What to buy for wake surfing???

[Michael Kay]

With all the new wake surf inventions coming out I'm confused as to which would be best to buy. I would love to get advice from those who have experience at this. I currently have a 2011 242 LS with no ballast. Our family would like to be able to surf. I looked at the videos of the Wake Booster and it looks interesting and easy, but not sure if it produces a clean wake. Then there's the new Thrust Vector Wake tabs, but outside of the intro video we haven't seen anything on what type of wake they would produce. I've been poking around in the forums and have noticed that a lot of people like the Wake Wedge from Gantlin, but it appears to be a pain to move from side to side.

I would like to pull the trigger in time for boating season this year, but I don't know which direction to go.

Anyone have a recommendation on the best pick?

 

[Julian]

Has your family tried surfing? If so, have you determined if you have goofy and regular surfer mixes? (IE surfers predisposed to surfing one side or the other). Makes a difference in what you might choose.

Wake booster still isn't in the field yet...so time will tell if it works well, same for Wake tabs.

The only currently fielded solution is the Wake Wedge. It works.

But no matter what you do, you will need ballast with any of these solutions to create a big enough wave to surf ropeless. So you might want to start on that front while these other solutions start to roll out.

 

[Michael Kay]

Has your family tried surfing? If so, have you determined if you have goofy and regular surfer mixes? (IE surfers predisposed to surfing one side or the other). Makes a difference in what you might choose.

Wake booster still isn't in the field yet...so time will tell if it works well, same for Wake tabs.

The only currently fielded solution is the Wake Wedge. It works.

But no matter what you do, you will need ballast with any of these solutions to create a big enough wave to surf ropeless. So you might want to start on that front while these other solutions start to roll out.

Yes, we all surf. Our good friends own a Mastercraft so we've been doing it for a few years. My wife and kids are all regular, but I'm goofy footed so being able to switch sides is important.

Re: ballast I saw that Gantlin has a custom bag for the swim platform. It looks interesting, but I don't know if that would be enough ballast to surf.

 

[Julian]

Depends on how many friends (aka ballast) you have! That bag is on my list of items to get!

 

[swatski]

Yes, we all surf. Our good friends own a Mastercraft so we've been doing it for a few years. My wife and kids are all regular, but I'm goofy footed so being able to switch sides is important.

Re: ballast I saw that Gantlin has a custom bag for the swim platform. It looks interesting, but I don't know if that would be enough ballast to surf.

Here is what you need to get a decent, surfable wake:
I would start with 1. the Gatlin custom swim deck ballast bag (the "tiered" Fatsac, ~800lbs?), 2. Gatlin Wake Wedge, and 3. a large (up to 800lbs) long bag for the center locker, in that order.

After that there is plenty of fine tuning to be done, but those 3 things are the core surf mods, IMO, in those boats as far as we know.

Some kind of speed control is also super helpful. The @Ridesteady is the king, but Perfect Pass works, too. The factory OEM "Cruise Assist" is RPM based, not great for wake sports.

And here is @jcyamaharider, tuning our 2016 AR240 wake:


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[swatski]

Here is a Mastercraft friend of ours, who was... quite impressed.

 

[Scottintexas]

If you want to surf this summer, buy the wedge and bags, it's proven, to many unknowns about other products,

Changing the wedge from side to side will be as much as a pain as moving the ballast bag,

Do you normally go on Grapevine or Lewisville? what ramp?

 

[Michael Kay]

If you want to surf this summer, buy the wedge and bags, it's proven, to many unknowns about other products,

Changing the wedge from side to side will be as much as a pain as moving the ballast bag,

Do you normally go on Grapevine or Lewisville? what ramp?

We live very close to Grapevine so that is our "go to" on weekdays and Friday nights (fireworks). We usually launch at Twin Coves Park. Occasionally we'll go to Lewisville. We launch from Pilot Knoll.

 

[IndySmittyYammi]

With all the new wake surf inventions coming out I'm confused as to which would be best to buy. I would love to get advice from those who have experience at this. I currently have a 2011 242 LS with no ballast. Our family would like to be able to surf. I looked at the videos of the Wake Booster and it looks interesting and easy, but not sure if it produces a clean wake. Then there's the new Thrust Vector Wake tabs, but outside of the intro video we haven't seen anything on what type of wake they would produce. I've been poking around in the forums and have noticed that a lot of people like the Wake Wedge from Gantlin, but it appears to be a pain to move from side to side.

I would like to pull the trigger in time for boating season this year, but I don't know which direction to go.

Anyone have a recommendation on the best pick?

I was planning to add the Gatlin wake wedge, but my dealer convinced me to wait for the WakeBooster. He’s confident it will be the best option on the market. Time will tell, but everything about the WakeBooster looks appealing to me. My wife loves the look of the board that comes with the package, so that makes my life a little easier too

My wife also says the Gatlin wake wedge is a non-starter for her. She can’t get over the idea of seeing it coming off the back of the boat when we’re all tied up swimming back there. She’ll just have to deal with it if the WakeBooster isn’t as good as advertised, but for right now I’m planning on going with:

Jetboat Pilot Thrust Vector Wake + Yamaha WakeBooster + Gatlin transom bag. Hopefully that makes for an easy, fun setup.

