Surfin on a budget

[CBray4]

Hey guys I'm new to TMC, I'm also new to the boating world. My family just got a new to us 01 Wakesetter VLX. We are looking to make it a better surfing boat but we have some issues. We have no ballast(I believe it has the plumbing for the midship ski locker sack, but that's all the plumbing we have). We also have no wedge. We also have no surf gate system. 

The way I see it, we have none of the essential parts of a good surfing boat. 

So... What would you guys suggest doing first with a budget in mind. Sacks? Wedge? Surf gate?

All help is greatly appreciated! 

[mgb1974]

You have the wake or diamond hull? Wake will be easier.

You will need a lot weight added, 750 lb sacks in the rear locker, 400 lb bag in the ski locker, 600lb bag in the bow. That's what I have plus the wedge with the wake hull on my 2002 vlx wakesetter. Also plan on upgrading prop to 1235.

Check out

https://www.wakemakers.com

[minnmarker]

Welcome.  Lots of people here willing to help you spend $$!

Suggest you peruse the Ballast Info forum.  Lots of good ideas and stories.

For surf priority I would suggest rear locker and ski locker bags - as big as you can fit, and a 3 pump impeller pump setup.  You should be able to get that done for about $1200.  Bow weight is kinda dependent on how you want to use the bow area.

If you want to go further then add manual ($500) or auto ($2000 - $4000) surf gate, and then a wedge ($1000).

- and don't forget the tunes!

[theGrant]

You should check out the topics teakgate and poormans gate. A little bit of lumber and you can make a surf gate to add to your ballast setup for a very low cost. It won't look pretty. But it will still function well.

[CBray4]

I have no idea what hull design the boat is. Like I said I'm new to all of this. 

As for the sacks, I was planning on getting 750's for rear lockers after I relocate the batteries(that's a whole nother project that is WAY over my head) and getting a sack for the midship ski locker but wasn't sure what size I needed. I'm thinking of getting a cigarette lighter pump just with the budget in mind. Not too worried about it taking a long time to fill. I'm patient. 

We will be using the boat for everything(wakeboarding, wakesurfing, wakeskating, tubing, kneeboarding, and anything else you can do behind a boat). The boat will be full of people 90% of the time.

Yeah I swear I have read every single thread on surf gates and ballast setups. I was just curious what should be the order of the upgrade list. I'm thinking:

1. Ballast set up

2. Diy/wicked wake surf gate

3. Wedge

The prop will come sometime in the middle of all of this. And after will come everything else I find that I want/need. 

[jwl019]

I order, I would say:

1) ballast -750's in rear locker, 400-650 in bow, MLS ski locker ballast should be around 400-550 lbs so look on Wakemakers at the tube style sacs if yours is missing that one

2) wedge/prop - might need prop before wedge if running a lot of ballast and people

3) manual or auto gate - you can surf without gates and some people actually prefer no gates

[Chrisjjbrown]

That order is correct.  

If you get a couple bags just buy two portable pumps to cut down on the time.   You will be able to sell one off when you go to reversible and keep one as a back up incase ur reversible fails. 

[CBray4]

I don't know anything about brands or anything but I saw a deal on Amazon and wanted to see what some people who knew more about it thought  

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00W7YGTD4/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?qid=1459215345&sr=8-3&pi=SY200_QL40&keywords=wakesurf+ballast&dpPl=1&dpID=51cEviTUbRL&ref=plSrch

2x 800's for rears(can I just not fill them all the way?)

1x 540 for center ski locker(same thing just not fill it all the way)

Also comes with a portable pump

 

[Pnwrider]

Does your vlx have perfect pass? If not, that is number one. I would plumb in ballast from the start. Especially if you're going to keep the boat for awhile. Flipping switches is so much nicer than throwing a pump over the side. 

[CBray4]

Yes I believe it does have perfect pass.

I understand what you mean about plumbing. I think the plumbing it in would be awesome but I think it's a little out of my budget and way over my head to do it myself. Maybe it could be a winter project after the season. 

[mgb1974]

Check out this link to tell what Hull you have. 

If you want to surf ropeless your going to need weight in the Bow unless you go with some sort of surf gate.

 

[CBray4]

There will be 3-4 people up there. More than likely it will be girls tanning or whatever girls do. Is that enough? 300-400 lbs seeing as how the girl weigh around 100ish pounds roughly. 

[mgb1974]

Thats what I did last year, made 1-2 people sit up front. It helped alot but still didnt seem like enough. Im adding 600lb bag to the front once I get the boat out of storage in a week or 2. 

If you have the Wake hull you have the same boat as me. 

The pocket to go ropeless was very small and real close to the boat. (this was with 750lb in lockers, 500lb in the ski locker, wedge down, 5-6 people in the boat, 537 prop). Im adding 1235 prop and 600lb bow bag if that doesnt 100% get me there I need to go to a surf gate type device. 

 

[minnmarker]

11 hours ago, CBray4 said:

I don't know anything about brands or anything but I saw a deal on Amazon and wanted to see what some people who knew more about it thought  

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00W7YGTD4/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?qid=1459215345&sr=8-3&pi=SY200_QL40&keywords=wakesurf+ballast&dpPl=1&dpID=51cEviTUbRL&ref=plSrch

2x 800's for rears(can I just not fill them all the way?)

1x 540 for center ski locker(same thing just not fill it all the way)

Also comes with a portable pump

 

Anybody ever heard of this brand?  At a minimum you'll want to make sure they are the right shape for your spaces and that the fittings can be adapted to permanent plumbing when you go that way.  Also, how sturdy are they?

