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Surf wave setup for SurfGate Equipped boats


Raimie

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2016 T22 ("old" hull / floating wedge)

11 MPH, stock stuff full, 250 in lead in the bow, wedge down.  My rear PNP bags are 900s and are usually about 1/3, and never more than 1/2 full.  I should've got 600s not 900s.

At 11 mph (gps/zero off) I aim for RPMs in the 3500-3750 range with Acme 2279 prop.  Maybe will run a little heavier from time to time (up to 4,000 rpms) but I actually think it's harder for me to pop airs off of a wave that's too big on my soulcraft, and I definitely don't like it too big on my skim because it can get loose/wash out.

 

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I have 19 T23 regular foot and can’t seem to get weight shifted right. Have 650 in rear and star board side bag hose shorter than port so doesn’t fill up perfect. I have extra weight in bow 450 then 200 in front of engine and 350 center

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On 7/30/2019 at 2:30 PM, gregtay said:

20190725_042719807_iOS.thumb.jpg.191b69f5a9d197ecd571cd037d49be22.jpg

 

Holy balls. @gregtay, did you post process the blue in that water?! It's gorgeous.  Where is that?  Entiat? Banks Lake? I get out to Roosevelt once a year, but never see that...

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25 minutes ago, zabto said:

Holy balls. @gregtay, did you post process the blue in that water?! It's gorgeous.  Where is that?  Entiat? Banks Lake? I get out to Roosevelt once a year, but never see that...

Nope, that is the real deal.  Lake Chelan. :)    Water is crystal clear.  Entiat certainly has flatter water but Chelan is hard to beat (and a few degrees warmer than the river.)

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 7/15/2019 at 9:51 AM, JeffK said:

I wanted to share some feedback from playing with our setup over the last couple of weeks.  2015 23 LSV, LS3 motor, factory ballast, pnp bags in rear (750's - I think), bow triangle bag (probably 800-100#'s), Occasionally a walkway bag (700#) if we are low on crew size, surfgate, no wedge. 

We tried listing the boat a little bit per some of the suggestions and it really made the wave un-surfable.  Once we leveled the boat back out, things came back to "great".  I know that some have had lots of success with it, but ours was the cleanest and best wave when we kept the boat totally level.  Just wanted to share in case you were trying to work out your setup.

I've got the same setup, minus the walkway bag. I normally run minimal crew (me, wife, 3 toddlers), Do you think the 700lb bag is enough? Do you wish you got more/less? I'm looking at getting one because I'm just not happy with my wave.

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22 hours ago, SpaceSurfer said:

I've got the same setup, minus the walkway bag. I normally run minimal crew (me, wife, 3 toddlers), Do you think the 700lb bag is enough? Do you wish you got more/less? I'm looking at getting one because I'm just not happy with my wave.

We've been really happy with our setup.  Much more and the bow would be too low for comfort for me.  I did forget to mention I have a couple lead bags in the boat as well.  I put a couple on the port side to counteract the prop rotation, and a couple up front.  I think I have 200 lbs total.  My wave was sloppy after we tried leaning it a little bit.  My boat wants to stay level.  And I don't use the wedge at all anymore. We are typically running in at least 80 ft or more of water.

Edited by JeffK
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 I have the results from my first day trying to dial my my, new to me, 2016, 23’, LSV.  Boat has internal front, mid, and rear tanks.  PNP 550’s in the back lockers.  No lead or other external ballast.  

 My buddy and I spent a fun day trying to find a decent finishing point. (Just us two, 200’ guys.)

1) Started all lockers full & PNP.  10.4,10.6,10.8 MPH. Wedge 2 clicks from bottom - not awesome.  Seemed too much weight for just two of us on the boat.

2) Keep the back lockers & PNP full and drained the front tank. 10.4,10.6,10.8, MPH wedge 1-2 from bottom - not awesome.  Lots of bow rise.  Surf gates underwater and splash effecting the cleanliness of wave.  TOO MUCH WEIGHT IN BACK it seemed.

3) Kept the back tanks full.  PNP at 75-80% (give or take),  mid tank empty,  front tank full.  10.2,10.4,10.6,10.8.  Wedge 1-2 clicks down.  Now we are getting somewhere.  Used speed to find the balance between, the long and peaky wave.  

For my boat, at first glance, the winner was: 

10.6 MPH.  1 click up from bottom.  Back lockers full. PNP 75%.  Mid tank empty.  Front tank full.  RPMs at 3200-ish.

(Pic was taken sitting Indian chief on top of the starboard back locker with my iPhone). (keep in mind we surf in 10 feet of water almost exclusively).

