Free Floating Wedge

[WakeGirl]

So many of you know that our old wedge (old style, fixed) is at the bottom of our lake (read the gruesome details here). We were able to talk Malibu into replacing it with the new free floating wedge, with us of course paying for the bracket. Anyway, everything is installed & works well. Here's what we found on our initial run today. It really was a crappy day today, blowing hard from the time that we arrived. To top that off, we didn't have a lot of time so we couldn't test as long as we really wanted to. But here goes.

Surfing setup:

Rear starboard MLS full

Rear port MLS empty

Center MLS full

Bow MLS full

750 in rear starboard locker

500 in main cabin on starboard side seats

Wedge down with the bolts in the "most down" position (farthest down)

My initial impressions of this setup is that the wave is about as long as it would be if we had the 500lb bag up in the bow instead of the cabin. I'm still trying to digest all of this (we have a 12-year old birthday party/sleepover tonight, so this is the first that I've really been able to think about it since this morning). Anyway, the wave was very long & very smooth. As a comparison, the fixed wedge with this weight setup made a wave that was much steeper & much more abrupt, but not as long. So in cutting up & down it, you had to be somewhat careful of the speed that it would generate, especially coming out of floaters & sliders on the top of the wave. This wave is smoother & coming out of those floaters is much more controlled. And with this setup I can ride it a long way back. But, it isn't as big (tall), so I'm not really sure what to make of that. We have a lot more testing to do - heck, just changing the location of those bolts may have an effect, although I suspect that those will have more to do with wakeboarding speeds than surfing.

Wakeboarding

We didn't board today (the water was just terrible), but we did load it with the stock ballast & drive with the speed control at 20, 21 & 22 mph respectively to see what it looks like from the boat. With the old fixed wedge, it created a pretty abrupt lip at the top of the wake at just about all of those speeds. At 20 with the floater, that lip is gone. It looks big, but maybe not quite as peaky. It did look like the transition has improved. At 21, that lip is there, but maybe not quite as pronounced as it had been with the fixed wedge. At 22, it gets rampier with no lip at all. As I said, all of this was with the bolts in most down position. I don't have any idea at this point what moving them would do, but I'm going to find out next time. I'd like to figure out some sort of quick way to change those to get a really good direct comparison between the 2 positions.

So overall, initially I'm pleased. The surf wave was really nice. Even if it wasn't quite as big (vertically) as what I've become used to, it was actually easier to surf & ride out of those floaters/lip slides. Many of them that I wouldn't have ridden out of with the old wedge, I had no problem with today. But really, all of this raises as many (if not more) questions as it gave answers. So I'm going to treat this somewhat like a blog or a journal for this season, & try to keep a record for what we find with each new change that we introduce. I also just need to get more info from Malibu Corp on this thing & how it's designed to perform under both boarding & surfing conditions, because I really feel like I have a whole new contingent of questions that need to be answered.

[jtrovato]

I'm really interested to see what happens when you move those bolts to the other position for wakeboarding. I did notice that when we demo'd the vRide, the wake didn't seem to have that peak at the top of the wake that I've seen before. I wasn't sure if it was the wedge or not. Can't wait for an update! We should be taking delivery of our vRide this Friday

[WakeGirl]

I'm really interested to see what happens when you move those bolts to the other position for wakeboarding. I did notice that when we demo'd the vRide, the wake didn't seem to have that peak at the top of the wake that I've seen before. I wasn't sure if it was the wedge or not. Can't wait for an update! We should be taking delivery of our vRide this Friday

There are so many factors to consider. What happens when you put the bolts farther back? What happens when you do that & pull some of the weight out of the front? And/or add weight to the rear? So yeah, we've got quite a bit more testing ahead of us. The weather here has turned bad, so unfortunately it will be a while before we get back out.

[db252]

Vetty in-teresting. Look forward to you getting a better day to get more results. I think we would all appreciate it as well if you could fabricate some type of underwater video setup so we could see what's going on down there.

[WakeGirl]

Vetty in-teresting. Look forward to you getting a better day to get more results. I think we would all appreciate it as well if you could fabricate some type of underwater video setup so we could see what's going on down there.

You know, I'd love to figure something like that out. Maybe Malibu has some footage that they'd be willing to share.

