VX initial impressions

[383ws6]

So I got the boat back after having the VX installed & got to try it out yesterday. My initial impressions are not so great. If you haven't been following my story, my boat was one of the unlucky few that had the early design hulls which was horrible for surfing. After Tigé re-shaped my hull, the surf wake was a night and day difference. I spent most of the time standing on the back of the board to keep from running into the back of the boat. Last week, I took the boat back to Tigé to have the VX installed. Damn does this thing need some weight to work right!!! After hours of trying different ballast setups, I finally found a combination that gave the wake some push. Keep in mind, there were only 2 1/2 people in the boat. My wife, a friend, & my 5 year old daughter (400# max). 1350# custom sac in the port locker, front surf ballast full, starboard locker empty, one 400# sac on the port side seat, one 400# sac in the floor on the port side, taps at 5, and speed at 10.8. Honestly, the wake didn't seem any better than without the VX, only further away from the deck. I'm assuming the correct brackets were installed since they had to wait for them to come in before they could install them. I'm not giving up just yet, but this is way too many sacs laying around for anyone to sit comfortably. The boat also drives like a tank. It gulps fuel, and my wife couldn't seem to keep it going straight. Overall, I'd almost rather put the old platform back on and not even bother with trying to dial this thing in. Anyone else in this same predicament?

[Timmy!]

I drove the Z3 comp boat last weekend and you definitely need weight in the starboard side. I think you can get rid of one of the 400# sacs. We were running 11.2 or so at taps at 3.

[loudelectronics]

I am going backwards. I had tons of weight and wake was great looking but super soft. So I went back to stock with a sack under the seat and had 6 people in the boat. Wake was much better. It was very hard and provided good push. Still had it better with out it on but working with that and trying to tweak.

[Ewok]

If you think the wave is better without, go without the VX, especially since the hull was modified. The VX is supposed to make a longer and more adjustable wave and clean up the face and eliminate spray, not make a bigger wave, and it does take a little more weight than the standard pro ballast as we saw from ragboys post.

[mnpracing]

Here's my $.02..... my dealer installed the new brackets and here are my observations. The lens i'm looking through is that I've ridden a dozen times on a 2012 non-VX Z3 and on my 2013 VX with the old brackets. I also run the pro ballast in front, and custom sacks from Chptrhil in the rears. Normal day for bodies in the boat, is the 6 of us (wife, 3 kids and the pup) so not much human (or pet) ballast.

Goofy: I did not notice a discernable difference in height or length of the wave. The difference I did notice was that I could now run TAPS at 1, whereas with the old brackets I couldn't get TAPS 1 to be wash-free below 11.2mph (had to be 11.4mph or faster to be clean at TAPS 1). Other than that, old vs new brackets were pretty much the same, great wave.

Regular: The difference between old and new brackets was NIGHT and DAY! With the old brackets, I couldn't get decent height even with TAPS 8 unless I had 3 extra bodies in the boat, likely because the VX acted like a huge wake plate fixed at TAPS 1 (sort of, more explanation later). But with the new brackets, height was same as the non-VX Z3 that I've ridden, but the VX takes away the harsh lip and the curl starts further back on the wave. Don't get me wrong, my comparisons are all relative to differently equipped Z3's. The Z3 non-VX is a great wave, but the VX just makes it better in my opinion. So I'm a happy camper with the new brackets. I was running TAPS at 2 and 3 all weekend and it was a great wave!

[383ws6]

The wake looked amazing with the VX, don't misunderstand. I could adjust it with the taps plate from a 12" wave to a 36"-42" wave just by adjusting the taps from 1 to 6. The only problem I had was getting the push it had without the VX. The last thing we tried was taking the extra 400# sac from the bow, and placing it in the floorboard. At that point, it had the push I was looking for. It took a little getting used to being that far back from the swim platform, but was nice to not have to worry about slamming on the brakes so as not to hit the back of the boat. The only negative at that point was how many sacs we had laying around. We tried weight in the starboard side, but it quickly trashed the surf side wake. Hopefully I'll get to do some more experimenting in a week or two.

[loudelectronics]

I spent about 7 hours yesterday working on this under different conditions. I am getting it pretty good I think.

My goal is to not have any sacs in the cabin of the boat.

First off, I was able to make the goofy wave near perfection. Very long, tall for those who wanted it with lots of push.

Regular side I have moved the sac I had under the seat all the way back to the stock sac. I then put another sac in front of that sac so the full under bench has sacs. With just 3 people in the boat, the wake was long and at taps at 6 the wake had decent height. The best part was that the front part of the wave was very hard and made for a good booter. I was airing it out higher than I have ever before. I feel the back end of the wake has lost some push which for me is not that big of a deal as if you know how to pump, you can easily stay with it and get speed to hit that lip. I love how long the wake is as there is so much more surfable area, especially to get speed. Earlier in the day I had this setup with about 8 people in the boat and the wake was massive. Since I was teaching lessons I did not get to try it. However our begginers did not have any trouble staying with the wake.

