Just talked to Moeller and they discontinued the Extractor...WTF? So now where guys, I need to get one.

Ok found it on Ebay....new....little more expensive but it is the bigger one so will be fine.

try these links out also. These are all links I have in favorites for reference.

http://www.merequipment.com/21593/HS...3IV-Parts.html

Lots of stuff here - my link is default to VP but you can find Merc stuff too...

http://www.marinepartsexpress.com/?g...odg1cQEg#volvo

I found somewhere where there was an exploded view of the tranny, I think it is in the link directly above.

Fred A - the filter location is on pass side of the tranny. lift up the rear seat, look at your tranny, there is a round plate with an allen head bolt over it, it will be opposite side of your shifter and fill/dipstick location. That is your filter location.

Hey guys. Haven't been on here for a while (new baby:)), but I have a bit of information you'll be interested in and will save you some $$$. Mercruiser no longer requires the 20 hour break in service. You can go to 100 hours the first time and every time after that. Got that info straight from a Mercruiser service center.

Keep an eye on the oil level though. The 8.1L eats oil, as was stated earlier.

Really......interesting. I still think I will do the 20 hour service now that I have a pump coming. Good to know tho.

I'm doing the 20 hr too! It better to get any "break in" metal out of there. 100 hrs sounds good for the rest though. Thanks for the heads up tune.

Hey anyone have any worries surfing with our boats. I have done it once and just wondering about the transom speakers. I know to not just stop and let the water wash back or any of that but when I fill the surf side damn it sinks which is good. But I am just barely under the speakers just sitting there. Water in there can't be good can it? Thoughts, and I worried for nothing?

I fill surf side, and half fill front with all people on surf side. Pretty nice little (not little at all) wake. Just worried about my speakers with it. Oh usually I am about 60% give or take.

Don't worry about the speakers. They're all plastic and can withstand the elements for the most part. Even the force of the water against them during a quick stop isn't enought to do any damage.

For regular surfing we filled port full, starboard half, front full, trim tab 3/4 up. Speed varied between 10 and 12mph.

it took 3 yrs of sun, water, sun and more sun to do in my clarion 6.5". The kickers are better made and I anticipate to blow them before the elements do anything to them.

ah great. and thank for the setup Tuneman. I will get it dialed soon enough but now I don't have to worry about hurting the speakers.

Hey fellow owners, what prop do you have on your Epic? I was doing my "before going out inspection" and finally remembered to write down my prop size. (in case I find a deal) I noticed the cotter pin was really rusty and it got me to thinking the previous owner of my '08 may have changed the prop. Mine is a 14.25 x 14 OJ. Thanks for the help!

Tuneman-
Congrats on the new little one! Hope all is well!

Joe-
Don't know if this is what you are looking for, but I just changed my oil last night and the oil filter that I bought from my dealer was the Quicksilver 35-866340Q03, it cost me about $10. I did call Carquest and they had it too.

FYI- My Merc manual says to use 20w-40w nmma fc-w rated full synthetic. After calling my dealer, and several other dealers, they all told me there is no oil with 20w-40 weight so I called Merc and they advised me it was a misprint and it should have said 25w-40w. Just an FYI in case you guys haven't been able to find 20-40 full synthetic.

Also, I am not mechanically inclined whatsoever so you may already know this little tip... my brother in law taught me a cool thing with the filter, before removing it, pop a hole in the top of it with a screw driver to release the air pressure and the oil drains out nicely then you don't have that oil pressure and splatter when you unscrew it.

Scott-
My transom speakers have been hammered by water, surf rope handles, kids kicking them when on the transom deck and they are still kickin' just fine. Also, for surfing, we have found that keeping the non-surf side empty and plate all the way up has been the best to get rid of that little lip/line that sometimes ripples up the wake (I don't know how else to explain it?) Anyways, just play around with it to get how you like it. Personally, I do not like that little ripple/lip and seems to be best for us with no ballast on non-surf side and plate all the way up to eliminate it.

Brian-
That is the exact stock prop that I have on mine, OJ 14.25 x 14. My cotter pin was not rusty though...

