JetBoatPilot's New Surf Tech, Thrust Vector Wake

[JetBoatPilot]

We'd be 15 percent surfing, 20 percent wakeboarding, 65 percent tubing..agreed..im looking for less jet wash for the wakeboarders and tubers..my daughter and her 300 teenage freinds love tubing the most, my boys..wake boarding........but if the steering is so tough my wife and kids cant drive confidently pulling tubers..than im thinking of going to the updated Vectors and not use the vector Wake.....this is reminding me why I didnt go to Engineering school.. I love all Wills products...my boat could be and advertisement for jet boat pilot products....Ill report back todays findings...its very short summer here in Wisconsin..each weekend is precious and short...hence the reason taking the afternoon off to see if i can dial this in.

Thank you for the feedback and we're glad to hear that you're doing some of your own testing. Bear in mind that the claw does not really have any loads on it. It is more of a secondary wash deflector. It was designed to do some fine tuning of the deflected jetwash coming off the main deflectors.

The cool thing about the secondary deflector is that it has opened doors to begin reducing the length of the main deflectors. We're continuing to test today on our twin setup and will report back. So far we're excited with what we've seen on the single.

 

[jak_of_trades]

First night out with the TVW.

The bad: Also experienced heavy steering and even heavy throttle. The clearance on the upstop bolt and the bucket is possibly interfering slightly. There was also a hitch in the giddy-up of the steering with fins up. I had to remove the washer from the steering knuckle during install to clear the nut at all. I may be able to back the threads a little more to fix the steering catch.

The great: It works better than expected at cleaning the wash and improving the wake. Surfing was good though not ropeless as I'm still figuring out the weighting as it wasn't quite as strong and high as I'd like for a 200# guy like me. All I had was 750# fat sac on the upper swim deck. I forgot to bring along the ladder deflector so that would help also. It was a descent wave without it. It was taking significantly more weight to get a similar wave with my wake wedge so that's a big plus.

For wakeboarding and tubing it looks to be the cat's meow. The interference issues are something that needs to be addressed for my boat at least. In Will I trust.

Followup on interference: It was the wake wedge bracket causing steering catch. I have a nice scratch to prove it. One bucket does rub on the upstop bolt but I'm ok with it developing a slight gouge in the bucket as the "fix" just note that this can be a temporary issue. Tolerances are really tight around these moving parts.

 

[Milwmarc]

Wake Thruster Test #3.

On Boat for 4 hours today... tubing amost of the time with 5 teens. My Daughter right away said tubing was way more fun now, she doesn't get wash in her face, the wake seems higher and smoother on each side and she's not as scared, now that she can see while tubing. She said the tube ride she said is 100% more fun! She HATED and I mean hated to the point I had to promise her I wouldn't send her over the wake before, but with this new Wake Vector she wanted me to send her from side to side....a side note she has Muscular Dystrophy and holding on the tube is getting harder and harder...and she said the new wake with these vectors is so smooth and higher that she just rolled from one side to the other, it made the transitions much smoother from center to side to side..I didn't even ask her...she mentioned it to me!. She got back on the boat..having NO clue that I changed the vector from the XL to the wake... When I told her I bought some new parts she said...she used to not want to tube because of the rough ride and jet wash..now she said she wants to bring all her teens out every day and do nothing else all summer. SOLD!

So Tubing...my 15 yr old daughter and all the friends agreed...way better...the sales pitch is closed....happy daughter = happy dad!!!

Now I did not get to try it out wake boarding or Surfing yet. That will be happening Saturday with my 20 and 16 yr old boys and all there friends.

I didn't take any pictures today as I was having way too much fun pulling tubers (and I needed both hands to turn the steering wheel) and before I could even stop the boat a minute other teens wanted there turns tubing...

The goods from today for Vector Wake;

Tubing: it gets everyone's 1 million percent endorsement over regular Vector Xl's

Straightness: ..put the boat at any speed 5 to 25 MPH and it tracks STRAIGHT. I looked at my GPS speedo at 12, 16 and tubing comfortable around 20 and it tracks straight..does GREAT crossing other wakes Turning: someone said the radius was much wider...I didn't notice much of anything diffeent from Vector XL's and I made some VERY hard turn's each direction trying to crack the whip tubing and evening with 350 lbs of tubers on the back the Wake Vector turned and kepts its line. Even my 300 hp IO Volvo Penta with a DUAL Counter Rotating Stainless Props couldn't hold a turn with weight like that.

