Z3 with TAPS3 Review and TAPS3 vs AVX

[575]

Ragboy, I just picked up my RZX and the wake is all washed out. I have 400 lbs extra ballast in each rear locker. I was running at 10.8-11.2. Taps 2 at 3-5 mainly. Taps 3 all over the place but mainly around 2 cause I found with at the higher numbers the wake was really bad. Any advise would be greatly appreciated or where you have yours set. Thanks, Cory.


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[Greeko]

Ragboy, I just picked up my RZX and the wake is all washed out. I have 400 lbs extra ballast in each rear locker. I was running at 10.8-11.2. Taps 2 at 3-5 mainly. Taps 3 all over the place but mainly around 2 cause I found with at the higher numbers the wake was really bad. Any advise would be greatly appreciated or where you have yours set. Thanks, Cory.


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This is a quote from the very first line on the post


1. Set TAPS3 to 1 (all the way down). I have found it best to just leave this all the way down on the RZX and just use TAPS2.
2. Set TAPS2 to 3 to start and we can adjust to taste from there.
3. Fill everything up all the way until the bags are leaking out of the vents so you are sure they are full. Check the rears to make sure nothing is bunching up, just to be safe. (all of that was good, tige has done a good job of tying up those bags in place).
4. Adjust peeps so that we have 2 degrees of list on the clinometer toward the regular side (the first side we were trying).
5. Set speed for 11.6.

Good luck

[ragboy]

Cory emailed me directly, I am helping him. We will get him dialed.

One thing, it needs a bit more list then that for the best wake, IMHO. 5-6 deg on goofy and 3-4 on regular WHILE surfing.

[Germaine Marine]

Well, had some more time to run the boat yesterday...

200lbs of lead in the bow with 50 more in each rear locker. Taps 3 at 1 and taps 2 at 3-4. The shape was great but I have have something wrong with my speedo calibration.. The wave is flat at 11.2 and even worse so at 11.6, extremely flat. However, I slow the boat down to between 9.8 and 10.6 and the wave is huge. Anyone hear of others having a speed calibration issue, is it even possible with this system?

[Lamest]

I run at 10.8 on my 16 z3. All bags full. Center taps is at 4 and taps 3 is at 7 or 8 usually. Just sitting back there with the rope - the push gets noticably better once you slow down into the 10's on my boat. I can ride ropeless until my legs give out at 10.8. Anything at 11+ and I'm falling out of the pocket.

edit... just read that taps 3 @ 1 is all the way down. I've been thinking about the position of the taps 3 positions completely backwards. I rode a few times with the remote and just kept pushing up and down until I liked the wave - now I need to see what it looks like at 1. I would think they'd take the spinal tap route and make 11 the biggest/maximum wave. These are good problems to have.

[ragboy]

Remember to take your time, learn what little adjustments do and enjoy. Start with the stock weight, and make that the best you can, then start adding weight.

11+ is going to be best if you have enough weight to keep the boat sucking down and not making a flatter wake. Also, the taps2 around 4 to help the boat sink down, maybe even 5, test it.

Also, the board can be EVERYTHING. I can't say enough for getting a good custom board from companies like Soulcraft or Chaos. There are others, they are my favorite because I see their customers get the right board almost every time.

If you are testing this on an off the shelf Ronix or hyperlite, you aren't going to have as much success. Some boards just cannot keep up at the faster speeds.

Lastly, if you are enjoying yourself, AWESOME! Stick with whatever setup you have and try something new on occasion.

[UNSTUCK]

Dave Ramsey has Financial Peace Univirsity. Ragboy should start Wakesurf Peace University. I'd attend.

[kodiak ak]

I would be in for that

[Germaine Marine]

I'm surfing on a js pro so I can eliminate the board being the problem from my equation...

I'm just perplexed at the variances in people's setups....


For example, running the above settings above 10.6 mph with all ballast full, does not give me anything that resembles a wave.....

I'm curious if that z3 you rode in rag was an early 16 with multiple mounting points on the taps actuators... Didn't sounds like it. It curious none the less.

I'm riding with a much smaller crew as of late, usually myself and 2-3 guys that are 200lbs or less, maybe the bow weight is the problem. I'll keep pushing on just weird

[Z3CO23]

So...... I've been thinking about this whole speed thing all week. Tonight I remembered that on one of my final test runs last time I was out I did play with speed. I brought up the video to see what the bump in speed did and wanted to share.

As many of you remember in my other thread..... this was my setup for testing.




This was the original screen grab I shared of what that weight configuration with me and my wife in the boat gave me.



I filled my spare 450 lb bag and put it on the floor to simulate passengers (probably 400 lbs in the bag, I didn't do a good job of burping the bag).



This is what the extra weight gave me:



Now to the updated video shot. The camera is at a further angle and the GO PRO lens does not give the best representation...... however, here is the wave with all the same ballast settings at 10.8



I remember telling my wife to tap the speed during this clip and your can hear the change in RPM's. I believe we were at 11.2 and then back to 10.8. Here's the picture at 11.2.



Finally here's the raw footage from that particular test run. The wave forms and you can hear the motor settle in as the zero off takes control at 10.8 around the 32 second mark. The speed is increased and you can hear the motor RPM change and you can see the wave change at the 40 second mark and then see the wave return to how it was at 10.8 again.

