2013 Epic 23V - Maiden Voyage with fam

Wakeboards - check

Massive inflatable tube - check

Pump to blow up massive inflatable tube - check

A million types of tow ropes and life jackets - check

Bathing suit - awe crap!

That's right with all the excitement of having our first day on the water and trying to remember everything that is need on maiden voyages I forgot my trunks, ha ha. But i'm happy to say that was the only hiccup we had ALL day (6hrs).

Of coarse we had to do the tube first since my 12 yr old daughter brought three of her friends along. The first good thing I noticed was I loved having both batteries in the back of the boat. Since I have a 12V pumped this helped a LOT since I always inflate our Great Big Mable at the back of the boat. Now my next concern was a big one since we do a lot of tubing. The other boat I had (2k9 Supra 21V Launch), had a retractable ski pylon. The Epic does not. I was told I had to hook it up to the tower. I was a little hesitant since our towable was soo large and hold up to 4 people. Can the Samson tower handle it . . . HELLZ YEAH it can. This BEAST of a tower didn't budge a bit. What a relief since we do about 60% tubing ( I know , don't say it).

On to wakeboarding. My 12 yr old daughter was up first. She said she was a little intimidated by the size of the wake. She rode at 65ft 18.5mph. This was her first time riding this year and I have no doubt she'll adjust quickly. Now on the Papa Bear. This wake is killer right out of the box. I've found that the trick is to always have alittle bit more on the left side, not sure why. But the wake is KILLER. Epic produces the best wake I've ever ridden (sorry guys its just my opinion). This is the WHOLE reason I bought this boat. I'm in love with the wake.

We only tried surfing for about 10 min. (pizza was waiting for us at the docks). This wake is a lot bigger and LONGER the my old Supra. The Supra I always felt like I was riding so close to the boat with the Epic I'm a lot further back and it waaay bigger ( I only had stock ballast in the Supra).

My favorite part of this boat is the transome audio. It soooo beats tower speakers. I could blast it and completely turn off the cabin speakers and easily have a conversation with anyone in the boat. And in the mean time be making the wakeboarder 75 ft away almost deaf. Ha ha.

All in all we had a great day on the water and can't wait to start the summer!

pics or it didnt happen

Ha ha I think the only pics we took were of my daughter riding. The only tantrums thrown were by my 4 yr old

Sounds like the perfect first day out! How many hours did you have to put on for break in before you could ballast it up?

Now quit holding out on us and post up some pics of that fully weighted wake.

Those transom speakers would be so nice to have, great idea Epic came up with.

I would not tow tubes from your tower, you should have some transom hooks that you could attach the tubes with. You risk damaging your tower towing tubes, they put a lot of stress on the tower. There is a tow rope that attaches to both of the transom hooks that is designed for tubes.

Congratulations on your new boat, sounds like you have an awesome day on the water....

Here is a link for the harness:

http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs...g#.UbVdrvkskuE

The Epic does not. I was told I had to hook it up to the tower. I was a little hesitant since our towable was soo large and hold up to 4 people. Can the Samson tower handle it . . . HELLZ YEAH it can. This BEAST of a tower didn't budge a bit. What a relief since we do about 60% tubing

lol 1 year later tower fractures, epic tells you to pound sand, and you post on the internet angry.

Seriously though don't tow a toob from the tower. The amount of force is retarded. You're gonna have spider cracks and a fractured tower before you know it and possibly get someone seriously hurt.

Gotcha. Looks like I'm buying the harness. Thanks for the heads up guys.

Sounds awesome man I can really tell you and the family enjoined it. Gotta love a new boat

I've been towing tubes from my tower for 9 years. The tower on my 2000 Mobius is even one that was made of the smallest diameter tubing. If the tower can handle a 180-200+ pound wakeboarder making a hard cut, I believe it can handle slinging a tube on top of the water. I have a friend that has a Mastercraft and he pulls two tubes with two people on each tube all the time. No problems what so ever. It is so much easier to keep the rope out of the water when it is connected to the tower. I'm not trying to start an argument with anyone. Just sharing my experience and another opinion.

The smaller tubes are fine. The problem is the big 3 and 4 persons. I think the shock load with 4 good sized kids or adults on there when it hits the end of the line after a side to side whip is far greater than a wakeboarder cutting out. I guess time will tell. If I recall correctly there was a thread about tubes on Tigeowners where the pylon was damaged. I guess Tige now recommends towing off a harness and neither the tower or the ski pylon. But your right then the rope drags and that sucks.

My family has a bungee rope for our tube... No jerks...

The problem with a tube isn't towing people on it, the problem comes when people fall off the tube and the tube submarines upside down into the water. That's what causes extremely high amounts of stress on a tube. When a wakeboarder falls, they let go of the rope and no big drag is associated with the fall. When a tube fips upside down, sucks down into the water, and submerges before surfacing again, that's where you'll run into issues over time.

+1 for the Y-harness for towing . Seems easier to tow from the back of the boat versus tower, better pivot point for whips, etc IMO.

With my X-star I run beginners at 60' due to adjusting the wake size, just loop the rope through itself to shorten. Or run them at 75' so they land in the center of the wake, landing on the top of the another side is tough on people. Also you'll want to bump everyone up 1-2 mph over your original boats speeds. These heavy boats do fairly poorly below 20mph, unless you get a lot of weight forward to keep the bow down.

Have fun,
DC

Since when did we get so many tubing professionals on WW????? JK Sounds like an awesome time with the family! Congratulations on your new boat.

Thanks. And btw, the harness showed up yesterday