AutoWake questions

[Stazi]

Hey Matt,
How does Autowake work for wakeboarding? is it going to be constantly trying to adjust for roll as the rider pulls out to either side? Or do most people just not use it for wakeboarding?

Also in your last dissertation (kidding, thanks for putting so much time into this) you only mentioned the system draining ballast to achieve its settings. Can it not also transfer ballast between port/starboard etc? that would be more efficient and result in less overall loss of ballast when passengers move around which unfortunately is just part of life on a tow boat most of the time.

IMHO Autoflow works the best for wakeboarding as it ensures even wakes despite uneven passenger seating, so I use it for that and I like it. You also can get more consistent wakeboarding wakes every time with it. My fondness of it ends with surfing though as it like to remove ballast to reach the roll and pitch settings and personally I rather fill everything to the max and adjust my plates to tune the wave. Taking any weight out just diminishes the wave size in my experience.


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[goose]

Stazi is correct, AutoWake does work well for wakeboarding. When the rider pulls against the boat, the boat does see a change in roll, but the logic in the system does not react immediately and we think we have the response about right to keep the wakes level the majority of the time. In addition to keeping the boat level, in Wakeboard mode, AutoWake also includes AutoLaunch that deploys both Flow plates to get on plane faster. In fact, for a heavily weighted boat, it makes a HUGE difference. I think you will really like it.

Stazi, I will try and give another dissertation (haha) later for advanced users such as yourself. Maybe tomorrow....

[Stazi]

Cheers mate! Yes the launch system is awesome when you are running a lot of wake or a big crew!


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[stevemarich]

with wakeboarding on autowake it is really nice , the launch system works really well, with the factory wakeboard prop , running 4200 lbs of ballast, it pulled me right out of the water with no struggle, and got on to plane very quickly. for surfing I haven't had to much issue with it always want to drain ballast, but also put people or movable ballast where i want them first, get up to speed check my against settings and adjust before autowake can adjust, then it only has to make minor ballast changes. As for people moving around in the boat, it made me laugh because one of our passengers decided to move from the port to starboard side while my wife was surfing, she immediately noticed to difference , looked up and told them to move back where they were, and problem solved. Love the info we are getting keep it coming.

[mattsask]

Hey goose, is there any way to get the system on my 16 craz to react like autolaunch? I have an agressive prop and like to run 4k of ballast, but the boat REALLY struggles to get up to 22mph for wake boarding. Is there any way I can deploy both of my autoflow tabs along with the wakeplate?

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[goose]

Hey goose, is there any way to get the system on my 16 craz to react like autolaunch? I have an agressive prop and like to run 4k of ballast, but the boat REALLY struggles to get up to 22mph for wake boarding. Is there any way I can deploy both of my autoflow tabs along with the wakeplate?

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Mattsask,

What I used to do before AutoLaunch was leave the surf system down. Not sure if everyone knows this, but if you leave the flow plates down, they automatically come up at 15mph. It is not quite the same as AutoLaunch, but there were times when it got me on plane whereas with no flow plate help, I couldn't get on plane. Unfortunately in 2016 there was no way to deploy both plates at same time, but this should help.

[Pound]

You guys wakeboard w/4k of ballast!! holy cow. Y'all must be throwin' double backrolls and speedballs or whatever it's called.

[mattsask]

Well more like 3800, but who's counting... I just like to burn fuel. Haha

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[stevemarich]

I am the only one that wakeboards, and it wasn't calm enough till later in the day, didn't feel like dumping ballast for a 5 min run, and was a little curious how the boat and launch system would do too. I used to drain about 50% before wakeboarding , now ill just leave it was a really fun ride, and there was no struggle at all with the boat.

[goose]

Random AutoWake tip of the day – Advanced users (part 1)
Ok, I am a little hesitant to even write this tip because I have found that many times people just skip all the basics when they see the advanced option and in the case of AutoWake, understanding and learning how the system really works is very important. While AutoWake is designed to be really easy to use and is intended to take the frustration out of having to “dial” in the surf wave, we have also found AutoWake to be a great learning tool. Like I said before, I would consider myself an advanced user. I have personally driven many professional wakeboarding events including the Masters, Nationals, and at Worlds. I have been developing boats for 17 years and I have been a part of most of all the surf development here. I feel like I can look at the wave or wake and take a decent guess at what needs to be changed to improve it. However, most people don’t have that much experience. Many of our consumers are first time v-drive owners and they just got the boat to spend more time with their family to enjoy surfing. With all the forums and social media outlets, I think sometimes they get “advanced” suggestions and think that these suggestions make them “advanced” users without really understanding the basics. So, without really learning how the boat or components work, they just go out and start changing plates, ballasts, passenger locations, and they end up actually making things worse the majority of the time. Again, I said this before, but just go to the Wakesurf Forum, or WakeWorld and scroll down a few threads. 90% of those threads are first timers asking for help and getting hundreds of DIFFERENT suggestions about what to change. Many times what actually happens is the users try ALL the different suggestions, then learn by trial and error what each component actually does, and instead of the “advanced” settings fixing the wake, the user fixes it themselves because they have learned the hard way how to adjust it themselves. Truth is I guess most things in life are learned the hard way, so maybe it is supposed to be that way. Haha

Anyways, as I said, if you let it, AutoWake can be an amazing learning tool. That is why my first suggestion has always been if you want to be an advanced user, first leave AutoWake in factory default settings. Watch how AutoWake works every time you use the boat and constantly look at the pitch and roll displayed on AutoWake and then mentally make a note of how the wake looks with that pitch and roll. Try to manually fill all the ballast to 100% sometimes before turning on AutoWake and watch how AutoWake adjusts. Try turning AutoWake on with 0% ballast and watch how AutoWake adjusts. If you first take off and the Wave is not formed perfectly, make a mental note of the actual roll. Then look at roll again once the wave is clean and see how much different it looks. Watch the length of the wave, size of the wave, and again compare that to pitch values when wave is good and when it is not. Also, with the 2018 Amplitude bar, watch how the size of the wave grows or ask how the push is and make mental notes of how that relates to location on Amplitude bar. Every time you stop the boat or at any time when you are driving, hit a ballast switch to turn it on, then right back off. That will toggle it out of AutoWake and back into manual mode without affecting cruise. By doing that, you can see exactly where the ballast levels are. To toggle back into AutoWake, just hit bottom left button again. By doing this, you can see how well you are maximizing ballast and how the ballast is adjusting relative to where you have passengers seated.

I feel VERY strongly that if you leave the AutoWake in factory defaults you will have a good wave every time. Will it be optimal or largest wave possible? Maybe not. But I promise you that if you watch and learn how the system reacts then you will better understand what a bad wave is and what a good wave is and how much pitch and roll had to be adjusted to correct it. You will also see how much passenger weight impacts pitch and roll. You will get an idea quickly that if you need to adjust roll 2 degrees, approximately how much passenger weight is required to do that without dumping a lot of ballast. You will get an idea quickly that if the wave is really tall and not long, how much pitch change might be required to lengthen it, and approximately how much passenger weight is required to do that. You will get a great idea of if you want a certain amount of push, how much total displacement is needed. And lastly, as you toggle between AutoWake screen and Manual Cruise screen, you will see when AutoWake is dumping ballast and then you can figure out how to help the system NOT drain ballast by putting people in the correct location. As I said, 2018 software will have popups to help you with that, but as you get to be a more advanced driver, you will actually start reacting before AutoWake sends a popup because you will actually understand WHY you are doing it.

If you will notice, at this point I never mentioned adjusting flow plates or wakeplates. That will be part of “advanced user part 2”. Stay tuned…..