Got Wedge?

[WakeGirl]

Tracy -

Glad all is well. Crazy that it broke off and you didn't even notice. Keep us posted, as I'm sure you will

Yeah, that is whacky. I remember reading about other members who had the same thing happen & most all of them had something to alert them - a noise, a change in the way the boat drove, change in the wake....something. We didn't have any of those things, nothing. It drove & acted the same the whole time. Weird.

[jetskipro550]

When it happened to us in a split second the boat shifted left about 6ft. It felt like something just grabbed the boat from underneath and jerked it to the side...and the wake got even worse then normal

[O man]

What a bummer! I hope you get the upgrade.

Mike

[Cbrown]

To answer questions about new holes needing to be drilled, yes they do. The bolt patterns for the two brackets are the same but the floating wedge needs to mount up higher than the old style wedge. That has been the difference I have seen on the difference from our 05 and a couple 07s at the dealership.

[db252]

Think of how that would have looked if you did op for the power wedge. Hope you get back to normal status soon Tracie.

[WakeGirl]

UPDATE: Our new floating wedge is at the dealer & Slider is picking it up this afternoon!! We're not sure at this point if it will just bolt straight up to the old holes or not. If it will, then we'll get to test it out tomorrow morning. If not, I'm not sure when we'll get to test it out since it will require drilling new holes as well as filling the old ones. So everyone think good thoughts & hope/pray that everything lines up. I can't wait to try it out!

[jetskipro550]

UPDATE: Our new floating wedge is at the dealer & Slider is picking it up this afternoon!! We're not sure at this point if it will just bolt straight up to the old holes or not. If it will, then we'll get to test it out tomorrow morning. If not, I'm not sure when we'll get to test it out since it will require drilling new holes as well as filling the old ones. So everyone think good thoughts & hope/pray that everything lines up. I can't wait to try it out!

Awesome!

[UWSkier]

IIRC, the holes will line up but they are too low for the new bracket... BICBW.

[WakeGirl]

IIRC, the holes will line up but they are too low for the new bracket... BICBW.

It seems to really depend on the boat, so we'll just see.

[db252]

Don't forget to take some for us to see.

[mrothwell]

I'll be real curious how it compares to your old wedge on the same boat.

[WakeGirl]

Haha, me too!!

[68Slalom]

We don't. It's currently sitting at the bottom of 200+ feet of water.

Ouch, what causes that?

[WakeGirl]

We don't. It's currently sitting at the bottom of 200+ feet of water.

Ouch, what causes that?

The bolts that attach the foil to the mounting arms fail on one side & shear, & it pulls the foil off to one side. In most cases you just end up with a bent foil (or more specifically the opposite arm is bent, not the foil itself), but in this case it ripped completely away.

[68Slalom]

We don't. It's currently sitting at the bottom of 200+ feet of water.

Ouch, what causes that?

The bolts that attach the foil to the mounting arms fail on one side & shear, & it pulls the foil off to one side. In most cases you just end up with a bent foil (or more specifically the opposite arm is bent, not the foil itself), but in this case it ripped completely away.

Leads me to ask, are the bolts not strong enough or are they to small? Is this a factory recall or is this just pushing it to hard?

[Bobby Light]

We don't. It's currently sitting at the bottom of 200+ feet of water.

Ouch, what causes that?

The bolts that attach the foil to the mounting arms fail on one side & shear, & it pulls the foil off to one side. In most cases you just end up with a bent foil (or more specifically the opposite arm is bent, not the foil itself), but in this case it ripped completely away.

Leads me to ask, are the bolts not strong enough or are they to small? Is this a factory recall or is this just pushing it to hard?

Where the heck were you that was 200' deep?

[68Slalom]

We don't. It's currently sitting at the bottom of 200+ feet of water.

Ouch, what causes that?

The bolts that attach the foil to the mounting arms fail on one side & shear, & it pulls the foil off to one side. In most cases you just end up with a bent foil (or more specifically the opposite arm is bent, not the foil itself), but in this case it ripped completely away.

Leads me to ask, are the bolts not strong enough or are they to small? Is this a factory recall or is this just pushing it to hard?

Where the heck were you that was 200' deep?

Yeah, good point I missed that

[WakeGirl]

We don't. It's currently sitting at the bottom of 200+ feet of water.

Ouch, what causes that?

The bolts that attach the foil to the mounting arms fail on one side & shear, & it pulls the foil off to one side. In most cases you just end up with a bent foil (or more specifically the opposite arm is bent, not the foil itself), but in this case it ripped completely away.