Bad (but somewhat bearable if it makes my daughter happy) Steering....very stiff....as the day wore on and making tube maneuvers for 4 hours today, my shoulders feel it tonight. It was managable for me and I'm sure my stronger boys could maneuver, but my wife..no. Will sounds like he's dialing this in to make it even better and those of us with the Wake Thrusters will get the new parts in a few weeks to give all of you our Before mod and after Mod opinion on steering. My only question if steering remained like this....could it be harder on the 2 stearing cables? It definitely takes a lot more strength to turn...I wonder if in its current configuration....could that be harder on the stearing cables?...I'd HATE to snap one of those....that'd ruin a day pretty quickly and would be a huge labor intensive project to replace.

Pictures of wakes are very hard to show ANY difference in pictures. Between current, colors of wake, sun, cross waves etc. But the wake definitely is a LOT better for water sports compared to the Vector XL.

 

[orexismd]

Thanks for the update. I received the TVW last Monday. I have yet to install as I've been busy with work and hesitant to epoxy the mod given the reviews of very stiff steering. I'm hopeful Will and his team will work around this problem and I'll share my thoughts after I put it on next week. My question is, @JetBoatPilot, is this the universal feedback you have received in regards to stiff steering or have you received feedback from clients who have not experienced the drastic change in steering stiffness?

 

[Wisefam22]

@orexismd I've heard everyone talk about stiffness.

I didn't pay to much attention to it, but my wife noticed it right away and said it was much harder to turn and "is it suppose to be like this"

Unfortunately for me it's raining today and I have trailer in shop having things checked out before our trip next Thursday so no more time to mess with it.

 

[Juri]

Good thread... long read at 45 pages now.
I was looking at the new 242X to trade up for some of their upgrades and accessories, and the dealer recommended both the Thrust Vector Wake and the Yamaha Wakebooster. Reading the thread, the "surfpoint" nozzles would have to be straightened out to avoid even worse steering it sounds. What I haven't seen from JBP is if anyone has used the combination of these 2 devices to see if they are 1. compatible, and 2. symbiotic or do they work against each other, especially as it appears the Yammy wakebooster looks so easy to install.

Any insight would be appreciated.

Thanks

 

[JetBoatPilot]

Thanks for the update. I received the TVW last Monday. I have yet to install as I've been busy with work and hesitant to epoxy the mod given the reviews of very stiff steering. I'm hopeful Will and his team will work around this problem and I'll share my thoughts after I put it on next week. My question is, @JetBoatPilot, is this the universal feedback you have received in regards to stiff steering or have you received feedback from clients who have not experienced the drastic change in steering stiffness?

Many have complained. Many have not. Regardless we're taking action and may have to either modify the current deflectors or worst case trash them in favor of revision that can't be modified cost effectively.

Testing again on Wednesday if parts come in on time.

 

[JetBoatPilot]

Good thread... long read at 45 pages now.
I was looking at the new 242X to trade up for some of their upgrades and accessories, and the dealer recommended both the Thrust Vector Wake and the Yamaha Wakebooster. Reading the thread, the "surfpoint" nozzles would have to be straightened out to avoid even worse steering it sounds. What I haven't seen from JBP is if anyone has used the combination of these 2 devices to see if they are 1. compatible, and 2. symbiotic or do they work against each other, especially as it appears the Yammy wakebooster looks so easy to install.

Any insight would be appreciated.

Thanks

I would choose one or the other. The booster makes a clean wave without ballast but when you add ballast the wave gets washy. The Thrust Vector Wake depends on ballast to get max wave height. The more you add the taller and cleaner the wave gets.
Our current position is that you should not take on the expense of both items. Buy one or the other. Just bear in mind that with Thrust Vector Wake you get slow speed steering, dry ride and works on both sides simultaneously so no need to take off and switch sides. Just move your passengers to surf side and wave cleans up. Best suggestions are on our YouTube video posted a few weeks ago. 1200 lbs is all you need when you use our 600lb kit plus either another 600 or similar water bag. Placement is everything.

 

[Juri]

I would choose one or the other. The booster makes a clean wave without ballast but when you add ballast the wave gets washy. The Thrust Vector Wake depends on ballast to get max wave height. The more you add the taller and cleaner the wave gets.
Our current position is that you should not take on the expense of both items. Buy one or the other. Just bear in mind that with Thrust Vector Wake you get slow speed steering, dry ride and works on both sides simultaneously so no need to take off and switch sides. Just move your passengers to surf side and wave cleans up. Best suggestions are on our YouTube video posted a few weeks ago. 1200 lbs is all you need when you use our 600lb kit plus either another 600 or similar water bag. Placement is everything.

Thanks for the reply. I like your videos, looking clean and surfable. I am using your older fins on the current boat - have been for a few years and love them. I will be watching the steering thread closely as I am liking what I see so far, and will be watching for any updates regarding the steering/handling. Keep up the good work!

 

[JetBoatPilot]

Thanks for the reply. I like your videos, looking clean and surfable. I am using your older fins on the current boat - have been for a few years and love them. I will be watching the steering thread closely as I am liking what I see so far, and will be watching for any updates regarding the steering/handling. Keep up the good work!

