Wave shaper for boats with surf tabs

[Bch53211]

Wondering if anyone uses a wave shaper on a boat with surf tabs. Is there any advantage to adding in to my ‘19 Helix?

[2in2out]

If you only ride one side, it may be worthy of experimentation. I’m assuming you have flow 2.0, which lacks the delayed convergence effects that the additional tab on 3.0 has. Putting a shaper on may have a good effect, and shouldn’t disrupt autowake to much. Challenge will be finding that sweet spot on the hull with the boat listed after engaging flow and autowake. My experience with shapers has shown me that the shaper should be 2/3 submerged to have best impact.

[Bch53211]

I appreciate your input. I do have flow 2.0 but rarely use it . I sometimes wonder if there is a point where one can over ballast a boat (both for wave quality and safety). I fill the front/middle ballast along w wakemakers upgrade bags that are 1030 each. Along w that I have 500lbs of lead and two manual fill bags that are 800/650 . Wave is huge but more on the steep side rather than having more length. I think this is partially due to the length of a helix. If I move weight to the front it does lengthen wave but usually with a little less push. Factoring in speed and all the other variables , it’s difficult to figure out which set up provides the best combination of push and length. Adding a wave shaper just increases the variables but I guess that’s all part of the fun:)

[2in2out]

I had the same problem with my Sanger. It was short, and more of a crossover design leaning more towards wake and skiing than surfing. I had to use 2 shapers and an additional 450lbs of lead to get a wave with enough push for me. It was steep and short.

It’s an inexpensive experiment to buy a shaper and try it. If it doesn’t help, sell it. I found that with two shapers boat handling was much different.

[sandm]

we struggled with the same issue in our old launch20. with a 20ft boat and weight, it's not hard to get a tall wave but length will always be the challenge with the 20ft hulls. I've surfed a mondo many times and same thing. ton of push and height but length was challenging to get it as far back as the 23ft boats.
shapers didn't exist when we had the launch20 so not sure if that would help at all. can't hurt :)

not sure what you ride at speed wise.

[Bch53211]

Usually 11 or 11.1. When I move most of the lead to bow I find I need to go as fast as 12-12.5 to get a clean wave. Wave gets pretty good length but you need to make an effort to keep momentum further back . Will grab a sharper or two next year and see how it goes.