Z3 ballast set up?

[JohnZ3]

I have the pro ballast system installed.

How should I fill it? We are all goofy foot on my boat.

Front sacs filled? or not? I tried it today with the rear right sac filled and it didn't seem right...

BTW, love the tige touch! Cruise control on a boat is awesome!

[Bill25]

I have a Z3 and have had the best results by filling the riding side with 100%. Nothing on the other side. By putting the taps on 1 you will have a mushroom and as you go up the wave will be extended. I have found that speed has a lot to do with the wave size and shape. That is a trial and error thing. Good luck. It's really cool when you get the wave to curl..... you know you've got it dialed in.

[iamcdn]

I don't have a Z3 but thought I had read to fill front full, surf side back full, opposite side 50%.

[ragboy]

For stock, I would definitely do 100% on surf side, and 50% on opposite. If you don't put weight on the opposite side on the Z3, the wake will lake push and be mushier, not as firm. It really likes weight on both sides. Add another 400 lbs to the surf side rear under seat and it just gets better.

[loudelectronics]

Ragboy is this with the vx or with out?

I am going to be playing with ballast this weekend as last weekend was epic fail for wakesurfing. Wakeboarding was so easy and made the best wakeboard wake I have ever made with any boat, huge, meaty, clean and super poppy. Just with the surf wake it was clean ad long and pretty but no push and not very tall. It felt like all the Malibus I have ridden last year. Decent for skim but not surf as there was no pop. I wanted back on my 24v in a hurry. I did not have fronts both full though as you state. I had one pro tank full in front, rear, 50% in drivers side rear, 400+ in rear and 400 under seat plus 6 people and nothing there.

I am going to try fronts full 800 under seats and 1100 in rear vdrive and 50% on stock bag in drivers vdrive on stock bag. My 24 V I wourld run 2 1100 lb sacs in rear v drive but top one was maybe 80% full and latch would not close, 400 on seat, 400 below seat, 1100 in front side under stereo deck storage and 50% of a 1100 lb on drivers side rear locker.

Note: Pics taken with out life jackets were in controlled conditions, with spotters, chase boat, closed course and NSI Lifeguards on hand.

[Guest]

JohnZ3,
Thanks for posting this, I have the same questions.

Ragboy,
What is your TAPS set to with this weighting and in general with weight? I am still dialing in my Z3 with pro ballast. 100% surf side and 50% opposite. I have been running with taps at 8 to get the longest wake, which surprises me. Not the behavior in my 2004 22V. We only had a couple guys in the boat however. I have a 1100LB sack going in the port side this weekend, what do you suggest for the rest of the boat with that guy and a few peeps? More weight on the non surf side? I am sure I will have to play with it however any lessons learned are always nice to know.

[ragboy]

Z3 needs/likes weight up front and on the opposite side. You can also overweight a z3 without VX, but tough to do with VX. We weight the boat the same before and after VX, but add about 300 lbs or so on surf side under seat with VX. Push has never been an issue on Z3.

Taps we usually run from 2-5, but that also depends on VX.

I am like super buried because of the event next week, but feel free to email me after the event, glad to help. Here are some pictures from our day out yesterday. We had a lot of people in the boat, so I didn't even have the ballast filled all the way up, because I wanted to simulate how we would be weighting for the competition at the WCO this week. We are going to use special custom bags for the comp boats, and those will be for sale afterward.

But looking at these pics, the only difference in my boat and a production Z3 are:

1. We use a 1235 prop to handle the extra weight.
2. Custom sacs.
3. Other ballast improvements, like cross vent/cross drain and cross pump. These do not make the wake better.

The regular side wake is SUPER easy to get the same wake you see in our pics and video, its very forgiving if you are off a bit. The goofy wake is a bit more touchy, but once you know how to dial it, easy to find every time. About the cross vent/drain, even though this improvement doesn't make the wake better, I think its a must and should be done at the factory some time in the future with all boats designed for wakesurfing. Basically when you fill up one side and then go over rollers, turn around and go over your own wake, etc, you will leak ballast from the surf side, its a given. And you have to keep topping off the ballast to keep surfing with a steady wake. By simply getting extra hose and running it behind the engine so that your bags drain and empty on the opposite side, this virtually eliminates this issue and you can surf all day without leaking unless its real choppy and then you may have to top off a few times. If you do it, just be VERY careful to route way behind the engine and zip tie stuff far back so that the hoses cannot in any way touch anything that will cut them like pulleys or belts. We did that once, not so fun. After we got it right, solid for over a year, no issue.

Again, contact me after the event for more help, here are some pics from yesterday.


IMG_3555 by wake9, on Flickr


IMG_3594 by wake9, on Flickr

Here is one with Troy, he is full grown dude, strapping young man, has to be 5'10" or 5'11".


IMG_3839 by wake9, on Flickr

This is one more of the regular side, the ones above are taken with a Canon 60D with a 18mm-135mm lens and are pretty accurate to eyeball perspective. This one is very cool from a go pro, but it wouldn't look this way from your eyeball, still a fun pic.


GOPR0120 by wake9, on Flickr


IMG_1461 by wake9, on Flickr

And goofy:


IMG_4533 by wake9, on Flickr


IMG_1506 by wake9, on Flickr


IMG_0348 by wake9, on Flickr


IMG_9743 by wake9, on Flickr


IMG_1461 by wake9, on Flickr

[ragboy]

As a general rule, we fill up the front on pro ballast FULL til it leaks. We fill surf side full, we fill opposite side about halfway. We adjust people or opposite side to get about 8-9 deg list for regular side. Face should be clean with no dents or cuts, if you see this list over a bit more. All taps with VX are clean on regular side.

