Water Depth?

[jhillard]

Couple of questions about water depths...

From what I understand, most of these boats draw about 24". That's just floating.

How much depth do you need to take off for where you are going to board/surf/etc? That is, leaving the dock, no ballast loaded.

And once you get where you are going, how much water depth do you need to surf? To board? I take it that deeper water is better, but at what point does it no longer matter? Also, what happens to the wake if you are in shallower water? Is it drastically affected by shallow water?

Just trying to figure out how far away from shore we need to go to get a good wake.

[Blaze Sr.]

X2 I would like too hear this as well. Thanks ahead of time

[robert theisen]

I would say at least 3 foot for a slow steady takeoff as you stir dirt and debris off the bottom in shallow water.As for surfing or boarding at least 10 foot to make a good wave or wake. The deeper water is a little better [12 to 15 ft] but 10 foot will work.

[jbort]

Its been reported any shallower than 10 feet that the wave diminishes thus hurting the rider ability to continue. I've seen only once and kinda weird. 12 feet may be better.

[konajay]

It been reported any shallower than 10 feet that the wave diminishes thus hurting the rider ability to continue. I've seen only once and kinda weird. 12 feet may be better.

We have an area in our lake that gets shallow toward the end of the summer. Anything less than 10 feet will definitely diminish your surf wake. 8 feet or less will destroy it.

[boardman74]

3 feet to take off should be right. Unlike outboards or stern drives Inboards do not squat when the take off. Thus needing less water to take off. I know i can leave the dock and accelerate much sooner than my father who has a 18 foot stern drive.

[What she said]

We wake board alot in 8-12 foot of water, and i dont notice much difference if any at all at wakeboard speeds, but surfing in 8ft of water kills the wave.

[MoneyPity]

I agree with 10-12 ft for good wakes well away from shorelines to reduce erosion. OurLakes at mid season counld not be traversed using the channels between lakes

One bridge had 8 inches or less. we could not even manual push thru ny hand. Rivers near me had all launch ramps closed. The launch ranmp on Lake Syracuse could be used for aunching but you had to manually push boat to get thru the bridge passing and maintain 35-50 yards from shoreline. Water levs kade the year one bad one.

[scoot18]

The deeper the better. I have found for our set up in the 22Ve 14feet seems to be the sweet spot. I can tell a difference anything below that. As far as the 10' rule, that would be pretty standard, but the more weight you drop in the lockers the more reaction there is to the shallower depths. In those secnarios I would try to acheive the deepest possible water that can be used comfortably out of heavy boat traffic.

And for the water depth for starting, those numbers that everyone else is throwing around scare me..... I would never launch in 3' of water, especially with weight. Min draft for most of our boats is near 30" isn't it?

I know I bent the living daylights out of a prop, launching in about 3.5 feet of water. There were stumps in the bottom that we didn't know about and we hit a few of them.

[Bruizza]

Anything under 3ft and I shut the boat off and walk it out. You need at least 10ft and preferably 15 or more to get a good wake.