RZX - one place for all rumors

[ragboy]

Its funny, its so much higher, maybe a foot, even in the water and its noticeably easier to get up wakesurfing.

[MNLakeFam]

Great information, pics and videos of the RXZ. Ragboy or anyone else surf with the Raptor 440 vs. the SC and still get great surf waves (regular & goofy)? Per the rag boy video they were using the SC engine but that is very expensive... we are considering the RZX with the 440 (less cost, less gas) but want to make sure we can get great surf waves with less power/torque.

We are coming off a 2014 ASR that took 2 years and a lot of weight to dial in a decent (not great) surf wave, port side. I recently test drove and surfed an RZX with only stock ballast, 440 engine and 4 people (no list) and had a better wave than my ASR.

I just want to confirm the 440 can make similar waves as the rag boy video... even if we have to add some surfx bags/weight and slightly list (even with transitions).

Thanks for the info!!

[ragboy]

I have heard it works well, but I don't have the answer for that, yet. ;-)

[MNLakeFam]

Any new updates on the RZX... including the Raptor 440 engine from anyone?

[smithjd11]

Going down to the factory next Friday for a tour and some demos hope to do a demo with the 440 if so I will post how it goes unless somebody already has that information

[JLG]

Any new updates on the RZX... including the Raptor 440 engine from anyone?

In my talks with a couple different dealers that have real world experience with the RZX and have seen the factory testing of the 440 in it, their conclusion was the larger SC is a wiser choice. Can't remember the exact weight on the 440 they trialed in texas but know it struggled to plane at near sea level that is. Nick or tony at factory I believe are the ones that tested and could give you more info or exact numbers on weight, prop etc. But would be very skeptical of the 440 being enough if that boat is ever loaded up with ballast and ppl.

I also was considering the RZX with smaller 440 so that's why I've asked around as it a huge price difference. If it were me I'd lean towards larger engine.

Now Z3 they say the 400 and 440 more then ample power. Still curios to see and hear ragboys opinion of the RZX with 440 though.

[MNLakeFam]

Interesting, OK. I was in TX a couple weeks ago and did test drive the RZX with the 440 - 4 people total, 3 people in boat with me surfing. Without factory ballasts full it did plane out quickly and handled well on the water... much better than my ASR... however top speed was only 36 mph which seemed a bit slow.

The surf wave, both port & starboard, was quite good with factory ballasts full and 3 people in the boat... with no to minimal list; good shape, clean and plenty of push.

We tend to have more people in the boat (more weight), so now I'm getting skeptical of the 440 power... and agree, ragboy & gang when will you have a chance to test the RXZ w/ 440 power?

[JLG]

Interesting, OK. I was in TX a couple weeks ago and did test drive the RZX with the 440 - 4 people total, 3 people in boat with me surfing. Without factory ballasts full it did plane out quickly and handled well on the water... much better than my ASR... however top speed was only 36 mph which seemed a bit slow.

The surf wave, both port & starboard, was quite good with factory ballasts full and 3 people in the boat... with no to minimal list; good shape, clean and plenty of push.

We tend to have more people in the boat (more weight), so now I'm getting skeptical of the 440 power... and agree, ragboy & gang when will you have a chance to test the RXZ w/ 440 power?

Yes very contradicting to what I was told by the dealers and this came from the testing a few months back with the 440 RZX at the factory. Perhaps they changed prop and had less weight when you tested more recently. I know they didn't test it for very long when they gave feedback on this particular 440 RZX so perhaps they tweeked somewhere? Again I don't remember and don't want to throw weight or prop numbers out on that particular test, but would be skeptical of the 440 with that being said. These 2 dealers sell 30 boats a year so I trust their opinion until someone can show me different results that is (ragboy) I wouldn't order with the 440

[talltigeguy]

Interesting, OK. I was in TX a couple weeks ago and did test drive the RZX with the 440 - 4 people total, 3 people in boat with me surfing. Without factory ballasts full it did plane out quickly and handled well on the water... much better than my ASR... however top speed was only 36 mph which seemed a bit slow.

The surf wave, both port & starboard, was quite good with factory ballasts full and 3 people in the boat... with no to minimal list; good shape, clean and plenty of push.

We tend to have more people in the boat (more weight), so now I'm getting skeptical of the 440 power... and agree, ragboy & gang when will you have a chance to test the RXZ w/ 440 power?

Wait...WITHOUT factory ballasts full it did well. And with them full, what happened?