Ice, thanks for all the info. Couple questions though.
Did you change the filter in the tranny? Is that the part number you gave me?
Did you find any 25w 40 oil? I'm not paying $50 a gallon from mercury. The closest I've found is Mobil 1 15w50 Full synth Racing oil.

ICE - Great to hear from you again. That is all perfect information. Going out all day tomorrow so can't wait. Full 8 days since my baby has seen the water. Uggg.

Taking a week off in 7 days so will see plenty of action then.

Joe-
That filter i gave you the model # to is the motor oil filter. I have not done anything with the tranny yet. I also got my 25-40w oil from my dealer too. It was the merc brand. I paid like $80 for 9 quarts, (2) gallon jugs plus one quart. You may want to just call prestige Watersports in Boise & ask Tyrell what it would take for him to ship u the filter & 9 qts of oil.

Scott-
8 days seems like an eternity this time of year, especially given the weather we've had the past 8 days in our neck of the woods...HOT! Have fun & be safe this next week!

I know....rub it in...lol We are heading out today at 3 till dark. Wednesday again and Sunday night starts my week long lake week. God I wish it were 7 days from now.

On a side note....yesterday was the best day of the year here. No wind. 88 degrees and we took the boat to a friends to help put up trusses on a barn. Were going out at 4ish, but kept working till 8. So worked from 9am-8pm on trusses for a friend. Had my boat in his driveway since he is halfway to the lake, took the family and they swam in their pool and played all day. Him and I worked.

So boat was there, I was hot as all get out, weather was just as perfect as you can have.......
Do I win friend of the year?

Thanks Ice. Do you know all of the other specifics as well? I'm pretty sure it's right hand, but what about spline, cup, and all of the other things I need to know if I buy one.

Radio help.

I know nothing about kickers or audio at all. I am trying to get it so that the back speakers don't kick off. I want to put almost all the sound back there but for some reason they kick off and won't run when I do that. Has to be a set up issue. Joe, I did everything you said with all the knobs down there on the two kickers, and it sounds great when I have all speakers running, but still can't get it all back there when I Fade it back there. Just shuts down. Won't play is better term. Radio is still on just won't play.

Tryin to get it dialed in. Thanks

Scott, Figure out which amp is for the rear. To do that, turn the radio on, go underneath and turn down the gains on one of the amps. If the rears fade, you got the right one. Before you do that, take a note of where the gains are set. I'd be willing to bet you still have them set a little high. Turn them down just a little bit from where they are. If it happens again, turn them down a little more.

The same thing happened to my inside amp. Just had it a little to high. Once you get it set right, it'll sound sweet and you won't have any more problems.

OK so it is the gains then...just turn them down.

So turn on the radio, Fade it all the way to the back so all sound is coming from transom, and play with the gains until I hear sound?

Sorry man I just am not an Audio guy...lol.... although I was very proud of myself for dealing with the muffler issue. It went awesome, and went out last night for first time with it. Rattle on starboard side, flapper tho. Small and can't hear at all when going only when hatch is up at startup on dock. No biggie.

My non pro suggestion with gains - have them set NO MORE than 3/4. The rear amp will have the most hook ups on it, so I have seen in the past. I have an easier way to find the amp, but it may not be the best. Turn the stereo on, volume set to a modest level, go in the hold, unplug the RCA cables to one amp and that way you know which is which. Hope it makes sense to you.

Yes I think so.... I have alot of them into the first one (one closest to the hatch) and not so many in the back one (furthest and deepest in there). I will get it I am sure. I have a couple people I can ask here for help just like to learn this stuff and you guys are great helping guys like me. I think I have alot of them set at 1/4 gains already. I know this system can rock, and be all in the back all for the rider. That is really what I am looking for. Do I need to do anything on the radio itself to adjust anything? That is where I fade it all the way back to the transom speakers I know...so thought maybe had a setting or something for back there. lol Damn I am a rookie...!

