Test drove/rode a Z3 last night - impressions and pics

[Timmy!]

Boat
Last night I had the pleasure of going out with Nick and Whitney from WWS in Denver and test driving and surfing behind a new Z3.
First impression - Wow! This boat is huge and the sculpted hull is amazing! I own an '07 RZ2 and I feel like it's a pretty big boat inside and out but once you step down into the Z3, you can't believe how big and deep it is compared to an RZ2. There are a lot of "deceiving" features on this boat but the first one is that it doesn't seem that big at first and that's because you sit so far down in and the seat cushions are so tall that it makes the interior look small for a second and then you look to the bow and realize that it's a good 18'-19' away from you when sitting down at the back of the boat.

[Timmy!]

Ride/Handling/Performance
I was expecting the handling to be less than that of my RZ2 but was shocked when Nick took us up to almost 46 mph and cranked the wheel as hard as he could. Yep, same Tige handling that my RZ2 has, spun right around like it should. Next we chopped up the lake pretty good and rode through it and the hull just absorbs the chop and the PCM 409 effortlessly propels the boat towards the mid 40's top speed. When I first started driving it, I thought the 409 lacked low end punch until I realized that this boat is a lot smoother than my '07 RZ2 and that we were already at 25 mph but it felt like 15. The Z3 yet again deceiving you. Even at 40+ mph, the boat feels solid, quiet and smooth. The Catanium PCM engines are a lot quieter than my old Marine Power 340hp engine in the RZ2.

Slow speed driving...this boat is ~24' long and as such it required a little more turning radius than my RZ2. My buddy almost ran Nick over because he was used to the turning radius of the RZ2

[Timmy!]

Surf Wave
This boat is equipped with the 1,600 lb surf ballast package. For the surf wave, Nick filled the front full, starboard side with 25% and port side with 100%. The wave looked great for a stock ballast boat! There is very little list on this boat, you don't even notice that the surf side is ready to go from inside the boat because it isn't leaning over hard to one side. You also don't have worry about dunking the nose when picking up the rider because the boat is leaning hard enough to worry about anything.

From inside the boat, the pocket looks like any other wave until you stand up and realize that it's actually about 6' longer than it looks due your seating position in the boat. Since you sit so deep in this boat, you can't see the transom due to the step down and point of reference is now lower thus making the wave look shorter.
Surfing the wave is awesome. I was blown away by the push and power that this wave has. With stock ballast and only 3 people in the boat, I was able to ride at the very back of the wave without even trying. One thing I had trouble with is that my natural tendency is to ride up closer to the boat where the real push of my RZ2's wave is and then I would fall back and think that I needed to move forward but I didn't! I would fall back and get out of my "comfort zone" because I was so far away from the boat only to realize that I was "on the brakes" 15' away and I was still being pulled forward. Never experienced that before.

"Surfing behind this boat is like cheating" - quote from my buddy who rode the "goofy" side wave. He said that because he felt like you could probably put a brand new rider on a cruizer board and they could stand there and just get pulled around the lake without even trying due to the push of the wave.

[Timmy!]

Wakeboarding Wake
Unfortunately, my wakeboard was about 60 miles away so I was not able to demo the wakeboarding wake. Even without ballast, the wake is clean and has a nice ramp to it. Passenger position didn't seem to affect the wake at all like it does on my boat. The TAPS really does adjust the wake too. Running at 23 mph with TAPS at 5 and no ballast, the wake looked bigger than my RZ2 while running some ballast. I should have brought my 12 year old daughter and had her wakeboard since she is our primary wakeboarder but I have a feeling that the wake might have scared her due to it being so much bigger than what she is used to. LOL

All in all, I'm sold! This boat is a step forward in wakesurfing, there's no doubt about it! From the deep seating, small list and the long pocket with incredible drive, it's definitely the boat that I would use as the standard on what a surf boat should be. I just need to figure out how to get my CFO (wife) to sign off on a new boat purchase! Go test drive one today!
Tim

[gwhite94]

Great review Timmy, While I did not surf behind the Z3 that Nick brought to the MHMG event. I did drive it, and was impressed. I felt it was very close in handling as my RZ4.

[Bruizza]

Awesome review! Still a bit bummed my fiancé wouldn't consider the Z3.

[Iwndr]

Nice Write Up Timmy so when can we expect you to be taking us out for a pull in your new Z3???

[NickWWS]

Thanks Tim

Thanks so much for the awesome write up Tim!

This boat is truly amazing and I am glad we got you in the boat finally!

Tige really hit a home run with this boat and I am very honored to be able to be around these boats everyday!

See you out on the water! TAPS UP!


Here is a picture of Whitney surfing in the 180 Mirror I took.

[Timmy!]

Nice Write Up Timmy so when can we expect you to be taking us out for a pull in your new Z3???

Spring?

[Duncan]

Great write up. Nice pics.

That is a beautiful boat

[John_S]

Awesome write up and great pics. I have Z3 with the same surf package and have been tweaking the wave each week. Speed at 11 TAPS on 5 seems to work well. What speed/TAPS were you riding on?

[Timmy!]

Awesome write up and great pics. I have Z3 with the same surf package and have been tweaking the wave each week. Speed at 11 TAPS on 5 seems to work well. What speed/TAPS were you riding on?

We wound up at 10.4 with taps at 5 I think.

[mls6722]

Great write up. The boat sounds spectacular. I look forward to part 2 covering wakeboarding.

[gwhite94]

Thanks so much for the awesome write up Tim!

This boat is truly amazing and I am glad we got you in the boat finally!

Tige really hit a home run with this boat and I am very honored to be able to be around these boats everyday!

See you out on the water! TAPS UP!


Here is a picture of Whitney surfing in the 180 Mirror I took.

Nick is this coming to the Reunion? Test drive Part 2...

[skippabcool]

Nice write up Timmy