weighting a VLX for wakesurfing

[wahoo]

I have an 05' VLX and just can't seem to get the wake right for surfing. I guess I don't have enough weight.

I've tried all 4 tanks full, just weighting the surfing side, bow empty, bow full, wedge up and down, etc.

Maybe I'm just too big to surf ropeless at 190lbs?

How should I weight the boat? How much weight do I need?

[Chauncemaster]

fill the center and the rear tank on the side you are surfing and get some frineds to sit back there as well. You should be able to surf the wake ropeless no problem once you get the technique down. Make sure you are keeping as much weight as possible on your front foot.

[D-GOOSE]

Add a #750 bag in the trunk and a #750 on the seat. This is all on the surf side. One big thing that I have seen is that you need every one on the same side. Some time try to have some one move sides and see how's it changes the wake.

[WakeGirl]

Our setup:

Bow full
Center full
Side that we are surfing full
Other side empty
750 lb bag on top of full side tank
Wedge down
4 normal sized adults + 1 65lb kid, all on the surf side (it gets better with more people )
9.8 mph

Gives us as wake like this:

[wahoo]

that's the wake I'm looking for. Just as expected, I need more weight.

btw, I have the same surfboard.

[JJ4417]

Not to poo poo anything, but if you put more than the max recommended weight and something bad happens, I'm guessing most insurance isn't going to cover it. If something breaks, will the Malibu warranty cover it?

[WakeGirl]

Read your insurance policy for info on that part, not all are created equal. As for the warranty, most of that will come down to your relationship with your dealer. The only thing that I'm doing that they expressly say not to do is to put more than 75 lbs on top of the tank - I break it, I buy it. I can live with that.

[D-GOOSE]

Not to poo poo anything, but if you put more than the max recommended weight and something bad happens, I'm guessing most insurance isn't going to cover it. If something breaks, will the Malibu warranty cover it?

Remove sacs befor any one see's them and say I do not get it

[woody]

Add a #750 bag in the trunk and a #750 on the seat. This is all on the surf side. One big thing that I have seen is that you need every one on the same side. Some time try to have some one move sides and see how's it changes the wake.

You stole my thunder

Also drop the wedge and have the center tank full. Greg our next time we need try a little weight up front.

[LS-One]

Me 215 lbs.

three peeps in boat

front, mid, port rear ballast full.

wedge down

Thanksgiving weekend in the rain.

Granted, it ain't huge, but it was surfable.

Edited June 23, 2006 by LS-One

[D-GOOSE]

Add a #750 bag in the trunk and a #750 on the seat. This is all on the surf side. One big thing that I have seen is that you need every one on the same side. Some time try to have some one move sides and see how's it changes the wake.

You stole my thunder

Also drop the wedge and have the center tank full. Greg our next time we need try a little weight up front.

Next time we will load it down and watch the family freak out when we turn. I wish I had the pic from when you surfed with the 1100lb in there.

[king_kong]

could i just suplement the #750 bag for more ppl and get the same effect?

[woody]

quote name='king_kong' date='Jun 25 2006, 09:35 AM' post='111589']

could i just suplement the #750 bag for more ppl and get the same effect?

When your ready to launch your boat, just wave a box of twinkies(sp) around in the air... You'll be sure to pick up some ballast.

[

[WakeGirl]

could i just suplement the #750 bag for more ppl and get the same effect?

Yeah, but the shape will be a bit different. The thing that I've been finding with this VLX is that it's very sensitive to weight placement. With our setup, we had the bag in the locker & all of the people in the cabin on the seat. As you can see from the picture it was big, but it was also long. That is, the sweet spot was long enough that you could surf pretty far back & not fall out of the wave. Now, I was on another VLX this past weekend & we had a bag in the locker (I think it was a 500) plus a lot of people & most of them were up on the sundeck, bunched up at the rear corner. The wave was huge, but the face was so vertical that it was hard to keep from running into the boat (in fact, I did). I couldn't get back on the wave either to keep that from happening (I kept falling out of it), I think that the sweet spot was quite a bit shorter. So I think that spreading the weight of people out & forward in the boat a bit rather than packing them all in the corner will improve the quality of the wave substantially.

In the end, you should experiment with it to see what you like the best. Weighting with people is good because it doesn't take much to move them around to find the optimal setup.

[DRAGON88]

This weekend I had the boat set up like this:

1 Pro-X Nautique Wedge sac (370#) in the port trunk.

1 Pro-X Nautique wedge sac under the the middle seat storage compartment. (probably about 300# or so.)

Power wedge one setting up from being fully down.

Center tank filled

Port tank filled

2 people on the port side, one up by the dash, one down in the port corner and the driver.

Worked pretty good, the pocket was fairly large. But it could use a bit more weight on the port side of the bow.