[loudelectronics]

Got my wake dialed tonight. Pretty pumped now. It is officialy better than my 24V.

Reg side:
Front full, rear full, two sacs under the bench (1100lb as full as I can get it, 400 lb infront of it), 400lb sac on seat corner
Goofy side:
Front full, rear 75%
Two people in the boat, taps at 6 and 10.8-11 mph
pro ballast

[barry1me]

Got my wake dialed tonight. Pretty pumped now. It is officialy better than my 24V.

Reg side:
Front full, rear full, two sacs under the bench (1100lb as full as I can get it, 400 lb infront of it), 400lb sac on seat corner
Goofy side:
Front full, rear 75%
Two people in the boat, taps at 6 and 10.8-11 mph
pro ballast

What are your ballast totals for Regular side setup and Goofy side setup?

[ragboy]

Here's my $.02..... my dealer installed the new brackets and here are my observations. The lens i'm looking through is that I've ridden a dozen times on a 2012 non-VX Z3 and on my 2013 VX with the old brackets. I also run the pro ballast in front, and custom sacks from Chptrhil in the rears. Normal day for bodies in the boat, is the 6 of us (wife, 3 kids and the pup) so not much human (or pet) ballast.

Goofy: I did not notice a discernable difference in height or length of the wave. The difference I did notice was that I could now run TAPS at 1, whereas with the old brackets I couldn't get TAPS 1 to be wash-free below 11.2mph (had to be 11.4mph or faster to be clean at TAPS 1). Other than that, old vs new brackets were pretty much the same, great wave.

Regular: The difference between old and new brackets was NIGHT and DAY! With the old brackets, I couldn't get decent height even with TAPS 8 unless I had 3 extra bodies in the boat, likely because the VX acted like a huge wake plate fixed at TAPS 1 (sort of, more explanation later). But with the new brackets, height was same as the non-VX Z3 that I've ridden, but the VX takes away the harsh lip and the curl starts further back on the wave. Don't get me wrong, my comparisons are all relative to differently equipped Z3's. The Z3 non-VX is a great wave, but the VX just makes it better in my opinion. So I'm a happy camper with the new brackets. I was running TAPS at 2 and 3 all weekend and it was a great wave!

That is pretty much exactly what we have seen with all of this time. Once you get it right, its cleaner, better, and the curl is farther back, making the wave effectively longer. One thing you may also find is that on the goofy side (and this was true for us before and after VX) the goofy wave is a bit steeper at the same TAPS setting. So when you get to TAPS 1 on the regular side, its very mellow and great for certain skimmers but you can't quite get that on the goofy side. We did get that on the goofy side by adding 3-400 lbs to the front, but I did not like that solution. So we then modified our TAPS plate to go down farther, which I posted many moons ago and that did the trick, allowing us to achieve that same mellowness when needed for some riders on the goofy side.

Got my wake dialed tonight. Pretty pumped now. It is officialy better than my 24V.

Reg side:
Front full, rear full, two sacs under the bench (1100lb as full as I can get it, 400 lb infront of it), 400lb sac on seat corner
Goofy side:
Front full, rear 75%
Two people in the boat, taps at 6 and 10.8-11 mph
pro ballast

That's great to hear, makes me happy to hear folks enjoying it the way we have been.

[loudelectronics]

What are your ballast totals for Regular side setup and Goofy side setup?

Those are my totals for surfing the regular side wake.

Goofy we spent some time with it and just reversed what we did on the regular side and it was good. It was a bit steeper than the regular side but no complaints. I kinda like the steep wake and my wife really likes it steep.

[barry1me]

Those are my totals for surfing the regular side wake.

Goofy we spent some time with it and just reversed what we did on the regular side and it was good. It was a bit steeper than the regular side but no complaints. I kinda like the steep wake and my wife really likes it steep.

so stock 2300lbs +1900lbs for regular side? Thats how I took it when you said front and rear full, or did you mean front and rear surf side full? so 1150 +1900 in fat sacs?

[barry1me]

Did you get any pictures or videos of your wake?

[loudelectronics]

I can this weekend.

So front total will be 1100 stock weight, 600 rear left hand corner stock, 500 lbs fat sac in front of rear (1100lb partially full), 400 lb fat sac in front of that, 400 on seat bench if no one in boat, ~400 in opposite side vdrive.

[barry1me]

wow 4100lbs thats a TON of ballast....actually two ton. I hope it would surf well with that much ballast on board. Do you have all of that plumbed in? I hope so, cuz that would be a pain draining all of that with a Tsunami and switching for goofy side.