I thought it would be interesting to find out how extreme are we willing to go to get a wake for surfing. I have seen and heard about the massive amount of weight we put in our boats. To me sometimes it's not worth the effort. An example would be Show and his mighty Centurion and 2800 lbs. of ballast. Might be OK for some but not for others. How much weight are you willing to put in your boat to get the perfect wave?

How far will you go to surf both sides? Drew Danielo recommends a second Enzo with the "surfright" option if you want to ride the goofy side. Now thats really extreme if you ask me.

To each his own. When we go out to surf, we ride with at least 400 to 500 lbs over the cap. plate just in ballast, no gear, or crew, which definitely puts us close to at least 1k lbs over the cap. plate. I would honestly like to add a little more bow weight, but we aren't pushing it more as of yet. Our wake is usually around waist high. When underway, we have have water splashing up over the rear sundeck corner. Here's a picture to get an idea of how much we sack out our rear. This doesn't include putting people on the surf side either <BR><img src="http://www.wakeworld.com/MB/Discus/messages/559019/595431.jpg" alt="Upload">

Dennis I believe that I had a very respectable wake from my lightning with around 1,500 pounds. I did go as high as 2,800. However that was not a very responsible thing to do in that boat. <BR> <BR>My new boat is larger, does not require as much ballast, and is safe to operate when rigged for surfing. I deeply regret posting about the huge ballast in my smaller Lightning. I think I was setting a bad example. I’d hate to see someone repeat what I did and get in to some kind of trouble.

More weight and a new boat don't compensate or poor surfing. I still can't pull a tree and get air. So, I still S#ck<IMG SRC="http://www.wakeworld.com/MB/Discus/clipart/happy.gif" ALT=":-)" BORDER=0>

Hey Ed, <BR>Wasn't trying to single you out. Just trying to find out what people will do to get a better wake. I'm not sure if any of the extreme weighting I have seen or heard is truly responsible. Then again I wouldn't jump out of a perfectly good airplane either. Just want to get a feel for what hassles are acceptable to get a good ride. The weight issue is not really my focus. I was looking at the hassle factor with bags everywhere changing from side to side and such. Just interested in the passion.

No foul. I've made my own bed, documented what I've done online, and so I'm fair game. I just don't want to continue to promote irresponsible wakesurf rigging. With gas prices the way they are going might not be an issue much longer.

Hey Show, <BR>Is pulling a tree a new trick? I too cannot get air but at 275 lbs and bad knees what do I expect. Watching James ride every week makes all of us humble.

Dennis, I was calling it a crucifix. Do the long boarders call that trick a “tree?” I also did a bow to the wake, that's riding backwards facing away from the boat. <BR> <BR>You talking to Jeff or did you look up pics some place?

Actually I was giving you a bad time. I think you were talking about your riding ability and misspelled three as tree.

LOLOL - I do love typos. <IMG SRC="http://www.wakeworld.com/MB/Discus/clipart/happy.gif" ALT=":-)" BORDER=0> <BR> <BR>Ed, your post 5 back: <BR> <BR>"I still can't pull a <b>tree</b> and get air. So, I still S#ck" <BR> <BR>I can't pull a tree either, but I can LOOK strained and bent over at the waist. <IMG SRC="http://www.wakeworld.com/MB/Discus/clipart/happy.gif" ALT=":-)" BORDER=0>

Dang it!

That pic of the rub rail is scary to me. We run 2klbs in our Avy and have about 10 inches at least of freeboard before the rub rail. We were changing riders and parallel to a boat that threw a 3+ foot roller and it freaked out the wife pretty good. If the rub rail was touching the water before we got rocked, the boat would have swampped. <BR>I think our Avy can safely take another 500lbs but sometimes more isn't better. I'm pretty close to what I think is the best wave the boat can throw. <BR>Part of "how extreme" is who is on the water with you? If you're the only one on the lake than I wouldn't mind the rubrail touching the water.

We only had 4 people total on the boat that day, 1 riding, the other 3 onboard. Thats the most we've pushed it, was in that pic. Mind you, that was in the middle of a weekday and there wasn't another boat out, so we didn't have to worry about wake from other boats like on the weekends. When its crowded we don't run as much ballast since other drivers are unpredictable. I surely would not recommend running that kind of weight with a driver that is inexperienced. If you don't know how to handle a weighted down boat, you are asking for trouble. <BR> <BR>I agree with the comments and I definitely don't want to come off as an irresponsible surfer, nor have any part in someone swamping their boat.

Well Ed I do have you beat for weight in a lightning we are running over 3000# in ballast for wakeboarding and we usally just move everyone over to one side for surfing with all that weight. I does make a very nice wave.