242x <how to setup for wake surfing>

[Travp]

Hello,

I have 2019 242x,I want to try wakesurfing. I have done wakebording and am able to get up and move around with that. My question is Do i have to have more ballast on my boat or will the stock boat ballast work and also what settings would you recommend? Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thank You

 

[BigAbe75]

I have same boat. There are a lot of discussions on that, but all agree that yes, you need more. You have to get the boat listed and corner of the boat under water for best results.

there are 2 camps for the most part. I’m of the opinion that you need the custom ballast bag and Wake Wedge - both available here: https://wakewedge.surf/

 

[Travp]

I have same boat. There are a lot of discussions on that, but all agree that yes, you need more. You have to get the boat listed and corner of the boat under water for best results.

there are 2 camps for the most part. I’m of the opinion that you need the custom ballast bag and Wake Wedge - both available here: https://wakewedge.surf/

Is it worth getting the wakebooster or getting the wake wedge instead?

 

[Stevenpigsooie]

If you read this thread you’ll know everything there is to know about surfing behind a Yamaha.

https://jetboaters.net/threads/show-us-your-wake-surfing-mods-comparo.22358/

 

[F.M.]

When you think you "should have" enough ballast.... add more.

 

[grywlfbg]

Bottom line is that you need some kind of wake shaper (wakebooster or wake wedge) and the Gantlin (wakewedge person) transom bag, in addition to some amount of the factory ballast.

That thread from @Stevenpigsooie is a long one but a good one. I am planning to execute on @swatski setup. Center locker factory bag full (will tune the wave by varying this), transom bag from Gantlin and the Yamaha Wakebooster (surf package came w/ the boat).

 

[Stevenpigsooie]

That thread from @Stevenpigsooie is a long one but a good one. I am planning to execute on @swatski setup. Center locker factory bag full (will tune the wave by varying this), transom bag from Gantlin and the Yamaha Wakebooster (surf package came w/ the boat).

This is my setup on 2016 AR240. I can get ropeless without the center locker bag but the wave isn't as good.

 

[BigAbe75]

Is it worth getting the wakebooster or getting the wake wedge instead?

The booster came with my boat so I have both. I, personally, prefer the wake wedge. I feel like the wave face is smoother and longer than with the booster. I also felt like the Booster created too much drag on the boat and was hard to get to speed and keep it steady. That could have been configuration, but I felt it every time I used it. Others have mentioned that they did not experience the same thing.

Regarding the wake booster... every single person we’ve talked to about the Coaster surfboard loves it. 3 have bought their own board after riding ours. (Bought from transom water sports - ping @J-RAD for awesome deals)

 

[J-RAD]

Hey @Travp, the good news is your 75% there with your boat. The other 25% isn't all that difficult it just takes a couple things to get you the rest if the way.

As others have mentioned, the key to surfing any Yamaha is to get it to list (as in lean) surf side and weigh down the rear corner. Stock ballast just isn't quite enough to surf well. I managed to go ropeless with comparable to stock ballast and no shaper on my AR240 but it requires some trickery and it's a challenge to stay in the very small pocket. The WakeBooster with a stock boat reportedly makes this more manageable but again it's phenomenally better with more ballast in the right place.

I run the same transom ballast bag from Gantlin Products and their Wake Wedge that was mentioned above. The combination of the two are in my opinion a unbeatable combination in wave quality. Other options are proving themselves to be quite good as well. As @BigAbe75 eluded to, I am a watersports dealer, and as such I've been able to surf many boards on my wave. Surfing and learning to surf are SO much more fun when you have a wave you can actually play around on. The choice in boards also expands exponentially.

My company is Transom Watersports, I am a dealer for Slingshot, O'Brien, and JetPilot. I sell the very same Slingshot Coaster board that Yamaha includes in its WakeBooster package, minus the Yamaha branding. The board is our best seller and truly worthy of the hype, but there are many great options with the waves more and more Yamaha's are producing.

Shoot me a message if you would like more info on any of our boards or any other of our products. We have more inventory arriving in the coming months for spring/summer and great deals on our few remaining 2019 items. Contracts require me to publicly list products at set prices, but I can offer my best pricing thru individual/private sales. Hit me up anytime.

Transom Watersports | Wakeboard | Wakesurf | Vest | SUP

Best gear behind any boat for wakeboarding, wakesurfing, wakefoil, wakesurffoil and SUP. Life is better behind a boat with Transom Watersports.

www.transomwatersports.com

 

[DirkG]

Hey, I have the 2017, 242x and mostly agree with above remarks. You will use the center bag as well. The saying is no replacement for displacement.
I like the wakebooster better. Never felt any drag, but I know some people do. We have some younger surfers and they like the ladder. When you have the wakewedge the ladder is not really usable. And switching sides is easier with the booster.
I also went with JBP reverse thrusters, and TVW. Surfing you need to put the weight as far back as possible. Bag or lead anyway you like to get there.

