2012 Tige Z3

[capt_ice]

Recently purchased a 2012 Z3. The dealership we purchased from informed us this boat is not made for surfing. This was something we didn't really believe as we can find many youtube videos showing us various surfable wake settings. We have four ballast bags totalling 1200 lbs, and the surf shapping plate located under the swim deck. Excited to see what this setup will throw out.

Any ideas here or feedback?

[BurnMac42]

What your salesman probably meant when he/she said it wasn't a "surf" boat is that it doesn't have the modern surf systems that newer boats employ (for Tige it's 3 tabs under the boat hence Taps3 or GSA).

Get with Chp on here and he probably has bigger custom bags built for the Z3. Also look into lead if you want to max the wave. The Taps plate you have right now isn't the same Taps3 or GSA plates the new boats have on them. A 2012 has what's called Taps2 which basically planes the boat out. It's used a little bit to fine tune a wave but it's not a surf tab. If you want to go crazy and turn your boat into a modern Z3 look into the GSA system. Same tabs Tige is now using on the 2020's.

I don't have any experience with them but I've read a lot of people have success with the suction plates that go on the side of the boat. It's either one of those or list the crap out of the boat and enjoy!!

[sandm]

you will need more weight. a LOT more weight. wave with factory ballast is underwhelming to say the least.
we run an enzo sac in the rear on each side along with the hard tank under the floor along with 500lbs of lead in the back. front is factory. z3's don't need a lot of nose weight.
with a small crew of 3 or 4 this is an ok wave. really need 500lbs more. with 7 or 8 the wave is money.
I actually prefer the wave listed and it is less weight in the boat so the assumption is it'll burn less fuel this way. we have a suckgate and wave is good that way as well. fortunately most of our riders we have ever had out are regular not goofy so most of the time we list the boat.

taps at 3 for a smaller skim wave and 4 if surf style. 11.2-11.6mph.
we also tie up the surf rope to the cutouts in each side of the tower vs the center. it's much easier to pull up noobs that way as it forces them to the side of the boat not the center.

good luck and enjoy..

[jfryer@illumiti.com]

Hello - I also just bought a 2012 Z3. I have the large factory ballast bags plus another 400 lbs in external fat sacks plus a Mission Delta wake shaper. I upgraded from a Mastercraft X14 and the X14 with the Mission Delta produced a firmer wake than the Z3 does currently. Any ideas on how I can get more push from the Z3 wake? Thank you very much.

[Bamer]

The Z3 needs 4000lbs of ballast. I currently have 3000lbs of water and 900lbs of lead. I get a great wave with just my wife, 7yr old and 3yr old in the boat.

Any weight on top of the 4000 above just make the wave better n bettet


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[capt_ice]

Yup, I just added an extra 1100 lbs of lead to along with the stock ballast setup. Can anyone tell me how much water weight I have in the 2012 z3. It has the two rear bags, and the front two bags. The bags do not go all the way up inside the side bench seats. Regardless, with the Mission Delta 2.0 and the extra 20+ lbs of lead we have a completely sick wake.

[KonaKing]

I believe the SURF XL comes in at 3500LBS so i would guess from what your saying about your bags its not the XL so you're probably around 2500 LBS of ballast for that year with stock ballast

[capt_ice]

Thanks , KonaKing that is what I am assuming as well. With the extra lead we have seriously awesome push from way way back! Hoping that @jfryer@illumiti.co has his z3 all dialed in by now. We did break 3 paddlewheels due to setup on the bunks from our lift, so we did just purchase this: https://www.nauticlaugic.com/nl4-sr_2020_packages.html excited to see how the setup goes.

[hendutx]

Hi capt_ice and jfryer@illumiti.co, I am looking at a 2012 Z3 (325hrs) and wondering how you like it. Any issues, complaints, or things to watch out for? No one in my family has wake surfed before so I think we'll probably be happy with whatever the default is initially.