The best way to set the gains on the amps is to do the following:

1. Make sure the radio is set to flat EQ (ie, the low, high, mids, should all be a 0 db, don't add or subtract any dB from them)
2. Unplug the RCA's from both amps. Then crank the radio to as loud as it can get. I think the level reads at 32 if I recall.
3. Take 85% of max volume( 85% of 32 is approx 27). Any volume level above this will distort the music, so NEVER crank the radio above this level!!
4. Turn the radio back down and plug the RCA's back into the in boat amp only. Leave the transom amp unplugged. Turn the gains on the in boat amp to 0.
5. Now turn the radio up to the max level found in step 3 (27)
6. Slowly turn the gains on the amp up(speaker gains, keep the subwoofer gains at 0. you will adjust them later). Keep going until you can hear the speakers start to distort. Once you hear them begin to distort, turn the gain down just a tad so they are no longer distorting. This is as loud as your speakers are ever going to SAFELY get.
7. Now unplug the in boat amplifier and plug in the transom amp. Turn the gains on the transom amp to 0, and crank the radio to 27. Repeat the procedure you did for the in boat speakers. Turn up the gains until the speakers start to distort(again keep the sub gain at 0 as you will adjust this later). Turn the gain down just a tad so they are no longer distorting. This is as loud as the transom is ever going to SAFELY get.
8. Mark the positions of all the gains on both of the amps. It's time to do this same sort of adjustment for the subwoofer gains on each amp.
9. With only 1 amp plugged in at a time, turn the speaker gains all the way to 0 as well as the sub gain. Now crank the radio to 27. Leave the speakers gains OFF and slowly increase the subwoofer gains. Keep increasing the gain until you hear the subwoofer distort. Once it does turn the sub gain down just a touch, this is your max gain position for the subwoofer. Now return your speaker gains to where you found they should be from the previous step. This gain settings for this amp are complete. Do the same for the other amp.

Now that you have the gains correct you can go ahead and play around with crossover dials until you get the music to sound to your liking. Now remember 27 is the highest you should ever crank the radio. At this level you are now maxed out for your speaker setup. Turn it up any louder and you are going to start wrecking your speakers and distorting the music.

Hope this helps a bit more!
Nic

Scott, I was thinking more about your problem. Well Nic beat me to it. 27 is the magic number. Anything over that and you start to introduce a ton of distortion from the head unit. I told all my friends that 25 was the number. It's a nice easy number to remember.

If your going past 27, that could easily be your problem. I usually don't go past 20, and it's plenty loud. Not Nic's boat loud, but loud enough to make me happy.

lol..ummmm ok.... hmmm where to start with that post Nic.

I understand it somewhat. I get that you are trying to find a top end on everything to find the best sound. How you are doing it, a bit fuzzy but I am not sitting in my boat. I will look. I think my main issue is I have no idea which Amp is to what speakers. I do have some of the plus DBs on the radio so that right there is making it mess up I am sure. I will make those zero again.

I will keep you posted thanks for the help man really.

Brian-
I do not know any of the other specs on the prop, sorry man.

All-
I lost my anchor last weekend trying to set it. Anyone know exactly what make/model/size our anchors are? I know they are pretty simple cast iron, nothing too special, just want to ensure I get one that fits our anchor holder correctly.

Nope that's the stock prop.

14.25 x 14 OJ. No spline. 1 1/8" shaft, RH.

Had the same problem at about 20 hrs Ran the boat that way for another 80 hrs because we didnt have time for the fix. Just had the Baffle's replaced a few weeks ago and all the rattling noise's are gone now and it is purring like it should.

Baffle issue sucks. They have it solved at the factory now I think. Joe has a great fix.

Scott, I'm glad you removed your muffler too. Now that you ran your boat, and you haved little or no noise, I'm almost positive the noise is my flappers. I'm going to investigate a little more. Could someone without and FAE take a look at there flappers and maybe take a pic for me? I know the flappers are metal, but I can't remember if theres any rubber in there at all. I just don't know what else it could be.

Fred, you're my new hero. Thanks a bunch!

Hey Joe, if you can wait a day or two longer I can take a picture for you next time I am at my boat.

Scott, Print my instructions out then go to your boat and start. They should make sense when you are looking at everything. Pulling the RCA cables out of each amp is an easy way to figure out which amp is which.