 

[Shady28]

We've got a '18 242x and had a blast surfing for the first time last year. From the videos it appears you can't go wrong with the wakewedge or wakebooster. We got our hands on the booster and slingshot coaster last May and love it. We're adding more boards to our quiver this summer. We also run JBP reverse thrusters and X thrusters.

I'd also second more ballast. We surf regular, so we run 100% port side ballast, 50% center and 0% starboard. We then add, 100 lbs steel under portside seat (just outside the battery compartment), 100 lbs steel port side wet-locker and 300 lbs steel in a dry bag on the port side swim deck.

Once we're done surfing, I just grab the steel bags and evenly place them around the boat to reduce listing as we boat and get on the lift. Super simple:

Steel (water proof): Eight.3 Ronix Boost Sac 50lb Solid Ballast Bag

or

Steel (not water proof): Buy Best Selling wakesurfing and ballast Products Online

Dry bag: GILL Race Team Duffel Bag | West Marine

or similar sized bag.

 

[Shady28]

We've got a '18 242x and had a blast surfing for the first time last year. From the videos it appears you can't go wrong with the wakewedge or wakebooster. We got our hands on the booster and slingshot coaster last May and love it. We're adding more boards to our quiver this summer. We also run JBP reverse thrusters and X thrusters.

I'd also second more ballast. We surf regular, so we run 100% port side ballast, 50% center and 0% starboard. We then add, 100 lbs steel under portside seat (just outside the battery compartment), 100 lbs steel port side wet-locker and 300 lbs steel in a dry bag on the port side swim deck.

Once we're done surfing, I just grab the steel bags and evenly place them around the boat to reduce listing as we boat and get on the lift. Super simple:

Steel (water proof): Eight.3 Ronix Boost Sac 50lb Solid Ballast Bag

or

Steel (not water proof): Buy Best Selling wakesurfing and ballast Products Online

Dry bag: GILL Race Team Duffel Bag | West Marine

or similar sized bag.

I should add, we all go ropeless usually within 20-30 seconds of popping up and getting into the pocket. I'm 6 3" and 180 lbs and get great push and have a lot of fun surfing through boat turns and other chop on the lake.

 

[Travp]

Thank You all for your kindly comments and helping me with this. I am new to the boating game and have had the boat for a year. So more ballast it is, I typically have around 3-4 additional people weighing about 170-220 each. I will try to play around with lead bags and plan on getting the wake booster. I just dont want to add additional accessories like a wedge as we use the ladder alot. I have looked at the jbp thrusters. Anybody else reccomend that and how difficult were they to put on?

 

[Shady28]

I was able to put both the Thrust Vectors and Lateral Thrusters on mine while it was on the lift. I put a lily pad under it and was especially careful with how I brought tools and components out into the water. Not probably the ideal scenario, but I didn't have the ability to get the boat on the trailer that weekend and wanted to still knock out the project. It was a simple install.

 

[DirkG]

The lateral thrusters were easy, i changed from the thrust vectors, to the thrust vector wake, and that whole install is more of a headache but very doable.

 

[Ratherbeboating74]

So we like our wakebooster. it makes a huge difference. I am wanting to add the TVW to make the wake bigger but it doesn't look like last years reviews were great. Anyone tried this year?

 

[jcyamaharider]

So we like our wakebooster. it makes a huge difference. I am wanting to add the TVW to make the wake bigger but it doesn't look like last years reviews were great. Anyone tried this year?

Only more ballast will make your wake bigger, I doesn't matter which device you buy it will not increase your wave volume.

 

[mbaldridge1980]

Here is my 17 yo daughter wake surfing behind our 242xe. One video we are only using stock ballast with yamaha’s WakeBooster on port side. 100 Port, 100 Ski Locker and 40 Stbd. The other video has same setup, except we added fatsac on port side swim seat.

 

[anmut]

Here is my 17 yo daughter wake surfing behind our 242xe. One video we are only using stock ballast with yamaha’s WakeBooster on port side. 100 Port, 100 Ski Locker and 40 Stbd. The other video has same setup, except we added fatsac on port side swim seat.

What was your water depth? That seems to be almost as important as weight/shapers.

 

[mbaldridge1980]

Our lake is shallow. There is one area that is 12-18 feet, but where this video was taken the water depth never exceeded 10 feet, and was as low as 5 feet.