 

[BigAbe75]

Btw, I got a Yamaha Accessories booklet at the boat show, and it sure looks to me like the surf board is sold individually.

I may remember @swatski had interest in the board itself?

Isn’t this it?

 

[swatski]

Btw, I got a Yamaha Accessories booklet at the boat show, and it sure looks to me like the surf board is sold individually.

I may remember @swatski had interest in the board itself?

Isn’t this it?
View attachment 88183

Yep, that's it. I could not get any information on this from any Yamaha dealers, reps or wake pros at the show.
Based on a lot of discusion with a Fatsac pro, Jeremy Baker (@jcyamaharider - Jeremy says hello! lol) and other considerations (we buy from them every year at deep discounts), we decided to go with something hopefully similar or better? - we will see.


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[J-RAD]

I think you're getting great information here on setup. The transom and ski locker ballast are going to give you the displacement you need for a decent size wake. I think that's going to be a requirement no matter what is chosen for the shaping device. From the evidence I've seen on the available or soon to be available devices, I see the wake wedge still being the one to provide the best results. I'd rank the Wake Booster as 2nd and the Wake Vectors 3rd.

I think both @swatski and @jcyamaharider have shown wakes that speak for themselves. There is good evidence demonstrating that with stock ballast and the Booster its good enough for a amateur to surf ropeless. While the evidence for the Wake Vectors amounts to very little at this point. The one scenario I think we are waiting to see is what the Booster will do with a transom ballast bag...

Here's where you have to make the complicated decision. Based on your circumstances and the evidence I'm going to narrow it down to 2 choices for you. 1 - the universal wake wedge or 2 - the wake booster. My guess is the Wake Booster might be the easiest to swap... but the results on the Wedge are hard to dispute.

As for the Yamaha/ Slingshot Cruiser board it is available separately. It can be purchased from Yamaha
Product Details
Or minus the Yamaha branding thru Slingshot
2019 Coaster | Slingshot Sports

P.S. They'll be a group buy and Slingshot products in a couple of weeks.

 

[RiverRatSx210]

I had three guys go ropeless with no ballast bags and no wedge.. wave was crap, but we had 14 ppl in the boat. Slow and wide turn and it was enough to ditch the rope.

I am going to be picking up the wedge and a swim deck bag. And probably run another 750 in the bow or on surf side seat.

But it is totally doable with out any of that if you have ppl in the boat!

 

[biffdotorg]

To help answer the original posters question, the Wakebooster is not an option for those of us that have a 2011 242LS correct? That was his question, and from what I have found, those are designed only for the newer boats with the tiedown loop in a different position.

That was my biggest reason for not waiting and ordering the TV Wake

 

[J-RAD]

To help answer the original posters question, the Wakebooster is not an option for those of us that have a 2011 242LS correct? That was his question, and from what I have found, those are designed only for the newer boats with the tiedown loop in a different position.

That was my biggest reason for not waiting and ordering the TV Wake

In that case. @Michael Kay, @jcyamaharider has got your Wake Wedge and ballast, and I've got your board.

Wakesurf Boards | Transom Watersports

No matter what boat you have we have a wakesurf board that can surf both large wakes and small wakes. Beginner to advanced riders. Let the fun begin with Transom Watersports.

www.transomwatersports.com

Use code jetboaters5 to get the best price.

 

[biffdotorg]

TV Wake on order and just placed the order for the Custom Transom bag. The steel shot was an option, but just too much more money than the custom bag. This may allow me the best bang for the buck.

Since we surf both sides as well, Universal wedge was just over the budget. Thus, TV wake with discount and trade was the best choice for now. Already had a Supa Tsunami pump, Surf rope and our Inland Surfer Blue lake is working so far for this fat kid. We should be set.

Of course this is a never ending process of adding and fine tuning.

 

[J-RAD]

I didn't mean to discredit the TV Wake as a viable option either. It's nice to have multiple options we do now to choose from. I genuinely hope your setup prove successful for you @biffdotorg.

 

[biffdotorg]

I didn't mean to discredit the TV Wake as a viable option either. It's nice to have multiple options we do now to choose from. I genuinely hope your setup prove successful for you @biffdotorg.

Oh no issues as all. I think it's great having options. As some of these add ons will work better than others. I think it's cool that we can do this in stages based on budget etc. And there will be others like me that can't sling so much at a sport that we are still unsure if everyone will enjoy. I look at it more of buying options that I know I can liquidate if we don't care to continue with the sport. And there will always be buyers for these items.

Honestly, we have had fun rope surfing with zero ballast or wedge. So any little upgrades that we can add will be a bonus. It's all still pretty ghetto compared to a V-drive. But I want to put my next $250K into our next lake home and not a boat I can only use 4 months/year. So ghetto surfing it is!

 

[CarFanatic]

Get a good buoyant board and some ballast. All you need.