The big plus with the wedge (manual in my case) is that it takes about 10 seconds to raise or lower. Compare that to the time it takes to fill and empty ballast tanks. If the area you are in gets too crowded you can just pull it up and run to another spot and drop it again. With my boat the wake is nicer with just wedge down and ballast empty than wedge up and ballast full. If I use both the wake is bigger than my 35 year old knees need, however my nephews may want to go bigger someday. Right now they won't even hit the wake full speed with just the wedge. Tabs can adjust the hull angle which may work for the right hull, but the wedge pulls the hull down deeper into the water, more like ballast does. The downside of the wedge is that it feels like it puts more drag on the engine than just filling the ballast tanks. I haven't had the boat long enough to compare fuel use between the ballast and the wedge, but I would be willing to bet that my boat uses a fair amount more fuel with just wedge than with just the ballast. Another plus to the wedge or tabs (assuming the tabs do a good job also) is that don't take up any space on the boat. Overall I think the wedge adds a lot to the wake for the small effort used to deploy it.
|