The all encompassing "fix the wakes on a non-tournament boat" thread.

[Horton]

It seems like at any time there is always one thread going about how to improve the wakes on a non-tournament boat. In an effort to keep the focus of this forum on track can we please create one master thread on this topic?

[Horton]

FYI – you will NEVER get tournament boat wakes from a boat that is not tournament boat. Your cross-over or wake boat was designed to make wakes.

 

If it is all you have I support your efforts but never in history has putting sprinkles on dog poo resulted in pastry.

 

[ALPJr]

Not disagreeing, although we’ve had several small outboard and one i/o boat prior to buying a ProStar. Each of them had small tournament level wakes, minimal spray and no rooster tail. Tracking and speed maintenance were certainly not on par with an inboard 3event boat. Imo the key is at minimum start with a boat hull designed for skiing which likely means a boat built between the 70’s and 90’s. Almost all of the newer ob and i/o hulls have a considerable V bottom that will never yield ideal ski wakes.

[Brokenstack]

I understand as a forum owner that it may be frustrating to cleanup threads like this. However it comes off as a little snobish and part of the reason the sport is in the shape it is. Not all of us have access to a private ski lake with lots of people who share our passions. I know this first hand. I just sold my cross over boat and bought a tournament boat. I have trouble finding anyone to go boating with now. There are a lot of boat owners who LOVE to ski and thats all they want to do but instead of buying the boat they want, they have to compromise for the rest of their family and freinds to have enough people to boat with, and to keep friends and family happy. I truely believe there would be a lot more tournament boats sold if boat owners who loved to ski didn't have that issue. A lot of people come to this thread who know very little about waterskiing (me included) to learn, which is also why you created this forum. They dont know all the unwritten rules of waterskiing, they are just trying to figure out how to make their particular boat ski better. So they come on here and ask the question that has been asked 1000 times before without taking the time to search the forum. I would probably do the same thing if I came here for the first time. I do understand your frustration. I finally learned that a wake boat will not ski well. If I want to be a better skier and maximize what little course time I get I needed a different boat. But I sacrified family time because of it. My whole family has not been on the boat with me once this year.

[Horton]

@Brokenstack

The challenge for me is to keep the forum on topic. The more I can keep a tournament focus the higher the quality of content ( for you to read ) . I am all for everyone having fun on the water how ever they can but this community is slalom skiing focused.

 

I would be happy to see a single comprehensive thread about improving the wakes on non-ski boats but I do not want a plethora of threads about it. That is what I am trying to do here.

 

Your access problem is a totally different topic and is a HUGE problem. You are not alone.

 

[Brokenstack]

I totally understand your focus. Maybe a sticky at the top of the forum would help? I just know I found this site and learned a lot about skiing from coming and asking a similar question to the one you are addressing. I found out about course skiing and all I had was a cross over boat and it was a very nice boat that I was proud of, not dog poo. I had to make due with what I had even in the course (which I only get access to about 6 times a year). I wish it was 100 but I have to take what I can get and live vicariously through you guys.

[Horton]

What I was hoping for was sort of a FAQ for boat wake reduction.

 

Ok guys how did you reduce your wakes?

[6balls]

Barefoot outboard. No wakes and room for people. Great recreational boats that perform SO much better than some stern drive crap but don't necessarily put you in a tourney boat with a motor in the middle taking up people space. How's that? Want to get more serious sure get a tourney inboard.

[VONMAN]

On direct drive Tournament boats on a small lake or ski lake get the weight out. No rear seat, or any extra junk/weight you don't need. Never exceed over half a tank of gas. Three people to the boat, Driver, Spotter and Skier. Make sure the Spotter is positioned so the boat is balanced for even wakes. Weight is the wake killer, no booms, Skylon's and heavy tool boxes in the boat.

On Barefoot outboards all rules apply same as inboards but you have the ability to trim the wake once your skier is up out of the water. With motors getting MUCH heavier it will put a more rearward bias on older Barefoot boats. When I re-powered my boat, motor weight went from 450lbs to 505lbs, add a transom jack and its now 535lbs. The good news is that the gas tank is in the bow to balance the boat. (26 gal tank but only carry about 15 gal) When pulling a skier out of the water the jack is full down and the trim is full in and the bow stays down. Once the skier is up I trim the motor up 2 seconds, no side spray off the rear chimes and a nice flat wake. Hope it helps.

[h2oskiep]

Here's some ideas I am testing with good results.

 

The side vortex tabs eliminate spray from the side of the boat curling it down.

 

I have tested them on the back of the boat left and right of the prop and it had a dramatic Improvement of the roostertail. The problem is that they don't stay on unless permanently affixed. The testing video shows the results but shortly after the tabs came off.

Good news is the side tabs have stayed on for the past couple weeks so far so good.

 

 

 

 

[chrislandy]

weight up front seemed to fix a lot of my slower speed issues for teaching kids.

 

Pretty sure it works for outboards too, I remember my dad getting everyone to move up front (sometimes sitting on the windscreen and bow) to keep the nose rise down when getting on the plane (also helped with tracking keeping more V in the water at higher speeds)