Wave is considerably better visually at 11.2 and I never noticed it until tonight. Eager to get back on the water this weekend.



I am going to add bow weight in 25% increments and I'm interested to see how Rag's 25% to 30% ratio of total boat weight looks.

[Z3CO23]

Rag,

Do you know which motor and prop were in the boat you helped out on? Just curious.

[Z3CO23]

Ok, I went out and set the boat up based on Robert's advice.

Speed: 11.2 ( I tried 11.4 and 11.6 and it was too fast, not enough extra weight in the boat, need way more crew for that speed)
Ballast: Rear Full (1000 lbs each side - 250 hard tanks and W004's). Front's were at 70% and 100%
********* All of my previous testing has been on the notion that my boat has the 550 front bags.... I'm beginning to think it just has the 400's based on fill times and the fact it was an early 15. I'm pretty sure my boat came with pro ballast from 2014.
Taps 2: 4
Taps 3: 1

*** I am driving in all of the testing. I go about 260 and my wife is filming in the rear surf corner and my step son was siting in the main cabin randomly so roughly 400 lbs of passenger weight.

The following pictures are with my front ballast at 70%. I tested at this percentage based on my thinking of my boat having the 550's so I was thinking there was about 800 lbs up front. I actually probably had 550 ish in there.

Regular:



Goofy:



I then added a spare bag I had. It's a 450 lbs bag. I could not keep it from falling off the backseat so I put it on the floor and pushed it against the rear seat. The bag was too long to fill up totally so I had 300 to 350 pounds of water in it probably. So were probably about 700 is pounds of people and simulated people.

Regular:



Goofy:



I then filled my front bags all the way. I'm assuming a full 800 lbs. I did not do any testing with the front full without having my spare bag with water in it. Here's with the front full

Regular:



Goofy:



The trail of water you see on the pictures of the regular wave that runs down the lip is like a spline that runs right through the wake. The regular wake definitely is not as good..... I've learned I cannot drive if there is a light crew like my wife, my step son and me. I offset the boat too much and we cannot get to the desired list on the regular side. The more weight you put in it the better it gets..... I usually have a light crew unfortunately.

[Germaine Marine]

Ill post some pictures this sunday but I ran the boat for 20 hours straight and what I have noticed is what Rag said... Its all about how much weight is inside the boat allowing the convex vx to do its thing. Its almost a tipping point and its drastic. I was fighting a ton of variables but man is this thing touchy when you get into shallow water... less then 10 feet and you can forget about a monster wave. One side of our close lake is 5-7 feet and the other side is 10-15 and the boat performs as such. shitty on one and good on the other. Here are a few things I have noticed...

1. surf xl ballast with 2-3 people isnt enough, it just wont be enough to surf over 10.6 mph in my opinion. If you only have a few then you are going to have to surf slower. My settings when slower are taps 3 at 5-6 and taps 2 at 3-5 depending.

2. Load the boat with people and or lead and I mean lots of it. I surf 300lbs now with a crew of 3 and it needs double if not more.

3. Lots of weight is what puts the hull into action, I ran the boat with 8 people including myself and whoa... Taps 3 at 1 and taps 2 at 3-4 at 11.4mph and whammo.... Much better, you could tell the convex vx was pulling the hull down at this point...and you could see it in the wave.

Overall, if its me, I want an extra 800 in the rear or 400 each side if its a small crew.. if not, 5 sitting in the across the back and we are all good with 70-100% in the bow...

[Z3CO23]

Everything you've found seems to be consistent with my boat as well. If you want the best wave with just Surf XL your going to need a decent crew that gets the lbs in the cabin up.

With stock weight, gotta use 10.8 and drain some bow weight from full. Always a work in progress.

[Germaine Marine]

So today was a good day..

Loaded up all the lead for testing, grabbed the board, beer and my buddy and headed out.

800lbs of lead total, two total bodies in boat. 400lbs of lead in each corner with 200 up against the rear wall of the locker and the remaining 200 under the skinny section of the ballast bag that travels toward the bow.

Taps 3 at 1 for both sides, taps 2 at 2-4 depending, speed at 11.4-11.8


The surf rope is 30 feet long and its not tied up short......full length.

Starboard
IMG_3024.jpg

IMG_3008.jpg

Port
Screen Shot 2016-06-09 at 11.36.58 PM.jpg

Wave was a drastic improvement.... Even though it was blowing 20mph with whitecaps, the boat still cranked it out. I just think the boat is begging for more weight, similar to what the guys with the rzx are experiencing, its like it took the 800 and said 'Dude come on"

This was 3800 total ballast and the boat/motor was working easier then before (when we could only run 30-40% in the bow) with the ability to load the front ballast up full and run taps 2 between 2-4 with the boat having barely even a hint of bow rise. Also the hull is now settling down in the water, an increase in speed from 10.8 to 11.8 didnt do anything but give the wave a little better shape and make it more firm.

The Tige emblem isent even remotely touching the water but that was just with 2 of us weighing in at around 170 a piece. Im thinking this lead setup with a crew of 5-7 is going to be ideal with 2 people in the bow in the bow maybe 3.


Really good day today, big leap forward...