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2002 vlx wakesetter wakeboarding setup


dbizzle

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Hey guys, I have a 2002 wakesetter vlx. I have only had this boat for a season. It has the standard prop from what I have seen (13.5"x17.5"). I do not have a wedge. Needless to say with a full boat load of people and the standard ballast filled it really struggles to get on plane.

This is a diamond hull.

Today I went out and bought a acme 1235 prop. I have done a bit of research and this prop best suit my needs. I still tow skiers at 30-32 mph regularly for my mates who do not board. I have a 1000lbs bow sac and 2x 750lbs rectangle sacks. I have experimented with weight up front vs back and middle etc. I ride a 75 foot line from anywhere to 21.5 mph to 23 mph.

I know a wedge would be a great investment but I cannot afford one at this point in time. It doesn't matter what I seem to do I cannot seem to get the wake decent. It's always very low and flat. I haven't loaded it up with the extra fat sacks and standard ballast yet but I plan on doing that once I install the new prop.

Has anyone got a good setup for a diamond hull without a wedge and if you do could you throw up some photos? I've been told diamond hulls like weight upfront as apposed to the rear. Usually I'll run full standard ballast and one 750 in the walk through and a 750 in the bow. Still the same result. I read a few reviews from people putting the 1235 prop and saying the wake improved but I can't see how.

Cheers

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Not that I can remember because I've been a bit worried without this new prop with all that weight. Plus I don't know if they will fit next to the hard tanks in the rear lockers but I'm going to try that when I fit the new prop. But I have have had 750 in the walk through and 750 in the bow

Edited by dbizzle
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Take some friends (dynamic ballast) out and play around with the location of the weight. With no ballast in the boat and moving people from front to back and vice versa to see the effects of the weight movement on the wake. This will give you an idea of where you need to place your weight. I'm guessing you need more weight in the back of the boat. Most do not add the bow sacks until they have fitted the lockers with 750's.

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I ride in a boat like this a lot. Id suggest 750s in locker and 1000 up front. Now if you have a boat load of people, now youre in a different situation. Youll still want that 1000 up front, but can drain some of the back to account for the people. The weight up front will help planing and so will the new prop.

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With 1,000 up front you will need to be really careful not to take water over the bow when returning to pick up your downed rider. In my '01 we only used around 600 up front for surfing and even then a couple of my inexperienced friends would take a little over the bow occasionally when coming to pick me up.

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Okay I'll give that a go. Am I better off just removing the hard stock tanks and replacing them with my 750 sacks and plumbing them in? I really want to install a wedge but I can't even find where to buy one in Aus. How much of a difference does it make?

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ditch the hard tanks and get 750's using the original pumps. easy mod. I also plumbed in a reversible pump with a through hull intake in the bottom of the boat. I have several hose lengths to fill multiple sacks from one pump. (I got tired of the over the side thing). As far as the wedge goes I don't use mine when I ride (only when I surf) because it gives the wake too much of a lip on top for my liking but we have riders on the boat that are a lot better than I am and they all use the wedge for max air. You should think of it as a wake shaper rather than it just making the wake bigger.

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Thanks windy1. I haven't looked too far into it yet but the hard tanks have two pumps right? One to fill and one to drain? Is it as simple as just removing the tanks and plumbing the bags into those exsisting pumps?

I have fly high sacks at the moment and the plug in pump. I also am fed up of throwing the pump over the side. I think I can get the fittings for them because at the moment it has one air release valve in one end I can get a 1 inch or 1/4 inch adapter for and the other end the standard port to fill it. Does it matter for draining the bags if the ports are at the top of the bag will the pump still be able to get the water out or will I need to stand on them to help it pump out every time?

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Hey bizzle as others have said, ditch the hard tanks and go with the 750's in the rear. It's a pretty easy swap.

You are correct in your assumption that there are 2 pumps. One for the fill and one for the drain. The fill pump is in a thru hull by the vdrive. The drain pump should be mounted on the transom side of the hard tank with a hard fitting(you can just unscrew it.) You should have two hoses coming off the front of the hard tank. One fill, one vent. Identify which is which. On a fly high 750, you will use the top 2 fittings for fill hose and vent hose. You will use the one on the end of the bag for drain. Make sure you silicone your threaded fittings in this bag. Apply a good amount to the threads before screwing them in. I went ahead and did the silicone a day ahead of the install so it would have time to dry. I just did this upgrade last winter. It's pretty easy and if you have all your supplies handy, it shouldn't take you more than a couple hours.

I know you say you don't surf, but I would HIGHLY recommend going ahead and cross running the vent and drain hoses. What I mean by this is run the vent and drain hose from your starboard bag to the port side thru hull and port hoses to the starboard side thru hull. In the event you randomly decide you want to surf, this will prevent the bags from draining out on their own.

As for which port to drain the bags from, always go with the lowest.

Currently I run both 750's in the rear full, 500 midship factory full and a 500 up in the bow. I do have a wedge and sometimes I use it, sometimes I don't. Weighting the back will make the wake steeper, too much weight in the back will make the boat porpoise while boarding.

As for the wedge, maybe you could try Bakes Marine? I know they are here in the States but surely they could ship it to you or just talk to a dealer down there.

Hope this helps!!!!

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bizzle, NCVride is correct and I believe all three of us have the same hulls so its nice to here that others have settled on about the same set up I use. If you find a new wedge it will most likely be a floating wedge witch is an upgrade from what would have been on your boat. For surfing I use wicked wake system so no need to tilt the boat and it installs in a few minutes and uses full ballast so I surf a lot more than I used to.

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