Leads me to ask, are the bolts not strong enough or are they to small? Is this a factory recall or is this just pushing it to hard?

You know, it happens frequently enough that it's hard to say. For a while last year (I think) there was a rash of it on this site that made me think that it was a bad run of bolts (& that may very well have been the case). But I'm not sure other than that what would cause it to spontaneously fail like that. The Wedge is under incredible amounts of stress, & that would be the weak point so any weakness at all in those bolts is going to be sorely tested. I was told that the newer old style wedges (how's that for an oxymoron) were starting to come with 3 bolts instead of the 2 to help with the load.

We don't. It's currently sitting at the bottom of 200+ feet of water.

Ouch, what causes that?

The bolts that attach the foil to the mounting arms fail on one side & shear, & it pulls the foil off to one side. In most cases you just end up with a bent foil (or more specifically the opposite arm is bent, not the foil itself), but in this case it ripped completely away.

Leads me to ask, are the bolts not strong enough or are they to small? Is this a factory recall or is this just pushing it to hard?

Where the heck were you that was 200' deep?

Our lake that we typically go to is very deep. You can be 10-15' out from the shore & be in 100'+ of water along most of the shoreline & the deepest reading that I recall seeing was down near the dam at almost 500'. The channel that we were running in that evening is pretty consistently 200-250' deep even though the whole thing isn't really all that wide. So on that lake if something goes over the side that sinks, you're not getting it back.

[WakeGirl]

Victory!!

One thing that I have to say, the pictures don't do this thing justice. It is gorgeous & the mounting plate is much beefier & sturdy than the pictures would indicate. The whole thing is polished stainless, including the arms. As in the picture, the foil is now welded on, so no more bolt problems. One thing, if you don't have the bolts in to position the wedge at the bottom of its throw, it will hit the rudder. So those bolts have to be in place, regardless of which position you decide on. Anyway, tomorrow is the day!

[jetskipro550]

Victory!!

One thing that I have to say, the pictures don't do this thing justice. It is gorgeous & the mounting plate is much beefier & sturdy than the pictures would indicate. The whole thing is polished stainless, including the arms. As in the picture, the foil is now welded on, so no more bolt problems. One thing, if you don't have the bolts in to position the wedge at the bottom of its throw, it will hit the rudder. So those bolts have to be in place, regardless of which position you decide on. Anyway, tomorrow is the day!

That looks great!

p.s. tell me how those pumps work

[spinxt]

Would that wedge even fit on an older RLX (2000 model year)? I don't think there is enough room between the bottom of the transom and the start of the swim platform for the floating wedge plate to fit. It does look good though. If it did fit, I would have to consider it as a upgrade to put on the radar.....I'm tired of trying to keep my brass one looking good.

[jshap]

Victory!!

One thing that I have to say, the pictures don't do this thing justice. It is gorgeous & the mounting plate is much beefier & sturdy than the pictures would indicate. The whole thing is polished stainless, including the arms. As in the picture, the foil is now welded on, so no more bolt problems. One thing, if you don't have the bolts in to position the wedge at the bottom of its throw, it will hit the rudder. So those bolts have to be in place, regardless of which position you decide on. Anyway, tomorrow is the day!

Don't forget to put that drain plug back in! 200' of water would swallow that poor VLX right up. Looks great Tracie. My dealer asked me last weekend if I wanted to try to do the upgrade. He had never heard of changing out the wedge for a new manual. I guess all the boats he sells now have the power wedge. I'm not sure I want to spend over a thousand bucks plus labor unless it's really a noticeable difference and I just HAVE to have it. I'm looking forward to your report.

[WakeGirl]

Don't forget to put that drain plug back in! 200' of water would swallow that poor VLX right up. Looks great Tracie. My dealer asked me last weekend if I wanted to try to do the upgrade. He had never heard of changing out the wedge for a new manual. I guess all the boats he sells now have the power wedge. I'm not sure I want to spend over a thousand bucks plus labor unless it's really a noticeable difference and I just HAVE to have it. I'm looking forward to your report.

Haha, we leave the plug out once every few years for a little excitement. Not tomorrow though, we have an agenda.

Spinxt,

I'll take some measurements later for you.

[db252]

Glad your back in service Tracie. Hope you guys have a good time and look forward to the fuctional report.

[clearlake]

That wedge break is very common place it seams. Mine broke and so did tow other guys in this area. The dealer came and changed them with out a single problem.