The Quest for the Perfect Wakesurfing Boat

[Timmy!]

Thanks for reporting back Harv! I think the Centurion would be your next best bet if he doesn't like the Tige's.

[ragboy]

Yeah, that is tough on the Tige. I love my Tige, but the vinyl has never been one of its finer points. My 2007 vinyl is def showing its age, and I have been thinking of that as a winter project.

You def don't want a boat that you have to drive in circles to get a surf wake. My wake on my tige is best when straight, and I can turn in either direction while still keeping the surfer riding, just messes up the wake a bit til I am straight.

I have heard the new tiges have done better on the vinyl, but I haven't been in one myself, but I would at least check if I were you. In the end, a great surf wake, if you plan on mostly wakesurfing, is what is going to make you the most happy. And on my tige, it is not only great, but the most versatile I have seen.

If you are stuck on NOT a tige, some other boats I have seen put a good wake on both sides are:

Centurion Avalanche
And Vince Piercey is a photog I know, and I have been out with him while they are surfing, and he takes a lot of great pictures, he looks like he has a pretty good wake on his MB B52.

Anyway, give the tige vinyl another chance, but I understand your concern.

[ragboy]

Thanks for reporting back Harv! I think the Centurion would be your next best bet if he doesn't like the Tige's.

Not the enzo, unless you plan on having a boat with a wake ONLY on one side. There are a couple of guys on wakeworld, that would prob spend any amount of money to fix that issue, and still cannot. If you are buying a boat for wakesurfing, get one with a good wake on both sides, at least that is my 2 cents.

[Duncan]

And Vince Piercey is a photog I know, and I have been out with him while they are surfing, and he takes a lot of great pictures, he looks like he has a pretty good wake on his MB B52.

Mmmmm... I love the idea of the gated ballast system on the MB's. But I have never seen one in person, much less the wake. Overhead view of the swim platforms makes it look like they are severely raked in from the side. And talk about free board.

[Timmy!]

The MB's have terrible build quality though IMO. I looked at MB's and thought about them pretty hard from pictures. I went to the boat show and looked at them and moved along quickly.

I went out on my buddy's '08 22Ve last night, vinyl is noticeably thicker but the stitching looks a little loose. Surf wave on his Ve is awesome BTW, better than my RZ2 with the same weight (platform, I know, I know).

[Duncan]

I sure wish Tige had gotten the gated ballast system up and running this season. Maybe next? I have not heard any updates.

[ragboy]

The MB's have terrible build quality though IMO. I looked at MB's and thought about them pretty hard from pictures. I went to the boat show and looked at them and moved along quickly.

I went out on my buddy's '08 22Ve last night, vinyl is noticeably thicker but the stitching looks a little loose. Surf wave on his Ve is awesome BTW, better than my RZ2 with the same weight (platform, I know, I know).

I have seen his MB on the water, it seems pretty nice, but that is the end of it for me with his boat, never been on it, or any other MB so can't really say, so that is good feedback.

Sorry to hear about your deck. It makes such a huge difference. I wish we all lived closer together, we could get your boat in our bay and measure it up for a custom aluminum deck.

[Timmy!]

Our Tige reunion is in 2 weeks and Tony usually brings a new boat along, hopefully it will have it or he will have some answers!

[Duncan]

Sorry to hear about your deck. It makes such a huge difference. I wish we all lived closer together, we could get your boat in our bay and measure it up for a custom aluminum deck.

Once you have decks designed for a given model (e.g., 09 RZ2), have you given any thought to freight shipping? Wonder how much that would be? Hmmm, maybe next season

[MTtigekid]

The only thing I would add, is it took the swapping out of the swim deck to get the results I have. You should get good results with your deck, but when you really start listing over to get the best wake the stock fiberglass deck will be a hinderance. I am not sure how a teak deck does, but I know the stock deck is an issue.

We can switch our boat over with a switch in 12 minutes, its a beautiful thing, and the wakes are almost identical.

the teak on our boat IMO doesnt cathc in the wake nearly as much as the fiberglass ones do... ours doesnt hardly influence ours at all. i will try and snag some pics this weekend

[Timmy!]

I'm not all that worried about it anymore to be honest, it still puts out a great surf wave and I have more fun than ever when surfing behind it. If I had kids that were competing (or if I was), I would definitely be doing everything that you are ragboy! BTW, I really appreciate all of the effort that you are putting into the wakesurfing scene!

[Guest]

Speaking of re doing platforms, wasn't there a guy on here that got a custom teak platform built for an RZ2 to replace his fiberglass platform? I wonder if that route would be cheaper than the aluminum one that Ragboy built. Ragboy, did you look at that option? I personally am a fan of the teak deck, I love mine on my 22V. Just thinking out loud and killing time before I go to happy hour after work. 40 minutes and counting...

BTW - Ragboy, I love your surfing videos, I am going to use your tips next time I go out.

[ragboy]

Speaking of re doing platforms, wasn't there a guy on here that got a custom teak platform built for an RZ2 to replace his fiberglass platform? I wonder if that route would be cheaper than the aluminum one that Ragboy built. Ragboy, did you look at that option? I personally am a fan of the teak deck, I love mine on my 22V. Just thinking out loud and killing time before I go to happy hour after work. 40 minutes and counting...

BTW - Ragboy, I love your surfing videos, I am going to use your tips next time I go out.

Thanks for the feedback, and your welcome, we honestly love doing them. Its a family work.

As far as teak...

My reasons for going with aluminum:

1. I didn't want to do this twice. I was 60-70% sure teak would work, but 80-90% sure aluminum would work, and probably better. And I was going for the best outcome.
2. The only drawback I could think of with aluminum, was cost, and weight. Weight seemed to be a benefit, and I was willing to pay.
3. Nothing would be smoother on the bottom, which I know was MOST of the issue.
4. 3/4" aluminum would be PLENTY strong, and it DEF is. All of those videos are done with me and someone else standing on it.
5. Aluminum gives me a chubby, have you seen my tower?

Teak I am sure is better than fiberglass, but I know that taking off the corners like I did on my deck also helped, and I could make ANY shape from aluminum. Did I mention aluminum gives me a chubby?

Maybe I could get da bell a room for the night up here, and we could shape a wood prototype for his RZ2 and test it on oroville, then I could make some. But I would need at least 5 people to contact me via wake9.com with high interest in paying about $1100-1200 for a deck. I would be able to make for 24Ve and RZ2. I can't just make one or two at that price, because of the size of the aluminum sheets that have to be purchased for the CNC machine. I think I can safely say $1100.

[da.bell]

I'll help out if needed ragboy. Not entirely interested in the swim platform but if someone is interested, I can help out.

You would have the swim platform for the 22Ve, RZ4, 24Ve, and RZ2 then. The platforms are the same for each series of model that I am aware of.

[ragboy]

Thank you, and I figured as much, but would confirm.