Outback for Wakesurfing

[ECHO]

Does anyone have any suggestion on how to make bigger wakes on an Outback (direct drive, not V drive) to also keep wakeboarding and surfing friends happy? Wakeplate helps but the Gravity 1 ballast is only 275 pounds and there is no way to upgrade to Gravity 3. After-market ballasts (on deck) seems to be the only option but they are obstructive and ugly. Thank you.

[kaneboats]

Trade the boat! Ha ha. I had an 2000 Outback LS that would make a credible surf wave. Had to put some serious ballast on the floor next to the doghouse and in the trunk though. No other way.

Search on "Outback Surf Wave" for pointers.

Maybe start here:

https://forum.moomba.com/showthread.php?25397-2003-Outback-surf-wakeboard&highlight=Outback+surf+wave

[viking]

Rear seat sac and surf sack along the surf side of the motor box. Re-purpose your Gravity 1 bag to the floor in the bow walk through unless you have enough peeps to throw a body or 2 up there for bow weight to lengthen the pocket, and everybody else on the surf side. She'll be riding dirty so have to keep a close eye when circling back to pick up a fallen rider or you'll be eating rollers. I had a thread on my 07 setup if you do some searching.......Good luck!!

[zabooda]

Any weight in the bow will surely sink your hopes. Unless that weight has the capability of moving aft when coming down from a plane and that is on glass. Waves will come over unless you are at a dead stop.

[deerfield]

ECHO - Do you have an Outback or at this point are you thinking about buying and wondering how it could he modified with additional ballast for wakesurfing? Have had mine nine years. Bought it new in '07. Never tried surfing behind it. With its minimal freeboard and five adults on board, it is easy to take water over the bow. I would not want an additional half ton of ballast. Be careful. - Deerfield



Does anyone have any suggestion on how to make bigger wakes on an Outback (direct drive, not V drive) to also keep wakeboarding and surfing friends happy? Wakeplate helps but the Gravity 1 ballast is only 275 pounds and there is no way to upgrade to Gravity 3. After-market ballasts (on deck) seems to be the only option but they are obstructive and ugly. Thank you.

[ECHO]

ECHO - Do you have an Outback or at this point are you thinking about buying and wondering how it could he modified with additional ballast for wakesurfing? Have had mine nine years. Bought it new in '07. Never tried surfing behind it. With its minimal freeboard and five adults on board, it is easy to take water over the bow. I would not want an additional half ton of ballast. Be careful. - Deerfield

Thank you Deerfield. Much appreciate your advice. I think it's time to think about another boat.

[ECHO]

Thank you Viking. Doesn't sound too appealing. Others warn about water over the bow too. I think Kaneboats is right about getting a different model.

[viking]

Ya almost every outing when setting up for surf if I wasn't at the helm there was a roller over the bow. It's easy enough even without being slammed with weight.
It was doable however and had alot of fun learning to surf behind it. It's what drove me to upgrade into a V-drive. That and the kids getting older and needing more room.

[zabooda]

I'd never talk someone from buying a boat but if you can get into another model, I would highly recommend it for all the reasons above.

[Ironcross25]

agree with everyone on this. I had an 05. had some good times but no storage and bags everywhere. I never sacked it out because it sits so low as it is. upgraded last year and I couldn't be happier. everyone starts somewhere and you learn what you do and don't want in the next boat.

[sivs1]

I've taken rollers over the bow in my LSV. I couldn't image something with a much lower freeboard, LSV is set up for 2500lbs of ballast and surfs great, but still can take water over bow if not careful.

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[Rgar]

I would suggest throwing together a ghetto gate and see what you get. Search this site, there are many designs. Nice thing about a gate is you can get decent starter wave without a ton of weight.

[icemanftr]

Wakemakers surf system video was on an outback. It looked pretty awesome. But they're like 15k lol


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[Rgar]

I'm sure the wakemakers stuff is nice but you'd be surprised what a basic diy gate will do.

[Jordy Dag]

A little late to reply on this one but I surf my Outback DD with no troubles. I purchased my underseat rear bag from viking to replace the factory bag. Perhaps viking can chime in and tell us what size it is... im guessing 700 or 750. I relocated the factory bag to the trunk after re enforcing the trunk floor. I have a 750 IBS in the bow which last year I was throwing the pump over the side to fill. It surfs awesome as it is but as suggested you have to watch the front. She is definately slammed with the IBS full or 3/4 full. Over winter I have built a new platform on Traysons design and fabbed my own platform brackets. Ill be doing a write up on my IBS integration soon. As soon as I figure out how to post pics,that is.

[Sinjun]

I have a 2003 outback, that I made surf gates for. I run 1200lb in the back( 800lb under back seat and 400lb in the trunk that has been beefed up to be able to carry the weight). I'm going to try a bag on the floor in the bow this season. Does water come over the bow once In a while yes but it's not a big deal. Remember we're only moving at 10 to 12 mph while surfing.

[Cjackson1123]

Hey man I purchased a 05 mobius dd last year being I couldn't really justify spending the extra coin on the v drive being me and wifes first wake boat. I will say me and a buddy pretty in to surfing so I added twin 540 sumo sacks to the rear plus the under seat 400 hard ballast that's already there. The wave although not the best allowes us to surf pretty easily. With all that being said if you have more then just a couple people in the boat you doo have to be mindful of what your doing when turning around. All we would do is stop wait just a second for the wake to pass and then turn the boat around and we never had a problem. So to say it's not possible would be wrong but not ideal if that's all your doing all summer either I would say.

[kaneboats]

I wish I would have made a surf gate for my Outback when I had it. Not that the wave was bad but it surely would have been better.

[Jordy Dag]

Im also realizing the benefits to the surf gate, kane. After reading plenty in the archives in regards to delaying wave convergence and such Im going to fab one up once I finish my new swim platform.

[s197pilot]

Here's the Go surf assist system on an outback. 23762

[wolfeman131]

those tabs look massive on that boat.

[viking]

those tabs look massive on that boat.

If any boat needs it it would be the Outback.
If I would have kept mine this is the route I would have traveled!

[deerfield]

Here's the Go surf assist system on an outback. 23762

197pilot - Can you post more pictures? of tabs and/or ballast setup? - Deerfield

[Jordy Dag]

Deerfield, Im with you. As soon as I saw this picture I started researching go surf assist. 4k is pretty steep, but if it does as described and lives up tk the video, you will see one on my Outback in the near future.

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[resko1]

Surf my 97 outback all the time. 700 on the surf side pulled all the way back with the rear seats out and a 400 in the walkway up front. Also use a suckgate made from a seastow handle. We are able to get 250# riders to go ropeless.
Its been a great starter boat. Does everything but we are moving on to a v drive now that we are almost dedicated surfers.
Heres a few pics from our boat

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