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2018 MLX 21 surf set up


Drewob

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Hey all,

I'm trying to dial in my surf settings and curious if anyone has found a great setting for the 2018 MLX 21.  It surfs great even with just factory ballast but wanted bigger so my wakesetters custom fit bags just arrived.  First time on the water with them was yesterday and I found the power wedge is hard to use with full ballast in the rear (too much bow height and high rpm)

I dialed it in at the following settings:

100% factory and PnP in the rear

50% middle

50% bow

Wedge set 2 from lift (most vertical I can go given the weight)

10.6

These settings work well...just not perfect.  

Any thoughts? Recommendations? 

Thanks!

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Fill up the front and bow.  Weight up front will allow you to keep the bow down and lengthen your wave.  I'm sure it looks like an impressive wall of water but if you want a pocket typically you need more weight up front.

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1 hour ago, Drewob said:

Fill front and bow 100%? Most everything I've read doesn't recommend that.  I'll give it a try...Thanks!

There are some beginner surfing 101 type videos out there that say for beginners set up like you currently are.  However, if you can already surf, listen to what everybody here is saying and fill everything up. You may need to take a little out of your rear PNP bags if you don't have additional bow weight.  I have the 21 VLX and I don't have any extra bow weight other than the factory ballast.  I fill everything all the way up with the rear pnp at about 75% and kicked my speed up to 11.2 and that made a pretty descent wake.  I was doing 10.8 but the extra speed to 11.2 helped lengthen the wave.  I usually only have my wife driving and about 40 lbs of a 5 year old on the boat and that set up works for me until I get extra ballast for the bow.

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Filling the front and center 100% is standard for any Malibu, regardless of model and year. Slow down if you need to create a steeper wave for beginning surfers, or dial back the wedge if you don't want it steep, but I'd question whether anyone saying to not fill those 100% has spent much time on a Malibu.

Then if you still have any problems with speed or bow being too high, you can dump some weight from the rear tanks. I have a buddy with the same '18 21 MLX and he's running 75-80% in the rears, and sometimes fills the surfside rear side to 100%, to make great waves at 10.6-11.2.

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How was it after trying these changes? There hasn't been much discussion on the setup for this boat since it's fairly new, or pics of the wave.

The guy I know with one had similar issues as you when he first got it with excessive bow rise and RPMs/speed limitations but his were due to filling the rears full, using too much wedge and then having everyone piled in the back of the boat.

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I went 100% on all and speed to 11.2 and it was "ok".  It seemed like not enough bow weight because I couldn't get the wedge to go past the 3 position from lift without the driver having to stand to see.

Then went down to 90% rear and down to 10.6 and it was better.  Still a work in progress but at these settings the wake was awesome.  

Another variable is where I'm surfing...I'm on a river that varies from 16 ft max down to 6ft.  Obviously can't surf well less than 10ft so that's an issue too.  Also going with or against stream makes a difference.

I'm going out today and will post some pics.  

 

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Just got my 18' 21 MLX and have found that if I fill everything up to 100%, including PNP bags then drain the two rear bags for approximately 30 seconds I get a really good wave. (Not sure what percentage that would be). I put my wedge in the third position and dropped the speed to 10.8 due to the board I'm using and what seemed like too much push. I'm still tweaking mine as well.

I'm just wondering if you can do a preset to save that specific amount of water in the PNP bags. I'm assuming not....

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Texas, thanks for the info.

Do you have 550 wakemaker pnp bags?  

I wish the system realizes when you have pnp so you're not guessing how full...I don't have auto vent.  I believe you're correct about a save.

Also, 3rd position from stow or lift?

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No, you can’t preset the PNP fill, it’s just over flow from the hard tanks.  We do all tanks 100%, fill PNP bags to about 90% and only run between 10.2 and 10.5, wedge 2 or 3 depending who’s riding. If we have more than 4 in the boat less water in the PNP bags and always try to have a couple people in the front. 

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Thanks Tex, again, sorry for the ignorance on this but when you say wedge 2 or 3 do you mean from stow (left) or lift (right) - I'm assuming you mean from stow, correct?

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