Yeah I will Nic. That is a good idea. I will print them today at work and take them home. Joe, I am pretty sure they have a black rim of rubber, but I am 100% positive that is what I hear. Reason I know is prior to putting the FAE on I messed with them. I flipped them and heard the sound they make and it is exact. I wanted to do that to #1 hear them just in case and #2 see if there was a way to take them off. I didn't find a way which is why I left them on. I can pinpoint mine to the starboard side flapper. It is minor and when running I can't hear it at all. Only hear it when I start the engine with the compartment open.

Nic, Thanks, I'm not in a big hurry so that will be perfect.

Scott, That's how I remembered them too. I think the rubber must've come off mine cause there really loud. I'm sure they were making noise before the FAE, but the 8.1 is so loud I couldn't hear them.

Joe, honestly I think you may have to cut them out if you want them out.

That doesn't scare me at all

LOL didn't figure.

Hey do I need to order that engine oil and filters from NAPA?

Ok Joe, stupid question but what oil...I can't find it anywhere on this post and I swear I read it somewhere. Also just post everything for me if you would

Oil weight and where to get it?
Oil Filter numbers and where you got it?
Tranny anything and where you got it?

What to change in the 20 hour mark and what to tighten?

lol Sorry brother. Got a full week next week on the lake with my buddy and have to get this all here if I have to order some of this stuff.

I use 15w 40 fully synthetic. Amsoil is what I run right now.

Scott - I know you read your manual, what does Merc say? You should also have a maintenance guide in there.

No doubt scott, can't be down whe we need to RIDE!

IF the flappers are causing that much noise, you can coat them with "Liquid Electrical Tape". They sell it a Wal Mart now. It is a non porous elastomer that bonds well to rubber and plastic but not so well to smooth steel. Perhaps rough the steel with a Red Scotch Brite pad and then apply the coating to desired thickness. IF the rattle is coming from flapper/exhaust port contact. If it is rattle of the hinges, I would try some marine grade bearing grease that resists washing out, pack it in there really well and that may help.

I would hesitate removing the flappers. God forbid you hydrolock your engine and insurance denies your claim due to the lack of flappers. Yes I understand the mechanics of water traveling uphill but I also know it is the insurance adjusters job to look after the customer but first priority is look out for the company that issues his paycheck.

What's the best vinyl cleaner? My buddies board shorts had a red stripe on them that left behind some red on the driver's seat. Tried fantastic and spray nine so far and nothing. I want to try babe's, but unless I know for sure it will work, I'd rather buy something locally, shipping to Canada is worth as much as the order, and no one sells babe's here.

Fred-

We use Exquisite and really like it. It cleans very well and doesnt leave an 'oily' or slick feeling behind. I know it's a popular choice for a lot of us on WW. We also use babes seat saver after cleaning with Exquisite for a nice 1-2 punch. I have only been able to find Exquisite on eBay or from time to time, the lady who owns Exquisite will run specials here on WW for the stuff. YOu may want to send her a message via ebay and see if she can work out a deal for you to ship to Canada. Below are a couple of links-

http://shop.ebay.com/i.html?_nkw=exq...286.m270.l1313

http://www.wakeworld.com/forum/showt...567&page=99999

That being said, it sounds like your red stain isn't your average stain and may need a dose of the 'hard stuff'. The following is what we use for those 'tough' stains that just won't come out. This stuff is NOT recommended for use on all of your vinyl, only spot cleaning on those tough stains. I also would not suggest using it on your seams or exposed threads. It's called Quick Dry Electric cleaner and can be found at most automotive parts stores-

http://www.google.com/products?hl=en...ed=0CDIQrQQwAg

One thing you may want to try that we also use for stains is Melaluca 'Sol-u-mel'...Don't worry, I won't try sign you up to join Melaluca, we just buy the stuff, I am not a 'distributor' or 'sales rep' for Melaluca :) All that I know is that Sol-u-mel takes all kinds of stains out of stuff! If you have a friend or family member who is a Melaluca rep, you may want to ask them for some to try before trying the Quick Dry Electric cleaner...

Good luck

Fred, Before you do anything else, try waiting a few weeks. The stain might just fade away in the sun. (you guys have sunshine in Canada, right?) I had a shorts stain in my last boat. I went away all by itself, without all the harsh chemicals.

