New member, New (to me) boat

[goridedoo]

Been lurking in many of the wake forums for months now, and have been shopping for a boat for 8+ months, and finally found the right boat at the right time. I am a first time boat owner, have never even drove a boat, wakeboarded twice and never surfed, so I am totally new to all of this.

I ended up with a 2008 24Ve with the 340, 156 hours and it is super clean. It's pretty bare bones, I dont think the previous owner did a thing too it since he bought it, no ballast system or tower speakers. I havent picked the boat up yet, but plan to sometime next week, I will post pictures then.

I have lots of plans for upgrades, first will of course be a ballast system. I plan to do a fully automated system with reversible pumps have yet to decide if I will gut the rear lockers and do custom sacks.. I will dig into it when I get it home and decide then if its worth the hassle. Next will be tower speakers (exile) and possibly new cabin speakers, dependent on how the ones in it now sound. After that I plan just a lot of little things, FAE, 1235 Prop, transom lights, possibly some interior leds, and seadek on the walkthrough/platform. I'm really like looking forward to it all, and will definitely need help from here with alot of it I'm sure.

One question- How is the tige speed set on the 08? I was originally looking at an 06 and I know that there were serious issues with it then, was it improved? Or should I strongly consider perfect pass or hydrophase ridesteady?

I am located in South Dakota so I won't have a chance to get the boat on the water till spring, a little disappointing, but atleast it will give me time to get some things added. My friends and I also have already booked a houseboat on Lake Powell for July next summer, and will be pulling the boat down there, really looking forward to that. It's gonna be a loooong winter.

[brodee42]

Welcome! Pictures?

[BCRider]

Congrats on the new boat. If you could find someone local to take you out on the lake to learn the ropes* then it would be an asset.

To start I would just get some fat sacs to throw on the floor and the seats to get you started along with FAE to get yourself on the water having a good time depending on how fast you plan on adding the above list.

[goridedoo]

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Those are the only two I have right now, just pulled them from the listing. It looks black in the pictures, and I thought it was until I got to the dealership, but its navy blue. Wasn't a fan at first, but its grown on me. I think removing the big sticker and replacing it with the Chromax logo would do alot for the appearance. Like I said I will get more pictures when I take possession.

[Thegerman618]

Welcome to the site!!!! BEAUTIFUL BOAT. Definitely sounds like you have done some homework, and have a good list of things to get you going. Here is the #1 Ballast Guy IMO and you will notice the "MLA" a lot "Mikes Liquid Audio" Check out his site and give Mike a call, totally cool dude, does custom ballast work, great prices, and extremely knowledgeable on Tige'. What is your primary purpose for water sports? That will REALLY depend on how you weight your boat down. I basically have the same boat, and I can give you my current setup that works great. You have the good speedset on the 08' I haven't heard or read to many issues with it, I would run it unless you have problems then you can look at upgrading/swapping out later, you are right about the 06 ask me how I know. FAE "Fresh Air Exhaust" is the best upgrade I have done on my boat to date, its like adding a new stereo system since it doesn't need to be turned up to max just to hear it over the motor. I am running stock prop even with my surf ballast and never had an issue and holds speed very well, recommend prop be on a "as needed" basis, unless the current prop has damage. The SeaDek will be a great upgrade, over all the hatches I haven't gotten around to doing mine yet but its high on my list of Stuff To Do. As stated, here is my setups for surfing and wakeboarding:

SURF:
Enzo Fat Sac Surf Side-Roughly 1500lbs.
Fly High Fac Sac Bow-Roughly 400lbs.
Ill add more 400's on the surf depending on crew.
Speed is 11.5-12.3
TAPS-3-5 Rider preference

WAKEBOARD
Enzo's Fat Sacs 3/4 full equally in the rear lockers-Roughly 1000 lbs. each side
X2 Fly High Fat Sacs in the bow-Roughly 800 lbs.
Speed 23-24
TAPS-4-6 Depending on how accurate I was on the rear sacs.

This will get you on the water surf/wakeboarding no problem, and can always plumb them in later if need be. There is group of us that have been talking about a Powell Trip here to as well coming in from the West Coast, maybe we will see you out there. Congrats on the purchase and again welcome to the site, lots of knowledge on here.

[BCRider]

I agree on the prop. Still using my stock prop with 2,000lbs plus all us fatties in the boat and not having any issues.

[goridedoo]

Glad to hear the speed set is better on the 08.