How often do you need to go 36 MPH? In my usage, almost never, so I don't worry about it. It does mean that they probably had it propped down already.

If you are in doubt, then grab a fat sac that equals the weight of your additional passengers and go do it again.

[MNLakeFam]

Drove boat without factory ballasts full, planed and handled very well including fast aggressive turns... Whatever that is worth. Agree top speed really downs matter (torque does) but just an indicator... not sure if it signals power concerns with the 440 power plant or not.

Surfed with factory ballasts full, no extra weight or ballasts and only 3 in the boat... surfed well per previous post. Didn't just drive the boat with ballasts full.

Does that clarify?

[talltigeguy]

Drove boat without factory ballasts full, planed and handled very well including fast aggressive turns... Whatever that is worth. Agree top speed really downs matter (torque does) but just an indicator... not sure if it signals power concerns with the 440 power plant or not.

Surfed with factory ballasts full, no extra weight or ballasts and only 3 in the boat... surfed well per previous post. Didn't just drive the boat with ballasts full.

Does that clarify?

So it sounds like you did not go to wakeboard speeds with the ballast full. When I test drove with the supercharged motor, it struggled severely to get to wakeboard speed with full ballast, but we are confident that it was propped wrong. Of course, it leaped to surf speeds without a hiccup. On all of the boats I have owned, I cannot imagine a boat so heavily weighted that it wouldn't get to surf speeds, especially if I propped it down. The real test of power will be getting from 13-18 MPH in most any boat. I personally think that if surfing is your game, the 440 will be very adequate. Too bad that it is sort of just speculation at this point.

[dakota4ce]

I have to agree with Tall--I find it hard to believe that when properly propped the 440 isn't more than enough for low altitude surf duty. It would be downright absurd to have a 23' surf boat that needs a huge super expensive supercharged motor to function at a minimum for what it was intended? Unless I was surfing at altitude, spending the money for that beast makes little to no sense to my checkbook. (My imaginary "new boat buyer" checkbook, that is).

I have a good friend that demo'd in TX as well, and promptly ordered an RZX with the 440 for duty at 1200' MSL. Said its more than enough. Now, there is a chance that it only goes 36mph like you mentioned, but also like mentioned that is not a big deal for him. Most of the time we are yelling at people going that fast like a couple grumpy old men.

[MNLakeFam]

Thanks guys - good information and perspective! Now that you jogged my memory, we did drive at wakeboard speeds both with factory ballasts full and empty to see how big/clean and small/clean we could make the wakeboard wake for novice to advanced boarders... I had forgotten because I did not wakeboard... we only checked the wake variations from inside the boat.

As you'd expect the RZX can produce a big clean wake wave; also as likely expected a boat that big/heavy needs to go at least 18 mph to get a clean wave. The only reason this is important to us is that our previous RZ2 was easy to teach new wakeboarders and was a less intimidating wave/wake for more causal/novice riders... and could board a clean, calm wake wave at 16mph on that boat. However, on the RZX with ballasts empty and the right Taps setting we could get a fairly clean & calm wake wave at 18 mph... so reasonable for a boat this big & heavy.

We really do mostly surf - 70% surf, 20% wakeboard, 10% other... so the surf wave is by far the priority. And top speed really doesn't matter... as noted... I was more curious if that could be an indicator of the RZX being underpowered with the 440.

Very helpful discussion for us and hopefully others too. Keep the information, experiences and insights coming. Thanks!

[smithjd11]

Ok,just left the factory here is my 2 cents The 440 is plenty for people that are not at a great amount of elevation had rear ballast 100% front at 40% the 440 responded like it was empty it went unnoticed when I was driving and had to stop and restart to see if there was any problems getting on plane there was not it could handle so much more weight easily it was also pretty windy and a little ruff and still had a great wave RPMs held steady at 3200 and are speed was 11,now I did take it across the lake at full ballast hit 38 at almost 6000 RPMs still no problem getting on plane I dumped the ballast and it could cruise all day at 35 to 40 with the RPMs at 5000 or less did a couple of power turns no problem I will do the 440 and know that is plenty for my situation everybody is different also took a Z3 out with the Taps3 and again Surf wave was on point Highly recommend a Factory tour The people at Tige are first class and showed me a great time Texas style Thanks again Tige.

[MNLakeFam]

Thanks smithjd11, very helpful and is similar to our experience but great to get another perspective! We are heading to dealer to finalize our order today and was glad to get your post beforehand.

MNLakeFam will be on the new RZX this summer.