2003 Mobius V setup for wakesurf

[zroutt]

My first post here as I am looking at purchasing a Mobius V from a private seller. Moving on from a 2006 Sea Ray 185 Sport, with a Monster tower added, ballasts and just about everything you could do for wakeboarding/wakeskating.

I am a surfer at heart after growing up in Cali, now living in South Dakota with a great lake I am at every weekend. Have a slip and everything. But won't be moving back to California so I need to get into the inland surf craze.

What I want to know is the 2003 Mobius V a solid boat for building out a wakesurf monster with. I have read through just about every board here looking for info on the 2003 MV and didn't find anything about surfing.

Here is a link to the boat for sale.

http://www.onlyinboards.com/Details.aspx?ID=28701#contact

Comes with 3 ballasts 2x450lb's in the rear and 1x450lb in the center locker. Stock setup I believe.

Will this create a good long pocket, standup wave with me and several people and children in the boat or will I need to get bigger ballasts in the back lockers?

Appreciate any feedback!!

Thanks

[kaneboats]

Hopefully some guys with this model will chime in. You can see specs and owners manual right here by clicking on "About Moomba" above, then "Archive" then hover over "2003" and select the model. Looks like a clean nice boat. I'm sure we can help you get it set up.

[zroutt]

Thanks Kane, useful information there and in the owners manual. Looks like it was the biggest Moomba offered that year.

Its interesting at the lake I am at every weekend you see several MasterCraft either x15's or there is an x45 with a slip by me, several Tige's, and a few Malibu's, a few Centurions, but never seen a Moomba out here. Pretty stoked if I can make this happen.

Need to get my Sea Ray sold.

[wolfeman131]

somebody on here will have firsthand knowledge of how to get that boat set up, but at first blush, I'd say you're going to need some more weight. Call Wakemakers as they also may be able to lend some suggestions.

BTW - boat looks great!

[bergermaister]

Hey Zroutt- So I've done some serious research and work on my own 2001 Mob V. From what I can tell the 2000 through 2003 MobiusV are the same hull, and kind of in between a LSV and XLV at 22ft long and seating for 12.

Short answer - yes, that boat can definitely be setup to surf!

Long answer - if you're wondering how...
The trick with this hull is that the rear compartments are not as long as the newer hulls while the nose may actually be a bit longer. My rear compartments would best accommodate a ballast bag about 44" long but most of the bigger bags available are 50" so you will have to deal with some wrinkling to get them filled. Height of the compartment is about 22" towards the front, 20" in the rear. Width is about 24" wide back there.

So the 750lb bag at 50x20x20 seems like a good starting point, right? These hulls like a lot of weight back there to get them to lean over. I found that 750 just isn't enough. The 1100lb bags are 50x24x24 so you can take advantage of the extra width, just not going to get them totally full. With either bag they are going to be bunching up at one end but you will definitely get more weight into the 1100. Just have to be careful that you don't get a drain port blocked from being in a wrinkle.

I just went through and redid my setup, 1100lb bags in each rear locker, a 750lb bag in the basement locker which fits almost perfectly, and then two of the 400lb 42x16x16 bags to move around (filled with a hand pump). I think that looking back I would have bit the bullet and got custom made bags for the rear compartments - pay a little extra for them rather than going with the 1100's. That would end up being about a 900lb bag by my calcs and fit perfectly rather than having a 1100 filled with about 900 lbs and worrying about it bunching up.

I would also consider a longer bag for running in the basement, possibly the gravity games 1180 or a custom bag here as well. I can get a nice tall wave that we can surf all day - sometimes too tall and you feel like you're going to rearend the boat. That is why I'd like extra weight in the front to lengthen it out and maybe even knock it down a little. If you look around on the forum most people suggest going with as big as you can get or fit. You don't have to fill them all the way full if you don't want.

I'll be out all day today and going to experiment with "the perfect wave" as we'll be on a lake this time with no current to deal with. I'm sure I'll have some pics or vids I'll be able to share.

[zroutt]

Thanks for the feedback Bergermaister. Look forward to seeing some video of what your wave looks like.

