Related Links:
Epic Wake Boats Photo Gallery

"You're Crazy!!" I've heard it many times over the past three years. Three years filled with Bondo dust and the stiff aroma of fiberglass resin. You see, almost three years ago I set about building "The World's First Wake Boat." A ground up boat design with only one objective in mind, to produce a great wake, was my goal.

You are probably asking yourself, like many of my friends very vocally did, why? Why would one guy think he could do a better job than a whole industry of experienced designers, architects and builders? Like most of you reading this right now, I started wakeboarding off of a very small I/O with a horrible wake and even worse holding speed. So every time we went out for a quick set, I would contemplate ways to improve the boat's performance and handling. In the end, we traded up to an older ski boat and my thoughts of boat evolution subsided while we worked our little Malibu Skier to death.

The innovative spark was once again ignited at a Canyon Lake Wakeboard Club tournament where I was towed behind a fully loaded older X-Star. Wow, what a difference! I thought, could weight and a slightly different style boat make THAT much difference? It seemed to me that the improvements should continue. My next question was, how could I make existing boats more wake friendly?

After about a year of trying different add-ons to boat hulls and toying mentally with different drag devices (like The Wedge), I came to a decision. I just need to start with a completely new approach to hull design. So I began the book buying, video watching and CAD simulations. The problems started quickly when I figured out there weren't any books or software to help in the development of boats that seek to displace more water instead of slicing through it effectively or rising to the top of it quickly. So I figured I could just take everything in the books and do the exact opposite. That should work, right? Well, kind of.

It gets really complex when you start to crunch the numbers, but after much consultation from around the world, I came up with a formula to balance ballasted weight and a hull that is designed to actually pull itself down into the water when in motion. Like an airplane wing creates lift when in motion, two separate sections of the Epic 23v's hull actually drag it down into the water when it is in motion. I call this D.R.O.P. Zone technology (Dynamic Reduction of Pressure), as it is actually two negative pressure or suction zones. And, yes, I know it is corny, but everything needs a tag line these days, right?

Once the theory was in place, it was time to test it in virtual land. With mouse in hand, I ran the design through weeks of simulations to see what tweaks would work and what would throw the drag effect into disarray. My original designs were in the 27-foot range, but, eventually, it was refined into a shorter, more practical design that I could run with. So now I have a design for a great new type of hull. Where do I start?

Well, if you have ever shaped any surfboards or one-off kayaks, you might think you can do it out of foam. Against all conventional building techniques, I went with it. I built guides from the CAD design and started shaving foam in my driveway here in Mira Mesa, California under a great big silver tent. What a pain! I should have listened to the experts. I spent a solid five weeks shaving foam that, in the end, just didn't look right. I think I will stick to surfboards when it comes to foam in the future.

However, I did end up with a nice base to cover with thin wood and fiberglass before I prepped the whole thing to spray on a mold (the form you use to build each subsequent boat). At first proposal, the building of the mold seemed like it would be a walk in the park compared to my first foam debacle. Unfortunately, production molds for something this big have to be laid up with very thick fiberglass. After over half an inch of fiberglass work on the mold had cured, the real work began.

You see, every mold needs a support structure. Without a solid structure, the mold will warp badly after only a few production parts. So we chose to build a 1.25-inch steel tubing structure around the whole mold. I now have a new appreciation for steel workers. Building a structure with over 300 feet of tough tube steel is really hard. Each tube has to be cut to length. Then the end of each and every tube has to be smashed flat by hand to make it easy to weld. And then the whole thing gets welded together nice and tight. Wow, I have never had so many blisters.

After the hull mold was finished and I was 10 months into this project, it was only another couple of weeks before all the sanding and finish work was done to bring it to a mirror finish ready to lay parts in. Finally, we sprayed and laid-up the first Epic 23v boat hull. Then we developed the stringer system with integrated ballast and made a mold of that as well. It has huge tanks and provides plenty of strength for both the boat and the engine mounts.

So, now I have a hull and a floor with ballast tanks and such. It was time for a deck. Most people would have built their hull and deck together and then taken a mold off both the top and bottom at the same time. Unfortunately, this knowledge wasn't clear to me as I tooled away on my foam hull creation in my driveway. This meant that the deck had to be built on top of the hull while it was still inside the mold. It makes the overall design very hard to visualize as a complete package since you can never see the boat as a whole. You only see the deck coming together and just had to imagine how it would look on the hull when complete.

Nevertheless, the deck went rather swiftly and was done in only a couple of months. Many late nights were spent just sitting in the boat rearranging interior elements until things turned out just right. After all the wood, Bondo and fiberglass was in place, we sprayed a mold on the deck plug (an exact model of the part you want to build) and went through another whole lay-up and steel structure process.

After everything was prepped and ready to go, we sprayed the first Epic 23v deck and put it together with a flush fit, which was completely fiberglassed together at the rub rail. Now the fun starts. All the glass work is complete and the production molds are done, time to start playing with engines, ballast pumps, interior LED lighting and crazy stereo stuff.

We first put her on the water with minimal amenities and she ran like a champ, great on the wheel and power to spare even with the 3200-pound tanks filled to the brim. Since then, we have done lots of tweaking. We modified the hull to slightly improve wake characteristics and finished all the interior and exterior gadgetry and comfort items.

It has been an exciting last few months with the first boat being in the water. I finally get to ride behind my creation and, more importantly, get to see how others feel about it. Many pro and regular riders have been behind her now and all the comments have been very positive. From the "sick wake" (a quote from a truly great wakeskater) to very positive comments on the look, feel and functionality of the boat, people seem to take to my creation. Everyone seems to really like the transom audio, the riders' center in the back with all the accessories in easy to access positions for the rider, and the mass storage and ballast capacities.

I am overly satisfied with how the boat turned out. I am really proud that the hull design works so well and all the creature comforts really seem to fit riders' needs.

Chris Anthony, Epic Wake Boats Founder

It has taken a lot of effort and time to get this first boat in the water, but the road ahead looks very promising for Epic Boats. We are now in full production mode with designs already finished for another 23-foot v-drive and a smaller 21-foot v-drive for next season. We just hope to constantly improve this boat and make the wake lives of Epic Wake Boat riders a little more comfy, a lot more exciting and certainly more worry free.

Check out the new Epic 23v at www.epicboats.com and try to come out and take a ride next time we are in your area.

 Return To WakeWorld Articles