Wakesurf weighting theory

It seems like there are two schools of thought for boat weighting to wakesurf:

1. Start heavy in the back surf corner and work up the side, keeping all weight on the surf side.

2. Sink the entire boat evenly, then list a bit with some extra weight on the surf side.


I've been tinkering far more than any man should, and while I stuck with #1 for a long time, I am leaning towards a preference for #2. Here is why:

Weight One Side:
When weighting only one side with most of the weight (1,000) in the back corner, I get a decent, though steep wake. I can surf it fine, but any weight in the bow seems to kill the wakes power by making the boat want to plane a bit at surf speed. Also, the rub rail gets very close to the water at rest, which makes me nervous when rollers hit us while floating.

Weighting both back corners:
I decided to try adding 350 lbs to the non-surf back corner. The first thing this accomplished was it pulled the surf-side rub rail higher out of the water (adding more weight, yet making me less nervous). With that extra weight in the rear, I now HAD to add 350 lbs to the bow, or it would point up to the sky while riding. Suddenly, I'm running an extra 700 lbs while keeping the rub rail higher out of the water. So of course that's 700 more pounds of displaced water in the wake -- bigger and thicker, with less risk of a wave coming over the rear corner.

Also, having less list doesn't seem to negatively impact the wake. Actually, when I had a ton of list, the wake "looked" good, but seemed softer and thinner.

The first picture (sorry about the quality, they are video grabs) is the wake with all the weight on the surf side (1000 rear surf corner, 450 side seat, 400 center ballast) 1,850 lbs total

The second picture is the wake with weight in the non-surf side (1000 rear surf corner, 350 rear non-surf corner, 450 side seat, 350 bow, 400 center ballast). 2,550 lbs total

Keep in mind, I'm working with a 21' 2004 Centurion Eclipse, so perhaps non-surf side weight just allows a smaller boat to take advantage of more weight without sinking the rear corner to a point that it too risky.

Wake looks sick! Are you using Fly High Sacs?

The sacs in the surf corner and under the side seat are Fly High. The ones in the non-surf corner and bow are Free Motion. I throw 2 pumps over the side at the same time, but still kind of a pain. I'm hoping to get some of it plumbed in next year.

Nice wake... I've tried a lot of configurations.. I have about 4k in automatic ballast so it's easy to transfer it around.. Generally run close to #2700 in the corner and a brick on the surf side bow seat... Wave is huge and the bow weight lengthens the wave.. I have X10 tabs but i's only for fine tuning the wake..

I really like that wake shape. If I were to run #2700 in my back corner, my back corner would be under water.

So, I'm thinking for a boat that can't take a ton (literally) in the back corner, it is advantageous to put weight in the non-surf corner in order to get more water displacement (and less planing) without putting the rub rail too dangerously close to the waterline.

Your right Jeremy... Every boat is different.. But all seems to boil down to water displacement on the side you're jammin on.. I've seen vids of tanker and tug boat surfing with even distribution of weight.. the waves are big ..just not at good as diggin one side in..

With our MB I run with the OPs strategy. Sink the boat first, then tip it over. We fill the 2300 lbs of factory ballast and a bow sac and then add a 750 in the corner and peeps on the surf side. Definitely the right recipe.

210 with NSS. I weight the port side 30% more than starboard side, belly tank full and 450lbs under front seat (piggy backed).

If I want to focus on wave to wave transfers I tend to weight the port side only 15% more than starboard otherwise we shift people over during the transfer.

Here is with port side weighted 30% heavier.

I fill on both side and have a pro caliber wake on my SV 233

I do not have anything on the seats. We often ride with just three people and it works great. I am always playing with the set up, but my current one is;

Port PNP sac +125 lbs under the sac and sac full

Port Pro sac + 150 lbs tucked in front of the sac and sac full

Port Locker 175 lbs.

Bow sac about half full

Starboard PNP 100 lbs under sac and sac 30% full

Starboard Pro 75 lbs in with sac and sac empty

I fill both internal tanks