Looking around the interwebs and doing a lot of boat research I am really sold on the Moomba brand and value. Just need to get my boat sold first before I can do anything. Frustrating that I am trying to do this towards the later part of boating season here. Hopefully something happens soon. I have a couple of boats picked out but one I really have my eye on that I mentioned earlier.

Would be nice to get something before summer is completely gone. Then workthrough any mods or upgrades over the winter.

So I always see a max rating of weight or people. How safe is it to go over that weight as I see a lot of people with 2000+lbs of balast and their boat is maybe rated at 1600?

[moombadaze]

So I always see a max rating of weight or people. How safe is it to go over that weight as I see a lot of people with 2000+lbs of balast and their boat is maybe rated at 1600?


Safe-thats a strange answer. you could be empty of balast and not be safe-due to water conditions, or be overloaded and have no problems. Common sense prevails

[bergermaister]

Like Daze said - common sense prevails. You can experiment but within reason. Mine is rated at 1,725lbs or 12 people.

I experimented on Saturday while waiting for friends to join me. Filled both 1100's in the rear as full as possible so realistically about 1800-1900 lbs total in the rear. 750 full in the basement locker. Just me in the boat. My rear rub rail was only a couple inches off the water at rest but the lake was empty and glass.

I throttled up and the boat basically just did a wheelie for a hundred yards or so. Finally picked up some speed and it planed out but not under 22mph or it would start to wheelie again. The wake was pretty impressive, however when I backed off the throttle down to a stop I took a wave over the back of the boat! (kind of like the old low profile dragboats do if you're not careful) Came halfway up the engine cover before I gunned it forward and away. Kind of a spooky moment I wasn't expecting and that's EXACTLY the sort of stupid/scary thing that will get you in trouble if you're overloaded and not paying real close attention when surfing and all leaned over.

I'd never even think about getting that loaded down with other boats around or on choppy water. Had to see what it looked like and performed like at least once though.

[bergermaister]

Forgot - here's a clip of my buddy riding from last weekend. He's still a beginner but has gone ropeless a little before.

This was ~1100 surf side, 750 basement, 2 teenagers up front, one teen on the surf side and me driving. Watch at about 30 seconds after I moved over to the surf side how the wave gets better and even longer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCtRMJzx98M

[T100]

what speed are you going?

[bergermaister]

About 11mph on my old speedo which who knows if it's accurate. Last trip out with the new PP Stargazer I found my mechanical speedo was always off at least a little according to the GPS and needed constant adjustment so I don't really trust it much. On PP I now start at 11mph and then adjust up or down accordingly based on the passengers/weight and water conditions.

[T100]

I thought I’d chime in because I’m getting a lot of white wash. Not sure if I have the same hull design as the 2003, I have 750 rear regular, 400 rear goofy and the standard in the middle locker. Wake plate up all the way, if down even a little, it white washed even more. 9 to 10 mph - 6 people in the boat.

[bergermaister]

Are you running with the 400 goofy full when surfing regular (opposite weighting)? I played around with that some and all I got was more wash. My hull likes all the weight to one side and as I keep finding, the more the better. More lean = less whitewash for me. Seems to have more effect than speed adjustments for some reason. Kind of like that vid clip earlier in this post shows - when I moved out of the driver seat and over to the surf side the wave cleaned up some from that extra 210lbs of lean.

[T100]

Opposite side about 1/2 full, when I get it some what right I wish it was a little longer. Bow sacks???

[bergermaister]

Me too. I've run 400 in the bow a few times. Makes it really easy to dunk. One try centered and didn't seem to help much but the water was pretty rough and couldn't hold speed so lots of whitewash. Once off to the surf side in front and seemed to help. However that was when I was playing with 1100 surfside, 400 floor surfside, 750 basement, 200lbs worth of kids surfside, and another 400 in the front on the surf side. The whole wave was better but I see others that seem to have a really long pocket and want more of that.

Everybody says weight in the front will lengthen it. I'm not sure how much more I wanna try due to the dunk factor but then I think those IBS are way more than 400!

[saskyrider]

thats a nice looking wave!!! little bit longer than mine but i'm still tweaking...

