ballast setup

[Ruune]

ok... I think I've found a sweet spot as far as weighing my 22v for surfing:
1 540-lb sack in the left-rear compartment.
1 350-lb sack on the floor in front of the back seat (side to side)
1 350-lb sack in the walkway, butted up against the insert cushion
3 250-lb guys (4 of us total, with one riding).
TAPS on 4
Perf Pass on 10.5-11.0
The end-result is about a 5' swell with a NICE curl about 10-15' behind the boat. I'm about 5'9" and when standing on the board, in the dip (just before the wake) its just above chest level. Crazy stuff. If I have enough sober time that I'm not driving or riding this weekend, I'll take some video and post it.

[sagmanaur]

ghetto ballast

We just went out today and I tried something a little different to get the wake looking good on the driver's side for surfing (of course the side my wife rides on). I used a medium sized cooler, which hold about 10 gallons of water (approx 80 lbs) and set it on the swim platform and filled it with water and cinched it to the back of the boat so it wouldn't move.
It helped out tremendously... the size and shape of the wake for her... she was stoked about it. We only had 4 people total on the boat and I ran TAPS around 3. Not much weight, but out on the swim platform it "simulated" more weight.

Steve

[coinless]

Tige gives the impression that no ballast is needed. What gives?

[NICKYPOO]

The age old question to Tige owners, what gives? Don't be mistaken, the unballasted wakes on Tiges are some of, if not the best in the business. However, humans being humans, we are never satisfied. "If the wakes are this good without ballast, what if?" You get the picture. Plus the ability to be able to control the attitude of the hull (TAPS) to better shape the wake during any given conditions is now priceless to many a Tige owner. There is a reason just about every major tow boat manufacturer is putting on their own "TAPS" system. It's just a hydraulic trim tab that you raise or lower. When you raise it, it releases pressure off of the back and allows the stern to drop further into the water, thereby producing a taller wake. Drop it down and it drives the bow in, raises the stern, and spreads the weight of the boat over the entire running surface, thereby creating a smaller wake. Now when you drop say 1000 pound of ballast in there and you've got a nice thick wake that you can shape using the TAPS. Once you have it, you can't go back.

[Surfdad]

I would also add that there are certain things you can do with a LARGER or LONGER wake that you can't do without ballast. This is a picture of me behind our 23V without any ballast and taps set around 1 to 2.

[Surfdad]

Compare the picture above with this picture of James throwing a shuv-it on his surfstyle board with 3.5" fins. This trick wouldn't be possible on the wake above.

[NICKYPOO]

Heyyyy, Surfdad, haven't seen you in a while. Actually I've been lurking around the WW boards and and watching the progress of your INT season. Looks as though it's really taking off. I sure hope it spreads to the rest of the states. I can't even get a reply from mine. I've pretty much given up on them. Too bad, I really wanted that F-18. Oh well.

We spent most of our day Sunday slalom skiing so we never filled up the sacks. We all surfed back to the boat ramp at the end of the day with just three people and a nearly empty cooler in the boat. I'll tell you what, you can surf it, but it sure is a lot more fun when the wake is waist high and 10ft long.

[Surfdad]

Maybe next year you'll get that F-18 We had a change of plans this last stop, Centurion asked to have an '07 Enzo there, so we used that for the 3rd stop. My Tige will be the tow boat at the fourth and final stop.

You know what I am doing now when we have smaller wakes? I'm practicing backside and I'm starting to get good riding switch backside on the port side. Ok not good, but I don't suck as much as I did

[Tequilasun]

Chillin...just Chillin!

[surfmt]

Dad what brand of board is that?

[sagmanaur]

Up until now, I've never used ballast on my boat, the wake to me is fine without it for wakeboarding... however, for surfing I think the wake looked a lot bigger especially without having 7 people on the boat.

I'll have to say that Surfdad's wake looks incredible.. wherabouts do you live my wife would like some pointers on her surfing..

Steve

[NICKYPOO]

Originally posted by Surfdad
Maybe next year you'll get that F-18 We had a change of plans this last stop, Centurion asked to have an '07 Enzo there, so we used that for the 3rd stop. My Tige will be the tow boat at the fourth and final stop.

You know what I am doing now when we have smaller wakes? I'm practicing backside and I'm starting to get good riding switch backside on the port side. Ok not good, but I don't suck as much as I did

Yeah maybe. I have a feeling that I won't have much to do with it if it does happen. The contest that is.

Yeah, I saw the Enzo. What did you think?

Ya know, I have yet to ride switch back even once this year. Perhaps I'll get a run in next trip out. I'm quite sure I need to knock the cobwebs out.

[NICKYPOO]

surfmt-

He is riding a Shredd Stixx. I don't know the model but the brand is unmistakable.

[Surfdad]

We are in NorCal, just about 40 minutes south of Sacramento. We are out twice a week this time of year. Always glad to give pointers to folks in the area.

Yeah, the board is a Shred Stixx JaMako. It's one of Jerry's newest shapes. 4'11" and very wide in the tail. He has another one called the Thresher that is the same length and a bit narrower. I like the JaMako for the small mushy wakes that we are using. The contests that we have been throwing have been limited with the wake size, so that JaMako works well. It's a little less responsive than I'd care for on bigger wakes, but not overly so.

I am having a larger F-18 built - 4'9" and about 22 inches wide. It has a custom paint scheme that I stole from Pink Floyd's the wall album art. Cinderblock background and graffiti reading: Old men RULE! and FAST 50!

[Surfdad]

The Enzo...I have to be fair, the lake depth was 1 foot less than normal and normal is an average of 8 feet deep. At times we were in 5.5 foot deep water. That is just hard. IMO the goofy wake on the Enzo is just poor. If you've ever been behind an Enzo, especially one with the switchblade, the boat doesn't throw the best wakesurfing wake UNLESS you put the huge Enzo sac in it and sun at 12+ mph, below that and you get a secondary curl. In that contest, the goofy wake became unrideable, we had to convince the last advanced riders to go backside on the regular wake.

I like the transition on the Enzo and at 12+, if you have a decent sized board, you can float WAY back in the pcoket...but I can't say that is recreatonal.

Just had an opportunity to test the new Epic 23V...that's an interesting boat and I think that has some potential, but...the location of ballast is going to take some tinkering with.

I really like my Tige, when it is loaded, more than any other boat for wakesurfing.