Surfing behind 20V

[jmitchell]

For those that have or have ridden behind a 20V without ballast, how does it perform for wakesurfing?

How much better is the surfing behind a 22VE without ballast?

[Iwndr]

There is a nice looking 06 20V on the eBay thread with no reserve.
Don't know about the wake but there are a lot of 20V owners here and one will speak up

[ajholt7]

I have never surfed the 22VE to compare but the 20V is very surfable. Here is a thread showing a good surf wave from a 20V. http://www.tigeowners.com/forum/showthread.php?t=12921

[radicks]

I've got an 03 20v. I'm able to surf behind it with the red woody. The blue lake was a little difficult. That's with no weight in the boat. Only wife and kids so about 200lbs. Although I had a good time, I'm looking forward to put some ballast in this year

[jbort]

Our experience has been surfing on 22Ve w no ballast is kinda lousy unless lots of people are onboard to act as ballast. Last yr we would use 500-1000 lbs of ballast plus people. This yr expanding to 1000-1500 lbs via custom ballast plus one manual bag as fallback when fewer folks are onboard. Also depends on size of the surfer and board too. I'm big guy and need bigger wave so thats a factor. In general I have observed in other posts on this forum that larger boats need more ballast because of larger hull size although I have never seen 20v wave or surfed. hope this helps.

[embo]

For those that have or have ridden behind a 20V without ballast, how does it perform for wakesurfing?

How much better is the surfing behind a 22VE without ballast?

A 20V is great for surfing but I would definetly have ballast. I think the wave would be really weak with out it. But a buddy let us learn behind there 20v and it was absolutely great. If you are looking at a 20v vs 22ve the size of the boat in reference to how many peeps you are going to have and all that is (imo) the real question. If you have a need for a bigger boat then that is the boat for you. But if the 20v will do as far as size than you will be happy with it for sure. When we looked at which boat to get we were considering what size for what we were expecting to have on board the boat...not the wave. I suspect there is a little difference but definetely nothing to keep this family from a 20v.

Again, just my opinion. Good luck.

[chpthril]

The only non-ballasted boat ive surfed that had a great wake was the 52ft Cruisers Yacht we took out a few years back. Everything else will need ballast in order to produce an enjoyable wake. Surfable, yes, but you gotta work at it and its not fun for a beginner

[jmitchell]

Thanks for the insight guys. We are getting closer as more boats come out of winterization. Sounds like ballast or a couple of "big boy" friends is the answer. And coming from a 19' boat, we are prob not gaining much going to a 20v in terms of seating capacity but obviously price wise the 20v is easier to swallow. Thanks again for all the help here guys....this site really is great!!!!!

[butch]

The 20v is a great all around boat, you won't regret buying it. We regularly surf with no ballast other than people and while we probably don't get a long wave like some you will see here it's good enough for us with no visions of going "pro". I use a inland blue lake and would recomend it as well.

[sagmanaur]

I have an 04' 20V, and it is surfable with minimal ballast, but a LOT more fun when you add some weight.
I currently have 2 Fly High V-drive sacs, 1 on each side, and fill the one we are surfing on. This is about 400 lbs. When we switch over to the other side, I simply empty the 1 bag into the other bag on the other side. The only time we use more is when we are limited on people ballast on board, and sometimes put the 2nd bag in the "cabin" of the boat (either up front or on the side seating).
I also use what we call our "ghetto" ballast. This was our original ballast system and cleans up the face of the wake tremendously. It is simply a 20 gallon plastic container that we fill and set it on our swim deck, strapped to the transom supports. It also makes a great place to store all the wet jackets, rope and such when you are done surfing.

Enjoy!

[jbort]

what kind of container? got any pics?

[jmitchell]

How would the surfing be behing a Z1? Or in comparison to a 20V or 22VE?

[sagmanaur]

jbort,
I will try to post a pic, but it is just a plastic "tote" type container that holds about 20 gallons (roughly 160 lbs) that I attach to the back of the boat on the swim deck. It fills really fast (dip it in the river and fill to the top using it's lid), and slides from side to side in a few seconds. It is pretty crazy how much it cleans up our wake face.
If you think about the weight out over the swim deck it is probably creating twice it's weight in downward force vs. ballast in the locker.

[duffymahoney]

I do the exact same thing with a fatbrick fat sac. Weights 155. It's makes the wave so much better. Having weight in the very back corner is huge.

[skindog44]

need as much weight in the locker as possible and crank up the taps to get push. Many opinions vary, but speed is everything, put it at 9.8 for a steep wave that gives good push. Set the taps at 8 for heavier surfers.
The long wave with less push( looks cleaner), simply back the taps back to 3-4. This allows for a deeper pocket but the wave have much less height and push.
For riders over 200 lbs, the steeper the wave the better cause you need the push. Under, you can catch up with the deeper pocket and don't need as much wave height.
Anybody going over 10.5 mph while surfing needs to slow down and enjoy the wave.