[chathamsolutions]

They did patent the Power Wedge... But don't think they did the free floating one.

[WaveMake'nLSV]

Tracie,

Do you have any idea on how much it would cost if a guy wanted to upgrade to the floating wedge? I guess I am not grasping the concept if there are still set bolts?

Vetty in-teresting. Look forward to you getting a better day to get more results. I think we would all appreciate it as well if you could fabricate some type of underwater video setup so we could see what's going on down there.

You know, I'd love to figure something like that out. Maybe Malibu has some footage that they'd be willing to share.

[jtrovato]

The "set bolts" referred to are only there to stop the wedge from falling all the way down and hitting the rudder. They serve as a stop for the vertical bars so they can't go any further. They don't have anything to do with locking the wedge in the down position, only to stop it from going too far. There are two positions, one lets it go down farther than the other. Hope that clarifies it a little bit.

Jay

[Brad B]

So it installed in the same holes in the transom?

Was the install fairly easy then?

[WakeGirl]

Tracie,

Do you have any idea on how much it would cost if a guy wanted to upgrade to the floating wedge? I guess I am not grasping the concept if there are still set bolts?

Jay explained it quite well. The foil just floats between the bottom & top position. The idea is that it's supposed to find the optimal point in between, & speed & boat attitude seems to play into that. I want to think that the complete setup would be around $1200, but you'll want to check with your dealer on that. If you've already got a wedge, I'm not sure if it's worth spending that kind of money or not to upgrade. Time & more testing will tell.

So it installed in the same holes in the transom?

Was the install fairly easy then?

Yes & yes. Slider actually did it with no help & had no real problems. The old nuts spun off with the help of a wrench that he wedged in on the bolt heads to keep them from spinning. The old wedge came off super easy & using the wedged wrench once again, he was able to put each nut right back on. The backing plate on the inside was so stuck in place that he didn't try taking it off to put the new one on, they're identical with the exception of the old one being black & the new one being SS. So yeah, there were no issues at all with our boat. I'm going to try to take some measurements & do a direct comparison while I've got both brackets to see if there's any difference with regard to distances of the holes to the edges that could affect whether or not the new bracket would mount up to any boat.

[WaveMake'nLSV]

Thanks for the clarification! Wondering if the WEDGE is more of an angle then? It is presumed that the wedge will maintain optimal drag by itself then? Is that the implied benefit of the FLOATING wedge?

Sounds intriguing indeed!

The "set bolts" referred to are only there to stop the wedge from falling all the way down and hitting the rudder. They serve as a stop for the vertical bars so they can't go any further. They don't have anything to do with locking the wedge in the down position, only to stop it from going too far. There are two positions, one lets it go down farther than the other. Hope that clarifies it a little bit.

Jay

[WaveMake'nLSV]

OK...so to play a Devil's advocate....what is the difference with the FLOATING WEDGE and bolts and just installing bolts on the down portion of the regular wedge arms? This would effectively stop it from going further down but I guess you wouldn't get FULL deployment. IOW, same effect as if you didn't engage the lower pins?

Just wondering...doubt I pony up the $1200 or even $800 for that matter.

I want to think that the complete setup would be around $1200, but you'll want to check with your dealer on that. If you've already got a wedge, I'm not sure if it's worth spending that kind of money or not to upgrade. Time & more testing will tell.

[WakeGirl]

Thanks for the clarification! Wondering if the WEDGE is more of an angle then? It is presumed that the wedge will maintain optimal drag by itself then? Is that the implied benefit of the FLOATING wedge?

Sounds intriguing indeed!

Yes, you've got the idea. The question seems to be with the set bolts & what effect they'll have. I'm guessing that they'll come more into play for wakeboarding, but I really don't know yet.

[SacRiverRat]

Did it drive any different with the new wedge down? Turn easier? I figure since you weren't towing someone, you may not have tried it, but currious if it is improved

[WakeGirl]

Did it drive any different with the new wedge down? Turn easier? I figure since you weren't towing someone, you may not have tried it, but currious if it is improved

I didn't notice anything different with the hole shot with either weight setup, but I didn't check to see how it turned. Will add that to the list of things to take note of next time.

[Malibudude]

Just couldn't resist.....

