New to the SC family - 2017 Mondo Introduction

Hi all - thought I would finally post up a proper introduction.

I grew up skiing Pyramid Lake and a few other spots in SoCal back in the '70s & '80s on a family friend's Nautique. I've since relocated to NY then NJ back in early 2003 and 2009 respectively and eventually pulled the trigger in 2012 on a 1995 Sea Ray, Ski Ray Spitfire, a competition ski boat much like the Nautique I grew up on, except the Ski Ray started every time I went to the lake. I picked up the Ski Ray in Florida and had it shipped up to NJ where we enjoyed the small and nibble format for seven seasons. It really was a good boat. I spent some time adding my mark to an already very good condition 25-year-old boat and sent it on its way just a few months back since we had already acquired the 2017 Mondo back in October of 2019 and couldn't keep two boats in our driveway for much longer.

http://public.visualrealms.com/forum...skiray_sml.jpg

Although the Ski Ray was a great intro to the lake-life and we have a million fond memories over the 7 summers we used it, it just wasn't able to give us enough flexibility with regards to space (seated 6 uncomfortably) and didn't throw a big enough wake to push my, now 10-year-old daughter's, wakeboard skills.

Enter the 2017 Mondo. Without doing too much research, it was clear that SC's Moomba was the right level of style, features, abilities, and cost for us compared to everything else we saw on the market. There really weren't too many Moombas within striking distance for us, but that really didn't phase me much since I bought the Ski Ray in Florida and our tow vehicle in Oregon. We were, however, lucky to find our boat not too far from us in PA and without much hesitation, or even negotiation, since it is in fact my two favorite colors, gave the nice man a load of money for a used, surf addition Mondo. And after the countless trips already in 2020, we are smitten with the Mondo and can't get enough of it. It's a huge step forward for us, obviously coming from a 1995 ski boat to a modern, 2017 surf edition wake boat, there are so many things to appreciate and so many things to learn. And although she's a big girl, relative to our beloved 18ft Ski Ray, our routine really hasn't changed much with regards to prep, launch, and recovery.

http://public.visualrealms.com/forum.../Mondo_sml.jpg

Our tow vehicle is a 2005, Ford E350 (van) Sportsmobile. It's a 6.0 (bullet proofed) diesel, weighing in at 11,000lbs and only struggles a tiny bit on the big hills unless I really push it, otherwise, I really don't know the boat is back there.

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http://public.visualrealms.com/forum...-setup_sml.jpg

...continued in post #2 for additional images

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We've learned a few things along the way. Most notably that even though they call it a surf addition, clearly it's not truly ready to surf. A minor set back that required some research pre and post-day-one surfing that kinda let me down. We've since upgraded to the 910's plus a 400lb bag in front of the rear bench which has greatly improved but not totally satisfied me just yet. Along with the bags, I added 4, 24" long stiffeners on each side at the engine panels.

http://public.visualrealms.com/forum...feners_sml.jpg

We, of course, have a ton of photos and videos of us figuring out the surfing (we are all new to surfing) and will show off some video's once it looks like we sorta know what we are doing. Until then, this is my daughter Wilhemina, who has competed as a beginner in a wakeboard competition, learning to surf for the first time.

I've included a few other videos I shot of the competitions and other misc lake days.

Wakeboard Competition 2019
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ucbTObyUEs

Lake-life a few years back on the SkiRay
https://youtu.be/UO5cZHbaXJ0

As the owner of a 2019 Mondo, i know what you mean about ready to surf out of the box. Just not possible. I added the 750's in the back, and 500lbs of lead on top of that. I can surf now, but i think my surfing ability helps the situation. I still want to see a much bigger wave for beginners as they struggle a bit. I learned surfing behind a 24ft Malibu MXZ which has an amazing surf wake.

Welcome!!!!

Did you do the filming and editing on those videos??? They are great quality, so good! It's cool to see the wakeboard competition, you just don't see too much of that anymore, sadly. Just personal preference, but I find it so much more appealing to participate in and watch.

The Mondo is a nice little boat. Are you on a restricted lake? Or, did you just not need a larger boat due to size of crew?

Love the van as well! Great setup.

nice boat and rig. congrats and welcome to the forum..

Nice story and pics! Congrats and welcome to the SC family and forum!!

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Originally Posted by jason1973

As the owner of a 2019 Mondo, i know what you mean about ready to surf out of the box. Just not possible. I added the 750's in the back, and 500lbs of lead on top of that. I can surf now, but i think my surfing ability helps the situation. I still want to see a much bigger wave for beginners as they struggle a bit. I learned surfing behind a 24ft Malibu MXZ which has an amazing surf wake.

