The Ropeless POWER of the Slingshot COASTER

[J-RAD]

Since I started my watersports business this year I've had the opportunity to demo a lot of wakesurf boards behind my '16 AR240. My typical setup has been with the Gantlin Products Wake Wedge and their Custom Transom Ballast Bag. Which has been awesome! I've been able to go ropeless and play on every board in our inventory with it. I've done this with the intention of showing my fellow jetboaters how these boards will perform behind your boats. It's been a chore...

There's been a problem though. Not everybody wants to make such a large investment in surfing mods, but they want to try it out with a board that actually works... Hence this experiment:

Here are the details of my setup:

• 2016 Yamaha AR240
• Board - 2019 Slingshot Coaster 5'0" (the smaller version)
• Rider weight - 190 lbs
• Ballast - One 500lb bag under the port seat filled to bulging. No other ballast used.
• Human ballast - Basically none. Unless you count my wife driving and 35 lb 5 year old son whose hand you can see sitting on the starboard side.
• Fuel - Was at 1/3 tank
• Water depth 10-12ft
• Speed 9.8-10 MPH
• Offset engine RPM
• Ridesteady was active with engine sync off
• Gradual turn surf side

Pics of wake and CoNext screen:




Results of this experiment: Successful!

Can the Slingshot go ropeless on a "stock" Yamaha setup? You bet it can! My runs were short, I know... conditions were choppy that evening and when surfing in a circle that can lead to a point where eventually those waves are not being shielded by the boat. Also, the driver has to be very consistent to maintain the wave and pocket. The fact that I had Ridesteady helped with the consistent speed, but the system did still function properly with the engine sync of and throttles offset by a few k RPMs. Had conditions been a little more ideal I'm certain I could have surfed longer and farther.

In short, the board can give most any average size rider the best chance if going ropeless. Add a few bodies to the back seat and you'll do even better.

These boards are in stock in our store:

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

Message me if you want the jetboaters discount. Shipping is free across the mainland US.

 

[Damsroy]

• Offset engine RPM

I've seen this a few times lately. Haven't tried it yet. What is the impact on the wave? Make it cleaner by having less jet/thrust on the surf side?

 

[J-RAD]

• Offset engine RPM

I've seen this a few times lately. Haven't tried it yet. What is the impact on the wave? Make it cleaner by having less jet/thrust on the surf side?

Exactly. It's necessary in the case you have no WakeBooster or wake Wedge to clean up the wake.

 

[Damsroy]

Thx much for clarifying.
Using the wakebooster so I assume desynchronizing engine RPMs won't have any benefits for me.

 

[J-RAD]

Thx much for clarifying.
Using the wakebooster so I assume desynchronizing engine RPMs won't have any benefits for me.

I'm not sure what effects it might have with the booster, it may help...? Its worth a shot.

 

[biffdotorg]

Did you drop the RPM's once on plane? So you have the thrust of both to get going?

I am going to have to try this, as I am intrigued for sure. Nice write up!!

 

[J-RAD]

Did you drop the RPM's once on plane? So you have the thrust of both to get going?

I am going to have to try this, as I am intrigued for sure. Nice write up!!

Yes, throttled both up at the same time and then up on the one and down in the other.

 

[2kwik4u]

@J-RAD First, let me thank you for your tireless research and the "pain" it must cause to do such research. We all appreciate your "sacrifice" for us Thank your wife and 5yr old as well. All this time on the boat must certainly be exhausting

Now.........Am I reading this correctly in that you have no aftermarket parts on a '16 AR240 aside from a single rear underseat (port) ballast bag filled as far as it would go? If so, that seems like excellent news.

Also, can you give any insight into what makes the board have better characteristics? Is it a rocker angle thing? width/length/area vs weight of rider thing? Fore/Aft rocker angle? Special fin design? Thinner/Stronger substrate? What makes this board "faster" than the rest?

 

[swatski]

Did you drop the RPM's once on plane? So you have the thrust of both to get going?

I am going to have to try this, as I am intrigued for sure. Nice write up!!

