The Quest for the Perfect Wakesurfing Boat

[murphini]

so.... inquiring minds want to know:

1. When will wake9 be selling modified swim platforms? I have an 07 24ve, love it btw.

2. Can you point me to the Ballast Install thread? I remember you getting the custom bags fabricated somewhere--more curious on the pump(s)used, switches, etc. Filling the 540# bags manually with a uuber pump ain't my idea of fun.

[ragboy]

1. on the deck. This cost me 2k when all was said and done. I can make them for the 24Ve. I have already worked out getting them done cheaper by Samson with his CNC machine and stuff. It is still expensive. I can make them and retail for about $1100 to $1200. You tell me, how many of you would be interested? The 24Ve is easy, I have the template that I know works. For other boats, I would have to create a prototype, and make sure it worked. I have checked with Tige about working with a dealer, but there is NONE around me anymore, and I need a boat for a few days to take measurements and test. So I have worked out the manufacturing, but not test, measure, and prototype.

2. Ballast. There are some issues here, but we are working on this. I will start a thread tonight, this needs its own thread.

[ragboy]

I can add this...

If I get 3-4 people interested in a deck for the 24Ve, done. I can get it done. If you are willing to bring your boat to the wake9 LAB we could measure and mount a wood prototype. We would take the boat down the road to the lake (9 miles) and make sure it does what it is supposed to do. Then I order the deck. Then I can do with other similar boats. Anyway, that is how it would have to work.

If there was enough interest, I would get it done. Samson is ready to go, and I have my engineer larry ready.

[dogbert]

$2K For that money, I'd want a hydraulic mount on my swim platform that raises and lowers

[ragboy]

Yes, $2k was a lot, but one offing, and doing it the first time made it more expensive. But to do 3/4" aluminum the size that is needed, retail would be $1100-$1200, can't get lower than that.

[Timmy!]

That's a lot of pop and beer cans that I am going to have to save up and have melted down...I'd better start drinking!

[murphini]

Thanks--but am thinking 1200 + towing my boat from KS to Calif wake9 bat-cave/lab is more than I'm looking to do right now. I still haven't quite dialed in my surfing skills to be going to your level yet.

wake9 is good stuff. Keep it coming-great to see a family having fun together.

[harv]

[QUOTE=ragboy;347891]Yes, that is true. Honestly, after the castaic contest last year we were determined that we would buy another boat if that was the end result of our quest. At the time, it seemed like a possiblity because we could NOT get the wake right, especially on the goofy side. But when we saw the sanger v237 with the new surfdeck and the smooth bottom, it gave us the idea to test changing the deck. That was EVERYTHING. That was all the tige needed. Once that was done, the wake was awesome. The sanger also put out a very decent wake on both sides, but I think the tige is a much better boat, and safer with the higher freeboard. When you weight down many boats, like a Sanger, you REALLY feel like you are sinking. The tige handles the weight MUCH better. The other extreme is the EPIC. That boat has a HUGE freeboard, and you can barely tell its weighted with a few thousand pounds. But it makes a terrible surf wake. And that is from first hand experience.



You say the surf wake on an Epic is terrible... My buddy is looking at buying an Epic. He's been talking to one of the guys from Epic and he has done surf mod's (prop and swim platform) on his personal boat to make the wake "insane" as he calls it.
What made the surf wake terrible? We are actually going to test drive and surf one tonight.

[Timmy!]

What made the surf wake terrible? We are actually going to test drive and surf one tonight.

It's steep, short pocket, double lip, etc. Take your surfboard and try and ride it, you may like it. It looks impressive inside the boat, the wave is over 3' tall (no joke) but then you ride it and it's very cumbersome. It's so steep that you get to a certain spot and it literally launches you into the boat, some may like that, I personally did not. Kind of funny, my wife was giving me major crap while riding behind it asking if I was a n00b, if I was tired, what was my problem and then she got back there and only rode for about 3 minutes and said forget it!

The biggest key here is RIDE THE WAVE, don't judge it from inside the boat!

