2017 212X...... Surfing? Nope.

[YamaPissed]

I ordered two sumo 540's and a 375 with sumo pump. Should be here next week.
Stock ballast is 28 gallon independent hard tanks (224lbs each) and 75 gallons (600lbs) in the ski locker.

I plan to fill stock port ballast, put one 540 in the middle of the swim platform, the the other 540 on the port seat and the 375 on the port side floor. Next I plan to use the ski locker sack to dial things in... we'll see what happens....

 

[Bill D]

That sounds like a plan @YamaPissed! You can play around with the position of that 375 on the floor to adjust the wake too. A foot forward or back can make a surprising change. Post some pics as you get her dialed in!

 

[YamaPissed]

The port seat should be able to handle the 540 without any damage, correct? I'd love to put it under the seat but there is zero room with the stock set up.

 

[jcyamaharider]

It will handle 750 no problem

 

[swatski]

That seat will handle 800lbs, too.


But seriously, even dedicated wake boats need some dialing in, sometimes major, as far as ballast size and placement. A friend of ours with SUperAir Nautique 230 told me it took them over a year to get everything tuned up and working the way he likes. He basically laughed at my impatience with Yamaha and was quite impressed with what we can achieve actually, with 3 integrated 800 and extra 2x 550 to throw around.

So, as @Speedling here puts it:
"PATIENCE YOU MUST HAVE... my young padovan", lol.


--

 

[jcyamaharider]

You hit the nail on the head there @swatski !! I went thru 3 ballast systems and countless ballast placements before I figured it out.

 

[buckbuck]

@YamaPissed hit up @Blenderhead . It appears he has his same boat pretty well dialed in.

 

[Murf'n'surf]

Your overheat issue might be from cavitation that might happen during a sharp turn while tubing. The boat sinks in the hole and bow goes up, if you dont adjust throttle to stop plowing and get back on top (on plane) you could start cavitating. Cavitation is the result of beating the water with the impeller and causing air bubbles to form. Those air bubbles will affect the cooling water intake stream.

I have seen $100-150K Mastercraft boats have issues both with craftsmanship and quality of performance. We can help you finish the kit that you purchased..... just keep an open mind and ask us for help tuning your boat to satisfy your wants.

 

[Thor]

For what its worth, my BIl bought a 2016 Moomba Mondo 'Surf Edition' for around 60k, no trailer. We couldn't get enough wave to surf it without the rope and he had to have bigger bags installed and bought 200 pounds of steel shot. The boat is a whole different beast from the Yamaha. To take it out cruising it bounces and slaps in very light chop, lots of spray in the boat and the V8 screams when it hits top speed around 45. My Yamaha is a much nicer ride and place to spend the day. But... his boat now if a wave throwing beast for surfing.

 

[YamaPissed]

@YamaPissed hit up @Blenderhead . It appears he has his same boat pretty well dialed in.

I agree @Blenderhead has an amazing setup. Honestly I'm just trying to tread lightly with this whole deal as my wife is probably more pissed about this whole deal than I am. I had to explain to her why I had to spend more money (I'm sure that's a common theme here) and she about threw me out of the house as she cannot understand why the brand new $58k boat (that I begged for in the first place) isn't doing what it's supposed to do as advertised.... that being said I'm going to start with the ballast plan I outlined above and don't think I will be able to put as much ballast on board as @Blenderhead,....at this point in time anyway. Hopefully we'll get good results with another 1400lbs and it will suffice for our needs.

 

[YamaPissed]

Your overheat issue might be from cavitation that might happen during a sharp turn while tubing. The boat sinks in the hole and bow goes up, if you dont adjust throttle to stop plowing and get back on top (on plane) you could start cavitating. Cavitation is the result of beating the water with the impeller and causing air bubbles to form. Those air bubbles will affect the cooling water intake stream.

I have seen $100-150K Mastercraft boats have issues both with craftsmanship and quality of performance. We can help you finish the kit that you purchased..... just keep an open mind and ask us for help tuning your boat to satisfy your wants.

I bet that's exactly what is happening during tubing. Thank you for bringing that up. I will try to adjust my driving style. When I feel the rear drop I need to punch it to get back on plane quicker.

 

[YamaPissed]

Your overheat issue might be from cavitation that might happen during a sharp turn while tubing. The boat sinks in the hole and bow goes up, if you dont adjust throttle to stop plowing and get back on top (on plane) you could start cavitating. Cavitation is the result of beating the water with the impeller and causing air bubbles to form. Those air bubbles will affect the cooling water intake stream.

I have seen $100-150K Mastercraft boats have issues both with craftsmanship and quality of performance. We can help you finish the kit that you purchased..... just keep an open mind and ask us for help tuning your boat to satisfy your wants.

