ok, so I have been known to b*tch a bit about my swim platform getting in the way of my wake. And with all the talk about the best boat for surfing and all, I wanted to do an experiment for some time now. I know my Tige is capable of a better wake, but I can just never get past the point where the step starts really cutting in and screwing it up. My goal is to replace the step with a custom step that is as big as it can be without cutting in the wake. As a reference, I figured the best thing to do was to try without the step at all, which was very enlightening for me. My goal is to also put in automated ballast this winter, with about 1300 lbs per side, as far back as possible. So I aimed to simulate that. For each side I had 560 lbs of pop bags and 300 lb of sack on top. Then 200 lbs of pop under side seats. That is 1060 of ballast, plus we had about 600 lbs of people on the side. That is easy, because I am over 350 lb myself, and I sat right on the side. Not on the gunwales or anything.
Before I post the pictures, a NOTE. This is something I only did ONCE, and don't intend to do again. In all the 100s of hours we have surfed, no one has EVER hit the swim deck, so I felt safe doing this, and I only had my son RJ surf, who has very good control when he is not trying new stuff. Also, we noticed that CO could be a hazard. RJ said with the step off you could def smell the exhaust, and even see it. So we only went for a couple of mins and stopped. We were only out for about 2hrs on the whole, and mostly moving weight around during that time.
Anyway, here are the pics, starting with goofy. The problem with my goofy wake before was that it was good, but it had that secondary lip that made the wave harder to launch of. I knew it would be better if I could list over more, but then the deck cut in. So with the deck off, the wake was STEEP, and even though you can see the line from the secondary lip, it is BARELY there, and RJ said you didn't feel it, you could launch all the way from the top of the wave. Also my new system will have a bit more weight, so I believe it will only be better.
RJ liked it, here he is telling me how much more steep it is.
Here you can still see the secondary lip line from the corner of the boat, but it has little to know effect, and I know I can lose it with a bit more weight.
You can see I now have the water up to my rub rail, but still not crazy. This wave is still made with what I would consider a recreational amount of weight. All of our weight was hidden, and I can reproduce this with a custom enzo type sac.
It took a bit to get used to, plus I told him to take it easy due to no step. That is why he is also wearing a helmet. He was def able to launch better, but was a bit spooked.
OK, I am just throwing this in. RJ was trying some new 4wfs fins on the new SMED. The yellow fins were both loser, and drivier, but also, they looked b*tchen.
Here is a good shot that caught some of the steepness.
NOW for the regular side, for those non goofy riders. The reg side has no sign of the secondary lip, and is a clean face with a nice lip to launch from. There is more prop wash then normal, but the deck cleans some of that up. The trick will be to have a step that will keep some of the wash down, and yet not touch the wake.
This is the first time RJ has ever ridden backside.
Here is a shot of what the back of the boat looked like without the deck.
Now last, so you don't think there is any trick photography or what not, I made a quick video. One thing you will notice, is that even though the wake doesn't look as long as it did before in my previous setups, RJ was able to recover from just as far back. The wake being steeper and stronger he was able to recover from far back, and you can see that in the vid. Also, interesting, when we backed off the throttle, the wave actually came up the back of the boat. Never did that before. Combination of the height and steepness, plus no deck I think.
http://gallery.me.com/ragboy/100384
Let me know what you think.
2007 24Ve with 1100 lbs ballast, all hidden as far back as possible only on side of surf. Plus ~600 lbs of people on side of surf. Speed was 11.6 on both sides. I experimented from 10-13, this seemed best.
Before I post the pictures, a NOTE. This is something I only did ONCE, and don't intend to do again. In all the 100s of hours we have surfed, no one has EVER hit the swim deck, so I felt safe doing this, and I only had my son RJ surf, who has very good control when he is not trying new stuff. Also, we noticed that CO could be a hazard. RJ said with the step off you could def smell the exhaust, and even see it. So we only went for a couple of mins and stopped. We were only out for about 2hrs on the whole, and mostly moving weight around during that time.
Anyway, here are the pics, starting with goofy. The problem with my goofy wake before was that it was good, but it had that secondary lip that made the wave harder to launch of. I knew it would be better if I could list over more, but then the deck cut in. So with the deck off, the wake was STEEP, and even though you can see the line from the secondary lip, it is BARELY there, and RJ said you didn't feel it, you could launch all the way from the top of the wave. Also my new system will have a bit more weight, so I believe it will only be better.
RJ liked it, here he is telling me how much more steep it is.
Here you can still see the secondary lip line from the corner of the boat, but it has little to know effect, and I know I can lose it with a bit more weight.
You can see I now have the water up to my rub rail, but still not crazy. This wave is still made with what I would consider a recreational amount of weight. All of our weight was hidden, and I can reproduce this with a custom enzo type sac.
It took a bit to get used to, plus I told him to take it easy due to no step. That is why he is also wearing a helmet. He was def able to launch better, but was a bit spooked.
OK, I am just throwing this in. RJ was trying some new 4wfs fins on the new SMED. The yellow fins were both loser, and drivier, but also, they looked b*tchen.
Here is a good shot that caught some of the steepness.
NOW for the regular side, for those non goofy riders. The reg side has no sign of the secondary lip, and is a clean face with a nice lip to launch from. There is more prop wash then normal, but the deck cleans some of that up. The trick will be to have a step that will keep some of the wash down, and yet not touch the wake.
This is the first time RJ has ever ridden backside.
Here is a shot of what the back of the boat looked like without the deck.
Now last, so you don't think there is any trick photography or what not, I made a quick video. One thing you will notice, is that even though the wake doesn't look as long as it did before in my previous setups, RJ was able to recover from just as far back. The wake being steeper and stronger he was able to recover from far back, and you can see that in the vid. Also, interesting, when we backed off the throttle, the wave actually came up the back of the boat. Never did that before. Combination of the height and steepness, plus no deck I think.
http://gallery.me.com/ragboy/100384
Let me know what you think.
2007 24Ve with 1100 lbs ballast, all hidden as far back as possible only on side of surf. Plus ~600 lbs of people on side of surf. Speed was 11.6 on both sides. I experimented from 10-13, this seemed best.
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