass ?

I have some pedal that came with the boat. It beeps but does nothing so I unhooked it. It has no actuator for throttle at all. Tax time I'll drop some coin on a nice PP system. Except for what keeps the boat going, I'm done for the year. I've spent too much cash on it as it is during the spring lol.

Edited June 23, 2015 by triscadek

[boardjnky4]

There was only 3 of us for this. I purposely put a little more on the starboard side to insure the wake was clean for the whole run. Heel side is my comfortable side. I haven't quite got to toe side jumps. They will come. It was kinda hard to judge what was "even" bc the rear bags weren't all the way full. My driver is solid, better at pulling people and holding steady speed than me might I add lol.

As far as the ballast, maybe I'll try the 750 in the nose and the wedge only but without decent ballast I can't seem to get across. Even blasting at the wake. She just doesn't produce much, maybe the diamond hull? I watched a few videos that were taken of me Friday and my "pop" is being anticipated. Something I definitely need to work on. The weight made it WAY more easier to get across and even land a good 6-10' in the flat the last run when the binding broke.

...and I don't have perfect pass

I have some pedal that came with the boat. It beeps but does nothing so I unhooked it. It has no actuator for throttle at all. Tax time I'll drop some coin on a nice PP system. Except for what keeps the boat going, I'm done for the year. I've spent too much cash on it as it is during the spring lol.

I hear ya ... I would suggest the driver use an accurate form of speed measurement still. Maybe a GPS Speedometer app on a phone, as opposed to whatever speedometer is on the boat.

Even out the wake and learn both heelside and toeside at the same time. Both wakes should be easy to clean up.

[triscadek]

I have the speedo set to where it is consistent within THE mph. It takes a sec to catch up from a stop but once you hold it in the area for a couple seconds it stays accurate to the T.... Per my phones GPS. I check it regularly. I'm so ready for a PP ?. Maybe I should start a GoFundMe ?

[newbie1000]

I have the same boat. I put two bags in the ski locker to max out the forward wake. The ski locker is big and can hold a lot more than 450 lbs. I would estimate 800lbs in mine. I fill the sacks in the beginning of the season and just keep em filled. Boat seems to handle chop better with the additional weight. I like my wake steep so can't help you with the other part.

[Big Jay D]

I have an 04 with a Diamond. Wedge down, 750 port, 400 port rear seat, 400 port side bow, 500 mid ship tank. 10.8. I suck at surfing and can ride it.

I find that my passengers just need to sit on the available port seats to make it better. If all I did was surf I would have more bow weight and more rear locker weight. I'm thinking of adding a 150 cube to the swim deck on the port side. And maybe one in the bow. I think it might help and I can actually move them to see where it will needed most.

Best of luck. And if you want to go big, buy a hydrofoil.

[triscadek]

Anyone else have trouble with a vibration once loaded down? We've done about 1800 on port side, 1100 port locker, 7-800 port seat, 450 ski locker and 750 bow. I get a vibration start from idle on up. I remove the 750 and it goes away...?!

I checked the alignment and cannot get a .003 in at all.

Edited July 6, 2015 by triscadek

[robbennett]

What propeller are you running? Mine vibrates more with my 537 on there than with my OJ 5 blade

[triscadek]

It says 635408 14L18 1-1/8" on it.

I put a post in the maint/trouble shooting titled "vibrating when surfing" that has a few pics.

[allhawkedup]

V shaped bow sack under the front seats is a nice "clean" and orderly option to get more weight up front. I had two 750s in the rear of my 05 only filled half for wakeboarding as I had no bow sack. That was in addition to the hard tanks.