Also, I had a bad experience with cavitation right off the bat.... the dealer hooked the boat up to my truck and I drove it home to launch. During the low rpm break in period, something was going on and I couldn't figure out why the boat seemed so off. This was my first twin engine. The other people in the boat were telling me something seems really wrong. I finally shut it off after 30 minutes and thought to myself this thing is runnng terrible. I finally figured out that the clean out ports weren't latched. I assumed they were installed and latched because they are always supposed to be installed for towing and the dealer hooked up the boat to my truck tarped and ready to go..,. Well I learned another lesson, dont assume the dealer remembers the proper position of the cleanout ports for towing....,

 

[Blenderhead]

I agree @Blenderhead has an amazing setup. Honestly I'm just trying to tread lightly with this whole deal as my wife is probably more pissed about this whole deal than I am. I had to explain to her why I had to spend more money (I'm sure that's a common theme here) and she about threw me out of the house as she cannot understand why the brand new $58k boat (that I begged for in the first place) isn't doing what it's supposed to do as advertised.... that being said I'm going to start with the ballast plan I outlined above and don't think I will be able to put as much ballast on board as @Blenderhead,....at this point in time anyway. Hopefully we'll get good results with another 1400lbs and it will suffice for our needs.

The additional 1400 combined with your factory 1100 will give you a good wave. I recommend putting it all on the swim deck on your surf side. The key is to get the lower portion of the swim deck (on the surf side) under water. If you can do that it will not only "mute" the jet wash somewhat, but create a nice wave coming off the listed side. You will have to get creative with some rope to make sure you aren't dumping your bags into the lake when you launch

I assume the Wake Wedge is on your "secret" shopping list. It was definitely on my secret list for a while.... My wife still doesn't know how much I paid lol.

 

[ripler]

I would be pissed too, I would be even more pissed if I had to put bags all over my boat to make the thing surf worthy. I too want to surf and have seen what other members have done to their boats to make them surfable and in my opinion I don't think it's safe to add 3000 pounds of ballast to a boat that has a weight capacity of 1600. Imagine if something did happen to your boat with all of this extra weight would you be covered by your insurance company since you doubled your boats weight capacity? I almost have my wife talked into a new V Drive and all I need to do is convince her that she doesn't need the Yamaha swim deck. For what Yamaha is charging for that boat plus all of the addons such as ballast bags and wake wedge you could have had a boat that is surf ready from the dealer.

 

[jcyamaharider]

I would be pissed too, I would be even more pissed if I had to put bags all over my boat to make the thing surf worthy. I too want to surf and have seen what other members have done to their boats to make them surfable and in my opinion I don't think it's safe to add 3000 pounds of ballast to a boat that has a weight capacity of 1600. Imagine if something did happen to your boat with all of this extra weight would you be covered by your insurance company since you doubled your boats weight capacity? I almost have my wife talked into a new V Drive and all I need to do is convince her that she doesn't need the Yamaha swim deck. For what Yamaha is charging for that boat plus all of the addons such as ballast bags and wake wedge you could have had a boat that is surf ready from the dealer.

You don't have to go out and buy new and most people want a boat that will do everything not one thing. At one point in time I also wanted a V-Drive surf boat but I would have to give up a lot more then I wanted to. I like to beach my boat on the sand bar, cove out comfortably, run 45 when I want to, have a head compartment, and have easy maintenance. My Yamaha boat fits the bill. I also have 3000 lbs in my boat almost every time I go out and I have never felt unsafe. I am very conscious because my family is on board and if I did feel unsafe I would most defiantly change.

Also don't forget when you buy a v-drive it only comes with basic bags so you are going to be spending money on bags anyways.

Lets see:
Brand new Yamaha Ar240 $54,500
Wake Wedge: $800
Ballast system the way I like it with 3 pumps and bags where I want them: $2500
Hydrophase/perfect pass: $1400

Grand total: $59,200

This boat would be a surf machine that could do everything.

V-Drive Base price: $60 to 70+ for a 21 footer. The Centurion Ri237 I surfed behind a week ago had a sticker of $130,000

I know what I would buy.

 

[Blenderhead]

I would be pissed too, I would be even more pissed if I had to put bags all over my boat to make the thing surf worthy. I too want to surf and have seen what other members have done to their boats to make them surfable and in my opinion I don't think it's safe to add 3000 pounds of ballast to a boat that has a weight capacity of 1600. Imagine if something did happen to your boat with all of this extra weight would you be covered by your insurance company since you doubled your boats weight capacity? I almost have my wife talked into a new V Drive and all I need to do is convince her that she doesn't need the Yamaha swim deck. For what Yamaha is charging for that boat plus all of the addons such as ballast bags and wake wedge you could have had a boat that is surf ready from the dealer.

