Surfing behind 22Ve

[Deckerdawg]

I just bought a 2007 22Ve with no factory ballasts... Will I need to add ballasts to get a decent surf wake? Or any surf wake at all? Thanks.

[jbort]

Deckerdawg:

Congrats and welcome to lots o fun.

We have 07 22Ve with factory ballast and factory ballast was not enough. For surfing we don't fill the front much at all -its all in stern-port side. You will get lots of advice here - just give it some time for folks to chime in. Saw your earlier posts. Is this your first boat? First
Tige?

We added a fatsac and high speed pump for about $250 or so and it works great although filled manually. Items obtained thru Chpthril (Mike) and he's a super guy-kowns his stuff. I'm certainly no expert and still learning lots but i'm pretty sure you will need a good amount of ballast to get a good sized wake. It helps to know weight/size of the surfer to scale the wake size - in other words smaller folks can get by with smaller wakes where as big guys like me (250lbs) need bigger wake.

Here's the wife with our setup as fyi. We r dumping the ski rope for other rope setup for safety.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZboBKhs-mTs

JB

[chpthril]

Although the 22Ve is surfable with no ballast, it's hard work, and a struggle for beginners. We found that 600 lbs will produce a nice decent wake. Add a few peeps and it really gets big and the pocket lengthens. When it was just 2 of us we would fill two 400 lb'rs in the locker (about 600+) and then another 400 in the seat. When we had other, we used just the 2 sacs in the locker.

We have a custom sac designed specifically for the RZ2/22Ve that will hold roughly 1000 lbs. I am also doing a pair of custom cubes for Kerlee right now. They will hold about 600 lbs, and will fill the v-drive locker without taking up any under seat storage like the larger sac. This sac will be in addition to his 250 lb factory in-floor tank.

At this point, i have not heard any that has found what "too much" is for a Tige. I guess it gets to a point where the wake just stops improving, but i'm betting it's 2500+

[murphini]

Echo that...

I have a 07 24ve, just purchased Jabsco pumps and ballast bags from chptril (Mike-who just posted) You won't find a more knowledgable guy than him--give him a call/pm/email. I hired a local guy here in KC who does ballast installations, wires up switches, etc. The work will be done probably next few weeks or so.

Last 2 summers we had the 2 400# sacs that I'd fill manually; it worked, but everything had to be just right. AND, I have 2 kids, 1 goofy and 1 regular so switching the bags from port to starbord was a real pain. I'll update you when I get it in the water.

You'll love the 22ve

[Ptown]

Automatic ballast is always going to be the most convenient way to go, but obviously is much more expensive.

As far as weight goes, similar to what others said, you are going to want to fill the entire rear locker with sacs.

Ideally, you would want a plumbed and wired custom sac that chpthril talked about on each side. If that is too expensive, you could get something like the 900lb sumo sac by straightline and manually pump it everytime.

[3mk]

dude just try it first you be suprised i dont use ballast just taps at about 6 and maybe 8mph

[laserfish]

We have an older 21v and surf with no ballast. We just use friends as all of our spare cash is spent on gas. If you can afford it, go for it as it will make a difference in the length of the surfable wake. With no ballast, you have to just stay closer to the boat and the wave is not as clean, but it can be done and your family will have a blast experimenting with it.

[ImaPigDog]

Following is a photo of our 22Ve with the factory ballast plus one W707 (750 lbs.) in the port locker. Since it is not an exact fit, we do not fill the sac completely but estimate that we are well over 600+ pounds plus the 250 hard tank below that.


The photo is not the best for showing the wake but you should be able to get the idea. This is ChpThril in action.