Summer Surf n' Fun

[haknslash]

I love the jetboaters.net and Alabama jet boaters FB community! It brings people together that otherwise would probably never meet. Yesterday I met up with @Bill D, @blacksapphirez and their wives on beautiful Lake Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Clear emerald water that could stand to be a few degrees cooler but we still had a great time hanging out and doing what jet boaters do. Bill and I were both experimenting with ballasts on our boats for the first time. It's a learning process and I need more rope to secure the bag but even just filling my bag 2/3 full it helped my wake tremendously. Thanks to everyone who provided insight on the surf board, ballasts, etc for my boat. And yes...i got up on my first try!

Here's a video I put together hanging out with some chill folks. I hope you enjoy and summer is not over!

 

[buckbuck]

Nice. You got that 19 footer putting out a beautiful wave.

 

[haknslash]

Nice. You got that 19 footer putting out a beautiful wave.

Thanks! I can't wait to see what it will look like with a full ballast.

 

[Bill D]

Great vid @haknslash! It was a lot of fun meeting you and hanging out on the lake. We can't wait for our meet up at Lake Martin in a couple weeks!

 

[swatski]

Great video! That is a beautiful lake, too.

 

[haknslash]

Glad you enjoyed it @swatski . It was my first time at that lake and I will definitely be back. Drive was about an hour and 15 minutes from my house so not bad.

 

[Rod5]

Man that looks like a nice low populated smoothe lake! Good times for sure!

 

[OptiLee]

What type of ballast are you using for surfing like this?

 

[Julian]

Nice! What speed were you going and how much ballast did you end up with?

 

[haknslash]

That was with 750 Fat Sac across the rear bench on that video. These days I put the bag on the port bench instead of across the rear bench surf side. Speed was around 10.5 mph when I pull people. One day I'll get around to finishing my DIY surf gate before our next big meetup next month to see if it make any difference on a single engine boat. We had probably around 1800 lbs on @Bill D 242 in that but he didn't have a wake wedge back then so there's lot of jet wash.

Fast forward to this season and with the wake wedge + at least 2000 lbs his boat puts out a nice wave...

 

[OptiLee]

Would you say 750 is good, or go more?

What do you think putting the ballast on the port bench dose vs on the rear bench? Have you ever put it under the seat?

And by DIY surf gate, what do you MEAN?! Curious about that too

Also, I like your music choice!

 

[haknslash]

A lighter person than me could go ropeless at 750 lbs ballast off my boat. If I had a larger surface area board I could probably pull it off but I'm going to get more ballast but not sure the amount just yet. I hope to use some of Bill's bags during our gathering next month to spend some of the day trying out different combos and ballast placement on my boat. Putting the bag on the port seat puts more of the weight on the surf side than putting the bag across the bench which helps shape the wake better for surfing. A 750 lb fat sac won't fit under the seat once you begin to fill it.

The DIY suck gate is basically a device to help create delayed convergence. With a jet boat this can be a bit tricky due to the amount of jet wash to overcome. However a single engine boat puts out considerably less amount of jet wash and can make a nice clean face just with ballast so my hopes is that delayed convergence could potentially work to beef up the wave on single engine boats. Here's a thread on some of the ideas with the latest being a traditional suction cup + starboard gate https://jetboaters.net/threads/diy-wake-shaper-ideas.12712/. That idea isn't new as there is a mega thread on these on the mastercraft and other wake boat forums. That style mimics sort of the setup used on other OEM wake boats.

Glad to hear you enjoy the vids and music!

 

[OptiLee]

Ahhhh yes, this. I'd be super interested in how this would work. I have AR 190, so a little less power but the theory I think it good. I wish I were closer to you I'd totally be willing to help out in any way I could! Good luck with it! I think you're really on to something!

 

[jcyamaharider]

Behind a SX 190, 750 bag on the seat and 3 people in the boat:

 

[DBamaC]

You've got less than a month to get the suck gate done.

 

[haknslash]

You've got less than a month to get the suck gate done.

LOL I went and bought a new 20v brushless Dewalt drill today just to finish it!

 

[Bill D]

If you wanna go surfing tomorrow we'll be out.

 

[haknslash]

If you wanna go surfing tomorrow we'll be out.

Wife and daughter will be with me on the lake. Not sure yet if going to Ttown or Mitchell. Probably will be breaking in the tube for the first time this year.

I'll text you if we head that way.