AR210 Wake surfing

[SGray4729]

First post! Getting ready to buy 2010 AR210. I know it is not a wake surfing boat but plan on buying the Wedge and an external swim deck ballast. Does anyone have any additional tips to get the best wake? I have read a lot but figured someone has done this and may be able to save me time on finding the best set up. Thanks

 

[gmb501]

Please let us know how it goes and post pics. I’ve been curious why the wedge won’t work on the older 21 foot boats. From looking at the wedge it looks like it would fit.

 

[PJ73]

So you'll need some external ballast of course. If someone tells you you're underpowered, they're full of it, you'll be fine. Those 1.0L will get you to where you need to be. The thrust vector wakes with the ladder deflector work great to minimize spray, but really, it's not that bad at such a slow speed for surfing. However, I do like them for tubing, skiing and low speed steering. Anyway, It's going to be trial and error for your boat, they all act a bit different, not much but you'll get there. I have all the "fancy stuff" plus the Yamaha wake wedge. I posted a video of us trying to surf last year for the first time. Also, I have a couple other vids on storage ideas. Take a look. I'll also be posting more vids this summer as we dial it in.

 

[J-RAD]

Please let us know how it goes and post pics. I’ve been curious why the wedge won’t work on the older 21 foot boats. From looking at the wedge it looks like it would fit.

I think there's a need to make a clarification here. It is only the Yamaha WakeBooster that will not fit the older models. The "Wake Wedge" for Yamaha boasts is a different wake shaping device all together. It was developed by Gantlin Products (@jcyamaharider) and will fit models all the way back to 2004. Frankly, it's has a pretty solid reputation as producing the best/cleanest wave of any of the shapers currently available for the Yamaha's.

 

[marcham]

Look at the Yamaha Surf School video

 

[BigAbe75]

Please let us know how it goes and post pics. I’ve been curious why the wedge won’t work on the older 21 foot boats. From looking at the wedge it looks like it would fit.

There is a WakeWedge that will fit your boat. I used it on my ‘11 SX210 with success.

The Yamaha Wake Booster will not, though. Hull shape and tie down locations are a bit different compared to newer years.

 

[J-RAD]

Look at the Yamaha Surf School video

The waves to look impressive, but take a close look at the amount of weight they're recommending on the swim deck. 1000lbs of lead weight on the swim deck 400lbs surf side in the factory ballast and an extra 200lbs on the seat. Then hardly anything in the bow. You'd never be able to plane in a 210... the amount of bow rise is pretty dramatic.

I'm not intending to badmouth anyone's product. If you've seen me post about Yamaha surf devices around the forum it's clear I have my favorite, and I'm bias because I utilize the wake wedge personally. I'm simply offering some objective criticism here.

With the Gantlin system on my AR240, it's 850lbs (750lbs for the 21ft) in the swim deck bag, 200--300lbs under seat and 700-900 in the ski locker. The boat, I think runs far more level and produces just as clean a wave. Running more eight in the bow helps the boat reach plane easier and lengthens the wave. This was over the weekend. Mind you we were only running in 12-14ft of water.

 

[RightStuff]

I have a 2013 AR210, but my model year has a different hull so take that for what it's worth... There is no "perfect" setup, and it does take some tweaking/experimenting to find what works and has a low hassle factor for setting up and getting on the rope.

Current setup:
~1400 lbs between 2 bags. I have an 800 lb bag in the back rear compartment and set it up as far back in that compartment as I can before filling it. My other bag (600 lb) gets strapped down on the top step of the swim platform. In the end this dips the corner of swim platform a few inches under water. The 2010's platform isn't as close to the water, so might not be possible to submerge that corner, but the key (I've found) is to get weight positioned to dip the surf-side's back corner as much as possible. I don't run weight up front, but usually have people, gear, etc. up there so that helps with bow weight for me. Up until this year, I have run off-set throttles by 1k-1.5k RPM, lowered on the surf side. That has cleaned up the face a bit for me with my setup.

Improvements:
- Installed Ridesteady last weekend for speed control
- Wake Wedge for wave cleanup
- Lead/steel bags, sort of thinking about running 100-200 lbs somewhere just to tweak things as needed

In the end I know my wave is not going to compare to a dedicated wake boat's, but with a small investment it's paid off and we have fun with it.