If you get one of the known brands they have bags designed to fit in the typical spaces and they have fittings available so you can keep your bags when you upgrade to permanent pumps and plumbing.

Surf wakes are very much in the eye (feet) of the surfer.  We had a great time with 750 in the surf side rear locker, about 300 under the front seat, wedge down, and 4 people in the boat in the right places. No problem going rope-less and about 10-15 foot pocket length.  So don't feel like you have to get 3000 lbs of water in the boat to get a wave.  Now that being said, I did add a surf gate and another 600 in the ski locker. 

[CBray4]

Mgb, sounds like I need to follow your lead. I should be getting the boat this weekend and I'll see what hull design I have. 

[CBray4]

40 minutes ago, mgb1974 said:

Thats what I did last year, made 1-2 people sit up front. It helped alot but still didnt seem like enough. Im adding 600lb bag to the front once I get the boat out of storage in a week or 2. 

If you have the Wake hull you have the same boat as me. 

The pocket to go ropeless was very small and real close to the boat. (this was with 750lb in lockers, 500lb in the ski locker, wedge down, 5-6 people in the boat, 537 prop). Im adding 1235 prop and 600lb bow bag if that doesnt 100% get me there I need to go to a surf gate type device. 

 

Do you remember what exact bags you have in the rear and the ski locker areas? I don't think I'm gonna worry about the bow yet. 

[mgb1974]

I did the wakemakers upgrade, since I have a VLX Wakesetter it came with the factory 250lb hard tanks that I removed and put in 750lb sacs. It was easy for me since all the pumps/hoses/drains were already plumbed from the factory. Wakemakers does a awesome job on support, I called them and told them what I wanted for my bow ballast upgrade and they gave me the list of all the items I needed. 

https://www.wakemakers.com/tankbuster-750-ballast-system-upgrade.html

Only thing I dont like is I mainly do Wakeboarding and 750lb is to much for wakeboarding, like to have some sort of timer/device that lets me fill them halfway for wakeboarding. Im going to do that eventually. 

[CBray4]

Yeah we will probably wakeboard mostly this season since it's our first season with the boat. Another reason I want a portable pump. So I can fill and unfill accordingly. I'll email wakemakers. I believe we only have the plumbing for the center ski locker bag so I don't know if ours didn't come with the stock hard tanks in the rear or what. I've only looked over the boat once tho so I could have very easily looked over the plumbing. I thought I looked good but they could have been tucked away somewhere. 

Did you relocate your batteries?

[cowwboy]

I saw your pm. I am more then happy to help with whatever I can.

What part of Oklahoma are you in? 

[minnmarker]

This is a good package deal from Bakes for rear 707 bags and a pump if you're going with overboard pumps:

http://www.bakesonline.com/detail.aspx?ID=2520

Wakemakers has same for $399.

Don't get the 704 bag in a package as you should be able to get a 705 bag in your ski locker.

Remember to use your Malibu Crew discount code.

[Pnwrider]

17 minutes ago, CBray4 said:

Yeah we will probably wakeboard mostly this season since it's our first season with the boat. Another reason I want a portable pump. So I can fill and unfill accordingly. I'll email wakemakers. I believe we only have the plumbing for the center ski locker bag so I don't know if ours didn't come with the stock hard tanks in the rear or what. I've only looked over the boat once tho so I could have very easily looked over the plumbing. I thought I looked good but they could have been tucked away somewhere. 

Did you relocate your batteries?

2001 did not have hard tanks in the rear (as I've mentioned in your other thread), only the ski locker was plumbed. It's interesting that most think a surf gate device is the key to a good surf wake. It's not. It allows you to evenly weight the boat so you can switch from regular to goofy without having to drain and fill ballast and move bags around the boat. While it can clean up the regular wake, you will still need a lot of weight. Also, keep in mind the wake hull in that boat was designed with wakeboarding in mind. I doubt you will notice a difference at surf speeds. Wake surfing wasn't even a thought in boat design in 2001...

[CBray4]

Awesome. Thanks for the info guys. Finding what's right for our boat is the biggest deal. Also what is the best price for the best stuff. I wasn't sure what sizes would fit so this helps a lot. 

[shadetreefab]

don't know how true it is but they say "free motion ballast system by straight line" on the bag

[Nitrousbird]

On ‎3‎/‎29‎/‎2016 at 9:07 PM, mgb1974 said:

You have the wake or diamond hull? Wake will be easier.

In '01, the Sunsetter VLX has the Diamond, Wakesetter has the Wake.  That said, it makes 0.0 difference in the surf wake.

As for the OP, take advice from folks that have actually built a decent surf wave on this hull.  Here is my setup:  http://www.themalibucrew.com/index.php?/forums/topic/51606-i-think-i-have-my-sv23-fairly-dialed-in/

Next we have the topic of a surf gate.  From my experimenting, don't waste your time on this hull.  It made my wake very clean and long...but lacked any height or push.  In the end, useless to me.

Ballast is needed, of course.  IMO, wedge is also needed for push on this hull.  I hate how it surfs without the wedge.

Last year, after adding a fresh air exhaust, it messed up the wave, so we ended up doing a surf flap.  Right now we are working on building a custom swim platform to keep the corners from cutting into the wake, V2.0 of the surf flap and I got another 100lbs of lead to play with  (Lead Wake bags...best real lead bags to buy).

Mine is a wave even big dude can ride.  Here is my buddy who is with us almost every outing (he is 6'5" for reference):

 

 

[CBray4]

Great info nitrous! I might pm you for more info.