water over the bow on a 21I

[spixley@autocrib.com]

When putting balast in the bow to stop the wake from washing, the nose is so low that I can't even cross my own wake with out taking water over the bow. Does anybody have any solutions to stop this from happening.

[scottie4421]

I have the same problem without any ballast. The 21i is notorious for this. You can't take a wake at idle head on. The first roller will be fine, but the bow will rise up and dip into the second roller sending a huge gulp of water over the bow (as you've already discovered).

I changed my driving habits to compensate. If the rider drops, immediately back off the throttle, let the boat slow down to a crawl or idle speed, make a hard right U-turn at idle speed, as hard as your boat will turn, then drive slowly back to your rider. You'll see that you don't drive back through your own wake, you drive inside of it....meaning the rollers will go past your turning axis. This is opposed to the classic wide arc'ing power turn which takes you outside your own wake, forcing you to cross it, which also sends huge rollers across your riding area.

If the problem is another boat's wake, hit the wake at a 45 degree angle or completely sideways. Or you can bump the throttle as you go up the wake. This takes some practice.....timing is everything. The first few times I tried it, I bumped the throttle too early. This caused the bow to rise up, then dip way way down into the next roller, which made the gulp of water over the bow worse than if I'd done nothing.

Try these out and pretty soon you'll stay dry 99% of the time.

Good Luck!

- Scott

[joe8395]

Good advice from Scott...I have a 21i as well and it just took some practice using the boat to keep from taking a roller over the bow.

[spixley@autocrib.com]

Thanks Scottie, I have been using the tight right turn method and it works fine %95 of the time. The big problem is when it is my turn to ride the wife, daughters, friends just don't get it. I come back to the boat with the speakers under water and the beer cans - t-shirts and towels floating around. Have you heard of any kind of a canvass cover or deflector for the bow area? That would keep the water out.

One other thing how do weight the boat to keep the wake from washing I use 360 pounds of lead in the front and about 250 pounds in the rear works great with 3 or 4 in the boat but not more!

[scottie4421]

I don't know of any covers for the bow, but that's a good idea.

There's some good info on this site about weighing your boat. Do a search and you should find some stuff. Check out wakeworld.com as well...they have a ton of info in their discussion area.

If you have TAPS, try a lower setting...maybe 5 or so. 7 makes the wake really tall and steep, so if you add any weight, the wake base can't support the peak....that's when you get the wash.

[Matt Garcia]

Originally posted by spixley@autocrib.com

One other thing how do weight the boat to keep the wake from washing I use 360 pounds of lead in the front and about 250 pounds in the rear works great with 3 or 4 in the boat but not more!

Check out this thread, http://www.tigeowners.com/forum/show...5&pagenumber=3

this is jeffros setup:

500# in bow walkway (as far forward as possible)
350# on each side of motor
500# in rear gullwing storage area

[spixley@autocrib.com]

Matt

You can't put 500 pounds in the front of a 2000 21I the nose is so low, if you come off plane the nose drops under the water line, in flat water and starts to sink. I know because I tried this, I was the only one in the boat so I had to hit the beach on plane to keep from sinking. Very Embarassing! My buddies still give me crap about that one!

Thanks for the suggestion though.

[Paublo]

My first Tige was a 2001 21i (old style) and I know what you are talking about. I had pretty good luck with 600# in the front walk-way and 600# between the motor and the back seat. The front bag started at the pylon. I found that with the extra weight in the back there was actually less nose dip when weighted than unweighted.

I also tried more weight and it didn't seem to help- like it was maxed out. I tried the 2-600# bags on each side of the engine as far forward as possible, but didn't like that quit as much. My only complaint with the boat was I couldn't stop the boat with two people in front without water coming in. But the problem was minimized when weighted down.

[Ponyh8r]

Have they fixed the bow wash problem in the newer 21I? I have a 04' that is new and I haven't used it yet. I am wondering if I will have this same problem?

Thanks

[lee]

Ponyh8r,


You have the new 21i design and should not have a problem.

[kskjbuzz]

Yes you will stil have the problem. Until you or whoever drives learns to drive the nose stil dives when the boat is unweighted. Can't say what an 04 21 i does weighted. But my wife like to fill her up.

[Flying Tiger]

We found just motoring thru the approaching wake cures the problem

[Tige M.D.]

wasn't the original question, how do you keep water from splashing over the bow when you have ballast "in the bow"? i have an idea on how to remedy this but i don't want to sound like a smartass. well, i'll say it anyway, take out the ballast in the bow which problem is worse, the water in the bow or the washout in the wake. i'm sure there is a happy medium.

[jeffro]

03 and up 21i's wont have the same problem as the older tiges with ballast.

#1. Yes you will have to drive a certain way when you have 500#s in the nose. That's usaully, turning SLOW, and watching the rollers. power turns = bad. Come off the throttle, let the rollers pass, turn, pick up rider. easy, works everytime if you pay attention.

#2. if you have your ballast distributed properly water over the bow will be less of a problem.

i have an 03 21, we run 500+ in the nose, 700+ in the gullwing, and 250's on each side of the motor. I rarely get water over the bow, (mostly due to someone elses rollers at the wrong place wrong time), but like i said if you pay attention to the rolloers and boats around you, water over the bow is not much of an issue.

#3. dont be afraid to teach others how to do it! there is no rush, keep that water calm so everyone can enjoy a good pull.

[DanB]

How is the boat unweighted (re: water over the bow)? Haven't seen a lot of pix of 21i's in the water. Do they run real low? I'm picking up a used 21iR, and am concerned about kids in the bow. If I can learn to avoid the issue that's fine. But what if you're sitting there eating lunch, and someone else's big wake comes barreling in?