I tell everyone, wash your new suits before you come out.

I have all of the Babes products and I too have a small red stain on one of my seats. Nothing took it out. It is, as Joe said, fading with time in the sun.

Thanks for the info. Took the tarp off today to clean and its already almost faded. Will look into buying something for the next stain for sure.

Finally got my wind dam made. I am mounting mine at an angle that follows the seat line rather than straight up and down. Should look pretty sweet. Hope to have it mounted and take some pictures this weekend.

Also, anyone besides Joe and I have a wet sounds 420 eq? If so I am wondering if you could play some music in your boat, then with the music playing plug in some headphones to the aux out jack on the back of the 420. When I do so on mine, my in boat volume drops by 50-75%. I am trying to pipe the music playing off my stereo out of the aux out port and to a line driver and then onto 2 other boats. However, I am unable to do so as the audio in my boat drops a ton.

Nice to see!!!
 

Nice to see all the "new generation" Epics out there.

Many of you out there attacked me on these forums for being critical about the early Epics to hit the water.

I will say... all of the Epics in my neck of the woods are very problematic... due to the poor construction and quality of assembly by the company I arranged to build the first round of Epics...

Katana has since stopped building boats and is now importing "damaged" boats... rebuilding them and selling them locally.

Well... all I can say... is I am glad to see my "favorite" boat out there on the market and the numbers are growing every day!!!

For those that were all over me for my early comments... I was just being honest... I knew things about the boat that you wouldn't have known about...

Congrats!!!

Thanks man. Just a few minor issues on my 09. Love the boat.

Snapped a quick phone pic at the cove last weekend.
http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z...V/IMAG0063.jpg

Also, any of you that use your bimini....
Does it seem like the rear inserts that the short poles snap up into should be mounted differently? I have a heck of a time snapping mine in there. Seems like the inserts should be mounted tilted slightly inwards to put less stress on the little black piece of plastic on that short pole

All the black mounts on the Bimini frame itself are adjustable. It requires a mini flathead screwdriver. You will/may need to make minor adjustments to the mounts to allow for less or zero bind.

Sorry to rehash an old topic, but I don't get on here very often any more.

If you have the stock stereo system, just turn the gains all the way down on both amps and set your sub crossover levels to around 90hz. It should sound great all the way up to 30 then. A gain is not a volume, but just used for matching the volume level of your HU to your amp. So, if you have a HU that goes up to 30 and you're distorting at 25, your gains are set a bit high. You should be able to set your HU to it's maximum volume and just be on the verge of distortion but not distorting.

If set that way, you'll minimize the chances of blowing a speaker. Especially for the transom speakers, because you can't hear them in the boat!

Hey guys, I am back again. I now have 20 hours on the boat from 6.8 hours a week ago. Seems like all I have done is ride for a week, which was great. I took a week off work and hung out at the lake with a buddy from here. (Darrin, you da man on a wakeboard man) Anyway, just thought I would update everyone on some progress. I have the sound now pretty darn good with all your help. It did take some tweaking but I think we finally have it where I like it. I use my bimini EVERY time out and don't seem to have issues with the back two pieces. I actually like them. I do need to tighten the front a bit as I have an inch of play it seems in the front to nylon cords.

Still not a fan of the center ice chest. (Before I bought the boat I thought this was almost the best part of the boat) We just can't seem to use it like we should. We load up in the house and just hate unloading and loading it down so....we use a cooler still and it fits perfect under the drivers feet so it works for us.

I am asking for more foam flooring to start my next mod on the boat. I am going to replace the drivers side carpet with foam and also put foam on the thick rails on the sides of the boat. (My kids make me do back flips every time I get off the boat, sorta a rule that Dad does a flip if I want off the boat) So, I am going to line both sides with that foam. I am also going to give some thought to making one of the surf lockers foam and maybe even a corner seat for a step. Winter projects.

I love this boat. I can't say enough good things about it. I filled all ballast this week and Darrin rode it and it is CRAZY BIG !!!!! HE is very very very good at wakeboarding and we had to go 24.5 mph and it was over his hips. He said "I am not usually worried about anything in wakeboarding, but that was just intense to ride" So...wow it was nuts and no way could you pay me to go out there!!