On goofy, we list to about 10 deg and we surf taps 1-3 or go to 7 for real big guys. on goofy 4-6 can be a bit washy, for some reason when you go to taps 4-6, you will notice on the goofy side the boat will lose some list at those taps and so then you get some wash. If you want to surf those taps, you have to let more weight out of opposite or move a body to get a bit more list. I don't remember if it did this without VX, but this is how it works for us with VX.

When we have a full boat, we don't fill up rear surf side all the way, about 300 lbs less.

When I say full boat, I mean something like this, we do a lot of hosting:


IMG_9587 by wake9, on Flickr

[JohnZ3]

Ok. I've been working with different settings and got much improvement.

However, I can't get close to 10 degrees list using my clinometer phone app as a gage. Is boat list or weight in the ballast tanks more important?
I don't have much people weight in the boat. Usually it's just me the wife and 2 kids on board.

Anyway, I was able to go wireless for a long time this weekend with the following set up.
100% in both front tanks. 100% in starboard rear. 0% in port rear. 11 mph. Taps at 4
People weight on the boat: wife 140, 2 kids 30lb and 65lbs.

On the way back to the dock I tried running at 9.5 mph and dropped to 25% in the port front tank, 100% in the front and rear starboard.
The wave seemed to be awesome but we didn't have time to test ride it.

I'll try tomorrow.

[Travism]

John,

Thanks for the update. Let us know how you make out.

Do you have the convex VX ?

Any pics from your ride ?

[ragboy]

Yes, I was going to say, without extra weight in back, take some weight out of the front for more push. You should only completely fill the front if you are running about 500+ extra lbs on the surf corner.

Maybe your clinometer is a bit out of whack or something, it is super easy to get to 9 or 10 degrees with few people. And you will also get more push, if you have weight on BOTH sides in rear. Send some pics, my son laughs at me. I don't need a clinometer anymore. I have spent so many hours surfing in the Z3, I can tell you what it is by feel every time.

Oh, make sure you are measuring that list angle, while the boat is AT REST. Once you get it, you won't need to keep measuring, its just in the beginning to help you.

So maybe this will help, I am going to post some pics here of the boat weighted, at rest so you can see the angle of the list, its not that much.


IMG_8885 by wake9, on Flickr

That was regular, and here is goofy, you can see its a bit more list, but not much.


IMG_9929 by wake9, on Flickr

Here is a good one, took me a bit to find this one, all the way back to father's day 2012.


IMG_7671 by wake9, on Flickr

Not sure what you are used to, but many other boats take a lot more list, and not the Z3. For reference, a Supreme 226, and our older 24Ve.


IMG_5538 by wake9, on Flickr

This picture cracks me up.


IMG_4880 by wake9, on Flickr

Anyway, if you list over too much you will get a wake with less push and its usually mushy. List over too little and it can be washy. Goofy side is a bit more touchy with wash with too little list. Get it just right and its firm with lots of push.

I am not sure how big you are, but if you are a bigger guy, an easy way to add more weight to the stock system is go get a FlyHigh Jumbo 1100 lb sac. Fill up the rear surf corner with the bag velcroed up and put your hand on the velcroed up bag. Fill til you just start to fill water come in the bag. This means you have filled up the tank under the floor. Then stuff the 1100 lb bag in that space allowing it to fill forward under the area between locker and the side seats. Fill it up as much as you can, get out any air and top it off. Now fill up the opposite side until you get about 10 degrees of list. Fill up front 100 % on surf side and 50% or so on opposite, try that. Want to go a bit further? Get a 400 lb vdrive sac and put it under the side seat behind the driver in the space to the edge of the 1100 lb sac up towards the driver. Fill it up to fill the space it can. Fill up opposite side to 10 degrees, it will probably be 75% or more, fill up the front completely on both sides. Try that. From that point, you just get a custom sac and replace the stock one and don't worry about pumps anymore.

Take your time and enjoy the dialing in. If you are like so many of us, you will get a bit bored once it is dialed in, you will enjoy surfing, but dialing in can be fun if you are patient and just enjoy seeing the wake get better and better and funner and funner. You don't have to add extra weight either, just find a setup you like. You may stick with stock this season, then go to extra next season.

Have fun!

[JohnZ3]

Thanks ragboy and everyone for the tips. It's fun dialing the wave in.

Had a great time today.
Set up: 25% and 100% in front sacs. 50% and 100% in rear sacs. 100% on the goofy side.
10.8 mph taps at 2-3.

I'm going to do some more adjustments tomorrow with the front sacs and see how it goes.
Here's a pic of the boat on the lake last weekend. I'll get some more of us surfing soon.

Pineview pic.jpg

[loudelectronics]

Definitely getting there with my 2013 z3.

Found a decent setup working with what ragboy has stated.

100% full pro ballast in all corners, 1100 lb sac under surf side bench (filled as full as it could so maybe 50%???), 400 in front locker slightly back under bench as well, 400 on rear surf corner seat, 5 people in boat. Had one guy 250 lbs sitting on rear corner. Wake rivaled my 24v for sure with much less list. Teh VX sure likes the weight.