[harv]

I did hear about the "steep" part of the wake from Tommy Czeschin (Crowley wakesurfers). We'll be bringing the skim board with tonight... this should be a good test for a stock, non-mod wake anyway.

Thanks for the input.

[Timmy!]

I will add that the one I was riding behind had between 11-14 people, that may make a difference but it was running stock ballast.

[ragboy]

I did hear about the "steep" part of the wake from Tommy Czeschin (Crowley wakesurfers). We'll be bringing the skim board with tonight... this should be a good test for a stock, non-mod wake anyway.

Thanks for the input.

First, let me say, that EPIC was great to bring the boats out for the contest, and they were extremely nice and supportive. So much so, if the boat put out a great surf wake on both sides, it would be on my consideration list.

That said, I don't think the boat could be modified to make a good surf wake. It can be surfable, but not a good wake to progress with. At the contest, they brought boats with them that were modified for surf. The decks looked like someone took a saw to them to cut them down, and remove the lip to make them smooth underneath. On top of that, lead was used to place in strategic places, and Dennis Horton (known as the Master Weighter) worked to weight them, and had time on the lake before the contest to try to get the best wake. The wake was extremely steep, and even though it seems huge, the lip is halfway up the wake, so the usable part of the wake, is actually smaller. Here is a great example of a pic from the contest with Judy Walker.



The wake looks huge, but look at that lip in the center, that is the top of the usable wake. Also, it doesn't have enough push. Everyone was having trouble, pros included, staying in the pocket. You were easily sucked out the back. I think more time could make it a bit better, but at the end of the day, I think this is the result of their hull shape. It makes the desired wakeboard wake they were looking for, but not the best surf wake.

I have tons of pictures and video. Here is my picassa page, you can see many pictures from the contest, all pulled from epic 23vs.

http://picasaweb.google.com/wakenine/

And here is video of just about every run.

http://wake9.com/blogs/norcal-merced...petition-2009/

[dogbert]

Not the greatest pics, but here's a 22Ve w/o ballast (well I'm in the boat, but you can count the peeps). My son learned to free surf that day behind the 22Ve prototype. What a sweet ride!

[ragboy]

How old is your son? Go to the catch the wave link on wake9.com, and I will send him a free tshirt. Just send me a quick YT vid of him freeriding, so I can post in the blog. The shirts are cool, and they are not the cheapos, they are the hanes beefy t shirts.

[harv]

Okay, we went and test drove the Epic 23V last night. Super windy, huge waves. Boat handled fairly well with no weight, however, heading into the wind if we slowed the boat down too quickly, we got a boat full of spray from the bow. The bow when slowing down pushes water up and forward. This combined with big winds made for a wet ride.

We got to an o.k. surfing location and filled port side ballast. Drove with no rider to figure out best speed and wakeplate adjustment. The wake did not look anything like the pictures posted by Ragboy... but, the driver was turning a constant left turn. We told him to drive straight. This is when the wake turned UGLY, just like the pics. We surfed a little, driving in a circle of course. The wake was steep but ridable, but a very short pocket (as all feedback mentioned). Great for busting some airs with very little effort but hard to recover from a moment of hesitation.

The bow with weight in the boat was very close to the water, too close for comfort for me anyway.

From there we went and test drove an Axis... What a joke. Seriously. The dealer was bragging up the boat and the wake prior to filling the ballast. We filled stock ballast on port side, plus a 700 lb sac in back locker with a 200 lb sac on the back seat, 3 guys sitting on side, wedge down. The surf wake was no more than 1-1/2 ft tall with absolutely no steepness at all. The dealer was pretty embarrased. Swim platform was probably the wave wrecker, but it would be impossible to customize this due to it's molded shape and a home-made deck would probably look silly.

Makes me feel good that my 20 ft Tige' still throws out a way better wake than anything we've tested yet from other manufacturers. My friend doesn't want to get into a Tige' after he rode in an 07 RZ2 with splitting seams on the interior. Too bad! The search continues.