Water over the bow

I have a VTX and I've started running 900 internal ballast and 800 in bags, and I am having a lot of trouble keeping water from coming over the bow. When the water is calm its no big deal but when the lake gets choppy sometimes I have to blow right by the downed rider to keep the boat dry.

Any tips for keeping this from happening? Its especially a problem when I'm surfing because thats usually when the water's choppy and I want to add more weight forward to open up the wave a little.

Any input is appreciated.

Well the Malibus love weight up front, and I've had to do as you and make a second pass to the downed rider, but the only thing you can do is empty some of the bow weight. We usually fill the bow tank and keep people weight in the bow so we can easily move back when not on plane, if the water is bad.

When the rider falls, are you pulling back on the throttle to neutral and turning the wheel one way. Then when the boat comes completely off plane, turn the wheel completely the other way to go pick up the rider and only idle back. It may take a little bit longer, but so worth it. If you already are doing this, great and disregard my suggestion. I run roughly 3000lbs in my 94 MC PS 205 and my bow is riding about 4" above water line at idle. A little bit of water comes in the front if I pull back on the throttle too fast after a fall, but as long as I follow the suggestion above, we stay dry.

yeah, I'm definitely doing that, but I ride in some pretty busy spots (lk samm/wash) so there are plenty of other peoples wakes to worry about

When the water is too choppy which happens often on the lake we frequent it doesn't help to turn the opposite way, any roller will put water over the bow unless you throttle up and blow by the rider or lose weight up front. But Mark were also about that high off the water with a bow that slopes downward toward the water which doesn't help.

I have a 04 VLX and have only taken water over the bow once and that was because I was distracted watching 4 girls dirty dance on the back of an X-Star. Yes it was worth the water in the boat.

When the rider falls chop the throttle to neutral and turn the boat to the right let the rollers go by and idle back to the rider. Same thing goes for surfing but you will want to turn to the side of the rider.

If your sitting and some roller come in all you have to do is go about 2 miles an hour backwards and you wont take anything over the front. It works great.

Puckinshat has it right. If you do it correctly your wake rolls right by you and you'll have a clean lane straight back to your rider. It seems slower when your doing it but actual saves time.

OK...this is where skills finally come in, from weighting a old school boat 89' Comp Im 6" above the water line with no weight...after after 1600 lbs Im 4" above the water line. Watch out for weighted boats. Ive had a 3' footer come over the bow before. heres what i do and It WORKS!

rider falls=1/2 throttle for a few secs...then 1/4...then gradule till the boat settles down.

and STOP! for about 15-30 secs

then...turn on a dime in the middle of your old wake...then idle back to the rider.

caution= if you see a rouge wave coming...1/4 throttle, that pics the nose up to go over the wave...then slowly throttle dn again. This should work. Jet

Andrew how is the wake with 1600? is that people too? i have a 92.

Jet, this should be done on ALL boats when picking up a rider. This should be its own seperate post... good stuff.

I pull throttle to idle and while coming off plane I turn hard left/right. By this time my rollers have all but passed and just idle back to rider.

Understand fellas that it's not Jamies wake that is going over his own bow...it's the lake full of rollers from other boats.

I don't understand, when I am towing a rider my boat has pretty much knocked down rollers. Thus, when the rider has had enough I can usually get turned back onto the path I have just towed down. Other boats rollers do "rock the boat" some but most come at my boat from the side due to the fact I have turned around onto my old path. I would say the biggest problem I have encounterd in turning back so sharply and quickly is not run over my own rope.

If you don't have it already you should buy "The Book" wakeboard DVD it covers driving as well. Very informative.

One thing to watch out for is driving over your own double up when a rider falls at the turnaround point or driving over your own surf wake when wake surfing. In these situations I turn away from the side that has the wake to avoid driving over a ginormous wave.

If its a random surf wake from another boat, the best you can do is tap the throttle up before the wave gets to your bow and hope it keeps your nose high enough as others suggested.

Hey donaldrhill...thats not including people. 2-550's beside the eng...400 lbs behind the eng...and then 100 lbs up front in the nose. I need more weight in the nose but I drag my nose under the water now, so Im afraid to add more. But It works well. try it!!! Jet

thanks for clarifying tyler.

I guess the best thing to do is not load up on weight when the water's choppy. I was having problems with 900 stock ballast, 800 in sacs and 9 people in a 20ft. boat. go figure.