This is a great trick worth experimenting with!
The limitation is if the boat is listed - the non- surf side intakes do not load the pumps well enough (being pushed up) resulting in cavitation and loss of thrust.
But if the ballast is more evenly distributed, not too much list/roll, the higher RPM on non surf side tend to force a turn to surf side that needs to be corrected- by counter steer of steering nozzles away from the wake surface! So it works great.

But the best wave is still with list and then the trick can lose its power!

 

[RightStuff]

I drop the surf-side engine RPMs while surfing to clean up that side's wake, works pretty well for my setup.

Here's my setup on my AR210 (for reg. foot surfing) that allows 200+ lb people to go rope less:
- 800 lb sack under rear port seat (as far back as possible), filled as much as possible might not get 100% full.
- 675 lb sack on swim platform pushed to the port side.
- Adjusted port jet nozzle slightly to the center of the boat (poor man's "SurfPointe" system)
- After getting someone up, I run at 10 mph (give or take a 1 mph) by lowering the port side engine RPMs and raising the starboard side. Usually it's about 2k RPM difference to clean the face up.

The above ballast lists the boat enough to dip the port half of the lower swim platform into the water. I think that part is key...

p.s. sorry if this is hijacking the thread! Love hearing these reviews on specific boards, so thanks for your help there @J-RAD

 

[swatski]

I drop the surf-side engine RPMs while surfing to clean up that side's wake, works pretty well for my setup.

Here's my setup on my AR210 (for reg. foot surfing) that allows 200+ lb people to go rope less:
- 800 lb sack under rear port seat (as far back as possible), filled as much as possible might not get 100% full.
- 675 lb sack on swim platform pushed to the port side.
- Adjusted port jet nozzle slightly to the center of the boat (poor man's "SurfPointe" system)
- After getting someone up, I run at 10 mph (give or take a 1 mph) by lowering the port side engine RPMs and raising the starboard side. Usually it's about 2k RPM difference to clean the face up.

The above ballast lists the boat enough to dip the port half of the lower swim platform into the water. I think that part is key...

p.s. sorry if this is hijacking the thread! Love hearing these reviews on specific boards, so thanks for your help there @J-RAD

Maybe I need to give this a try again, I guess I love my RideSteady too much!
it could also be the hull difference, IIRC my non surf pump had very hard time loading, I list pretty hard, too.
—

 

[RightStuff]

I doubt it will dramatically effect your wave's quality, but it did seem to help in my setup. Next time I'm out and fully ballast I'll take pics of it before/after, that'll hopefully show some improvement.

I have been looking at RideSteady, but this was one (maybe the only one) area that I though it would not be nice. Being able to independently control engine RPMs at speed would be a nice to have feature, but not a very common scenario.

 

[InmyElement]

Thanks for all the write ups and reviews.
I was able to surf ropeless for the first time this weekend awesome feeling..utilizing the Gantlin products..video and details coming soon.
I have the Hyperlite landlock 5'9" and I'm 200lb 6'1" I just want the best board thats gonna float me and get me and my family surfing ropeless.... Whats the best board for what we want to do?
Any insight would be appreciated.
Thanks

 

[BigAbe75]

Thanks for all the write ups and reviews.
I was able to surf ropeless for the first time this weekend awesome feeling..utilizing the Gantlin products..video and details coming soon.
I have the Hyperlite landlock 5'9" and I'm 200lb 6'1" I just want the best board thats gonna float me and get me and my family surfing ropeless.... Whats the best board for what we want to do?
Any insight would be appreciated.
Thanks

Someday I want to try a Landlock. I almost bought one of those for my first board, but ended up going a different direction.

If you, or anyone, ever wants to sell one cheap, I might be interested.

 

[J-RAD]

@J-RAD First, let me thank you for your tireless research and the "pain" it must cause to do such research. We all appreciate your "sacrifice" for us Thank your wife and 5yr old as well. All this time on the boat must certainly be exhausting

Now.........Am I reading this correctly in that you have no aftermarket parts on a '16 AR240 aside from a single rear underseat (port) ballast bag filled as far as it would go? If so, that seems like excellent news.

Also, can you give any insight into what makes the board have better characteristics? Is it a rocker angle thing? width/length/area vs weight of rider thing? Fore/Aft rocker angle? Special fin design? Thinner/Stronger substrate? What makes this board "faster" than the rest?