I agree and disagree with your point - The original 1860lb capacity is the same across the board for all the 21' boats, but what about the extra 1100lbs of ballast that Yamaha added on the 212x? now add the weight of 50 gals of fuel and other items. The 1860lb seems to me to be a very loose planning weight. Whether I put 9 200lb individuals in my boat or add 1800lbs of ballast is all the same. Additionally, most (if not all) of the surf specific boats out there do not come with a trailer so it is hard to compare a boat like the 212x that comes with all features up front, to a V-drive boat that has a laundry check list of upgrades/upsales, one of which is a boat trailer. Most of us on this forum to including me purchased a jet boat (besides @YamaPissed - sorry brother ) as a quality "all around" boat that had the "capability" to do it all. I am merely exploiting one of its capabilities.

On the flip side, I can honestly say that my next boat will be a V-drive boat, however will always fully endorse Yamaha as a great multipurpose boat.

I hope I didn't come across as an @-hole @ripler. was definitely not my intent.

 

[Bill D]

I had to explain to her why I had to spend more money (I'm sure that's a common theme here)

We quit explaining such things to our wives a long time ago.

 

[ripler]

I agree and disagree with your point - The original 1860lb capacity is the same across the board for all the 21' boats, but what about the extra 1100lbs of ballast that Yamaha added on the 212x? now add the weight of 50 gals of fuel and other items. The 1860lb seems to me to be a very loose planning weight. Whether I put 9 200lb individuals in my boat or add 1800lbs of ballast is all the same. Additionally, most (if not all) of the surf specific boats out there do not come with a trailer so it is hard to compare a boat like the 212x that comes with all features up front, to a V-drive boat that has a laundry check list of upgrades/upsales, one of which is a boat trailer. Most of us on this forum to including me purchased a jet boat (besides @YamaPissed - sorry brother ) as a quality "all around" boat that had the "capability" to do it all. I am merely exploiting one of its capabilities.

On the flip side, I can honestly say that my next boat will be a V-drive boat, however will always fully endorse Yamaha as a great multipurpose boat.

I hope I didn't come across as an @-hole @ripler. was definitely not my intent.

I have had my Yamaha for 7 years and we love the boat, I have made modifications to fit our needs. Yamaha is a great all around boat, but I don't feel like all of the modifications necessary to make a Yamaha surf worthy is worth the cost or effort and I refuse to give up storage or to have bags all over the place. As far as the weight capacity, I have never had that much weight on my boat, so I wouldn't know if it feels unsafe. I made my comment based on doubling the recommended weight capacity and that I wouldn't feel comfortable doing it.

As far as the cost of a new wake boat, there are plenty of options out there for a new surf ready boat with extra bags and trailer for in the mid 60s. Many people don't realize how much mark up there is on other boat brands that aren't a Yamaha and that you can easily get 25% off MSRP on another brand boat and have a 5 year warranty.

@jcyamaharider I have been shopping for a new boat for over a month now and, the boats I have been looking at have everything needed to surf including the pnp ballast bags included, sorry I don't need help shopping for a boat. If I do get a new boat I will gladly post ups pictures of it along with what I paid for it, and believe me it won't be 130K.

For now on I will keep my opinions to myself.

 

[MattFX4]

I would be pissed too, I would be even more pissed if I had to put bags all over my boat to make the thing surf worthy. I too want to surf and have seen what other members have done to their boats to make them surfable and in my opinion I don't think it's safe to add 3000 pounds of ballast to a boat that has a weight capacity of 1600. Imagine if something did happen to your boat with all of this extra weight would you be covered by your insurance company since you doubled your boats weight capacity? I almost have my wife talked into a new V Drive and all I need to do is convince her that she doesn't need the Yamaha swim deck. For what Yamaha is charging for that boat plus all of the addons such as ballast bags and wake wedge you could have had a boat that is surf ready from the dealer.

I agree with you. I love my Yamaha, and it's a great boat for my family right now, but when my son is older I am more than likely moving in to a v drive wake boat. My neighbor has a 2017 Supra SE and it is 25' of pure awesomeness. That V8 rumble is music to the ears too! No way am I putting bags all over my seats, my swim platform, etc just to make a wave. I have seen some pics of guys doing this and the rear of the boat be near underwater. The Jet boats are great, but face it they aren't designed for big time watersports.

 

[Blenderhead]

@YamaPissed - despite all that is being said and all the opinions of who disagree with extra ballast bags etc. etc.... you will be able to surf off of your boat. Your reality now (like mine) is that when you surf, you have bags on your swim deck and when you are not surfing you wont. Nothing that a little pre-planning wont solve.

Good news is that despite the misinformation from Yamaha you will still be able to surf... and despite all of the opinions to include mine, you are still better off than the guy stuck on shore without a boat. Enjoy