Joe again thank for all the help man. I am going to consider adding weight to the surf side to make it bigger, but we did a ton of surfing and had a very good wave to ride. I, like many of you, just want it bigger! lol So lookin to add some weight. Talk with you guys later.

Scott

Scott,
Talk to Fred on here. I think it was him who was planning on making custom foam pads for the side rails for some grip. He wanted more people to get in on though I think to make it cost less. Glad you got the stereo working better.

Nic, will do. I am in talks with Karen at Epic to get some padding. I want it to match the foam in the floor and swim step. Should be pretty cool when I am done, assuming I do it right.

I would love to get a chance to ride behind one of these Epics. I should be in the market soon for a new boat and these are high on my list right now. I live in East Tennessee. Are there any Epic owners out there that would be willing to give me a pull? I would be willing to travel to an extent of course. Let me know! Thanks!

I think of all of us I am the closest to you. Indiana, one hour north of Indianapolis.

Mike G you could probably get a hold of Billy Smith of smiths enterprise(www.smithsenterprise.com). If you would like his contact info let me know. He is an epic dealer out of north carolina. He would almost surely give you a pull. He is the dealer I bought through along with a couple others on here. That is probably your closest bet.

I was in the same boat you were in last fall when I was looking to purchase. I went with an Epic sight unseen and I have not been disappointed in the least. Best purchase I have made hands down. The boat rocks, puts out a solid wake, and gets looks everywhere it goes.

Nic

Scott, what I have is a die cut Seadek, specifically cut to bevel on the edges and fit near perfect.

We took measurements and pulled made a CAD drawing. I sent it to Seadek, they sent back templates, I test fit them and they are near perfect. I have one modification to make at the seam (no bevel) and it will be near OEM fit.

I need to know how many of us want it done and the colors of your existing deck.

Fred hit me a PM. lets talk. I will shoot out one now hoping you are on.

I changed the oil in the tranny today. It was a breeze. I ordered a couple filters from that MAR site that Fred recommended (thanks buddy). They were a lot cheaper then the other places I checked, and very friendly.

I also took off the exhaust extension so I could look at my flappers. They're not broken, they just have a lot of free play. It just proves how quiet the exhaust is now. I bet they were making that noise the entire time, but the big block was just to loud to hear it. I'll figure out a way to quiet the flappers down and let you guys know what I did.

Scott-
Just a thought about the cooler. Once we put a drain hole in the cooler, we started to leave our drinks in the cooler for the next trip and just add more drinks as needed. When we pull the plug after the weekend, we do take a towel and quickly wipe off the excess water from the remaining cans and bottles. No slime or nasty mildew smell at all. Then on the next trip out, we put plug back in, add drinks and ice accordingly and we are off, we really like the in floor cooler. We use a separate smaller soft cooler for food that we need to keep cold and put it under the drivers feet.

Nic-
We have actually broke tow of those black peices last season. Ours were a bit of a pain too, we have it figured out now, but that pivot point does seem a little awkward, for us not the easiest bimini to put up that's for sure, but we have a good system now.

Not sure what the rest of you are running for smart tow. IE: speed based or RPM based. I was on speed based and being on a river with a current and the speed being GPS and relative to land, it didn't make much sense for moving water and we were running at 25.9mph with the current and 22.7 against the current. Anyway, to be relative to the water, we switched to GPS based tonight. Long time coming and a super easy switch. I thought the gps speed based was a consistent pull but WOW...the RPM based control is rock solid. Sooo steady, no significant or long lasting speed overshot on acceleration, etc. If you haven't, I strongly suggest you try RPM based, you won't regret it!

Wow Ian never thought of that. I ride on amazing water alot at night so speed seems nice for now. I may try it though.

Joe, yeah I can't wait for your solution it is getting annoying to me as well. I only hear it now at idle but still annoying to have such a pimp ass boat with a rattle. We have to work on that. I also need an update on extra weight Joe on the surf side locker? How and how much? Bags of sand? Fat Sack? Surfed a ton last and the wave was really good. I just think a few more lbs and we could have something that is just crazy good.

