Surfing behind direct drive engine set-up

[jcb512]

Hello all,
Sorry if I am asking a repeated question. My boys have been hot on surfing and I am not in the market for a new boat right now so I got some ballasts for my 2006 Direct Drive Outback (310 Carb Indmar). My bags take us to the weight limit and I am very careful to stay below it, but wondering if there is any concern about the engine or anything I need to be cautious of for it? We are loading the surf side with a 500 and the back under the seat with another 500 will the listing cause a problem with enough oil in the pan to protect the engine correctly? I have watched the press and it seems normal at 60-65 when I am at surfing speed of 9 mph.

Thanks so much for any advice and stay safe all.

[996scott]

I don't think there is a problem as long as your engine oil is full. Add a suck gate to the opposite side and you should be good to go. You may need a different prop if the boat is struggling to get up to speed.

[jcb512]

Thanks so much 996Scott, for your response and advice. I will look for a gate or make one.

Take care.

[yearround]

Hello all,
... My bags take us to the weight limit ...

Thanks so much for any advice and stay safe all.

you might be about the only one who seems to mind the weight limit. but like scott said, load up the boat and add a suck gate and you will have a great time. I have a gate that i made a couple years ago that we don't use anymore. I can send it to you if you want. PM you number or email and i can send you a pic etc.

[Isaguel]

Being u have a shallow hull, and you need to displace a good amount of water to get a surfable wave, you will not be able to list the boat that much, safely, as you will have little freeboard. I think u should rely more on the wake gate and less on listing and put as much weight in as u can in. I'd add 3-400 lbs up front so you an increase total displacement without sinking your back end, and weigh the back with the 500lb evenly on each side and then use passengers weight sitting on surf side to create some list, and then mostly depend on the wake gate to create the surf side wave predominance. Build a larger WG that'll push more water.

[Tommy2slow]

I used to surf with our MC Prostar 197. I put a 400# bag on the bow seat on the surf side, a 750# bag on the floor in front of the rear bench slid over as far as possible to the surf side and another 750# bag beside the engine surf side. Had to be super careful to not dip the bow when retrieving a downed surfer but it works. I never tried a suck gate but I suspect that would help you a lot. You will have to be careful that you don’t get water in any vents when listed over like that, I had to put masking tape over a couple of mine. Make sure that you are equipped with the correct prop.

[jcb512]

Hello all, happy summer.
Coming back to a question I had last year on surfing behind my 2006 Outback with 310 carb Indmar with the a 3 blade prop. At the end of last summer we blew a head gasket on the engine. This is the second time in 7 years we blew a head gasket last time was due to a ton of weeds and inexperienced driver. This time we didn't have any thing similar to that all season. Only thing I can think of was the amount of surfing we were doing with 1000 ballasts and wake gate. I talked to the dealer about it and they said what I am doing shouldn't be a problem. So this year surfing I have been closely watching the temp gauge and noticed it climbs up right to 180 (stays on left side of numbers) when we are going along at 9-10mph then immediately drops down when we stop. As a reference when I ski at 30mph my temp sits around 160-165. The engine also sounds a bit more "growly" when surfing. My questions are, should I be worried about the temp rising? Any suggestions on fixing or managing the temp? Is the growly sound because I am overworking bearings or bad bearings on the shaft? As always I really appreciate the help from this group. Take care.

[HFarr]

I don't think 180 degree temp is any problem for the engine, but as far as the drive trane handling the extra loads, I couldn't say for sure. Just keep a close check on anything that feels sloppy or may have extra play.

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[HFarr]

Check your raw water impeller for any chips or missing blades/fins or wear. It doesn't take too much to make a difference with them. Putting a load on the engine for surfing is going to naturally make it run a little harder, thus a little hotter exhaust on the manifolds. Would be like towing extra heavy loads with your truck. They tend to run a bit hotter when working harder. 180 is not dangerous for that motor.

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[Tommy2slow]

What rpm are you surfing at? DD props are usually pretty big sobI would be worried about low rpm. If you turning less than 2500 rpm surfing that is an enormous amount of stress on your engine. Might be the reason for the high temps and head gasket issue.