2010 Tigé RZ2 Wakesurf Review

[ragboy]

Ragboy,

Awesome write-up!

Unlike the RZ2, there is not a built-in cooler on the 22Ve (but this may have changed for 2010). So, the Ve should still allow for a custom sac to run up under the seats.

With the 22Ve, we have thrown a Pro X Series Fat Sac™ - W707 (dimensions: 50 x 20 x 20 weight: 750 lbs.) in the storage along with the 250 lb. hard tank and get a decent size surf wake. I would estimate that we are able to fill the sac about 85%-90%. With the Pro Ballast option, it appears that it may be very simple to swap out the 350 lb. sac with a larger one.

One other challenge with the Alpha Z tower - there is only the option for one board rack on each side.

Do you recall what speed & TAPS setting you were running at? Was it the same for regular & goofy?

The shape of the 350 bag in the locker is actually strange. You will see it in the video, it actually angles down from the side it attaches to. So there is a lot of room above it, and some room in front of it, even with the ice chest. If I got one, I would definitely get a custom bag and replace the stock bag. My guess would be that you could easily get a 550-600 lb bag in there getting you to 850 lbs with little effort.

True on the racks, I know that Samson makes a great surf/surf rack for it but I would also like to see some type of Endless Wave rack for the top for the big boards.

I was going 11 mph in the video with taps at 6. NO weight in the front. This means if you don't wakeboard, the surf ballast system would be fine, no need for the extra weight up front. I have definitely found that the tige wants the bow high and the corner dug in and the video proves that. I was explaining this to Ben while we were out and so he said, "well lets put taps at 8" and he did. But when you do that you get excessive whitewash at the top of the wake and it starts to negatively impact the wake. You can see how this works if you remove your taps plate and your swim deck. It will create a huge rooster tail that actually splashes right into the face of the rider. At least it does that on my Ve. The deck and plate actually remove that rooster. The taps plate just needs to be slightly "engaged" and 6 seems to do that trick, yet keeps the bow high. This also emphasizes why you need a smooth underside of the deck.

Both my 24Ve and this RZ2 seem to create a good wake from 10-12 mph, adjust to preference. 12 is longer, but knocks down the wake some. 10 is a bit bigger but mushy and shorter.

Nice write up ragboy! Another 24Ve -> RZ2 Convert!

Well, not quite yet, but there is a good chance we will be riding one in the spring. I have always toyed with the RZ2 RZ4 Idea, but this year the number of improvements is a huge hit for me.

I don't know about the MSRP, but I did send an email asking.

[Guapo]

Great write-up and great info.

[da.bell]

Dom in Florida was posting MSRP on an RZ4 as $90k from a link that someone posted.

[Timmy!]

Taps at 6 and 11mph is pretty much what we run in my RZ2.

[Guapo]

Taps at 6 and 11mph is pretty much what we run in my RZ2.

Same here....I might adjust a bit depending on the number of people in the boat and the riders ability, but I pretty well stay i that zip code.

[Yessup]

Rag, what an awesome review. It make me want to buy that boat today. Definately stoked to see tige make moves in the surf direction.

[talltigeguy]

I wonder what would happen if you could put TAPS plates on both sides? I wonder what effect that would have. That has to be in the testing mode right now. I suspect it works, as that I know that Sanger and MC have done it for 'surf edition' wakeboats.

[tigesinaus]

i wonder if they will make "surf edition" graphics like for the enzo...

[ragboy]

I wonder what would happen if you could put TAPS plates on both sides? I wonder what effect that would have. That has to be in the testing mode right now. I suspect it works, as that I know that Sanger and MC have done it for 'surf edition' wakeboats.

