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Surfing a Sportster


Luckylindy

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Hey guys, just wondering if anybody has used the 750lb fat sacs next to the engine on a sporty? The space measures between 17" in rear and 19" near the front. The bag says its 20" wide so i know it will push on the motor box a little, just not sure how much the bag balloons up and don't want to break the box. Trying to surf the boat and am able to get an ok wave with 580lbs (2 smaller stacked bags) on the surf side and a diy ghettogate. The wave got better looking more evenly weight, but i need more weight. 400lb bags fit easier but i like the idea of having a little more weightability with the 750s plus i can get them for the same price. Any advice? Also I have read EVERY thread about others trying to surf a Sportster or Response, but they never seem to say much other than try a surf device and be careful not to sink. Has anybody had any success stories? I know "buy a bigger boat", but i got this for under 8k and it's in amazing condition with wedge, tower, stereo system etc. Just trying to get by a few years till I can afford a better surfing boat

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I have an echelon, which has the same layout.  We use a 750 on each side of the engine plus the wedge.  Plus a shaper. The 750s fit on the sides just fine.  We also have tried a 400 in front of the pylon for a little extra weight.  

 

The he only reason people say the shaper makes the wave bigger is because it lets you fill both sides vs just one side.  So more weight is possible

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21 minutes ago, iwam said:

I have an echelon, which has the same layout.  We use a 750 on each side of the engine plus the wedge.  Plus a shaper. The 750s fit on the sides just fine.  We also have tried a 400 in front of the pylon for a little extra weight.  

 

The he only reason people say the shaper makes the wave bigger is because it lets you fill both sides vs just one side.  So more weight is possible

Thanks for the response. Looks like I'll order a couple 750's. I know the boat will never be a surf machine, but a new boat is simply not in the budget. Worst part is I weigh 240 so I may never be able to go ropeless  on the smaller wave. Did the 400 bag help at all? I currently have a 250lb bag and a 330lb bag. Thinking about trying the 250 in the bow as we usually only have 3 adults and 2 small kids. There are lots of threads started asking how to set up the boat, but none seem to follow through with results.

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4 hours ago, Rednucleus said:

Sounds like you are going to exceed the maximum weight listed for a Sporty

Will most definitely be over the weight limits. I work on boats for a living and am not worried about hurting the boat other than weight pushing on the motor box. Just worried about swamping it. The drivetrain is the same as the bigger boats and it seems the structure is built the same as well. Really wish I could afford a bigger v-drive

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I have a 94 Echelon, and when using 750's there was too much pressure on the engine box and ripped a gas spring mount out from the floor.  I would find something that fits better (which is what I did - bunch of 155 fat sacs).

You do need the up front weight.  We put a 370 bag in the ski locker, and put a person in the bow.

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14 hours ago, Michigan boarder said:

I have a 94 Echelon, and when using 750's there was too much pressure on the engine box and ripped a gas spring mount out from the floor.  I would find something that fits better (which is what I did - bunch of 155 fat sacs).

You do need the up front weight.  We put a 370 bag in the ski locker, and put a person in the bow.

Thanks for the response. I haven't ordered the bags yet. Trying to find someone who will let me try one out to make sure its fits first. I really don't want tons of ballast if I don't need it, but don't want to spend money for not enough weight

 

Also, another quick question. I have been thinking about building a storage locker/sunpad to go down the driver side of the boat all the way to the rear seat.  Almost like the Xti's have just down the whole side. Has anybody ever done something like this? I have searched with no luck. First thing the wife said when I brought the boat home was "where do I lay out?" My upholstery guy owes me a favor so I figured I could build the box and he could upholster it to match. Could be good storage space in a boat that has none when it's not filled with ballast.

 

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8 hours ago, Luckylindy said:

lso, another quick question. I have been thinking about building a storage locker/sunpad to go down the driver side of the boat all the way to the rear seat.  Almost like the Xti's have just down the whole side. Has anybody ever done something like this? I have searched with no luck. First thing the wife said when I brought the boat home was "where do I lay out?" My upholstery guy owes me a favor so I figured I could build the box and he could upholster it to match. Could be good storage space in a boat that has none when it's not filled with ballast.

 

I have thought about that too, I say go for it (and start a separate thread on it with tons of pictures!).  Would it be the same height as the rear seat base or would you have it the same height as the engine cover?  I would go with the seat base height.

My solution with that area was just putting in a removable jump seat:

post-8942-0-82602800-1427825819_thumb.jppost-8942-0-44161100-1409920489_thumb.jp

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My thought was to make it as high as the gunnel. Was looking at it last night and it seems you could run about 60" long and as wide as possible. Put a nicely padded top on it and upholstery to match. I think I may put a couple boxes in there with the bow cushion to try and see what it'd really look like. If I do build something I will start a thread about it.

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3 minutes ago, Luckylindy said:

My thought was to make it as high as the gunnel. Was looking at it last night and it seems you could run about 60" long and as wide as possible. Put a nicely padded top on it and upholstery to match. I think I may put a couple boxes in there with the bow cushion to try and see what it'd really look like. If I do build something I will start a thread about it.

Does the rear seat go into a sun deck mode?  Mine does on the Echelon, don't think I have any pics though.

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6 hours ago, Michigan boarder said:

Does the rear seat go into a sun deck mode?  Mine does on the Echelon, don't think I have any pics though.

Mine does not. I don't think any of the sportsters do. One thing i was thinking about was building the box and also building some supports to hold the rear seat up higher so that i would have a sort of wrap around sun deck on the back of the boat. My mother in law comes with us alot and likes to sit in the back of the boat so whatever i do needs to still be functional as a seat. 

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  • 4 weeks later...

 

Just a quick update on this. I have managed to get a thigh high wave running 550lbs next to the engine and ~300lbs behind the engine. Regular side is clean and my wife can easily ride ropeless (she's 140ish riding a CWB ride). I ride goofy and can make a decent little wave with the same weight and also run a platform mounted ghetto gate only when surfing goofy, it actually hurts the wave when used on regular side. I can not ride ropeless but I also weigh close to 250lbs so I need a much bigger wave than most. Finally ordered a 750lb bag to put next to the engine and will move the 550lb behind the motor box so we'll see what happens

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  • 1 month later...

Picked up a '95 Sunsetter over the summer and am hoping to surf it next summer.  Very interested in your setup as I'll need to do something similar.  Have you tried to build one of the suction cup mounted gates?

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