New and Improved Wake

[ragboy]

I have the 24Ve without ballast. And since my family is big, and I am a big dude, we already have decent people ballast. I would probably guess we are carrying about 500 lbs more than an average boatload of 4 people.

I have been toying with the idea of doing a rival system, or something like that, with about 1200 lbs of ballast. But I wanted to see what difference it would make. We had some extra people in the boat last weekend, and the wake was bigger. But one thing I find when you get more people in the boat, you load down the bow, cuz a bunch of people want to get in the bow. So I bought the huge 800lb FlyHigh FatSac and Tsunami pump from wakeside to check it out. I got the Sac right away, but the pump was backordered. I finally got the pump yesterday, and my lights installed, so we hit the lake this afternoon.

We put the Sac just in front of the back seat in the center of the boat. I wanted to try it with boarding, and also we surf both sides, so that is why the center. Also, I wanted to weight the whole boat down, like my ballast system would. So it was pretty much in the CENTER of the boat.



WOW. The wake was huge. We just used people to list the boat. And the weird thing, with the big weight, right in the center, the boat seemed MORE stable surfing. It didn't list as much, even with all of us on the side. The wake was BIG and long. The kids loved it. I think I have decided to work with FlyHigh to build my system. I will put 2 v-drive sacs in back for 800lbs, and add the integrated bow sac up front for an additional 600lbs. I think that will be plenty for my needs.



Click HERE for a bunch of pictures.

[talltigeguy]

I have never worn a helmet while surfing.

Those are some nice surf waves you have going there.

[ragboy]

I have never worn a helmet while surfing.

Those are some nice surf waves you have going there.

Occasionally they get close to the boat, whitney has fallen once, and touched the swim step. I make them wear the helmets in case they smack the boat. It can't hurt, and they are my kids, you know? How stupid would I feel, if they got a head injury, and I have an unused helmet in the boat.

[Timmy!]

Interesting! That's a good looking surf wave! Beautiful water too... I got the V-drive sacks last weekend (1,100 total), maybe I will throw them in the middle of the boat like you did then use people to list the boat and see what it does. I guess I could put one in the corner that we are surfing on and then one in the center too...

[ragboy]

Interesting! That's a good looking surf wave! Beautiful water too... I got the V-drive sacks last weekend (1,100 total), maybe I will throw them in the middle of the boat like you did then use people to list the boat and see what it does. I guess I could put one in the corner that we are surfing on and then one in the center too...

Yeah, I was just using the poor mans approach, cuz I wanted to try something out before spending all the dough. Those v-drive sacs look great, but after doing what I did, I would def get something up front, to balance them out. Our wake was both big, and the pocket was long. Several times my kids started to fall out, and they were able to recover from WAY back, it was VERY cool. And they also weren't riding RIGHT off the swim step anymore. My boat also handled almost as well as without the weight, with it right in the center.

[dogbert]

Nice wake, ragboy! Let's hear it for the big dudes that helped create it!

[wakeboarder247]

Good lookin' wake! It will be interesting to see how big it gets if you go with all the sacs you talked about adding! Maybe it'll be double overhead!!

[ragboy]

Good lookin' wake! It will be interesting to see how big it gets if you go with all the sacs you talked about adding! Maybe it'll be double overhead!!

Well, I am going to add the v-drive sacs, and the bow sac, but then remove the big FatSac. It makes a decent foot rest, but gets in the way. It was just an experiment. So I will probably be selling a barely used 750lb FatSac soon. So instead of 750, I will have 1200-1400 depending on how much I load the front to keep handling good. So it will def be bigger. The only drawback, is that oroville is also a BIG fishing lake. Tourneys all the time, and lots of bass boats. Those fisherman hate me! ;-) Not to many people surf, but when I go buy loaded with my big 24Ve, its pretty funny. Prob shouldn't laugh but I can't help it. I don't even have to come close, my wake carries all the way to show, and we board in a cove that is only about 100yds wide or so. They have lots of no ski area with great fishing though, so I don't sweat it. Its funny to see them, "Whoa, those guys are surfing, thats cool." Then a few seconds later as I pass... "Holy @#$#! grab onto something!".

hehehe

[talltigeguy]

Occasionally they get close to the boat, whitney has fallen once, and touched the swim step. I make them wear the helmets in case they smack the boat. It can't hurt, and they are my kids, you know? How stupid would I feel, if they got a head injury, and I have an unused helmet in the boat.

Especially a good idea for newbies. I bet they will want to go helmetless in no time. It sounds like they have the hang of it already.

[Lucky 275]

Keep that 750, you'll be glad you did.

I have the rival set up, with the V-drive and the integrated bow sac. I ended up buying 400 lbs of pop-bags and getting another 375 sac for the walkway. I move the pop bags around the boat for surfing or to even out the wake when wakeboarding.

[ragboy]

I may do that, but when I filled the 750 up, my swim step a few inches underwater. Can't quite imagine what 1400+ the 750 would be like. Not to mention, the 750 in my tige, made a pro size wake. I don't want my kids getting used to something even more monster, and then not being able to compete well at INT. Although, may be fun for surfing. I think if we had a smaller family I would keep it. But it really gets in the way for all of us.

As a footnote, they have late model Super Air Natique, Wakesetter, and X-2 that are used to tow at INT. The kids like the wakesetter wake, say it is just a bit bigger than the tige, and clean like the tige (power wedge deployed, and ballast). The natique is washed out but as big as the malibu, and the mastercraft is smallest, but clean. I was worried they were going to tell me those wakes were way better than my ballast challenged boat. The other boats have the factory systems, and the wedge on the bu. So, in direct comparison, the wake on my 24Ve stood up well. They said with the 750 the wake is def bigger than those other wakes, even the malibu. So I guess it stood up to the pepsi challenge.

[talltigeguy]

Keep that 750, you'll be glad you did.

I have the rival set up, with the V-drive and the integrated bow sac. I ended up buying 400 lbs of pop-bags and getting another 375 sac for the walkway. I move the pop bags around the boat for surfing or to even out the wake when wakeboarding.

Lucky,
How do you transport the pop bags? I worried about leaving them in the bow as that adds another bunch of tongue weight to my tow vehicle. Do you then heave them all around and put them over the tires? Maybe it is time for me to stop using my 1996 V6 Toyota T100 to pull my boat with

When I go far, I do use the diesel Excursion.

[CP3]

you can put them over the tires on the trailer as long as the trailer isnt over loaded

[da.bell]

Ragboy, keep us informed on what you do. We went up to Ice House this last weekend and I wakesurfed for the first time. It was fun but we just don't have the wake set up correctly. The wake that you have seems to be much better. I will post pictures a little later this week when things have calm down (cleaning of camping gear).

[da.bell]

"Whoa, those guys are surfing, thats cool." Then a few seconds later as I pass... "Holy @#$#! grab onto something!".

hehehe

Funny that you mentioned this. We were throwing some nice size rollers this weekend and had a fishing boat sit and wait for us to pass since the rollers where going over his bow. The fishermen just sat their with their jaw dropped at what we were doing. I signaled to him to pass and that we weren't going anywhere. He said thanks and said "looks like you boys are having some fun!". Anyway, it was just too funny.