I am not real sure yet but I think the boat will primarily be used for surfing, I figure atleast 70% of the time and the rest wakeboarding. I do have 2 buddies who are intermediate-advanced wakeboarders, so it would be nice to provide them with a good wake, but I am definitely more concerned about having a good surf wave, the easier it is to get everyone surfing the better. The boat will mostly be used at 1800ft, with a crew of 5-8 I figure, and Lake Powell sits at around 3600ft I believe, and there will be atleast 10 in the boat that week, possibly up to 14. Main reason for thinking about going to the 1235 is for the Powell trip, either way I think I should probably have a spare and a puller/change kit.

The dealer who I purchased the boat from mentioned 20% off parts and accessories the day that I pick the boat, I may end up having them get me a prop, and FAE (I noticed a stack of brochures on the parts counter when I looked at the boat)... As long as thats not only on in stock parts, I would assume theres a catch.

I really would like to modify the rear lockers so I could get as much weight to the rear of the boat as possible but I just dont know if I want to relocate the batteries, wiring, etc. Got to thinking, and tell me if this is dumb/not possible- From what I have seen in pictures it looks to me like there is a divider wall (carpet covered plywood?) between the rear of the locker and the transom, and like 8-12" between the divider and the transom, enough for batteries anyway. Could I put an access door in that divider, and put say 300lbs of lead back there on the surf side when we really want a large wave- similar to that of boats with the "gutted" locker and custom sacks. When not using the lead I could just evenly distrute it around the boat. Just a thought. Really would like to maximize the potential of the boat.

[chpthril]

Food for thought, a typical group 24 marine battery weighs 45 lbs. So if the boat has dual batteries, thats 90 lbs behind the port side wall already. The factory setup already has an access door in both locker real walls for accessing the batteries on the port side and the TAPS motor on the stbd.

The 1235 is a great prop for heavily weighted as well as higher elevation lakes.

If that in-store discount doesnt pan out, report back before dropping coin

[dakota4ce]

I have a suggestion that you have alluded to: get a refund and come over to SooFoo to get mine! I have dozens and dozens+ of hours into this baby doing what you want to do. I have walked 500 miles in these shoes, my man!

Otherwise, hit me up anytime, I can sure try to help.

You might be able to tuck lead back there, but its not as roomy as you suspect. Meaning getting it into and out of that area would be pretty challenging with all the other crud in the area. I would also suspect the 20% off deal is not likely going to help you much. I would be surprised to find out he stocks FAE. But hey, work the angles!

[goridedoo]

Convenient. Thoughts on adding lead back there vs. gutting and custom sacks? Not worth the hassle?

[goridedoo]

I have a suggestion that you have alluded to: get a refund and come over to SooFoo to get mine! I have dozens and dozens+ of hours into this baby doing what you want to do. I have walked 500 miles in these shoes, my man!

Otherwise, hit me up anytime, I can sure try to help.

You might be able to tuck lead back there, but its not as roomy as you suspect. Meaning getting it into and out of that area would be pretty challenging with all the other crud in the area. I would also suspect the 20% off deal is not likely going to help you much. I would be surprised to find out he stocks FAE. But hey, work the angles!

Still can't get over the fact that I looked for months and months for the right boat... finally found it, and not even a week later yours shows up for sale... And not even 100 miles from me.

What did you do for sacks in your rear lockers?

[chpthril]

If you will be surfing the port side predominately, then the existing battery weight will be an asset. if you want the best wave on the stbd side, that same weight could be a liability. There are customs sacs out there for the Ve that do not require any mods to the locker. But for that that do want to remove the back wall, relocate the batteries and TAPS motor, a one-off custom can be done.

[Thegerman618]

There is room back there, but not enough that I would call it worth pulling stuff out just to put the same weight in custom sac back there. I made it simple and run 4 batteries, 2 for hours of stereo, 1 stand-alone for emergencies, 1 for starting only.

[lancehon]

I have 200# of lead behind my locker wall on my 22ve. I moved the batteries to the forward cooler to get more weight up front for a longer wave. My winter project is to plumb the factory tanks back in the rear and keep the lead. I always run offside surf weight too for a more solid wave. If I don't it's really soft

[dakota4ce]

Still can't get over the fact that I looked for months and months for the right boat... finally found it, and not even a week later yours shows up for sale... And not even 100 miles from me.

What did you do for sacks in your rear lockers?

I moved everything out and to centerline. I removed the centerline muffler and rerouted the exhaust so that the area behind the motor was clear, then built a shelf in that space and put the batteries, regulator, taps motor, etc all in that center space. Then the lockers are cleared all the way to the transom, and I ordered custom sacs to fill the entire space. They're massive.

I have a whole thread on the mods--search my username.