Jump to content

Welcome to TheMalibuCrew!

As a guest, you are welcome to poke around and view the majority of the content that we have to offer, but in order to post, search, contact members, and get full use out of the website you will need to Register for an Account. It's free and it's easy, so don't hesitate to join the TheMalibuCrew Family today!

Wedge down and going to fast? OOOOps


BuggsIsland06vride

Recommended Posts

OK I know I,m not the first to do it but I was not driving my boat and it slipped my mind. The other day I was teaching a younger child some wakeboard tricks and he wanted to put the wedge down and try it. So we did and the child did great. Well after that, we went swimming for an hour and when It was time to take off again my wife was driving and the wedge was in the down position. We traveled as fast as 35 MPH and after about 10 minutes of still riding down the lake I asked my wife why the boat was turning wierd. She said what she always does " I don't Know" I told her to stop the boat and I checked the wedge. It was down. After a few foul words, and some checks under the water It seemed to not have caused any damage to anything at all. If any thing was different it seemed looser in the up position and maybe the top bolts need to be tightened. These would be the bolts that hold the wedge to the plate not the bolts that hold the plate to the boat. It is a manual wedge not power. I had always been told not to travel with the wedge down over 28 MPH. Has it happened to anyone else or does anyone have advice before I try to tighten anything up. I did surf with the wedge down after that and it worked fine. Thanks for the help. Don't make me best the only man to admit that this happened to them.

Link to comment

with only as few people in the boat and no ballast tanks full you really cant tell that much difference except when you turn. The wake is a little bigger but I was not really looking at it while we were going down the lake. Too busy yelling at the kids!!!

Link to comment

***YAWN**** I have gotten to 40 mph for an extended period before. No sign of any damage or anything amiss. Those things are bullet proof. Of course it could have been related to the skills of the guy who installed it......

Link to comment

We go back and forth between board runs and slalom runs all the time. We left my wedge down once on a slalom run - I was behind the boat and my buddy was driving. I knew right away what we did but couldn't relay the message to the driver so I just dropped. But my boat porpoised like crazy at speeds over 30 with the wedge down.

Link to comment

Its good to know it has happened to somebody before and nothing happened, that makes me feel alot better. Thanks for your input

Link to comment

I took a velcro rope keeper and wrote "wedge" on it. We wrap it around the steering wheel when we put the wedge down. Just a little reminder to put it back up.

Link to comment
***YAWN**** I have gotten to 40 mph for an extended period before. No sign of any damage or anything amiss. Those things are bullet proof. Of course it could have been related to the skills of the guy who installed it......

I'm sure you stated that in the full disclosure to the new owners Tongue.gif

Link to comment
***YAWN**** I have gotten to 40 mph for an extended period before. No sign of any damage or anything amiss. Those things are bullet proof. Of course it could have been related to the skills of the guy who installed it......

:blush:

Link to comment

You have to design for worst case. I assure you if 35mph with the wedge down were destroying these things - they wouldn't be options on the boats today.

Link to comment
You have to design for worst case. I assure you if 35mph with the wedge down were destroying these things - they wouldn't be options on the boats today.

The 28 MPH is the manual is due to "adverse handling" not ripping the wedge off...

Rock on with your Wedge on !!!!!!

Link to comment
Wow Shocking.gif 35 mph for 10 minutes with the wedge down, how much throttle does that take?

Don't know how much throttle, but I'm wondering how much fuel that thing sucked down in that 10 minutes.

Link to comment

Eventually you reach a point where the transom is pulled to an angle where the effect of the wedge is minimized. That's like these people who load up 1400 lbs of water all in the back and drop the wedge like that makes a difference when the boat has an attitude of 35 degrees.

Link to comment

UW, I never thought of that, tilt the boat (and wedge) enough with payload and eventually the wedge is probably actually pushing the back end up instead of pulling it down.

By the way, I have not fortotten the wedge was down. (yet, but that's only because I just bought the wedge last winter)

Link to comment

Wow Shocking.gif 35 mph for 10 minutes with the wedge down, how much throttle does that take?

Don't know how much throttle, but I'm wondering how much fuel that thing sucked down in that 10 minutes.

"Honey, something is wrong with the fuel gauge"...................... :blush:

Link to comment
I took a velcro rope keeper and wrote "wedge" on it. We wrap it around the steering wheel when we put the wedge down. Just a little reminder to put it back up.

Like your idea and I think that is what we will do in the future, although I think I have been worried about it so much since we did it that I dont know If we could forget it again. Thanks for the responses and Cincy Kid wins the reminder award. Thanks again

Link to comment

I took a velcro rope keeper and wrote "wedge" on it. We wrap it around the steering wheel when we put the wedge down. Just a little reminder to put it back up.

Like your idea and I think that is what we will do in the future, although I think I have been worried about it so much since we did it that I dont know If we could forget it again. Thanks for the responses and Cincy Kid wins the reminder award. Thanks again

The problem I have is forgetting to unclip my lanyard

Whistling.gif

Link to comment

But my boat porpoised like crazy.

What is that exactly?

Boat bouncing up and down like an over-trimmed stern drive. Or one of those cars on the strip with the hydraulics package. ;)

Edited by VinRLX
Link to comment

Well, does doing the opposite count? After a day of doing footing, slolom, and tubeing my daughter wanted to wakeboard. Half way across the lake she lets go. "Dad, you forgot the wedge", arg.....

Link to comment
I took a velcro rope keeper and wrote "wedge" on it. We wrap it around the steering wheel when we put the wedge down. Just a little reminder to put it back up.

Good idea.... Perhaps a light of some kind will be added for the 07's.

Link to comment

Man you guys are going soft, i would have hoped someone talked about stress fractures on the hull, metal fatigue on the wedge and let him sweat it out for a bit...

Link to comment

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...