Testing on All Models with the 2014 Production VX.

[Bad05]

After driving my RZ2 and the Z3 competition boat from the EWT's back to back on Saturday, I will still take an RZ2 for overall driving/riding. The Z3 has an awesome wave but dang does it drive big. I would love to see a comparison on the turning radius of the Z3 vs RZ2, it's a lot different! Once you pick up a fallen rider a few times, you get used to it but going from the RZ2 and straight into the Z3 is rough! LOL!

I drove the original green Z3 at one of our Lake Mead Reunions prior to Ragboy taking delivery of it and agree, it felt like a big boat. After a few spins in it though, it was no different than my 24V and I loved the extra depth and solid feel of the boat! We get some nasty wind here and the Z3 would handle those with ease IMHO!

[Ewok]

After driving my RZ2 and the Z3 competition boat from the EWT's back to back on Saturday, I will still take an RZ2 for overall driving/riding. The Z3 has an awesome wave but dang does it drive big. I would love to see a comparison on the turning radius of the Z3 vs RZ2, it's a lot different! Once you pick up a fallen rider a few times, you get used to it but going from the RZ2 and straight into the Z3 is rough! LOL!

Turning radius at what speed? With the boat weighted for surfing, wakeboarding or unweighted? I'm just curious since I have an RZ2 and I love it, and I can make it spin within it's own length when maneuvering near docks. And when I pick up a fallen rider, I slow the boat to idle, let the wake pass and turn around at idle speed and the boat turns at tight as you want to, and it doesn't swamp the bow.

Just trying to clarify these big turning comments for others to be able to relate too, thanks.

[barry1me]

Turning radius at what speed? With the boat weighted for surfing, wakeboarding or unweighted? I'm just curious since I have an RZ2 and I love it, and I can make it spin within it's own length when maneuvering near docks. And when I pick up a fallen rider, I slow the boat to idle, let the wake pass and turn around at idle speed and the boat turns at tight as you want to, and it doesn't swamp the bow.

Just trying to clarify these big turning comments for others to be able to relate too, thanks.

I own an RZR and have been on several RZ2s. I also noticed that the Z1 has a larger turner radius then the RZ2 when picking up down riders.

[Timmy!]

Turning radius at what speed? With the boat weighted for surfing, wakeboarding or unweighted? I'm just curious since I have an RZ2 and I love it, and I can make it spin within it's own length when maneuvering near docks. And when I pick up a fallen rider, I slow the boat to idle, let the wake pass and turn around at idle speed and the boat turns at tight as you want to, and it doesn't swamp the bow.

Just trying to clarify these big turning comments for others to be able to relate too, thanks.

Yes! LOL! Weighted, unweighted, cruising, wakeboarding, all of it. It is 2' longer so I guess it would be a larger turning radius but I feel like it has more to do with the hull design than the length. The RZ's/Ve's have a much more efficient hull than the Z1/Z3 so they move in the water a little better. When pulling a rider, I drive almost exactly as you do only I turn to the opposite side while slowing down to speed up the process. If I have the port side weighted and the rider falls, I turn to the left as I pull off on the throttle and then start turning right (technically illegal here in CO as you are only supposed to turn in counter-clockwise motions) and there is zero chance of a roller over the bow.

You really notice it when you go to grab the rider and you turn where you think you should and the radius is so larger that you have to go into reverse to keep from hitting them. You do get used to it, it just takes 2 or 3 times of picking someone up to figure out where you need to turn at. I haven't tried high speed maneuver's with it but I am guessing that it will not spin within it's own length like an RZ2 does, I might be wrong though.

[Timmy!]

I'm sure that after you drive the Cadillac (Z3) for a day or two, you get used to it and would never know any different unless you drove the Ferrari again, I mean RZ2! Can you tell that I am biased in favor of RZ2's? They have lots of space, put out an awesome wave/wake and handle like a dream (to me).