Thank you! We're working feverishly to resolve this asap!

 

[BigAbe75]

Thank you! We're working feverishly to resolve this asap!

Will (or anyone) can you send a pic of how high the fins can possibly go and in a tight turn? (Specifically on a ‘15+ 24’). I’m wanting to see exactly how close the fins get to the ladder bracket in order to compare with the wake wedge bracket, that only hangs down an inch or so from the ladder bracket.

 

[JetBoatPilot]

Not sure I have a picture today but on my 21 footer, which has the tightest tolerance, the fins are about 1.5 inches short of hitting the ladder bracket while in the up position. The 24 has more clearance due to the platform being longer.

 

[BigAbe75]

Not sure I have a picture today but on my 21 footer, which has the tightest tolerance, the fins are about 1.5 inches short of hitting the ladder bracket while in the up position. The 24 has more clearance due to the platform being longer.

Ok. I’ll have my boat back Monday night. I think I’m going to follow <somebody’s> advice and put everything together without the epoxy or thread lock first to see what it looks like.

I forgot to look, I guess... for those of you rubbing the wake wedge bracket, do you have 21’ boats?

If it’s super close, what detriment would there be to adjusting the upstop screw a bit to keep the fin from raising quite as far? Like if it’s only hitting by a 1/4” or something??

(Getting ready to have all these toys, I’m just not ready to give any of them up yet. )

Oh, last question (for now)... how long do we have to send in the old fins for trade-in credit?

 

[JetBoatPilot]

Ok. I’ll have my boat back Monday night. I think I’m going to follow <somebody’s> advice and put everything together without the epoxy or thread lock first to see what it looks like.

I forgot to look, I guess... for those of you rubbing the wake wedge bracket, do you have 21’ boats?

If it’s super close, what detriment would there be to adjusting the upstop screw a bit to keep the fin from raising quite as far? Like if it’s only hitting by a 1/4” or something??

(Getting ready to have all these toys, I’m just not ready to give any of them up yet. )

Oh, last question (for now)... how long do we have to send in the old fins for trade-in credit?

Do not adjust lower than the gauge setting. The pressure on the system will cause damage to your Thrust Vector Wake.

 

[JetBoatPilot]

Ok. I’ll have my boat back Monday night. I think I’m going to follow <somebody’s> advice and put everything together without the epoxy or thread lock first to see what it looks like.

I forgot to look, I guess... for those of you rubbing the wake wedge bracket, do you have 21’ boats?

If it’s super close, what detriment would there be to adjusting the upstop screw a bit to keep the fin from raising quite as far? Like if it’s only hitting by a 1/4” or something??

(Getting ready to have all these toys, I’m just not ready to give any of them up yet. )

Oh, last question (for now)... how long do we have to send in the old fins for trade-in credit?

Return Thrust Vector Trades within 30 days of shipment date of Thrust Vector Wake.

 

[bthessel]

Will, I am holding off on removing my TVs and installing my TVW's untill the modifications are done you are working on. I can't take the chance of hard steering when my wife and daughter drive the boat quite a bit. Losing out on the trade in credit though since mine arrived May 24th will suck though if it comes to that.

 

[JetBoatPilot]

Will, I am holding off on removing my TVs and installing my TVW's untill the modifications are done you are working on. I can't take the chance of hard steering when my wife and daughter drive the boat quite a bit. Losing out on the trade in credit though since mine arrived May 24th will suck though if it comes to that.

Given that we are having some changes done we are not going to monitor that policy very closely.

 

[Arcadyus]

Was every one aware that bought these that they weren't yet ready for production? And that you were all basically Guinea pigs?

 

[Wisefam22]

Was every one aware that bought these that they weren't yet ready for production? And that you were all basically Guinea pigs?

I mean in Wills testing he felt they were ready for release. He has newer boats and so I'm sure they steer even smoother then most on here for that fact alone.

You wouldnt have known about clearance issues if you tested 4 boats and they all cleared well them sold 200 sets that's 200 boats he hasnt seen.

Some of it is little frustrating but that is why some purchase later versions of vehicles, software whatever they dont want to deal with the "bug feedback".

 

[JetBoatPilot]

I mean in Wills testing he felt they were ready for release. He has newer boats and so I'm sure they steer even smoother then most on here for that fact alone.

You wouldnt have known about clearance issues if you tested 4 boats and they all cleared well them sold 200 sets that's 200 boats he hasnt seen.

Some of it is little frustrating but that is why some purchase later versions of vehicles, software whatever they dont want to deal with the "bug feedback".

In hindsight beta testing would have served us well but with the delays we encountered coming back from the hurricane we lost lots of time. We felt it was good to go but are now working to make it better.