Ice, I hear ya. I just can't get myself to come to grips with drilling a hole in my 2011 brand new boat man! ugg scares me to death. I am not a hands on guy so just something I have to really weigh out this winter. Damn it's a hole in the bottom of my boat. =) Just seems like a bad thing on the surface just saying it. HA

I still need to get my wind dam done. Any one give thoughts on how to cut plexi so it doesn't melt? My first try I used a jig saw with a great bit and it just melted it. Weird. Thought about something like a Drimmel but ...??

Fred, I got your PM. I think I would want it perfect on the matching, not just close enough. I have a really heavy camo pattern compared to you guys. They really made it pop out instead of a bit more grey. Has alot of black and white in it compared to 2009s and 08s. Do you know the company that does it for Epic? I still haven't heard from Karen on this. Gonna email her now.

Everyone here....just wanted to say thanks guys. All of you are freaking awesome and a huge reason I bought and love my boat. Joe you have gone out of your way man, WW is a kick ass place to meet like minded peeps for riding and talking shop. I have learned alot already. I love new thoughts and projects so just wanted to say thanks to everyone here for the ideas and help with my new boat. Joe, Ice, Fred, Ian...everyone else. Thanks guys.

EVA Foam
 

Hey Scott, I'll remind Karen to get with you on the nonskid for your gunnels, we do have it in the same camo that you have. She's been super busy with the Caddo move. When I get back to SD i'll take some pics and send them to you so you can see for youself if they'll work for you.
Phil

Scott - if you can do a CAD drawing on the gunnell and get it perfect, be my guest and good luck!

Thanks Phil, no worries man as it is gonna be a winter project, or late summer at best.

Fred....I have done some CAD but have no access to it now. I guess I have to do that for the bevel to be right. Also want to do the drivers feet.

scott-

My suggestion for surfing, especially regular/port side. Starboard doesnt seem to need as much xtra weight, but the more the merrier!

Front= Full + 200-300lbs
Surf Side= Full + 500lbs in or on back locker (the further back on surfside, the better)
Non-Surf Side= Empty
Wake Plate= all the way up, 0%
Speed= 11.2mph -11.7mph depending on how the rider likes it and will also depend on how many peeps you have in boat.

As far as the xtra weight goes on the surfside and front, we use a combination of lead and people. You can use fat sacks, sand bags, lead, phat chicks, phat dudes...weight is weight...etc. For example, we have about 280lbs of lead that we switch in the back lockers and then have a 200lb guy sitting on top of the sundeck on surfside.

Ice - Got ya. We can't have anyone outside the boat when moving or huge ticket but we always try to fill that corner seat if possible. We ride with the family. So when I ride wife is driving have my 8 year old...(60lbs) in corner seat and the other 3 are typicall on that side up to the glove box. We don't fill the front but will. I am thinking of adding about 300 to surf side. Guess I need more and some in the front. I am thinking fatsac. Wish I could get some fat people on the boat...lol Wife is 125lbs soaking wet.... kids are dinks...lol

Scott, start talking your wife to fast food places more often. That should help. And don't give me that, "oh, but shes so hot, I don't want to wreck her" crap. If you want to surf, you have to commit.

I'm running a lot like Ice. I have full front+100(want to add more, but the bow is pretty close to the water already), full port surf side+600, empty starboard, 11.7, 1/2 tab.

The wave is nice, just not long enough. I collected about 300# in lead so far. I'm in the process of bagging it. But I do have another 600# sac laying around.

The experiment tonight. Fill EVERYTHING, +100 up front, +1200 surf side. Mess with the trim tab, and speed till I get it.

Keep us posted Joe. I have to find some weight cuz lord knows I can't commit to nothing. And she IS HOT....so can't mess that up. But damn, that line had me laughing. Guess if that is what it takes to get the most amazing surf wake ever...hmmmmm May have to "committ" as you say but damn at night that is gonna SUCK!! lol

What surf boards is everyone riding and how is it working with your surf wakes? We are riding a liquid force custom 4' 2" skim style board and are having trouble keeping up with the wake. Granted we are no experts. Was just wondering what everyone else was riding and how they liked it.

