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Old     (lchamaschuk)      Join Date: Feb 2002       08-02-2005, 3:37 PM Reply   
We have a VLX with the built in ballast (250 tanks in each side rear, 400 in mid front I believe). This year we bought some additional fat sacs for wakeboarding (250 each side, and 500 in the bow).

In the past when we surfed, we loaded the builtin tank on the side we wanted to surf on, plus the 400 mid/front sac, and the wedge. Now that we have the new sacs we can also use, how would you suggest weighting the boat for surfing?
Old    cabalisticfire            08-02-2005, 7:13 PM Reply   
I have an '03 VLX, here is my config for wakesurfing:

Wedge down
factory center ballast full
factory port (passenger side) ballast full
In locker with factory port side ballast, 1 additional 350 lb sac
under seat on port side, 1 additional 350 lb sac
typically 3-5 passengers, a couple up front on the port side depending on weight.
gas tank as full as possible (obviously at the end of long session it is inevitably near empty)

This yeilds a solid waist high wave on the part of the wave that you actually ride on (based on a 5'8" heigth) and closer to chest high in the bottom of the lowest part of the trough. We typically drive almost straight ahead with a slight curve to the right and this give a nice big pocket to play on. I have a Landlock and a Broadcast. Most people ride the Broadcast, partly because you spend all your time trying to slow down on the Landlock because the wave is so powerful!

Old     (niap101)      Join Date: Jul 2004       08-04-2005, 7:31 AM Reply   
You are a lucky person. The Malibu VLX throws an amazing wave. I got to surf behind an 04 recently; wow!!! I believe they had (3) 350 lb. sacks on the port side (locker and seating), plus factory ballast as described above. They did not however use the wedge or turn to the right. The wave had great push and length.
Old     (sloshake)      Join Date: Mar 2003       08-04-2005, 10:12 AM Reply   
Cabalisticfire - you might want to look at getting one of the skimskates if you feel the hyperlite boards are riding real fast. I have an 03 VLX too and we weighted similar (though with extra people instead of the fat sacs) and my broadcast was moving too fast. Used a friend's skimskate and it rode slower and felt better.

We also had people actually sitting on the side of the boat, some even holding onto the tower so they could lean out a little more. The wake was actually curling over!!
Old     (lchamaschuk)      Join Date: Feb 2002       08-04-2005, 1:11 PM Reply   
The other night we tried the following configuration:

- 250 lb built in MLS in rear locker
- 400 lb built in MLS by driver seat
- 500 lb additional sack in the rear locker

The wake really sucked. Not even as good as the setup we were using last year (see original post). We didn't have any other people in the boat other than the two of us. Do we need more weight in the back, or should it be balanced more between the back and front (like the 60/40 rule for wakeboarding)? We have the twin 250 lb sacks that we can also use.
Old     (wakeworld)      Join Date: Jan 1997       08-04-2005, 5:47 PM Reply   
I find that you want to get everything out of the front. My wakesurf wake improves when I empty the middle tank.
Old    cabalisticfire            08-04-2005, 6:58 PM Reply   
With the VLX you'll typically put the wedge down. In my experimentation, the wedge creates a very steep wake. You can easily get to the point where you have so much weight in the rear port side that the wave starts to curl. It looks cool when it does that but the wash from it can make the wave more difficult to ride, not to mention the fact that the face of the wave is super steep at this point. When we have enough people make this happen we start transitioning some of the weight to the front of the boat, this helps us maintain all/most of the size but takes a bit of steepness out of the wake, which seems to work well for most.

Gerald - I still really like the Broadcast, the Landlock is now only used when we don't have extra people to weight the boat down. That said, I'd really like to try a skim skate, need to demo one soon. I have a regular old skim board that I'm going to try this weekend just for grins.

David - I've heard others say this but I tried it recently and, unanimously, it was decided to be an inferior wake. Can you share what weight you are using, maybe that would help make some sense.
Old     (lchamaschuk)      Join Date: Feb 2002       08-05-2005, 8:02 AM Reply   
Sorry, I forgot to mention that we did have the wedge down too, in addition to that weight.

Dave, at the end I had my husband empty the front ballast tank and it wasn't much better. I didn't wait for it to completely empty though.

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