Ballast config for surfing question
 

Hey guys, 1st time poster here.

My friend owns a 2012 EPIC 21 V and we are having some trouble getting a good surf wake :banghead:. Right now, we just have stock ballast which I believe is 3,600 lbs. We've played around with it a lot but the wake still doesn't look right. The curl/pocket forming and washing out is the biggest problem. I'm guessing we will need to get external ballast but I wanted to get everyone's opinion before spending the money on that. Whats the best configuration?

Thanks!

First you probably won't find a lot of people with experience with EPIC boats on here. I have been on a few, and they have come on over to show us their gear in the past.

Yes, you need more weight in the stern/side. Best is all relative to how you want your boat to look. Do you sacs everywhere or do you want room for people to sit.

You can add the typical 400lb v-drive sac on each side, or you might be able to step up to the 750s (50X20X20).

To take a step back, I will assume you are pulling is sufficiently deep water. Some of what you are describing can be attributed to shallow water.

Preferably, we would like room for people to sit. We aren't going to pack the boat out with people or anything but its usually 4 or 5 of us.

I'd have to go ask but I don't think the area where we had been surfing is overly deep. Its probably more to the shallow side. Its really like a side channel so I don't think its really deep.

In regards to the alignment. would it be best to put the sacs down the sides ontop of the seats or in the floor .. or in the rear locker?

Do we need to put sacs on both sides or just the side we surf on?

Do we need to put anything in the bow? More weight in the bow makes the wake longer, correct?

I've read the way to do it is fill all of the stock ballast up (this boat has 3 tanks totally 3,800lbs) and then put the people to the side you surf on. Is that correct?

Do you know if EPIC has a forum anywhere?

Hello we have a 2012 epic 21v and can get a nice surf wave out of it
The ballast set up we use is 1/2 non surf side, full on the surf side with an extra 750lb sac in the rear locker and the front full
We set the smart tow to 11.5 with the wake plate all the way up and only the driver in the boat
I will post a link to a video of the wake as soon as possible
Hope this helps!

You need to be in at least 15 ft of water for best results with your surf wave. Anything shallower will reduce size and deteriorate the shape

http://youtu.be/Nk5KW0QgJ30
The surf setup in the move was before we bought the 750lb sac
It was 1/3 on non surf side, half in the front and full on the surf side, with smart tow at 11.2 wake plate was all the way up
If you need anymore help setting the boat up send me a pm
Hope this helps!

Great advise Sean. Looks like the 750s will work/fit in the rear compartments. I would try these set up Sean describes and also look to getting to bathymetry info on the waterbody you are trying to surf.

Thanks everyone! I'm sure I'll be back later with questions/updates.

I have the 23V but the set-up is similar. Full on surf side + 2 big dudes or another 500lbs. Front about 1/3-1/ 2. Off-side empty or up to 1/3. For the Port side surf add another 250lbs. Speed about 10.7-11.5. Trim about 50%. Watch who you put where and try to keep the weight similar. If you have a full boat of people, try moving one at a time into a different position. Play with people first, next speed and lastly trim toward 30%. Just out today with 2 young ones who had never surfed. Both got up on the second try and were off the rope by the 3rd or 4th fall. Both soon got over 2 minutes of free-ride before the inevitable splat! Big old kids did OK as well. Probably the best wave I had in a while - needed the extra bodies! With the 50-70lb kids it is amazing to see how far back they can go and still surf without falling out the back!

Here are some pics of the goofy wave thrown by an EPIC 23V as described with weighting above. Unfortunately these were taken with a crummy camera.

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3720/9...d56fd98a41.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7409/9...fced17fa06.jpg

I might be beating a dead horse, but speed and depth both affect the wake quite a bit.

As far as depth, the minimum we've found that still produces a decent wake without it getting washed out is about 10 feet. Anthing less (occasional drops to 9 don't seem to do too much harm) and your wake goes bye bye. The deeper the better, but bare minimum 10 feet. Where we ride, we are right at that minnimum depth a lot of the time. You can definitely tell when you get shallower, but not so much when you get deeper.

The speed matters a lot too. The slower you go, the bigger the wake and more push it will have, but then it gets mushy. The faster you go, the more the wake cleans up, but it loses some push. The trick is to play with the speed and find a happy medium for your boat.
Also, if you are in a river going down stream or up stream, you may have to adjust the speed as well to compensate for the relative speed of the boat in the water as the current will affect that as well.