Thinking about buying a used Tige

[lcostley]

I test drove a 1999 21V on Friday and found it difficult to maintain a constant speed pulling a person on a wakeboard at 18 MPH and the TAPS set on 7. Is that a common problem with the V drive? And or is the inboard better. We are going to buy another boat within a couple of weeks and want to make sure we are happy with the performance.

[dogbert]

The 21v is an inboard, just not a direct drive. I don't think it matters. The slower you go the more difficult it will be to maintain speed on any boat. I have this boat and I went with Perfect Pass.

[bneub]

We have a 20i and last week was our first real outing with 3 full days on the water at Powell. We had similar speed control issues.

I found that changing the TAPS setting slightly will make it easier to hit the speed you want. For example if TAPS is at 7 and 18MPH is hard to hold, try setting the TAPS to 6 3/4 or 7 1/4. If the boat is wanting to speed up and go a little too fast, increase the TAPS a little. Do the opposite if it wants to go a little too slow. For us that small of an adjustment changed the way the boat was planing just enough to make 18 easier to hold. Holding speeds between 15 and 24 took these same small adjustments to the TAPS.

I had absolutely no problem holding 10 MPH with the TAPS at 8 for surfing. I could easily make and hold 1/4 MPH speed changes.

Skiing speed of between 30 - 34 (depending on the skier) was also very easy to hold.

We are going to get Perfect Pass installed. I have heard it called the "marriage saver" and it makes life easier when others are pulling you. The only problem is one less excuse for a bad run.

[dogbert]

Originally posted by bneub
For us that small of an adjustment changed the way the boat was planing just enough to make 18 easier to hold. Holding speeds between 15 and 24 took these same small adjustments to the TAPS.

You've hit the nail on the head. Unfortunately, you want to use TAPS to clean up the wake, not necessarily for maintaining speed. Any boat that's on plane will make it easy to maintain speed. If you're wakeboarding or surfing, you want to be pushing lots of water to create the big wake.

PerfectPass just makes it a no brainer.

[fvanrees]

perfect pass

How much does it cost to instal perfect pass?

[dogbert]

I think I paid something like $1200 for PP and $300 to have the dealer install it. It looks like something you could do yourself, if you're willing to drill a hole in the bottom of your boat. I got the Wakeboard Pro model which does both wakeboard & ski.