Help me understand Ridesteady and watersports

[Tim in MD]

I've read a bunch of info on this forum about the Hydrophase Ridesteady, and folks seem to love it. I'm tempted to spend the dough, but I don't fully understand what it does. I have a 2019 AR210.

I get the bits about keeping a consistent speed, turning a knob to change speed instead of trying to slightly adjust the jerky throttle levers while the boat is bouncing around, and keeping the engines synchronized, but I don't know what they do regarding getting a skier/boarder from zero to whatever. I just keep seeing comments that "it's great for watersports."

When I pull a skier, I need to slowly take all the slack out of the tow rope, and then accelerate smoothly and quickly (but not too quickly) up to a speed of say 20 knots. How to accomplish this will vary with how many folks are on the boat, how heavy the skier is, one ski vs two, etc. Can someone please explain how/if Ridesteady will help me or others driving my boat to do this in a consistent way?

Thanks!

 

[John Mcpartland]

you set the speed you want, for example 10.4 for us when surfing. You can also set the slope of the acceleration then take the slack out of the rope. push the throttles all the way forward and you will take off according to the slope you set and it will stop at 10.4mph. from there you turn the dial to increase up or down by .1mph. When the rider falls and you pull back on the throttle it will disengage so you can retrieve the rider

 

[BigAbe75]

you set the speed you want, for example 10.4 for us when surfing. You can also set the slope of the acceleration then take the slack out of the rope. push the throttles all the way forward and you will take off according to the slope you set and it will stop at 10.4mph. from there you turn the dial to increase up or down by .1mph. When the rider falls and you pull back on the throttle it will disengage so you can retrieve the rider

What are the options for configuring the slope of acceleration? For example, on the X and SE boats you can pick Slow, Medium, or Fast. Is it that dumbed down? Or, can you customize it more?

 

[John Mcpartland]

I haven't done any adjustments since I installed it 2 years ago. I was going to dig into if deeper this summer since the kids are now starting to get into water sports. If I'm driving I use the throttles to control the speed up to where I have it set depending on the person surfing, if they are a beginner or experienced

 

[giroux68]

The slack in the rope part, i assume you mean as the rider is floating and getting set up? All that is driver controlled, until you push the throttles up, then the hydrphase takes over. You can set how aggressively it accelerates and cuts power to achieve the set speed for each rider! I usually push mine to 4500 wait a moment and then put them almost full after it takes over.
It will tell you if you need to set more.
If you're towing a float, i just use the engine synch . Best mod ever! As you've read already. You will not be sorry. And you will get more riding yourself too.

I have to mess with the cut back power setting too. At times it seems to pull off power to aggressively only to add it back.

 

[grywlfbg]

The E Series have the engine sync built in, but I do wish that I could adjust the Drive Control speed while underway like Ridesteady can. As it is I can't use Drive Control for tubes as people often signal to speed up or slow down during their ride. Drive Control works fine for boards as I don't need to vary the speed mid-ride.

 

[BigAbe75]

The E Series have the engine sync built in, but I do wish that I could adjust the Drive Control speed while underway like Ridesteady can. As it is I can't use Drive Control for tubes as people often signal to speed up or slow down during their ride. Drive Control works fine for boards as I don't need to vary the speed mid-ride.

You can still use the up/down arrows to adjust speed while it is set. It moves .1 at a time, so it takes a fair bit of pressing to move a full mph though. Turning a knob is probably much faster and easier, but it can be done.

 

[Markk]

The E Series have the engine sync built in, but I do wish that I could adjust the Drive Control speed while underway like Ridesteady can. As it is I can't use Drive Control for tubes as people often signal to speed up or slow down during their ride. Drive Control works fine for boards as I don't need to vary the speed mid-ride.

Cruise Up/Down buttons can be pressed repeatedly to raise lower speed while under way.

