Opinions on Various Upgrades Please

[501]

OK, so it looks like there is still another month of winter here in Alberta, and I'm going stir crazy so I have decided to do a variety of upgrades on my 08 XLV rather then look at new boats and I need some opinions.

1) Swivel Seat. Saw a few threads on this, and I am definitley going to do it. Biggest question is locking or free swivel type.

2) Underwater LED's. I have seen that a few people have done them. I have extensive wiring and electrical background, so my main question here is how much do I have to spend to get somethign decent that will be noticeable in the water? Will the Bullet lines lights like this be fine: http://www.bulletlines.com/Underwater-Marine-Lights-p/1020.htm

3) Ballast Upgrades. I have a 1050lb in the front and 2 X 750's in the rear all running on the stock pumps and hoses from 2008. What would be the easiest/best/cheapest was to improve the filling speed? There are a lot of threads but after all the different things were tired I was hoping to get the best bang for your buck solution.

4) New Kenwood headunit with bluetooth so we can play all music wirelessly, but still use the existing driver remote. Any thoughts on models?

5) Heated Front seat. Has anyone done it themselves? Was it hard?

6) Hot water shower. Has anyone done it themselves? Was it hard?

7) Prop. Planning on getting the one "You da man" recommended.



Thanks again in advance for all the replies. All this new snow here is killing me. So depressing.

[ian ashton]

Here are my thoughts;


1) Swivel Seat. Saw a few threads on this, and I am definitley going to do it. Biggest question is locking or free swivel type.
I started this project, but never finished, and really want to make it work. I am going with a locking style, I don't like the idea of not being able to secure the seat in the 'driving' position.

2) Underwater LED's. I have seen that a few people have done them. I have extensive wiring and electrical background, so my main question here is how much do I have to spend to get somethign decent that will be noticeable in the water? Will the Bullet lines lights like this be fine: http://www.bulletlines.com/Underwater-Marine-Lights-p/1020.htm
If you search on WakeWorld there was a thread with comparrison pictures of all sorts of different underwater LEDs, and I believe the Bullet's were included. I think any high powered LED will be noticeable at night. I just installed my transom LED (from the Newty group buy) but haven't had a chance to test it out at night - you can't see anything during the day.


4) New Kenwood headunit with bluetooth so we can play all music wirelessly, but still use the existing driver remote. Any thoughts on models?
I just installed the 440U, which is a great unit, and I believe can do Bluetooth audio with an adapter, however if its anything like the Bluetooth music streaming in my car, the sound quality isn't that great. I'd demo whatever you are going to use before you buy if you want to go the Bluetooth route.

5) Heated Front seat. Has anyone done it themselves? Was it hard?
Also on my list!

[ian ashton]

Here is the underwater LED thread:
http://www.wakeworld.com/forum/showthread.php?t=702750

[brain_rinse]

1) Swivel Seat: Locking, for the same reason as Ian posted.

3) Ballast Upgrades: Do you care about both fill/empty speed or just fill?

7) Prop: Assuming you primarily wakeboard and surf, the Acme 1235 on your XLV would be a huge upgrade.

[501]

Main Ballast requirement is faster fill, draining is fine as is (This is when I'm usually recovering from the crashes).

[brain_rinse]

Main Ballast requirement is faster fill, draining is fine as is (This is when I'm usually recovering from the crashes).

Same here, though now that the Johnson reversible pumps have gotten cheaper I might consider that approach for simplicity (and better drain times.)

Love my t1200 fill pumps though (1 per bag.) HUGE improvement over the stock sprinkler valve setup.

[501]

So I got the swivel installed on the seat and plan to install the seat in the boat today. I took a couple pcitures along the way. On an XLV its a pretty easy mod. I do have some thoughts on the subject but I'll add them to a new thread on swivels in XLV's.