Help me tune my wave for surfing

[Osric]

This year I bought the wake wedge from Gantlin Products and the custom fatsac. @jcyamaharider has provided excellent support throughout.

I struggled a bit with installing the brackets. For someone not handy with tools, the positioning of the holes is very demanding. I did it on my boat lift in my boathouse and I recommend if you're drilling these that you get your boat trailered or otherwise on very solid ground so it isn't bouncing around, and use split point 135 degree cobalt drill bits, with oil on them, to drill the holes in precisely the right location. In fact if I had it to do again, I would dispense with the template altogether and clamp the actual bracket in place, test fit the wedge to ensure the pins slide in easily and slide out easily, mark the holes, and then drill.

As it was, I drilled into the bracket with the boat on the lift and all my holes wound up in the wrong spots. I corrected the holes on the goofy side by clamping the wedge bracket in place and drilling through using the bracket itself as a guide, and even so I was off by enough that the wedge is at an angle that prevents the pin going through easily. For now I have put a washer between the bracket and the ladder bracket, but ultimately will probably drill the bracket out so that it can sit flush against the ladder bracket rather than sitting against the washer.

On the regular side, the hole wound up close enough to the ladder bracket's brace that I had to dremel off part of the bolt head to get it in, but the wedge fits fine and the pins go in fine after that.

So we finally got to try it out tonight for the first time. Here's the wave:



The setup was all on-board factory ballast filled simultaneously (meaning they're not as full as they can be filled, if you fill them one by one), fatsac pretty full, family of four on the port side, driver weighing in at about 200 lbs.

The wave looks OK to me but I'm no expert, and my son managed to surf ropeless for the first time on this wave, maintaining it for about 5-10 seconds before losing the pocket. We were traveling at about 18kph (12mph) with the boat at full throttle.

I'd love to make the wave longer and/or hear people's views on the right levels to fill the factory ballast to. I have a 2017 242X E-Series boat.

Thanks in advance!

 

[jcyamaharider]

@Osric there are a few 24ft boats setups in this thread

https://jetboaters.net/threads/show-us-your-wake-surfing-mods-comparo.22358/page-11#post-395263

Mainly just using the transom bag full and the center ski locker full. Most of us surf between 10 and 11 Mph. More weight isnt always the best. I would try this and report back.

Your wave doesnt look bad though.

 

[Osric]

Thanks @jcyamaharider ... I have tried to absorb that thread and I was planning to try port bag and center locker full next. I'll try just center plus transom bag, and then port bag full, and see if I can photograph the difference.

 

[swatski]

I'll try just center plus transom bag, and then port bag full, and see if I can photograph the difference.

How about trying the center locker (full) and transom bag (full, in the corner of the platform on the surf side) w/family - first? That works extremely well and reliably in the new 240/242 hull. With the WW. You can move "human ballast" to non-surf side if want an easier start, then move them back to the surf side to increase the list/roll once the speed is stabilized.

We were just out last night for a quick surfing session on our river, to show a local couple how we do it (Hi, Mike and Doria! if you are reading this). They have a 2019 242x and could not get it to work for surfing so far, which can be frustrating. We did that simple setup (CL, TB, WW, 10.7mph) and we had Kate surfing ropeless within minutes of us stopping at the cove for about half an hour (?) - until she could surf no more, lol.

---
I don't mean the next comment to be negative (please don't take it the wrong way!) but... I would not even think of attempting a precision drill in a SS bracket while hanging off a lift... I bet the templates are fine and suspect you would have no trouble drilling those bracket holes if done on dry land, as most of us do.

(small edit suggested: "surfing" in the thread title)

--

 

[jcyamahariders wife]

We did try the transom bag centered and full port bag last time because people wanted to center to reduce switching from regular to goofy. We noticed our boat 17 242X had a hard time coming up and the wave was definitely affected from it. The wake wedge works to it's full potential when the boat is listed to the surf side. I would definitely suggest fill that bag till it's full like smack it tight. Full locker, leave your port bag empty have 2 people sit on port side and stick 2 people on port up front. Play around see how your wave changes when people move. Maybe you might put 25% in starboard side. It's all a test game to see what wave you are trying to achieve. If your wave is to tall bump your speed up from 10.5 to maybe 10.8 or 11 ? Jerry and I surf at different speeds because I like a smaller wave with a longer pocket. He likes a taller wave. Happy surfing let us know if you need anything else !

 

[swatski]

^^^^right on!
The transom bag is the key, we fill ours HARD, and push it back, and into the corner.