RJ rode on that sanger when it was tested at Castaic and I spent time with Dennis Horton after he tested them. They allowed for fine tuning, like flattening the wake down for a skim rider. But they couldn't make the wake bigger, or a better shape. I think there is no replacement for hull and ballast. Also, Sanger had 3, not 2. I think it would be important to keep a plate in the middle for many reasons, one of them being able to squash that rooster tail. I was very surprised how bad the rooster was when we took off the swim deck and raised taps all the way up.

I think the next evolution in wake design and wakesurfing is going to be some really cool hulls. This is interesting:

http://www.lowriderboats.com/

And there is more stuff like that out there. I know Larry is dying to build one of those boats. Its gotta be tough for a manufacturer to spend the cash to R&D this type of thing. I doubt it will be this year.

I think Tige took a big leap with this boat for wakesurfing. I am still stoked that you can now buy a boat from the showroom that satisfies our Wake9 Wakesurf Boat Checklist. It will be great for the sport if more boat makers follow suit. I believe that checklist gives the boat mass appeal to competitive and recreational wakesurfers alike.

9 minutes to go from regular to goofy or vice versa. Do you know how cool that is? I host people on my boat all the time, to just flip a switch and have a quick drink or something and be ready to go is amazing. That truly is wakesurfing for the entire family.

Now I am back to working on getting board manufacturers take notice of bigger and smaller riders and I have a bunch of boards heading my way for 11/14. If you are in the area, come on up.

[Guapo]

Ragboy...thanks for all the research you do. It's hard to find this kind of info anywhere. Keep up the good work. Let us know what you find out on the surf boards. I weigh around 210 and it seems I'm at the upper range of most boards. Thanks...

[Ks]

Rag-

Thanks for the great review!

I think you mentioned you weigh around 400, what was the total weight on the goofy side? Just trying to get an idea of people weight plus the 600 in the locker.

Thanks

[talltigeguy]

I wonder what would happen if you could put TAPS plates on both sides? I wonder what effect that would have. That has to be in the testing mode right now. I suspect it works, as that I know that Sanger and MC have done it for 'surf edition' wakeboats.

There is no doubt that you would always have to keep the TAPS in the middle too. I didn't mean for it to sound like you would then abandon the middle plate.

Great review!

[ImaPigDog]

I think Tige took a big leap with this boat for wakesurfing. I am still stoked that you can now buy a boat from the showroom that satisfies our Wake9 Wakesurf Boat Checklist. It will be great for the sport if more boat makers follow suit. I believe that checklist gives the boat mass appeal to competitive and recreational wakesurfers alike.

9 minutes to go from regular to goofy or vice versa. Do you know how cool that is? I host people on my boat all the time, to just flip a switch and have a quick drink or something and be ready to go is amazing. That truly is wakesurfing for the entire family.

Not only wakesurfing...I think the one advantage that Tigé has is the versatility to do multiple water sports very well without much effort.

We recently had a guys weekend at our lake house and were able to go from barefooting & slalom skiing (no ballast & TAPS) to wakeboarding ( 900 lb. factory ballast & TAPS) to wakesurfing (Factory + Fat Sac ballast & TAPS) with minimal effort. Since we don't have our surf ballast (only one 750 lb. Fat Sac) fully automated, I did have to manually fill/empty to configure for wakesurfing. If I had multiple Fat Sacs plumbed into the existing system, it would have been with the flip of a switch. With the 2010 Pro Ballast option, it will be less than 10 minutes after touching a screen to change the ballast configuration to go to or from any configuration!!! Plus, the different configurations could easily be stored as presets.

[dmgski22ve]

Ragboy... thanks for the info... I have a 22Ve and I LOVE how it performs... but that just makes me want the new RZ2 with all the bells and whistles... my only concern is that I have a barefoot tower boom attached to my tower and I dont know how I could have that configuration with that new tower...

[ragboy]

You could order one without a tower and DIY, but that could be expensive. The other would be to engineer a way to attach boom to the alpha Z. I think that would be possible. How does the boom mount?

That is the one issue with these types of towers. The traditional tubing allows for all sorts of accessories.