 

[PeterB]

The Ridesteady controls maximum speed but does not control acceleration. The “aggressiveness” setting adjusts how much you will overshot the set speed before it adjusts to that setting. The driver still needs to control how quickly you get up to the speed. If you don’t give enough fuel the ridesteady will tell you to add more. It helps most drivers because they can focus on driving and accelerating smoothly without worrying about going too fast or trying to hold a constant speed. It also allows you to set up riders and their preferred speeds so you don’t have to remember everyone’s preference. This is more relative to wakeboarding, kneeboarding or skiing than surfing since surfing speeds tends to be more based on the boat set up and speed for the biggest wave. On our boat I wakeboard at about 22 mph while my daughters vary at 15 and 18 mph. I ski at about 32. We have settings by name and activity. Best addition to the boat!
.

 

[Cambo]

I had perfect pass on my older 2005 ride steady looks even better . The thing I noticed most is that when someone else was driving the boat they are not familiar with keeping a steady speed and for wakeboarding the best wake and safety factor fall within 1-3 mph range and even less for an individual down to .5 or 1 mph . When I was driving its better to keep your eyes on the water and rider rather than watch the speed I could not match the performance of the speed control manually adjusting its that good . I have held onto the rope with someone else driving and its real easy for them to all the sudden be hitting 30+ mph and hitting the water at that speed is painful and dangerous

 

[Tim in MD]

Thanks for all the replies. A couple of you described exactly what I would want - push the throttles full forward, and the RS gives the desired acceleration, which can be adjusted to suit a given rider. However, @PeterB says it doesn't control acceleration, only max (i.e. set) speed. I agree that's also a good thing - I've also experienced accidentally letting the speed drift up while pulling a skier - but the biggest issue I and my family have is the "quick but smooth" acceleration with the rather non-smooth throttles. If I give too much throttle, I yank the rope out of their hands or pull them over; too little throttle and they fall before getting up.

So, I just spoke to Justin at RS, asking him if it would help me with smooth initial acceleration. In a word, he said "no." The RS system does essentially nothing until you're within one mph or so of your set speed (that's a direct quote, or as close as I can remember). He went into some technical details about why they did not take the approach that the Yamaha E-series did to achieve this benefit, which basically boiled down, like everything, to "pros and cons of each approach."

So, the RS system definitely has benefits, and jetboaters seem to love it, but it doesn't seem to have anything to do with initial acceleration. While disappointing, I still may go for it. And, sounds like I need more practice with the throttle levers.

Thanks again for the input.

 

[PeterB]

@Tim in MD One other thing we did that made driving skiers, etc. easier was add the Throttle Sync. Note that this is not a highly endorsed product on this forum as it really just locks the two levers together and on our Yammies, does not "Sync" the engines. The Ridesteady does a great job of actually syncing the engines so the Throttle Sync is merely a pricey locking mechanism. I got it mainly because I had a credit to use up at Jet Boat Pilot. However, when my daughter drives - she is the only one that will pull me slalom so this is of course VERY important - she has small hands and found that with the Throttle Sync locked along with the Ridesteady set up it was much easier to drive. I found she quickly adapted to accelerating much smoother with this set up because she could focus on looking where she was going and just pushing "One" lever forward smoothly.
I believe you will also find that as all your crew get more comfortable getting up, and the driver(s) get more experience that the acceleration issue will become less of an issue. Not saying a ramp up feature wouldn't be nice - no question it would be, but for us controlling the steady speed definitely had the most impact. The best endorsement I can tell you is that my wife - who somewhat frowns on upgrades - said the Ridesteady was well worth the money and time spent to install. Good luck with whatever you decide to do - and enjoy the boat!

 

[Tim in MD]

Thanks a bunch, @PeterB Unfortunately looks like JBP doesn't make a Throttle Sync for boats after 2017, and from a previous thread have no plans to do so. So, I'll put in another nudge for JetBoatPilot - I would expect to buy a Throttle Sync for my 2019 if you made one!

