Surfing behind a Direct Drive

(souperfly) · (souperfly) **Join Date: Apr 2006** 04-04-2006, 10:21 AM

First off I just bought my first real ski boat and pretty happy with it. Its a 96 Malibu Sunsetter LXI with a SwoopII tower and Malibu Wake Wedge.

Problem is I just can't seem to make the wake needed to surf behind it. I don't have ballast, and it doesn't seem like the wedge does much good at getting the wake to roll of to one side, even with 3 friends on the far left side.. Any tips or suggestions on ballast/technique?

(hyperlitenrd) · (hyperlitenrd) **Join Date: Jan 2003** 04-04-2006, 10:23 AM

I've been wakesurfing behind a rlxi, 4 300 lbs fat sacs in the back corner, and you have a nice wake!!!

check out www.themalibucrew.com lots of good people with good information there.

(taylormade) · (taylormade) **Join Date: Jun 2001** 04-04-2006, 10:45 AM

get a fat seat and load it up. Then load up one of the arms in it and have your buds all sit on one side of the boat. Gotta have at least a little something in the bow, though. I have a direct drive and have no problems surfing behind it.

(souperfly) · (souperfly) **Join Date: Apr 2006** 04-04-2006, 1:20 PM

Cool, I'll check out the website, just registered actually... Any idea on how far out I should be? I know I shouldn't be on the teak, but not 10ft out right? Any suggestions on speed? I've read between 8-12 and I'm guessing it all depends on how your boat is set up...

(entrustclothing)

on my old DD, i would run 350# sac in the front walkway, a 540# sac in the rear and a 350# sac on the side we were surfing, that gave a pretty good surf wake. you may only be about 1-2' behind the swim deck

[img]http://entrustclothing.com/wakeboarding/surf.jpg[/img]

i found that about 9.5 mph was the best

(hyperlitenrd) · (hyperlitenrd) **Join Date: Jan 2003** 04-04-2006, 3:59 PM

For how far out, what you can do is play around with the weight and speed. Since everyones speedo is diffrent try some diffrent speeds. Once you find a good wave, toss the rope out, see how far it is to the pocket, then have it out a little farther, then tie off and surf. Remeber, lean forward go faster, lean back go slower.

(jetskiprosx) · (jetskiprosx) **Join Date: Aug 2004** 04-05-2006, 5:43 PM

This is my 1999 Sunsetter LXi with the wedge, 500lb sack behind the engine and 6 people in the boat. For this summer I have bought another 500lb. sack to put in the back port side

(jetskiprosx) · (jetskiprosx) **Join Date: Aug 2004** 04-05-2006, 5:45 PM

FYI the LXi does NOT like weight up front for surfing. We have tried it with the center MLS full and it got much worse! The wake has been much larger when we had around 12 people in the boat

(taylormade) · (taylormade) **Join Date: Jun 2001** 04-06-2006, 7:33 AM

I've found that, with my boat at least, when I put some weight up front, the wave (wake) isn't as steep and allows me to go back further, sometimes in the 8' range. When the weight's all in the back, it's real steep and I'm only about 3 MAYBE 4 feet off the teak... but, you can surf all day because the push is so strong.

(dentard) · (dentard) **Join Date: Apr 2006** 04-07-2006, 9:03 PM

Scott, I'm also a fan of a longer wake. Here's one of the better shots of a long wake, with 2300Lbs in one corner. Upload

(pickle311) · (pickle311) **Join Date: Oct 2005** 04-08-2006, 7:24 AM

I will be trying to surf behind my Moomba Outback for the first time tomorrow. I have a 750lb sac under the rear seat, a 300lb sack on the left side of the motor, and 450lbs in the bow. One of the bow sacs is 150lbs so I will be able to move it to the back if I need. I'll have a total of about 1500lbs and 6 or 8 people so I think we should get a decent wake. We'll see how it goes.

(souperfly) · (souperfly) **Join Date: Apr 2006** 04-12-2006, 3:21 PM

Update:

Well I finally had enough people in the boat to let go of the rope! I don't have any ballast, only the wedge. Anyway, two full coolers, and 5 people sitting on the back left corner. Had the platform about two inches into the water on one side and about an inch outta the water on the other. I let the handle go, and maybe for three seconds rode w/no handle before falling outta the pocket..

(entrustclothing)

shane that should be a nice setup, i surfed behind my outback last year with ease. i ran a 500# sac across the back, a 300# sac in the walkway and another 300# sac on the surf side. that with about 5 people on the boat was plenty

discolafinger 04-13-2006, 6:59 AM

(pickle311) · (pickle311) **Join Date: Oct 2005** 04-13-2006, 2:28 PM

We got to try it out last weekend and it made a nice wake. I didn't have the fittings I needed so I couldn't use my 300lb sac. But with the 750 and 150 in the back and 300 in the bow I was able to catch the pocket a couple of times for a second. My friend is a little smaller than me and he did really well. I would say it was a success considering it was out first time on a wakesurf, we're hooked now.

(souperfly) · (souperfly) **Join Date: Apr 2006** 04-29-2006, 8:00 PM

Thought I'd update, well I finally added ballast! Here's 880lbs and a wedge... 90 degrees outside and a chilly 70 degree water temp.. BRRR

(Message edited by Souperfly on April 29, 2006)

(Message edited by Souperfly on April 29, 2006)