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VTX Slalom Report


Willy

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Well we finally got some nice weather today. 77 Degree's with water temp way up the Black River @ 62 degrees. Anyhow, I would compare it to my 97' Echelon @ 15 off but a little wider (not much). At first I thought the trough's were a little deeper on each side but I was just not holding my edge through the wakes. Once I started my second run after shaking the cob webs out and bumping the speed to 32 she was a thing of beauty. I skied @ 30 and 32 mph and it really improves at 32. It was my first time on a slalom ski since 2004 and it was just like riding a bike. I am about as excited as can be!! To bad it is going to cool off tomarrow again. I won't be able to give a surf report for a while as our water in the river goes from about 3 to 6 feet deep. As soon as Lake Huron (currently 52 degree's) warms up to the 60's I will give a report on that!!

Edited by Willy
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Thanks for the report. I will be interested to hear how others find the slalom wake to be behind the VTX with the cut diamond hull and how to optimize it. This is a boat that may well be in my future.

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Thanks for the update. I too will be looking forward to hearing more.

Sounds like the V drive wake characteristics are still there though in that the wake noticeably improves from 30 to 32 MPH. That's a bit of a downer. It kinda makes the V drives a PITA when training women in the course since the wakes are so big at 26 and 28 MPH. On a DD, the difference in wake between 28 and 36 is much smaller than the difference on any V drive I've seen.

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I didn't check out the slower boat speeds, but at 33/34 I felt that it was a better wake than my SLxi. The wake was soft, and the trough did not seem as deep as my SLxi, but maybe a bit deeper than my '97 Echelon. When I skied it, I was impressed, I wasn't expecting it to be that good coming from a V-drive.

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Thanks for the update. I too will be looking forward to hearing more.

Sounds like the V drive wake characteristics are still there though in that the wake noticeably improves from 30 to 32 MPH. That's a bit of a downer. It kinda makes the V drives a PITA when training women in the course since the wakes are so big at 26 and 28 MPH. On a DD, the difference in wake between 28 and 36 is much smaller than the difference on any V drive I've seen.

This is very much what I experienced with my SS VLX with SV23D hull.

I could live with that.

I will also be interested to get people's take on the wakeboard wake with this boat and hull.

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I will have this boat available for demo's at Skiers Pier in Waterford, Mi. Saturday. The dealer has asked me to bring my boat down for National Demo Days since this is the first one that was loaded with ballast and Pwr Wdg. with the Diamond Cut hull!!!!!!! I will try to post pics and ride reports saturday night or sunday!!!! Rockon.gifYahoo.gif

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I just might need to go to demo-days now.

Hello from Switzerland,

we are using our VTX with Cut Diamond Hull since the beginning of the month (we had a wonderful month of April in Switzerland: air temperatures up to 80 Degrees Farenheit, and water up to 63).

In our opinion:

Slalom wake: we agree, the wake really improves around 30-32 mph. Above 32, the wake is similar to our old RLXI.

Wakeboard wake: with the power wedge @ 1/3, 2 rear and mid ballast, the wake is steep and quite high. We use a shorter rope length thant on the 23 LSV than we had before.

Surf Wake: with power wedge @ 1/2, 1 rear ballast, mid ballast and front ballast, we have a decent surf wake, more "longboard style" rather than "skim style".

Hope that it helps!!

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I just might need to go to demo-days now.

Hello from Switzerland,

we are using our VTX with Cut Diamond Hull since the beginning of the month (we had a wonderful month of April in Switzerland: air temperatures up to 80 Degrees Farenheit, and water up to 63).

In our opinion:

Slalom wake: we agree, the wake really improves around 30-32 mph. Above 32, the wake is similar to our old RLXI.

Wakeboard wake: with the power wedge @ 1/3, 2 rear and mid ballast, the wake is steep and quite high. We use a shorter rope length thant on the 23 LSV than we had before.

Surf Wake: with power wedge @ 1/2, 1 rear ballast, mid ballast and front ballast, we have a decent surf wake, more "longboard style" rather than "skim style".

Hope that it helps!!

