Tips on how to maximize your SAN 230 wake

I know that there have been some previous threads on here questioning that quality of the SAN 230 wake, and also people have asked how to properly weight them. Heck, even some 230 owners/ex-owners have stated that they were disappointed in the wake they had. We had the team manager out with us a few times last weekend, and he was blown away with how awesome we had our wake dialed. He's been out on all of his team riders boats, as well as pros for other brands and he said that, in his opinion, we've got the biggest nicest wake he's ever seen (yes, I know that it's all personal preference).

I've, at times, questioned whether or not we were weighting ours properly, but after hearing his comments I think we are content with leaving it the way we've got it.

So, if you are wanting to maximize your 230s potential, give this weight configuration a try.

*Remove the rear factory tanks and replace with 1100 pound ProX Fat Sacs, each side of the engine
*Put about 450 on the floor in the very back.
*Put 450 length-wise next to the driver seat
*Put 375 on the bow floor/walkway
*Put an 1100 pound bow triangle in the bow
*Fill the factory belly tank
*Put 120 pounds of lead underneathe the port side passenger seats
*Adjust the rear tanks a little bit to get the wake even on both sides.
*Set the hydrogate to "Veritcal" (you may have to set it to Ramp to get on plane though)

We ride at 90 feet @ 26.5 mph, but you could probably get away with riding at 82 feet @ 26 mph. Hopefully this helps a few of you 230 owners out. Spending what you do on these boats, you should be totally stoked on your wakes!

Lets see some pics of the wake with that setup!

^^^ it's insane.

He said it's even bigger that what they have for Nationals.

Dear god! I can only imagine my Bu sinking with those kind of numbers! What engine do you have? 343 or 409

I want to see pics of it in the water! That's a ton of weight (actually, a couple tons). How much weight total is that before passengers/gear? I'm guessing around 4000lbs.

409 hp. It's about 5400 pounds of ballast/lead.

I am sure the wake is insane with that set up. However I think some of the complaints (mainly chattwake) was that when he slammed his 230s you had to ride really fast and far back to get the wake clean. That still seems to be the case since you guys are riding at 90ft and 26.5mph. How does the wake look if you are only riding say 22mph and 75ft? The other problem I see is you spend ~100k on a boat then have to slam it like that where there is hardly any space left to actually fit people in the boat. Don't get me wrong I am not trying to knock the boat and I am sure with over 5k lbs the wake is just sick nasty. Just seems like a heck of a lot of work to get Nautique's flagship boat to have a monster wake. Now can you please post some pics of that wake so I can have nightmares about hitting it???

I'll try to locate some pics of the wake to post up.

I do have a modified setup for my girlfriend (she rides at 23 mph and 70ft). I will post that up as well, but right now I've gotta run...time to shred!

Have fun and I look forward to seeing the pictures!

Here's one pic.

Those pictures don't even begin to tell the story about that wake. I've ridden behind Jays boat. I was down right scared for the first few hits.

Jarrod was bootin some monster 180s...pretty sick!

Also, this is the setup we run if it's just the driver OR if it's the driver plus 1 or 2 more people.

If we have more than 3 people in the boat (fourth riding), we'll remove the rear cabin bag.

You are correct Bruizza - if you have this much weight in it, you need to ride a bit faster (minimum of 25 I'm guessing). Again, this post was just meant to help 230 owners get the most out of their wake. You can certainly remove some ballast, shorten your rope, and ride a bit slower. I will try to find some pics of my girlfriend riding...the wake is still pretty sick.

That thing is crazy.

Note to self, stay off Long Lake or Jay will swamp me.

That wake is freaking awesome man. Sounds and looks like you guys have it dialed perfectly!

Decent pics of the 230 wake from Nationals in the Wakeboarding "Who's going to Nationals" thread..

Not as big as Jay and Colins rig.. Still meaty as hell.

90 ft 26.5 mph. That's some Randall Harris sh*t right there. I hope it's nothing but wrapped 7's and heelside fronts off the double up going down...

How bout a vid of someone riding that wake?!?

Originally Posted by kmayotte

90 ft 26.5 mph. That's some Randall Harris sh*t right there. I hope it's nothing but wrapped 7's and heelside fronts off the double up going down...

Colin throws some monster HS 7s (non-wrapped) off the dub, and I mean MONSTER...he could easily make it around to a 1080 if he figures out the line tension. I still have yet to try a HS Front Flip off of the dub...mainly cuz I'm a p*$$y and am scared to. My heel fronts off of the straight wake are by far the biggest that I've ever done (that could just be because I'm getting better at them as well).