 

[J-RAD]

If you're family is into watersports the Ridesteady is an essential item. My wife struggled to pull me wakeboarding and skiing at a consistent speed. The boat wad always creeping up and down and it was a struggle to even get a good ride. I was a little better at managing it, but I admittedly was distracted by it. As Justin informed you, it does not control ramp up, though there are benefits to manual control for that phase.

The feature that I love as much as anything is the full time engine sync. The engines just sing in harmony while we cruise cruise around as if it were an E-series drive by wire, just doing its job in the background. I love it!

Justin (@Ridesteady) is an allstar! Just a honest and nice guy doing his best to make a great product. I think we're on our 4th season with it and I appreciate it every time we're on the boat. It works flawlessly. I may go E-series on my next boat and it makes me nervous I won't like it as much, though I hear the throttles operate much more smoothly.

Give Justin your money and smile about it.

 

[giroux68]

Everything he said. And the install is simple!

 

[Tim in MD]

Man, this is the most expensive forum I've ever joined! I think I'll go back to "burntwentydollarbills.net" - much cheaper!

 

[Ridesteady]

Thanks to everyone for the questions and kind comments! I've said it a million times and I'll say it again, we have the best customers of any company. I couldn't be more grateful. Thanks to @J-RAD, @giroux68, @PeterB, @John Mcpartland for sharing your experience and knowledge.

To address the original question that @Tim in MD posed, it is correct that there is no "ramp up" setting for Ridesteady. It essentially requires the driver to bring the rider up to the set speed. Ridesteady takes over as the speed approaches the set speed.

As Ridesteady takes over, the "overshoot" parameter (settable per user) reduces the throttle a fixed amount to help avoid too much initial overshoot of the set speed. From that point forward, the "response" parameter sets the aggressiveness of the control system (also settable per user).

I'm happy to address any other questions should they come up.

 

[PBear]

Thanks to everyone for the questions and kind comments! I've said it a million times and I'll say it again, we have the best customers of any company. I couldn't be more grateful. Thanks to @J-RAD, @giroux68, @PeterB, @John Mcpartland for sharing your experience and knowledge.

To address the original question that @Tim in MD posed, it is correct that there is no "ramp up" setting for Ridesteady. It essentially requires the driver to bring the rider up to the set speed. Ridesteady takes over as the speed approaches the set speed.

As Ridesteady takes over, the "overshoot" parameter (settable per user) reduces the throttle a fixed amount to help avoid too much initial overshoot of the set speed. From that point forward, the "response" parameter sets the aggressiveness of the control system (also settable per user).

I'm happy to address any other questions should they come up.

Justin (@Ridesteady), should the overshoot and response parameters for wakesurfing be changed from the default? I ask as the manual references that for overshoot with a less aggressive start, the number should be lower (default is 50%). For the response, with the boat all ballasted up, should it be a higher value than the default 50?

For us, having the Ridesteady makes all the difference in the world pulling a wakesurfer and keeping the speed consistent, as well as allowing the driver to focus on where they are going, other boats, etc. and not have to concentrate on the speed as well.

 

[Ridesteady]

Justin (@Ridesteady), should the overshoot and response parameters for wakesurfing be changed from the default? I ask as the manual references that for overshoot with a less aggressive start, the number should be lower (default is 50%). For the response, with the boat all ballasted up, should it be a higher value than the default 50?

I would say if they work for you, leave them where they're at. If you push the throttles all the way forward when you start (or significantly more throttle than is needed to maintain the set speed), then increasing the overshoot parameter (which increases the initial throttle reduction) will help avoid as much overshoot.

 

[PBear]

I would say if they work for you, leave them where they're at. If you push the throttles all the way forward when you start (or significantly more throttle than is needed to maintain the set speed), then increasing the overshoot parameter (which increases the initial throttle reduction) will help avoid as much overshoot.

Thanks!