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How important is the wedge 2001 vlx


Luckylindy

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 Hey guys, I'm looking to buy an early thousands V-drive and a 21-foot boat fits in my garage. I found an incredibly clean 2001 vlx for a really good price. It's probably five to seven thousand less than other boats and only missing maybe a few grand in options. I am a boat technician so adding ballast / stereo / LED lighting and some of the other things isn't a big deal, but the boat does not have a wedge on it. My budget to purchase the boat and get it on the water surfable it's only around 22k. I think I could get this boat at about 19. How important do you think a wedge will be to set up a nice Surf Wave? Wondering if I could live without it or if I should try and find a used wedge set up. I will be selling my 99 Sportster that has a wedge on it and almost tempted to pull it off and drop the price of my boat a little. I'd also be half tempted to set up a trim tab or even surf tab system or something as I can get this system cheap through the shop

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10 hours ago, Luckylindy said:

What's your setup without it?

Depends on the crew size. If many, only fill the sacs in the rear lockers.  If only a couple, up to 4k lbs from bow to stern.  Surfing ballast follows More's law - more is better.

We always use a suck gate.

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I have an 02 vlx with no wedge, I have two friends with the same hull. From what I have seen, the wedge doesn't make that much of a difference. Now a surfgate type of add on is amazing and needed. 

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I have a 02 21lsv with a manual wedge. To me, the difference is huge and I would highly recommend you add one. It makes the wave taller and more firm. We have about 600lbs in each rear locker + 500lbs bow ballast, with a suckgate (we use the nauticurl).

Our wedge broke last year and I got a replacement as soon as I could

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27 minutes ago, MadMan said:

I think the big difference with/without the wedge is going to be significantly more fuel used with.

This would not make a considerable difference. Cost of fuel used should not be the determining factor here. The difference overall would be minimal.

 

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3 hours ago, JulioEstevez said:

I have a 02 21lsv with a manual wedge. To me, the difference is huge and I would highly recommend you add one. It makes the wave taller and more firm. We have about 600lbs in each rear locker + 500lbs bow ballast, with a suckgate (we use the nauticurl).

Our wedge broke last year and I got a replacement as soon as I could

That could also be the difference. In mine and my friends boats we run 1100,s in the rear full center bags(500ish), 300-500 in the nose then human weight. 

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51 minutes ago, Stevo said:

This would not make a considerable difference. Cost of fuel used should not be the determining factor here. The difference overall would be minimal.

 

Different people have different priorities.

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On 3/10/2018 at 7:11 PM, Luckylindy said:

 Hey guys, I'm looking to buy an early thousands V-drive and a 21-foot boat fits in my garage. I found an incredibly clean 2001 vlx for a really good price. It's probably five to seven thousand less than other boats and only missing maybe a few grand in options. I am a boat technician so adding ballast / stereo / LED lighting and some of the other things isn't a big deal, but the boat does not have a wedge on it. My budget to purchase the boat and get it on the water surfable it's only around 22k. I think I could get this boat at about 19. How important do you think a wedge will be to set up a nice Surf Wave? Wondering if I could live without it or if I should try and find a used wedge set up. I will be selling my 99 Sportster that has a wedge on it and almost tempted to pull it off and drop the price of my boat a little. I'd also be half tempted to set up a trim tab or even surf tab system or something as I can get this system cheap through the shop

Sounds like you could be looking at my old boat. Where is the boat you are looking at located? If you don't mind me asking. 

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Does the boat you are looking at have the wedge bracket?  Mine came with a bracket but no wedge.  If not you have to get the wedge from Malibu - if they'll even put it on.  Or you can take it off your existing boat but you'll have holes, a 2 color transom and probably take a resale value hit.

I think the wedge does make a lot of difference for surfing.  We run 1100s in the rear filled to about 900, plus 600 in the center locker, and about 400 in the bow between the under seat bag and lead - plus the wedge.

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4 hours ago, cowwboy said:

That could also be the difference. In mine and my friends boats we run 1100,s in the rear full center bags(500ish), 300-500 in the nose then human weight. 

I actually have 800lbs bags but I would guess they fill to 600-650... we don't fill up until they are ready to explode :)

We have had days with 8-9 ~200lbs guys in the boat and would still see a big difference if the wedge wasn't deployed.

To answer OP's question, I would get a wedge no questions asked

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May be easier to get the GSA (go surf assist). It would probably be a similar install and from what I have heard and seen.. makes more of a difference in over all surfability than the wedge.. however it does nothing for wakeboarding. I do like my wedge for wakeboarding!!!

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  • 4 weeks later...

Huge difference. Not in size/look of the wave, but push.  I can immediately tell if we forget to deploy it as the push sucks badly in comparison. 

Night and day, seriously. I run 2900lbs water balast and 300 in lead (will be 450 lead this year).  I've had both the fixed and the floating wedge.  They perform the same but the floating unit is much nicer. 

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Pull the one off your Sportster and put on the VLX!  If you do a nice job cleaning up the glass, between that and the swim platform the buyer will never miss it or even know it was there. 

A definite must have on the VLX hull.

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  • 4 weeks later...

 

On 4/9/2018 at 4:53 PM, Nitrousbird said:

Huge difference. Not in size/look of the wave, but push.  I can immediately tell if we forget to deploy it as the push sucks badly in comparison. 

Night and day, seriously. I run 2900lbs water balast and 300 in lead (will be 450 lead this year).  I've had both the fixed and the floating wedge.  They perform the same but the floating unit is much nicer. 

yes ^

 

It has a lot more push, and is taller.   I run a very similar setup as Nitrousbird.  With the wedge, you do need more bow weight to help lengthen the wave,  but the overall wave is sooo much better with the wedge on this vintage.  My suck gate made a huge difference in the quality of the wave as well, and won't surf without it either.

Edited by Brodie
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On 4/9/2018 at 3:53 PM, Nitrousbird said:

Huge difference. Not in size/look of the wave, but push.  I can immediately tell if we forget to deploy it as the push sucks badly in comparison. 

Night and day, seriously. I run 2900lbs water balast and 300 in lead (will be 450 lead this year).  I've had both the fixed and the floating wedge.  They perform the same but the floating unit is much nicer. 

agree, used to have an 01 ssvlx, you knew right away.

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