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I think more than anything else, convincing my wife that we didn't make a mistake with the purchase because the boat wasn't ready to surf right out of the box was the biggest challenge. I've been able to surf on the port side but we can't seem to get enough push on the goofy side for my buddies. Still learning.

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Originally Posted by mgswake

Welcome!!!!

Did you do the filming and editing on those videos??? They are great quality, so good! It's cool to see the wakeboard competition, you just don't see too much of that anymore, sadly. Just personal preference, but I find it so much more appealing to participate in and watch.

The Mondo is a nice little boat. Are you on a restricted lake? Or, did you just not need a larger boat due to size of crew?

Love the van as well! Great setup.

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Yes, I filmed and edited the videos. Thanks for the kind words. We really enjoy the "Wake-Off" - sadly this year, of course, will not be a live event. They are requesting videos be submitted by the contestants for judging.

We are not on a restricted lake but, yes, we do have a small crew; it's just the three of us and since the new 13-capacity more than doubled our old boat, we expected that this was the right size for us. Surfing was all new to us and was just going to be a "second" sport for the boat. The main purpose was to push my daughter's wakeboard skills. We had no idea we would enjoy surfing so much.

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Originally Posted by sandm

nice boat and rig. congrats and welcome to the forum..

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by haknslash

Nice story and pics! Congrats and welcome to the SC family and forum!!

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Thanks, all!

Welcome! it seems us mondo owners are a bit limited. we are very happy with our 19. we had an LSV for 11 years. we are size restricted by my garage storage length. it has taken some time to get happy and learn the surf wave for this. but we are doing pretty well on both sides. we have had the boat loaded to 13 people and it is squishy. but we all had fun. I still ski, but that is usually behind a MC DD.

When I had the mondo...was as follows

1) Upgraded rear bags to 1140s...probably get about 900-1000 lbs into them.(wish I woulda bought the 910s)
2) 1000 lbs upfront(500 hard tank+500 lbs IBS)
3) 500 lbs of Lead that usually sits surf side under the seat.(sometimes we move 100-150 lbs up front to lengthen the wave)
4) I take one of the old 650 lbs bags and have it sit infront of the rear bench seat on the floor.(only run this with less than 4-5 people in the boat.


Goofy
1. I run at 11.1 - 11.2
2. Surf Tab at 65
3. Wake plate at 25-30%
4. I usually drain about 300 lbs out of the opposite locker to list it pretty hard.

Regular
1. Surf Speed at usually 10.9
2. Surf Tab at 60
3. Wake Plate at 25-30%
4. Typically I just move the lead over and then run equal weighting on rear bags.

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Originally Posted by yearround

Welcome! it seems us mondo owners are a bit limited. we are very happy with our 19. we had an LSV for 11 years. we are size restricted by my garage storage length. it has taken some time to get happy and learn the surf wave for this. but we are doing pretty well on both sides. we have had the boat loaded to 13 people and it is squishy. but we all had fun. I still ski, but that is usually behind a MC DD.

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Nice. Good to hear there is success out there with the smaller boats. I have yet to ski behind the Mondo but doesn't look like it'll be very flat back there. I'm really enjoying the leisurely stroll that is surfing. So much easier on my bones. I had high hopes for developing some bigger wakeboard jumps and tricks but I may just leave that to my daughter if we can pull her off the surfboard

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Originally Posted by jcredible

When I had the mondo...was as follows

1) Upgraded rear bags to 1140s...probably get about 900-1000 lbs into them.(wish I woulda bought the 910s)
2) 1000 lbs upfront(500 hard tank+500 lbs IBS)
3) 500 lbs of Lead that usually sits surf side under the seat.(sometimes we move 100-150 lbs up front to lengthen the wave)
4) I take one of the old 650 lbs bags and have it sit infront of the rear bench seat on the floor.(only run this with less than 4-5 people in the boat.

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Awesome! Thanks for taking the time to spell that all out for me.

We trailer our boat to the lake each and every time unless we know for certain we'll be back the next day, in which case we can pay an overnight fee, so it doesn't seem like lead is much of an option for us. I have been toying with the idea of using the two old 650's that I pulled out of the rear lockers and put them side by side on the floor in front of the rear bench. We'll have to depend on one of the rear lockers to empty out on the non-surf side to get the required roll. Seems like a PITA to fill two 650's but it might be worth it on a day when it's just my two buddies and me.

Realizing I never posted my daughter, day-one surfing. She got right up and was "surfing" within two or three tries. So yah, this is us, no clue what we are doing, surfing right on top of the swim step, stock ballast, autowake on, then off, then on again because it just didn't seem to work. I mean, it's a surf addition after all, right? It should work! HAHA

At this point, we only had one board for all. Entry-level 5'4" board. We recently got her into a much more appropriate length board so we'll see what she can do.

https://youtu.be/qDT-eX6vy_A