Sweet!!! That Surf news is good news since I just picked up a new Hyperlite Broadcast board for $199.00. Originally my thought process was that it was a good price and probably easier for everybody to learn on and transition to short board. Either way thanks for the input.

PS. What speed have you found the best surf wake?

PSS. Nice Looking boat!!!

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Hello from Switzerland,

we are using our VTX with Cut Diamond Hull since the beginning of the month (we had a wonderful month of April in Switzerland: air temperatures up to 80 Degrees Farenheit, and water up to 63).

In our opinion:

Slalom wake: we agree, the wake really improves around 30-32 mph. Above 32, the wake is similar to our old RLXI.Wakeboard wake: with the power wedge @ 1/3, 2 rear and mid ballast, the wake is steep and quite high. We use a shorter rope length thant on the 23 LSV than we had before.

Surf Wake: with power wedge @ 1/2, 1 rear ballast, mid ballast and front ballast, we have a decent surf wake, more "longboard style" rather than "skim style".

Hope that it helps!!

That is quite an endorsement for the new cut diamond hull on a v-drive.

I definitely need to look into this for myself.

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Got a brief set behind the VTX this morning at 32 and 34 mph at the usually troubling length of 22 off. The rooster was surprisingly absent and the wake wasn't all that hard. I really didn't get enough turns behind it to really form a good opinion, and the water was pretty rough, but it's at least as good as the '01 VLX on the SV23D.

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  • 2 weeks later...
Got a brief set behind the VTX this morning at 32 and 34 mph at the usually troubling length of 22 off. The rooster was surprisingly absent and the wake wasn't all that hard. I really didn't get enough turns behind it to really form a good opinion, and the water was pretty rough, but it's at least as good as the '01 VLX on the SV23D.

Sorry for not updating as this moves along. I did get the chance to run my VTX DC hull back to back with a VTX Wake hull at the demo days and the rooster actually looked smaller on the wake hull than the one on my diamond hull. I went out today with my boat (dc hull) and shortened the line to 22 off and ran at 32 and 34 mph ( i am 43 so 36 is not in cards anymore)and let me tell you THE ROOSTER IS THERE and it is hard. I will try to get to Skier's pier to try and ski the Wake hull but I think ( from what I could see) that if you run @ 22 off and can live with the deeper trough at each side of the wake the Wake hull may actually be better.

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Try adding some front balast and see if the rooster tail improves. Play with different amounts ect.

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Prop will play a role in that as well.

Any specifics? I was thinking of going to that larger diamater less pitch OJ Edge or Acme prop everybody has been talking about.

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Edwin can give specifics since he's done a lot of testing on this, but different props do different things to the wake. To really dial a boat in as a ski boat you can do a lot of testing with a lot of different props & get a different result with every single one. Like I said, I'd like Edwin to chime in on this, but going from memory it seems like generally a 4 blade will make the wake softer & the OJ props are a bit softer than Acme. It seems like some do better about the roost as well, but I can't remember that one for sure. Edwin?

As was also mentioned, weight distribution can have a big effect as well. If the VTX CD is anything like its DD counterpart, it's going to be very sensitive to weight & where it's placed.

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...going from memory it seems like generally a 4 blade will make the wake softer...
Not necessarily. I went from a 13 X 14 OJ 4 Blade to a 13 X 12 OJ XMP 3 blade and the result was a slightly softer, less turbulent wake (stayed about the same size), better holeshot, better speed holding capabilities, but with a loss of 2.5 mph on the top end. :unsure: Edited by NorCaliBu
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That could be attributed to going from an older prop to cnc, right?
Dontknow.gif

The OE 4 Blade is an OJ Legend (cast) and the new prop is an OJ XMP CNC'd 3 blade. I'd have to call Max at skier-to-skier for that kind of technical expertise (or Eric @ OJ).

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I have found that the OJ XMP prop will produce a softer, less turbulent wake than an ACME of similar size. On my RLXi, the factory ACME prop (13x12) has a firmer pull as well as firmer wakes. I only use the ACME prop early in the season when there's a better chance of hitting something in the water. As soon as the water cleans up, I run my OJ XMP.

Give Eric at OJ a ring...if I recall, he had let people try the props before they bought.

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