Cleaning up the wake

[jmstige]

Hi,

I've had a 2001 v2300 boat and I have a question about the wake...Most of the time we have no problem getting a NICE ramp on the driver side of the boat - but most of the time, the passenger side is totally washed out.

We often have 2-3 people out to go boarding during the week - but it just depends on the weekends - could be 3 could be 10.

I just can quite figure it out - there are certain conditions (like a full boat) where we get both sides looking real good - we try different things, like more people up front, more people to one side, etc.

A buddy of mine gave me 6 - 75lb Lead Head weights that we have in the boat - we have tried playing around with the placement of these too.

Are there any general "Rules of Thumb" that will help me get the passenger side cleaned up more consistently? The weights are a pretty good pain to move around - so I'm curious about opinions as to where they should live?

Any help would be appreciated.

[chpthril]

Are you changing the TAPS plate position along with the weight movement?

[dogbert]

chpthril makes a good point. While your TAPS clearly has wakeboard and ski settings, I almost never go by those.

That said, we do try and balance the weight in the boat. On a V-Drive, you want at least a 50/50 weight ratio between front and back and sometimes we'll go 60/40 (front/back). You definitely want to balance the boat side-to-side. By weight, I mean both people and any ballast.

Just as important is the speed you're going and the length of the rope. You want to clean the wake up at the point the rider will cross it. This means different TAPS adjustments at different speeds and rope lengths.

Most of the time, when we're starting people out, we shorten the rope by about 10' or so (to 65').

If your wake is washing out, you've got the TAPS up too high, try lowering it a bit. This will push the convex V-hull down into the water and create a rampier wake that doesn't fall over like it is now.

If you have some pics, that might help us figure it out.

[jmstige]

I will take some pics and post them - but yes, we play with the TAPS and mess with the speed along with trying to figure the weight placement

Normally - we have the TAPS set to about 2

The deal is - with the boat balanced as much as we can (1 driver/1 passenger) - the passenger side will be washed out considerably

Today looks like a good day - we are planning on getting some time on the water, so I'll be sure to take a camera.

Thanks for the help!