Surf wave at 9-10 mph white water horrible, help needed

[2012Mkz]

I have a 2012 Malibu Mkz and the wake at low speeds 8-12 mph is awful. instead of a deep wake with a nice crest and roll off, I get a small pocket with lots of white water.  My wake for boarding is real nice at 16-20 mph with a beautiful 3 foot crest and mild splash bubbles.

I have tried different ballast and power wedge positions. One of my crew feels the white wash is caused by the solenoids sticking out from the power wedge. He also thinks adding the surf gates or surf tabs will help fix. Any thoughts?

[BlindSquirrel]

1 hour ago, 2012Mkz said:

I have a 2012 Malibu Mkz and the wake at low speeds 8-12 mph is awful. instead of a deep wake with a nice crest and roll off, I get a small pocket with lots of white water.  My wake for boarding is real nice at 16-20 mph with a beautiful 3 foot crest and mild splash bubbles.

I have tried different ballast and power wedge positions. One of my crew feels the white wash is caused by the solenoids sticking out from the power wedge. He also thinks adding the surf gates or surf tabs will help fix. Any thoughts?

Yeah, adding a "wake shaper" will help tremendously if your boat doesn't have surf gates. There are several out on the market that all seem to work well. Delta wake shaper is one that people seem to like. Or there are directions for a DYI build if you search this site for suck gate. 

[guitarcrazy]

I have never seen a boat your could surf below about 10 mph.  I surf at 11.2 and it is a really nice clean wave with a lot of push.  Are you listing the boat to the surf side?  If you don't have surf gate or other wakesurf device you will need to heavily weight the surf side of the boat and list the boat over to make a decent wave.  

[chadwick02]

Assuming you mean 22MXZ?   Add a wake shaper and then LOTS of weight.   We run all factory ballast + (2) 800 PNP one in each locker + 800 middle of the floor and 400(?) under passenger seats.   + a crew of 8-10 or more people.   Less than that and I'd like even more bags.   Not the best pic, but good enough to show wave potential.

 

Edited August 16, 2021 by chadwick02

[smileysteve]

4 hours ago, 2012Mkz said:

One of my crew feels the white wash is caused by the solenoids sticking out from the power wedge. Any thoughts?

It costs $0 to move the wedge up to try it. You may not be able to surf as far back.

 

Quote

He also thinks adding the surf gates or surf tabs will help fix

A suck gate should clean this up. at a low cost. It will also reduce the amount of energy you're sending ashore.

[chadwick02]

Also - 

We don't use our wedge much at all.  When its all the way down, or almost all the way, the wave APPEARS to actually be larger and crisper, but we tend to notice that it looses a significant amount of "push" and "surfability".  Maybe we have not played around with it enough - this hull does seem to be fairly touchy to adjustments - weight speed and wedge.   

Also also - dont be afraid to add more weight!   It really pushes me out of my comfort zone the amount of weight this boat wants to surf.   Our platform needs to be under water, maybe 4-6" give or take (while floating / idling) as a gauge of how much weight to have.    With a surf tab, you want that wait fairly evenly distributed with a slight bias to surf side.   Without a surf tab you will want to lean more to the surf side.  

 

 

 

 

 

[camcruiser13]

On 8/16/2021 at 5:33 AM, 2012Mkz said:

I have a 2012 Malibu Mkz and the wake at low speeds 8-12 mph is awful. instead of a deep wake with a nice crest and roll off, I get a small pocket with lots of white water.  My wake for boarding is real nice at 16-20 mph with a beautiful 3 foot crest and mild splash bubbles.

I have tried different ballast and power wedge positions. One of my crew feels the white wash is caused by the solenoids sticking out from the power wedge. He also thinks adding the surf gates or surf tabs will help fix. Any thoughts?

dont use your wedge and see what happens. bet thats the issue