How to spot an early build Z3

[383ws6]

Got the boat out on the water for a few hours today. The "new", "fixed", "modified", or whatever you want to call it, hull made all the difference in the world. Truly thought I was going to have an awesome day surfing today until.... The %#€£ing stereo doesn't work. Spent an hour trying to figure out why I no longer have power to the stereo when they didn't even do anything inside the boat. Oh, and the %#€£ tower led's still don't work. Shocker!!! Sorry, political correctness is gone at this point. EVERY SINGLE TIME THIS BOAT TOUCHES WATER, SOMETHING NEW GOES WRONG!!!! Maybe, just maybe, my next update will have something positive to report. I'd keep my fingers crossed, but they've started growing together over the past 9 months. I'm out.

[talltigeguy]

I was out hydrofoiling with a friend of a friend...and was telling him about the Tige owners reunion. He mentioned that he had a Tige Z3 and that he couldn't surf ropeless, although he is able to do so on many friend's boats. Uh oh. I asked him what year...He said it is one of the first Z3's made. Uh oh. His dealer helped him out and got him a convex VX for the hull. It didn't help. Uh oh. I then dropped the bomb on him about what I think is going on here, and he was a bit upset which I can understand. I am still waiting for a pic of his transom...Hopefully I am mistaken.

[Stingreye]

Ouch! Plus it's like getting kicked in the nuts twice when you realize it will KILL resale.

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[talltigeguy]

He sent me a pic today. He has the new hull, so that is a relief. I suggested he come on here and tell us his setup, because he should be a surfing fool, but he complains he cannot even let go of the rope. He did learn that he has the old brackets for his VX, so that might be messing things up. He just removed the whole thing and is going to try today again.

[IDBoating]

Never buy the first year's production of anything. I violated that rule once in my life, when another driver totalled my car and I HAD to buy another car, and figured "Hey, it's a Honda, they won't have first-year problems even though it's a complete redesign this year." WRONG. Even the dealer finally admitted it was full of problems that were silently but properly corrected the next year. Never again!

[Dandy]

He sent me a pic today. He has the new hull, so that is a relief. I suggested he come on here and tell us his setup, because he should be a surfing fool, but he complains he cannot even let go of the rope. He did learn that he has the old brackets for his VX, so that might be messing things up. He just removed the whole thing and is going to try today again.

The incorrect VX brackets will really mess up the wave. The Z boats are better without the VX if they do not have the correct brackets and then is improved with the correct brackets. Experienced this first hand with our '13 Z1.

[ragboy]

@tall One thing that may help him is to verify the weight. It is very simple to verify the weight in the rear bags, but not the hard tanks, or the front bags that are enclosed. The timers don't reflect what is in the bag.

1. Fill up ALL ballast and verify that the sacs are full and stay full.
2. If you get down and look through the engine compartment, you can usually see part of the hard tanks to make sure they are filling up properly. If the bags are filling, this is most likely NOT an issue, but you never know.
3. Fill up the front all the way and remove the covers or get your hand in there to verify the front bags are actually full. A pinched hose or other issue can make it seem like they are full, but are not, or front pumps are not priming and he is going off of timers. The fronts should always be checked by filling to they overflow, and even then, make sure they are full, then you know all is good. We usually check that at the beginning of each season.

If all that is good, just help him weight it. I think the early Z3s after the that first "not so good" batch may be slightly better. I have one of those, and I think they used to actually fill in the chines with extra fiberglass or something but later did it different so that my boat, and maybe a few others have more glass in the back and so they are just a bit more a** heavy. Our boat seems to make a slightly better wake than others with the same exact setup, but just slightly. You can really tell when you put our boat on a lift, and it leans back.