[Ewok]

I own an RZR and have been on several RZ2s. I also noticed that the Z1 has a larger turner radius then the RZ2 when picking up down riders.

Ok, this is what I meant, how do you pick up riders and how to you quantify the larger turn radius, does it just take longer to turn around or is it using more geographic area to turn? Are you at idle or slightly faster than idle? Are you turning left or right? are you turning into or away from the weighted side of the boat? Since I don't have a dealer nearby I can't drive a Z3 to see what you guys are talking about. I have driven WABoatings 24ve and Dingleberry's RZ4 but I didn't notice any major differences in turning around to pick up down surfers since I slow down to idle and turn to the right usually, the unweighted side of the boat when surfing. I'm just very curious to see if there is a big difference with the Z1/3 boats since I've read several comments that they turn slow or have larger turning radii.

[Timmy!]

BTW - I'm not bashing the Z3, it's an awesome boat, this is just my friends and I's observation's. My one buddy called it "the Mayflower" when he drove it. The other buddy just sold his Epic 23V on Friday and was interested in the Z3 and couldn't get past how slow it turns in comparison to his boat but the Epic's do have dual rudder's to assist. I've driven with and without the VX on too, no difference. Sorry about the thread hijack...

[Ewok]

Thanks Timmy, you answered my questions, you can "feel" and see a difference in the hull design so much that they don't spin around and turn as quickly as the RZ2. Man, I'm loving my RZ2. Last week I had the best surf wake out on twin lakes, end of the day, no wind, no boats, just glass, and the length of the wave and the curl was so far back but it was just textbook barrell and so fun to ride, and I got air for the first time, fins out of the water, and I can fold this boat up and fit it in my garage. I really love my boat

[dingleberry]

But...how well can the Z3 powerturn?

[Booms]

That's a lot of work! You will have to have some gelcoat work done since none of the brackets will work. Heck, even Squid had to have gelcoat work done on his R20 to make the VX work since the R20 has different brackets than the RZR.

I am torn right now. I have a man-crush on the RZ2. Tige's 22 foot pickle bow boat is sexy! I have put a ton of work into it to try and make it the best surfing boat on our lake and surrounding lakes. I am getting too lazy, I mean busy to keep modifying it.
So I guess I am looking for the best out of the box surf boat. With what I am hearing the RZ2 is changing in 2014 to focus on Wakeboarding. I no longer Wakeboard. I am one knee injury away from surgery. So I am right now a; throw the kids around on a tube for 3 hours, then surf for 30 minutes or as long as the kids behave for the wife while she is driving kind of guy.
So this leaves me with the Z3 or Z1.
If Tige will sell me a VX I only spend $1,600 on the VX and an additional $1,000 for the gel work. It might be worth it versus spending buco cash on a new out of the box surf boat. Damn you Tige for making me have to decide. That is if you will sell me, I mean my dealer a VX...

[Ewok]

But...how well can the Z3 powerturn?

Probably as well as the brand new X-Star that was power turning like crazy yesterday in Mica Bay

[Ewok]

I am torn right now. I have a man-crush on the RZ2. Tige's 22 foot pickle bow boat is sexy! I have put a ton of work into it to try and make it the best surfing boat on our lake and surrounding lakes. I am getting too lazy, I mean busy to keep modifying it.
So I guess I am looking for the best out of the box surf boat. With what I am hearing the RZ2 is changing in 2014 to focus on Wakeboarding. I no longer Wakeboard. I am one knee injury away from surgery. So I am right now a; throw the kids around on a tube for 3 hours, then surf for 30 minutes or as long as the kids behave for the wife while she is driving kind of guy.
So this leaves me with the Z3 or Z1.
If Tige will sell me a VX I only spend $1,600 on the VX and an additional $1,000 for the gel work. It might be worth it versus spending buco cash on a new out of the box surf boat. Damn you Tige for making me have to decide. That is if you will sell me, I mean my dealer a VX...