With that, ski locker bag and the wedge we throw a wave that according to Kate (wife) competes with wake boats.

I use 10.7mph as a startign point, adjust as @jcyamahariders wife indicated, sometimes a tad faster for Kate if she wants a bigger surface to play. I also "massage" the wave with tiny adjustments of my trim tabs but not always.

--

 

[Osric]

I did try some experiments today but didn't keep close enough track of my photos. I'll try again tomorrow and post pics of the various attempts.

First off, I tried out just the transom bag, transom + center, and transom + center + port. All of these configurations look surfable but ultimately we went surfing with transom+center+port. Bearing in mind that we're rank beginners, we were pretty happy to have my son up for 30-40 seconds ropeless in somewhat choppy conditions.

@swatski I am not clear on why moving people around would make for an easier start. Can you spell it out for me? My son in particular struggled to give me good starts tonight -- none of the acceleration profiles seem to work well for us, slow being too slow and medium being too fast for me to get up on the board -- unlike with wakeboarding where it's set the settings and just hit it letting the boat do the work.

@swatski a second time -- wow your transom bag is practically hanging off the back of the boat. I will experiment with positioning, we are setting it up filled but fully on the seat, not hanging off the back of the platform.

As for critique of my drilling, no worries, I realize I'm incompetent with tools.

Looking forward to more attempts tomorrow!

 

[swatski]

I did try some experiments today but didn't keep close enough track of my photos. I'll try again tomorrow and post pics of the various attempts.

First off, I tried out just the transom bag, transom + center, and transom + center + port. All of these configurations look surfable but ultimately we went surfing with transom+center+port. Bearing in mind that we're rank beginners, we were pretty happy to have my son up for 30-40 seconds ropeless in somewhat choppy conditions.

@swatski I am not clear on why moving people around would make for an easier start. Can you spell it out for me? My son in particular struggled to give me good starts tonight -- none of the acceleration profiles seem to work well for us, slow being too slow and medium being too fast for me to get up on the board -- unlike with wakeboarding where it's set the settings and just hit it letting the boat do the work.

@swatski a second time -- wow your transom bag is practically hanging off the back of the boat. I will experiment with positioning, we are setting it up filled but fully on the seat, not hanging off the back of the platform.

As for critique of my drilling, no worries, I realize I'm incompetent with tools.

Looking forward to more attempts tomorrow!

The bag position being pushed far back on the swim platform just add more leverage, pushing the stern down and listing the boat more.
As far as starts, we like to punch the throttles pretty hard (for surfing). I doubt a cruise control/ramping profile would work well, and there may be some cavitation especially with the heavy list - the non-surf side pump may not be getting loaded efficiently as its intakes are pushed up. Moving the passengers (AKA human ballast) to the non-surf side and/or the front of the boat (temporarily) can help during those aggressive starts to stabilize the speed faster.

--

 

[Osric]

Well I had an easier time getting up today, though I couldn't find the pocket to go ropeless in spite of plenty of time trying. My son had some good trials, though he's convinced I need to turn left to give him the best wave ... I'm busy trying to convince him we're driving too fast (he tends to prefer close to 18kph = 11.2mph). For us the trick to starts seems to be go slowly until the board flips up for the rider, and then hit it on a medium profile on the connext e-series. Like I mentioned before, slow is too slow, and medium is too fast for us if we just hit it right away.

Thanks for the advice so far. It'll be next weekend before I get a chance to mess with surf setup again.

 

[Stevenpigsooie]

What I’m learning is you can easily chase your tail if you make too many changes at once. I have a 2016 ar240 and am using the wakebooster. I can surf ropeless with the transom bag centered on the swim deck but it’s a little more effort on the board. Our current best setup is transom bag full on surf side and center locker bag full. I can go ropeless all day with ease. If I feel like messing with a third bag I can get a taller wave with another bag on the surf side (or people weight). When we go out Friday I’ll try to get some more video, but here’s a picture from a couple weeks ago.

 

[sunbyrned]

I know this isn't what you're asking for. but it appears in the texts that you're having difficulty getting up. Heres a video I found describing four ways to get up on the board. I only knew about one way. The other three were new to me. Maybe these are things to consider.

 

[Osric]

I know this isn't what you're asking for. but it appears in the texts that you're having difficulty getting up. Heres a video I found describing four ways to get up on the board. I only knew about one way. The other three were new to me. Maybe these are things to consider.

Thanks! I've seen that video before but it's good to have the reminder. I can get up fine if the acceleration is right but struggle to get up if I'm going too fast before the board has flipped up. My challenge now seems to be finding the pocket.