C5A46816-2E09-4CFA-AF4D-8F971CCB8A9C.thumb.jpeg.58aa9144425b84b998d59d5cd6dfb9ba.jpeg

Still have some work to do, but we are getting there.  After we took this shot, we had to get out there and spend the rest of the day surfing.  No more testing - just two old military buddies surfing, laughing, and remembering the old days.

Thanks for this thread.  It really helped us toward getting a respectable wave (with room for improvement).

Cheers,

Whitecap :salute:

Edited by Whitecap
  • Like 3
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2019 25LSV Just got it and trying to dial in the wave. We did a similar thing as @Whitecap and just spent a while yesterday to try different settings. I do not want to add lead. I do have two 750# FatSacs in the rear lockers. Most people say to add 300-400# of lead on the port side to counteract prop torque and level the boat.

The boat ballast system measures both the stock and FatSac in the same measurement. I put 75% in the Port rear, just under 25% in starboard (It would fluctuate between 0% & 25%) rear and 100% in mid and bow. This levels the boat out both side to side and front to back.

We moved the wedge around some usually stayed on 3 out of 6 (Vert). Speed was 10.5 MPH. Pretty happy with the results.                EDIT: Forgot to say only 2 of us in the boat.

IMG_5640.jpeg

Edited by Smitty4UK
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I'm still tinkering but I THINK I've found the best wave for our setup. We have a 2019 A22 with the 409, Power Wedge 3 (PW3), 750's in the rear lockers and a Wakemakers 440lb bow bag (with ACME 2279 prop). Most frequent crew is my wife and 5 & 7 year old daughters (light crew). I tinkered with 400-500lbs in the rear bags with everything else full and PW3 at 3-4 and 11mph but just didn't like it, it wasn't steep enough and I kept losing the wave. Then I tried filling port rear bag more to get a bit of a list but still didn't like it--and both of these experiments were with 3-4 more adults in the boat. So, the last two times out, I just slammed it (albeit with only my small crew again). Full standard tanks and plug and play bags with PW3 set at 1 and at 11mph and wow, what a difference. Nice curl at the end of the wave, more push than I need and with the PW3 set at 1, it really lengthens out the wave but is still plenty steep. Runs at about 3400rpms at 11mph, too, so not too high with the 2279 at sea level. If I keep it slammed and stow the wedge it's still a great wave but not as long, so I prefer the wedge at 1 to help lengthen it a bit. We'll see how it does when I add crew (might just reduce the rear bags a tad).

We typically wakeboard first and then surf. We'll start by filling the rear hard tanks and center tank (no plug n play bags) and set the wedge at 2 once at 22mph. The wake is perfect for me (intermediate rider at best, though) and anyone in my crew but seems like it'd be plenty for most. Then, when we're done wake boarding, we fill it the rest of the way and finish the day surfing. 

Edited by formerathlete
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We regularly surf in 5 to 8 feet of water on “The River” (if you gotta ask, don’t) and the a24 still puts out a great wave.  We don’t notice a difference until under 5’ where the wave will definitely wash out.  Remember to slightly steer into the surfer to make the wave larger if they start to go out the back.

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One thing I've noticed with our boat (2019 A22) that seems to contradict conventional wisdom is that when I steer slightly left, it makes the regular side (left side) surf wave smaller and more rounded off at the top. But when I turn slightly right, the regular side surf wave gets much bigger and taller. Is that normal? Something to do with the Surf Gates? On non-surf gates boats, it always seems to be the opposite. 

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  • 1 month later...
On 7/2/2019 at 11:25 AM, Raimie said:

22-23’ (22VLX, 22LSV, 23LSV, M235, T22, T23, A22) – All hard tanks full, 500-650lbs in bow, 550-850 rear plug-n-play bags

I have a 23 LSV. So by hard tanks you mean the 4 tanks the boat comes with? Then I need to put 500+ pounds in the bow? Like on the seats? Then buy plug n play bags for the back and add those too?

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3 hours ago, macdonjo said:

I have a 23 LSV. So by hard tanks you mean the 4 tanks the boat comes with? Then I need to put 500+ pounds in the bow? Like on the seats? Then buy plug n play bags for the back and add those too?

If you have a hard tank in the bow you will probably only need a couple hundred pounds additional. Try having a friend sit up there and then determine if you need to invest in lead for times when your crew is small. Yes, you need p-n-p bags for the rears.

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ahopkins22LSV

For VTX owners. 

10.5mph, full MLS, 550 plug n plays, power wedge 3 on 4 from lift, 200lb extra lead stacked all the way forward in the bow. Only driver and spotter in each of these pictures. 