...I shall persevere for the sake of all the humble jet boaters... my reward will be in heaven.

I do have other after market parts, but the only 2 after market items in use during this testing were the single under-seat ballast bag and the Ridesteady. That's it. The rest I'd boat operation and the magic of the Coaster.

The Coaster is hybrid design that I think borrows the best features of both a surf style and skim style board. It probably borrows more from a skim style with its pintale shape and flat bottom but it's enlarged surface area I think really adds to the buoyancy and speed. There surf style part is the nose. They gave it more of a rocker up on the nose that really lets you get up on the gas without pearling it as easily. I did end up pearling it a few times trying to get back in the pocket after fading, but I think it's my stance closer to the front of the board that really helped me stay on the wave.

I mean, for running so light on fuel, ballast, passengers, shallow water and being on the smaller 5' board I really didn't have very high expectations. My experience on other boards with what should have been superior setups were fast less successful than this historically. So, I was impressed.

 

[J-RAD]

I doubt it will dramatically effect your wave's quality, but it did seem to help in my setup. Next time I'm out and fully ballast I'll take pics of it before/after, that'll hopefully show some improvement.

I have been looking at RideSteady, but this was one (maybe the only one) area that I though it would not be nice. Being able to independently control engine RPMs at speed would be a nice to have feature, but not a very common scenario.

As proven in my test the Ridesteady was still a great asset in consistency. I was easily able to turn off the sync in the settings menu and have it manage my surf speed. It was just as easy to reactivate when we were thru.

 

[J-RAD]

Thanks for all the write ups and reviews.
I was able to surf ropeless for the first time this weekend awesome feeling..utilizing the Gantlin products..video and details coming soon.
I have the Hyperlite landlock 5'9" and I'm 200lb 6'1" I just want the best board thats gonna float me and get me and my family surfing ropeless.... Whats the best board for what we want to do?
Any insight would be appreciated.
Thanks

It really is my pleasure! I've enjoyed all of the testing thoroughly and I'm happy to share

The wake Wedge and Custom Transom Ballast are my typical setup. It's so good I can ride most anything... so, if that's your setup, you have options. I don't think your height or weight are a major factor. 5'9" is a BIG board and going to take up a lot of real estate.

I typically recommend the 5'3" Coaster to anyone over 200 lbs, but if you're throwing a decent wake and your the largest of the riders looking to share it with the family I think the 5'0" would be fantastic and more preferable for you. The 5'3" can be a lot if board to handle for the wife and kids. The 5'0" Cobra Cat would also give you a fantastic ride. It's nearly as effortless on the wake as the Coaster.

If you want to talk in more detail about either one shot me a message and I'll help you get on the right board.

 

[J-RAD]

Someday I want to try a Landlock. I almost bought one of those for my first board, but ended up going a different direction.

If you, or anyone, ever wants to sell one cheap, I might be interested.

@InmyElement, I think you and @BigAbe75 need to talk. He can use the 5'9" Landlock and you can get a downpayment for your new Slingshot board.

Making friends and solving problems, that's what this place is about!

 

[Ridesteady]

I have been looking at RideSteady, but this was one (maybe the only one) area that I though it would not be nice. Being able to independently control engine RPMs at speed would be a nice to have feature, but not a very common scenario.

You can always independently control the throttles with Ridesteady, but if engine sync is on, it will try to correct the difference (up to a point).

If you want the engine RPMs offset, you can turn engine sync off, and move the throttles accordingly. Ridesteady will still attempt to maintain the GPS set speed, keeping the same offset between the throttles.

 

[swatski]

You can always independently control the throttles with Ridesteady, but if engine sync is on, it will try to correct the difference (up to a point).

If you want the engine RPMs offset, you can turn engine sync off, and move the throttles accordingly. Ridesteady will still attempt to maintain the GPS set speed, keeping the same offset between the throttles.

Dammmm. LOLOL.
I feel so dumb!!!!

Duh... So, I don't need to sacrifice GPS speed control to run with off-set throttles/RPM for surfing....

Well, thank you. For clarifying this.

--