I hear you, this thread is making me start planning and budgeting to add a VX in the future whenever Tige will sell them to older RZ owners. But I'm just about tweaked out on my surf wave, it's really good, so I'm thinking about a mudflap for a tiny bit of spray on the darkside wave or going whole hog on the VX. Either way I think the surf wake will probably be great on the next RZ2. I'm really looking forward to see what they come up with.

[ragboy]

I am torn right now. I have a man-crush on the RZ2. Tige's 22 foot pickle bow boat is sexy! I have put a ton of work into it to try and make it the best surfing boat on our lake and surrounding lakes. I am getting too lazy, I mean busy to keep modifying it.
So I guess I am looking for the best out of the box surf boat. With what I am hearing the RZ2 is changing in 2014 to focus on Wakeboarding. I no longer Wakeboard. I am one knee injury away from surgery. So I am right now a; throw the kids around on a tube for 3 hours, then surf for 30 minutes or as long as the kids behave for the wife while she is driving kind of guy.
So this leaves me with the Z3 or Z1.
If Tige will sell me a VX I only spend $1,600 on the VX and an additional $1,000 for the gel work. It might be worth it versus spending buco cash on a new out of the box surf boat. Damn you Tige for making me have to decide. That is if you will sell me, I mean my dealer a VX...

If I already had an RZ2, I would just get a VX, and not a new boat. Riding the RZ2 with the VX was pretty amazing. Only thing I would say, is that we didnt' get much time to dial in the goofy side, where as the regular dialed in easy. But RJ and I thought the RZ2 with the VX was better than without, and rivaled what we love about the Z3/Z1 wake.

We have gone back and forth between the 24Ve and Z3 many times and I don't notice any issue with turning or picking up riders. The thing I do notice when I go from the 24Ve to the Z3 is that the 24Ve will flop over to one side when running/cruising, and can chine lock. I have never had that happen on the Z3, it handles much better in those respects. Spending hundreds of hours on the 24Ve, RZ2, RZ4, Z3, I would say the RZ2 is def the sportiest of them all at 22 ft, but I would put the Z3 right after and definitely handles better than the 24Ve and RZ4. We spend all day turning that sucker around and with the exception of when we needed to change steering cable, have never had an issue or noticed it was worse than the others. If it was much worse, I would think we would have noticed it. Not to say Timmy is wrong, I trust him, but those are our observations.

[Booms]

If I already had an RZ2, I would just get a VX, and not a new boat. Riding the RZ2 with the VX was pretty amazing. Only thing I would say, is that we didnt' get much time to dial in the goofy side, where as the regular dialed in easy. But RJ and I thought the RZ2 with the VX was better than without, and rivaled what we love about the Z3/Z1 wake.

We have gone back and forth between the 24Ve and Z3 many times and I don't notice any issue with turning or picking up riders. The thing I do notice when I go from the 24Ve to the Z3 is that the 24Ve will flop over to one side when running/cruising, and can chine lock. I have never had that happen on the Z3, it handles much better in those respects. Spending hundreds of hours on the 24Ve, RZ2, RZ4, Z3, I would say the RZ2 is def the sportiest of them all at 22 ft, but I would put the Z3 right after and definitely handles better than the 24Ve and RZ4. We spend all day turning that sucker around and with the exception of when we needed to change steering cable, have never had an issue or noticed it was worse than the others. If it was much worse, I would think we would have noticed it. Not to say Timmy is wrong, I trust him, but those are our observations.

Ragboy - I will get the VX. Then you and RJ come to Northern WI and we will dial that bad boy in. Bring the whole family for a little vaca. Come hang out on Lake Nokomis where there are at least 8 Tige's. If you have ever seen The Great Outdoors with John Candy every weekend is like that.
"I think we should go into town tomorrow and pick up a ski boat. Whaddya say? Sound good, guys? Uncle Roman'll blow some coin on a kick-asz drag boat!"

[ragboy]

LOL, that sounds like fun. There is some talk of an event in minnesota next year, so maybe we will get up to your neck of the woods. ;-)