Im 6’1” 175lbs:

749893F6-8AE2-4675-B4CF-CC3D4B4A06A9.thumb.png.0600b996bb3780c7556853a6b1a8ef77.png

Friend at 6’2” 230lb:

09354E0C-427E-4A77-AEC3-42B00D3B98B8.thumb.jpeg.62cd55a131073229f99996de94603f97.jpeg

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Does "ramp" mean the wedge all the way up or all the way down?  Trying to figure out if you mean two or three clicks from fully stowed or two or three from fully extended?

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 7/2/2019 at 8:25 AM, Raimie said:

Since we have a new post every day on how to properly ballast boats for surfing, I am hoping that new boat owners can start here and try the recommendations before starting new threads. If you can’t get a decent wave with these recommendations, please post your setup (list all ballast, crew size, boat year/make) and include pictures.

Surfgate equipped boats, or boats using similar wake shaping devices operating in at least a depth of 15’ of water, use these guidelines to achieve a great surf wave.

 

20-21’ (VTX, A20, 21VLX, 21MLX) – All hard tanks full, 400-550lbs in bow (total), 550 rear plug-n-play bags. Floating wedge deployed, PW position 3 or 4 (or 2- 3 clicks down from ramp). Speed 10.8-11.2.

22-23’ (22VLX, 22LSV, 23LSV, M235, T22, T23, A22) – All hard tanks full, 500-650lbs in bow, 550-850 rear plug-n-play bags. Floating wedge deployed, PW position 3 or 4 (or 2- 3 clicks down from ramp)., or wedge stowed . Speed 10.8-11.6mph.

24-25’ (24MXZ, 25LSV, A24) – All hard tanks full, 650-750lbs in bow, 825-1100 rear plug-n-play bags. Floating wedge deployed, PW position 3 or 4 (or 2- 3 clicks down from ramp)., or wedge stowed. Speed 11-11.6.

 

If your goofy side is great and your regular side (port) isn’t, try a slight list to the port side by shifting your crew and/or draining 20% of your rear ballast bags.

These recommendations are based on light crews to obtain the best setup. If you have a large crew, reduce some ballast to offset additional weight. Crew should be fairly evenly distributed from bow to stern. More weight in the bow = longer wave, more weight in the stern = taller wave.

If your gates are completely underwater, you have too much ballast.

If you don’t have plug-in-play, you will not have a very impressive wave. It is required unless you have a massive crew every outing.

If running in a river be sure to use the paddle wheel speed sensor.

Start at lowest speed and increase gradually to see the effect on your wave. Generally the wave will be a little longer/firmer with more speed.

Goofy wave is always better on Malibu/Axis boats due to prop rotation. Counter act this by learning to ride heelside or switch:biggrin:

 

Happy surfing!:werule:

Great write-up thank you for taking the time to post this and help us new surfers.

 

How come the Malibu prop helps goofy riders? This works great for me as I’m goofy but my wife rides left foot forward.

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4 hours ago, 2020LSV23 said:

Great write-up thank you for taking the time to post this and help us new surfers.

 

How come the Malibu prop helps goofy riders? This works great for me as I’m goofy but my wife rides left foot forward.

The goofy side is better due to how the direction of prop rotation pushes the water on that side. Same for most inboard brands too. 

If your wife doesn't notice anything, leave well enough alone, but if she complains about the wave then try a slight list like Raimie suggests.

Edited by NWBU
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  • 4 months later...

I have greatly appreciated all of the advice and input contained in this thread.  It has helped me greatly improve my surf wave.  However, I'm looking to take my surf wave optimization to the next level for the 2020 season.  I just watched the following video below and got some new insights.  It makes sense but I've never really seen any discussion in this forum regarding the use of a clinometer (I could only find a couple of posts from The Hulk regarding the use of a clinometer with the search function).  I'm curious if anyone else has used a "clinometer app" similar to the one he mentions in the video below (if you don't want to listen to the entire video he begins talking about the app around 11 minutes into the video, you may want to start around 7 minutes to listen to all the background on pitch, roll and draft).  I'm going to start monitoring my pitch, roll and draft.  I'm curious if anyone here has tried this approach with any success.   I currently own a 2019 24MXZ.  I'll post some results once the weather clears up and I have a chance to experiment on the water. 

 

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  • 3 months later...

I watched that video and a few others that guy has put out,  

 

when we surf our bow is way above a 9* pitch   boat is 2018 25 lsv stock  tanks 

 

if I fil the plug and plays its even heavier,   he also rocks a different boat so not all boats are alike

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