Heres a pic of the wake with just boat ballast and around 22mph. Gate down.

Originally Posted by kmayotte

How bout a vid of someone riding that wake?!?

there is a video in the MN Spring Ride thread of people riding the wake.

We have a vid from the MN Spring Ride, and then there is another of us at the very beginning of the season (like first sets of the year, so we didn't have it quite dialed yet). I need to get my hands on a decent video camera, so I can start getting some footage. Anyone have a video camera I can borrow =D

Smith has a go pro.

That wake is HUGE. Though what really sucks, is that you spend sooo much money on a boat like that and then have to have giant bags everywhere... But I guess that's what you have to do to go huge...

Nice stuff. For those knocking the sacs...remember he only has 120lbs of lead in that thing...you could easily swap out that back bag and the center for some lead if you wanted more room.

how many rpms are you turning when running fully loaded at 26.5mph?

Around 3900-4000. My 2000 XStar ran around 4200-4300, running the same speed and a little less weight.

That would be crazy fun for throwing consistent tricks only. Progression would be scary. I don't ever want to catch an edge riding 26.5/90. I would either be leaning away from the boat so far that I land every trick on my back, or else I'd be throwing the handle every time there's even the slightest hint of a ghost of a chance that I might go over forward.

Originally Posted by ironj32

Around 3900-4000. My 2000 XStar ran around 4200-4300, running the same speed and a little less weight.

yipes. i was running my 230 on Sat and Sun with stock ballast + 750s x 2 in the rear, 650lb arrowhead sack and 442lbs of batteries from the helm forward (almost 2600lbs before the 5 amps and 100lbs sub box and subs). wake settled down around 24.5 to 24.7 and was insane. running about 3500 to 3600 rpms with my OJ power prop, model 475, 14.25x14.5x0.090 cup....

my only concern would be this: PCM recommends a max sustained cruising rpm of 4k on their engines. thats a completely different load when cruising than when tossing 5k extra ballast in the boat...

Wow. With that wake there is no reason why Danny shouldn't be able to land a 10 behind a correct craft. Nice work.

Originally Posted by kmayotte

How bout a vid of someone riding that wake?!?

Finally got time to get some video of us riding the 230. Colin and I are riding with the setup stated above.

My girlfriend is riding with about 500 in each rear tank, factory belly full, and about 800 from the drivers seat up through the walkway to the front bow seat @ 23 mph and 70 feet.

from jay on Vimeo.

Heel front was money, Jay

I am a terrible rider so I would never do that in the first place but filling all those extra sacks and taking up all the seats jsut looks like a PITA. It wouldn't ever be worth it to me. In the Xstar you can get the pro tour ballast that is all automatic and under the seats then add one more bag or some lead and have a very similar sized and solid wake although different shape maybe. To do it every once in a while would be fine btu to deal with that most of the time would be ridiculous.

Nice wake though.

Brett, if we have a few people that are going to be in the boat we remove that most rear bag....with that gone you have much more cabin room than the XStar. No body sits in the walk way or the bow, so have that space occupied with fat sacs is totally fine with us. We have the boat totally ready to ride in about 15 minutes.

Originally Posted by polarbill

I am a terrible rider so I would never do that in the first place but filling all those extra sacks and taking up all the seats jsut looks like a PITA. It wouldn't ever be worth it to me. In the Xstar you can get the pro tour ballast that is all automatic and under the seats then add one more bag or some lead and have a very similar sized and solid wake although different shape maybe. To do it every once in a while would be fine btu to deal with that most of the time would be ridiculous.

Nice wake though.

I feel the same way with the time consumption of filling sacs, dialing in the weight distribution, and losing the bow space. In my Malibu, we used to fill 400# in each locker, 1000# in bow, and another 400# near the rear seat. It took 30 minutes to do (had one tsunami pump). I finally got tired of the time it took and bought 600# of lead from bombwake.com in 12 bags @ 50# each. I get the same great wake and only use 2 400# sacs in rear lockers then disperse the lead throughout the boat. Takes ten minutes to create the 'led zeppelin'

/\/\/\/\ Or you buy another pump or two and multi-task.

Originally Posted by liquidmx

/\/\/\/\ Or you buy another pump or two and multi-task.

The thought had crossed my mind but I could only use one more since I have 2 outlets. Plus it doesn't fix the extra space situation. But thanks for the idea

in my 230 I have the tanks pulled and 750's replaced. Then I have 25 pop bags. mostly in the ski locker and in the bow under the seats.

I hit 3 buttons to fill hidden sacks, I dont step or see a single sack, the boat gets on plane very quickly and pulls like a mule, and the wake is the best I've ridden.