[zroutt]

Thanks for all the information guys. I will have a little work to do once I get this boat. Looks like I am going down to Denver on Friday to pick it up Saturday. First we will go for a test drive and I want to make sure the v-drive doesn't vibrate and how the boat handles in the water.

Work to be done. Bigger ballast bags in the rear lockers. PerfectPass is a must but might wait until a winter project in my garage. Upgraded speakers in the hull and some speakers on the tower. A surf rack in place of one of the wake racks.

Again thanks for all the feedback. I will post some pix of the boat when I get it and of course when I do some mods. :cool:

[bergermaister]

Thanks - here's another more recent clip. (posted in another thread as well). This is the setup of 1100 surf locker, 400 surf floor, 750 basement, 400 bow surf side, 200lbs of kids surf side and my girl driving. I would still like to get it longer though. Maybe riding a different board I could get further back without losing it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtUtVav6wMk

When there's a lot of boats on the water she's learned to keep the speed up and just do a turn to keep the nose high going back through the wave rather than cutting it and waiting to turn or cutting it and dunking it... You can hear my daughter freaking out a little at the very end as the water gets real close to coming in on her side during the turn!

[Canuckle Head]

Opposite side about 1/2 full, when I get it some what right I wish it was a little longer. Bow sacks???

Empty that opposite side sack and your wake will clean up. In fact, pull the bag out of that locker and put in the back corner of your seating area and fill it at least 2/3rds full. You will be most pleased with the result. The more you can get that hull over on it's side the better the shape. Bow sack will make the pocket longer but 1st try this setup. If you have that many people in the boat try getting a few of the people up in the bow and make the heavier people sit on the back corner of the sunpad. I usually get the heaviest guy to put their feet on the swim platform.

Try it Mikey, you'll like it!

W

[zroutt]

Ok so got my boat at home. Super stoked and ready to play this weekend. After picking up a plunger so I can run the ballast and motor in my drive way I thought I would test the sacs again. Dangit, the surf side sac has a hole in it. Not terribly upset as the previous owner said he will compensate me to order a new sac. So I am looking at placing an order right now.

Looking at the Fly High Pro Series 750 x2 for the back lockers and the 1180+ to replace the center ballast. Will start here and then continue to tweak. Should I order new fittings for these or use the ones off my old bags? I am also assuming I will need the BagBuster upgrade to get a longer fill hose?

[zroutt]

Just ordered 2x750lb sacs, 2xBallast bag kits, 2xW736's and 1xW731 for center bag, to be delivered on Friday so the weekend will be awesome. Also ordered the 1180 Gravity Games Center sac but won't ship till tomorrow and didn't want to pay overnight shipping on it so the following weekend will only get better.

[bergermaister]

Nothing like last minute upgrades before hitting the water! Cracks me up - why does it always go down that way...

You have the playpen front with the huge basement locker right? I'll be curious to see/hear how that 1180 bag fits in there.

[zroutt]

Yeah I know right! The playpen front? Yes that is what I have. When I pull the play pen pads up the factory bag only goes about half way into the play pen and is about 4-6" pushed forward from the back of the center ski locker. When it is filled it looks like there is still plenty of room up there. Will take pix and post in another thread when I go to put stuff together.

[kcharles069]

I own a 2003 Mobius LSV and surf all the time on it.

We typically goofy foot surf and put 750 lb ballast in the rear locker. With that we get a good wave. Although we typically don't have a lot of people in the boat, we always have them sit on the surf side for more weight.
Never put any water in the basement locker either.

Based on that our surfing has been great, no complaints.
Have encountered an interesting ballast problem last weekend, the starboard locker switch will not activate the fill or discharge pump. The other two switches still function normally. I replaced the switch with no success, and I know the sprinkler valve is firing, so I'm thinking I have a wiring problem but have to look into it further.

[zroutt]

KCharles, what speed do you run at? Have any pix or video to share?

[bergermaister]

Pretty sure the LSV and MobiusV hulls are different - the LSV being shorter, possibly other differences as well. Love to see a comparison between both of your guys' layouts, length, beam, height, seating/compartments, etc.