Using lead to clean up the wave?

[ScottyT23]

I surf a 2019 T23 and the wave is.... ok. I hear people saying they use lead to clean up the wave but I’d like to know what visual of a wave would necessitate moving lead around and to where. I’m trying to understand more of the physics of the surf wave and engineer the perfect wave. 
Yesterday I was out just with my 12 year old trying to get the best wave possible. All I hear is that this boat needs more bow weight. The wakemakers custom bow bag only holds 450#. I hid 200# lead under bow nose cone (so it wasn’t easy to move it around). I also stashed 200# under observer seat as far forward as possible. I have 750 PNPs in rear on top of factory. I emptied about 200# from starboard PNP. Wedge at 5, speed at 10.6. What I found interesting is that speeding up really didn’t seem to make the wave better. This surprised me especially with the wedge down. This last summer I don’t think I surfed below 11mph. In fairness, I really was only surfing the front sweet spot but would like to be able to drop back in wave and build speed to start doing tricks. 
Ok so the real question is: let’s say I had access to more lead. Where would I need to put it to....

1) create better shape that has a more pronounced curl (probably #1 priority). Does listing boat help with this and if so when do you get diminishing returns?

2) create length

Thanks in advance. This site has been a wealth of knowledge. 
 

Pics are with above mentioned setup; link is to wave video:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/sg3q24t22gh6x6f/IMG_1266.mov?dl=0

 

[ahopkins22LSV]

What is you water depth? At first I was going to say wedge 5 is too aggressive and you will have a wave that is super tall, short and probably washing out on itself. Then I got to your pictures which looks the complete opposite of what I expected. If you aren’t in 15’ or deeper the wave isn’t going to form enough. I’d also make sure you are using zero off gps speed and not paddle wheel, unless you are in a river. Then use the paddle wheel and make sure it’s accurate. 

[ScottyT23]

Yes we are in a river and I ONLY have paddlewheel installed. 
The depth is well over 15’ so we are good there. 
Like you, I thought wedge 5 would just create a big wall of water with no curl. 

[ahopkins22LSV]

I’d verify your speed is correct. Maybe you are really going 12-13mph which would make the wave look like that too. 

[Cole2001]

Double check your bags front and rear are completely full. That’s crazy flat 

[Kojak]

Wave looks long and flat.  You may have too much bow weight.   Make sure rear PNP is full and try it with less weight up front.

[ScottyT23]

39 minutes ago, Cole2001 said:

Double check your bags front and rear are completely full. That’s crazy flat 

Bow cushions lifting up, overflow spitting water on each bag, visually confirmed PNPs were full. I couldn’t make this stuff up

[carguy79ta]

I believe in overloading. Keep all that you have and add lead 500+ guessing..to the rear. Then maybe move some of your other lead back as needed. I had a 15 A22 and we would run 4k ballast in it.

[ScottyT23]

3 hours ago, carguy79ta said:

I believe in overloading. Keep all that you have and add lead 500+ guessing..to the rear. Then maybe move some of your other lead back as needed. I had a 15 A22 and we would run 4k ballast in it.

Oh interesting. Do you have a preference on where to put that extra weight? I ride exclusively regular. Are you talking about overloading the stern in general or the port side (for regular surfing)?

[NWBU]

If you’re always riding regular, I’d definitely put more of the weight on the port side. That really helps clean up the regular wave.

[carguy79ta]

16 hours ago, carguy79ta said:

I believe in overloading. Keep all that you have and add lead 500+ guessing..to the rear. Then maybe move some of your other lead back as needed. I had a 15 A22 and we would run 4k ballast in it.

The stern in general. We liked to surf without the wedge, mine was floating..but if a rider was having difficulty we would use the wedge for the extra push. Think of lead as adding people that dont have to take turns surfing..🙂  

[ScottyT23]

On 10/29/2019 at 7:27 PM, NWBU said:

If you’re always riding regular, I’d definitely put more of the weight on the port side. That really helps clean up the regular wave.

I know it's not a perfect science, but what distribution from port/starboard would you suggest? Our hulls are similar (23 lsv/T23)

[ahopkins22LSV]

1 hour ago, ScottyT23 said:

I know it's not a perfect science, but what distribution from port/starboard would you suggest? Our hulls are similar (23 lsv/T23)

60% rear/40% front is a great starting point. 

[NWBU]

4 hours ago, ScottyT23 said:

I know it's not a perfect science, but what distribution from port/starboard would you suggest? Our hulls are similar (23 lsv/T23)

I keep 250 along the port side, with 150 right where the observer sits, and 100 as far up in the observers compartment as I can get it to help keep the bow down. But every setup is different, so play around with 2/3-3/4 of the weight on the port side to help out the regular wave. If you're listed too much for normal cruising, then move some to the starboard side to help balance things out.