Thoughts on 07 OBV Wake

[Canuckle Head]

My wife and I have been having a discussion about the size of our wake behind our boat. She rides at 18.5-18.8mph on the Perfect Pass with no ballast and the wakeplate completely down (off). I ride at 21.5mph with the center locker full and about 500lbs in each rear locker and the wakeplate fully up. It would appear to us that she actually has a bigger and wider wake than I do. At first I didn't believe her till one day she convinced me to ride at 18.5 and lo and behold she was right. It is definitely both bigger and wider.

I guess I either have to run with more ballast in the rear and front maybe? I still have the IBS which I haven't been filling this year when wakeboarding so I guess I'll give it a go and see if I can ramp up my wake. Anyone else on here with a 1st gen OBV hull who can chime in here please feel free to do so.

[jmvotto]

Wade, I run mine at about 19 to 21 with depending on chop with no ballast and plate all the way down it is as much as i need, i was always too timid to load it up with rear and center ballast, cuz i thought i may kill myself.... LOL

Good to know.

[bergermaister]

Curious if you can load up your ballast and maintain a plane at 18.5-8 to see the difference in size? Totally different hull and setup I know but I see the height/width difference in mine with more speed and more weight vs. same speed and more weight...

[Canuckle Head]

Pretty confident I can do that as I just upgraded my prop to an Acme 1847. Not sure why I would do this as the wake is already bigger at that speed? Or, am I not reading this right? Think I'm going to fill the center locker and front bow then go with about 500 in the rears to see what happens. I seem to rememebr last year that I was running nothing in the rear and the nose and centre full and it was much bigger. Dunno. Thought maybe deafgoose would add some input as he's got the same boat. Well, year newer.

[deafgoose]

The reason the wake is wider at 18mph is because the faster you go, the more narrow the wake gets and the more ballast you need because the hull is displacing less water.

Stock GIII ballast is all you need, trust me. Anything more and the extra ballast becomes a "crutch" and technique becomes less important.

[Canuckle Head]

Yes, I understand the dynamics of the wake size/width vs. speed and I have no problem clearing the wake from either side and can end up in the flats easily enough. Actually started landing clean and consistent on my heelside 360's last weekend (both directions) But man, when I look at that wake at 18mph I wish I was about 20 lbs lighter! I am having a hard time with the fact that with an extra 1400lbs of ballast I am not getting the same wake and we're only talking about a 3mph difference.

A few weeks ago I had the 750's about 3/4's full and three full size adults in the boat and the amount of air I was getting was significantly higher than normal. Like by 2'. Guess I am just trying to get back to that feeling of increased airtime.

[deafgoose]

I hear ya.

A friend of mine used to love running 2400lb of ballast in my OBV (1200lb GIII + 750lb across the rear bench + 450lb in the walkway up front)

It sure is fun but my skills are nowhere near the level that requires that size of wake so its a waste of gas.

[Canuckle Head]

I dunno if my skill level warrants it either but I sure like the hangtime!