[mrothwell]

Did it drive any different with the new wedge down? Turn easier? I figure since you weren't towing someone, you may not have tried it, but currious if it is improved

I didn't notice anything different with the hole shot with either weight setup, but I didn't check to see how it turned. Will add that to the list of things to take note of next time.

Tracie, could you please get on the ball. I just can't believe that you didn't have ALL the answers you knew this group would ask.

You're slipping.

[Intense]

I was at the local dealership last week to pick up a couple things (new board for the GF) and got into a conversation about the floating wedge. He told me that Malibu 'officially' said they can't be retro-fitted to older boats. But I measured the holes on the mounting plate and they're in the same location.

The floater has only one locked position. That's in the 'up' position. In the 'down' position, it just hangs. Presumably adjusting itself to the optimal position for wake generation. I can tell you that the foil is at a steeper angle than my first generation Wedge, as compared to the support 'legs'.

The sales guy at the dealership said I could purchase the floating Wedge for $500. I'm assuming he referring to just the foil and not the whole Wedge assembly. Or else, I might have bought it then, just to find out.

I'd been waiting to see some feedback from folks on here re: the floater to see if it were worth upgrading. Now that I know it will fit my existing mounting plate. I just may have to figure out a way to cough up $500 for an experiment.

[jtrovato]

I'm pretty sure it will not fit your existing mounting plate. The mounting plate is very different from the old style. You'd have to purchase the whole assembly to get it to work right. That is what Tracie did, not just the foil itself. Here's a link to her post showing the replacement:

http://www.themalibucrew.com/forums/index....0&start=40#

Edited May 21, 2007 by jtrovato

[Intense]

I'm pretty sure it will not fit your existing mounting plate. The mounting plate is very different from the old style. You'd have to purchase the whole assembly to get it to work right. That is what Tracie did, not just the foil itself. Here's a link to her post showing the replacement:

http://www.themalibucrew.com/forums/index....0&start=40#

Hmmm....interesting. I wonder if the sale guy was WAY off on his quote of $500 for a floating Wedge. If not, I'll be trying out for $hits and giggles

[WakeGirl]

Okay, here are some pictures from our first time out 2 weeks ago. These pictures are of the surf wave & the wedge at that point was in the fully down position. Weight setup is as follows:

Rear surf side MLS full

Center MLS full

Bow MLS full

750 in rear surf side locker

500 in cabin on surf side seats

2 adults, 1 kid

This is a typical setup for us & we know the wave that was produced with this in combination with the old wedge very, very well. The wave with this setup in combination with the floater fully down was much different. It wasn't as tall, but it was much, much longer. As I said that day, it was smoother & easier to ride. So here are some pics (man, I can't believe how cold it was just 2 weeks ago):

It's definitely smaller, but as you can see by the one picture we could surf it a really long way back. I didn't get any comparable testing today because we had to do without the 500 pounder in the cabin, so an apples for apples comparison wasn't possible. But with the wedge in the further back position as well as the 750 in the trunk, it was probably close to as tall as the full setup with the old wedge but not as long as it was 2 weeks ago. I hope to have more answers on this next weekend.

The wakeboard wake with stock ballast & the bolts farther back looked spectacularly good, even with the bad rudder. Again, I hope to get better testing done next week. Our attitude was pretty much shot & we were mainly just trying to regain our bearings today, so no pictures were taken. And Troy, today was definitely not the day to test out any kind of maneuvering or difference in handling.

[jtrovato]

Did you notice what the difference was with the wakeboarding wake between the different bolt positions? Did it seem to make it bigger, or have more of a peak?

[WakeGirl]

Did you notice what the difference was with the wakeboarding wake between the different bolt positions? Did it seem to make it bigger, or have more of a peak?

Maybe both, but it was definitely visually steeper. Slider loved it, saying that he wasn't really trying hard & it would just vault him right up into the air. What looked really good about it in comparison to the old wedge is that it looked like the transition was really clean. With the old wedge there was a definite trough that you had to be wary of, it looked like it was gone with the floater.

[Chia]

wakegirl, thanks for all the info, but bottom line. is better, the same or not as good as your old wedge?

[WakeGirl]

wakegirl, thanks for all the info, but bottom line. is better, the same or not as good as your old wedge?

Initially I'm thinking definitely better, but we need more time with it to know for sure.