97 Sunsetter LX weight issue.

I have a 97 Sunsetter and am having trouble weighting it out. Right now the wake is a nice shape but in order to clear or land out in the flats I feel like I got to charge into the wake like a mad man.

If the wakes were about 1 to 2 feet closer i think it would be perfect.

Currently i have a fat sack in the locker and a wedge on the back, yall got any sugestions of what to do to help?

Hey Gatorhator,

To get the wake a little narrower, you may want to try to add a little more weight in the front. Get some lead weight and move it forward while watching the wake. I keep about 100 lb in under the bow seat.

For us, weight depends on who is riding and how deep the lake is. Typically though, we put a fat seat in the back and a sac in the locker with a little lead here and there to trim it up. When we really load it up, we add a sac either on top the fat seat or just in front of it and add another sac in the bow. We have even added sacs on either side of the motor box as far back as they can go butting against the fat seat.

As for the wedge, again depends on the rider. It makes the shape steep so you will find it kicks you up more than out. This may be what you are experiencing. Most of the time, we don’t use it when boarding.

Good Luck

Thanks, ya i am getting very nice height on jumps just having trouble landing on the down ramp. Guess Ill get some led for the bow then try eliminating the wedge if that dont help.

Any other sugestions? Or comments onthe wedge?

The others factors are speed , rope length, and edging technique. It took me awhile to really get the feel of a progressive edge, but you will definetly feel a good pop off the wake when you hit it right. When you speed the boat up , the wake gets narrower, which makes it easier to get across. Also the wake will get smaller the faster you go, so you need more weight. I prefer to have the wedge down, the wake feels alot more firm when I hit it. I run about 23 mph, 75 ft rope lenght.

I am running about 22 mph on a 65' rope sometimes 70', I just made a call and the dealer i got my boat from says he had some steel bars i can put in the bow that might help. Any feelings about putting a rust prone metal in teh boat? He sugestes going to Home Depot and gettign some carpet and pull ties and wraping it in carpet.

I would suggest waterbags, why haul weight down the road and it makes it tuff to load the boat on the trailer. I weight my boat down with the 60% in the back and 40% in front ratio. Remember if you have a wedge its like a 1000 lbs in the back. So i have 2 600 lbs in the back , 500 lbs in the middle and run about 350 up front. I don't fill the back ones up all the way with the wedge down. If you have trouble getting the boat to plane off you need more weight up front. I have a 99 Sunsetter and it has a awesome wake. I can get 5 ft outside the wake and edge in and clear the wake,then if I get out 20 ft and really crank it up , I land out in the flats. Makes me wonder if your pulling off your edge before the top of the wake?

I have a 97 sunsetter VLX and this is what I run.

(2)540lb - rear on each side of motor
400lb - center locker
600lb - bow
wedge down

The wake is very nice and I have no problem clearing the wake. I ride at 70' at 23 mph.

I have a '95 sunsetter and run without a wedge.
We have 500+ (bags are really stretched out, probably more lke 550 nowadays) on each side of the motor toward the rear and another 400 or so in the bow. I put a 500lb sack in the front walk way, the back of it is right near the drivers feet/knees of the drivers seat. I figure we only get 400lbs in that because it isn't wide enough there to fill it all the way. The wake is pretty nice, if I can I usually have a couple people sit in the front and it's beautiful!

I have a 97 Sunsetter LX too.

If you like your wake more vert, then I would run:
550 in the locker up front
600 to 700 behind the engine (between engine and back seat)
wedge

or

550 in the locker and
two 600's one on each side of the engine, pulled forward up about 1 foot off the back seat.
wedge

If you like your wake more rampy:
550 in the locker
350 in the walkthrough up front
600 to 700 behind the engine
wedge.