Taps or no Taps

[tony dunn jr.]

I have never wakesurfed or pulled a wakesurfer so I am not sure what the wake should look like but with my 22 ve it seems like the wake at 10 mph was cleaner and fuller without the taps at on. Does that make any sense? Also what is the best speed and do you guys use a separate rope for surfing or tie a knot in you wakeboarding rope? I had no ballast and just my wife and I in the boat.

[CP3]

I all depends on how the wake looks. I have found that with more weight it is better up. But like you with no weight it is better down.

[Gschmidt1]

I really like the wake with taps at or around 6-7. Full on it gets a bit of a curly...

[Paublo]

I understand that the 22VE hull is a little different from the 22V, but depending on the ballast added, I set the TAPS from 1 to 4 for the best wakesurf wake. Speed is between 10 and 10.5.

[Matt Garcia]

In my experience on 22s is that we set most of the ballast on either side you are surfing, typically about 600-800 in the rear and another 200-300 up front, taps set around 5 or 6 and speed at 11.5 or 12. That makes for a really good wave.

[Tequilasun]

Matts got it!

We don't have quite that much weight in our boat though and it seems to throw a great wake.

[tony dunn jr.]

I was thinking no ballast! Am I crazy?

[Boarder_X]

Tony,

You will want some ballast. Unless you don't have any, then just use what the boat weighs. The more weight, the better. A beginner wakeboarder may or may not want a big wake. For surfing, you want the biggest possible, because it makes it easier. Not big enough, you have to hold onto the rope the whole time, and it's hard to get a good cut in.

[dogbert]

Originally posted by tony dunn jr.
I was thinking no ballast! Am I crazy?

No ballast is ok, but you do want to weigh down the side of the boat you're surfing on. Check out my gallery and you'll see my son wake surfing behind a 2006 22 Ve prototype. We had no ballast and 3 big guys on the side he was surfing on. The wake was pretty impressive.

[Tequilasun]

Tony,

We don't own any ballast bags.

Typically we use the "big guy" theory. Make the smallest person drive, everyone else on the the passenger side. Works really well for us.

We usually have about 800lbs of "big guy" ballast in the boat to move around.

However, there is another Tige owner on our lake who lets us borrow his bags from time to time, and that makes it just that much better.

[dogbert]

We use about 1500 lbs of ballast plus the big guys...the wake is really impressive.

[NICKYPOO]

I rock a D-Drive so I weight evenly side to side and front to back and set the Taps at full wake. 1000 lbs. in all. A couple of factors here though.

1) Obviously D-Drive. I've found equal weight front to back and Taps maxed out gives me the biggest wake.

2) We are pretty split on who rides what side. We use people to compensate.

3) I try to keep the weight even side to side for myself as I like to ride both sides so I'm more focused on having both sides big and clean rather than one side huge and the other washed out.

4) Older Taps with less "throw" than the newer ones.

Theoreticly, the more weight you put in back the taller in height and shorter in length the wake will get. Conversely, the more weight you put up front the shorter in height but longer in length the wake will get.

[dogbert]

That's what I've found on my boat (v-drive) as well. When I talked to the guys at the Ski Dock, they said they had the same experiences. Even weight for both wakeboarding and surfing.

I have a 150lb moveable launch pad and I'm thinking of getting another for the times when we're light on people.

[NICKYPOO]

Originally posted by tweirich
I have a 150lb moveable launch pad and I'm thinking of getting another for the times when we're light on people.

Brings new meaning to the term "Go buy a friend" doesn't it.

[dogbert]

Hmm, there's an idea, how 'bout inflating those inflatable dolls with water?