I just sold my Darrin Shapiro Slaysh for that reason. I now LOVE the Hyperlite Land Lock. It is long at 5'11" but so much fun to just drink a beer back there and it finds the pocket and hold awesome. I have surfed for 20 min straight in the pocket before losing it. (we had a contest...) Anyway check it out. It is long and doesn't fit in the rack which sucks, but I am getting a surf rack for it. I love the fact that anyone can use this board and first timers always get up. My kids even use it. She is 8 and he is 6 and start on their belly's then go to knees and 8 year old is now standing and finding the pocket. AMAZING and fun to watch.

oh we have found the pocket is pretty close to the boat as well. With out long board we are about 2-3 feet from the back of the boat to the tip of the board.

Nic-

I ride the Triple X Slasher 5'0" with two 3" side fins, no middle thruster fin. I just demo'd the Soulcraft Jetty with (2) 3" fins over the weekend and love it. Both boards are fast and bouyant enough to keep my 260lbs of pure lovin' moving in the right direction :-). The Jetty is a little easier to spin. Let me know if you are interested in either the Triple X or the Soulcraft. Soulcraft is HQ'd in Boise and I am good friends with the owner, great dude, he will customize your board to exactly how you want it, he has a custom graphics person, custom kick pads etc. One of my surfing buddies is one of Triple X's sponsored riders, Nick Scott (just placed 4th @ worlds last week in Minnesota and is at the Northwest Surf Comp this weekend). His username on WW is Nikki Sixx. He can typically get you a deal on a Triple X board.

Link to Soulcraft- http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref...oarding?ref=ts

Link to Triple X- https://www.triplexsurfandskim.com/cart.html

My wife, rides the hyperlite coex and loves it. That board is ridiculous to spin (like a lot of other skim boards). Here is a couple of linksof one of the guys up here in the NW that throws down on his Coex. I laugh my @$$ off everytime I see his 1800's...ridiculous

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBK1a...eature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGFERyJ9xWg

we ride a surfboard. I had one custom made when I was competing and now it is the boat board. 6'0 fish ocean surfing board and also a 5'9" epoxy pop out board that is my sons.

I loved the grindwater Mauka or whatever it is called.

I ride the 4'2" LF Custom. Once you learn how to ride it, it is increadibly easy to keep in the pocket due to its speed.

Does anyone else do a big circle when they surf? I ride goofy, and find if the boat isn't doing a lazy turn to the right, it has a trough at the bottom of the wake the swallows the tip of the board if you're not careful.

yeah that trough is there we don't do a lazy circle though. We to a big oval. It isn't too bad with our big board but I wonder if it is with a smaller board.

Fred-

Yeah that trough took us a while to get used to on the goofey side (it is there on the regular side as well). Anyways, we just ride further back and if for some reason we get into the trough, we 'try' to keep the nose of the board up so we dont dive into it. Between the trough and how steep the wake is, we have found that riding further back and a little up works best and when you go to throw any kind of tricks (especially spins) you start your spin just behind the middle of the trough (about 2ft from back of swim platform) where as on other boats, you can start your spin right off the swim platform to give yourself plenty of wake left to catch back up after your spin. Just different to get used to. We will slightly turn into it sometimes to get rid of that little ripple of white water that sometimes appears on the lip of the wake.

We experimented with my buddy's '07 surf wave this weekend and found that front full plus a fly high v-drive sac (400+ lbs) in the hallway and then half full on the port side at 11.0 and plate at 25% was pretty good. It still needs just a little more push but it lengthened the pocket by at least 5' and had a nice little curl at the back. You can get a really long pocket at a faster speed but there was 0 push to it, it looked awesome but rode like crap, the wave looked like a mile long. Once the speed dropped the pocket shortened a little bit (not much) and the push started to come in. He tried front full plus surf side full and then the vdrive sac in the locker and got nowhere and that's when the bag was moved to the front and results were being seen.

I think after a little more experimenting that we can get a pretty bad azz wave out of this boat, just like any boat it takes some work to get it all dialed in. The one thing that I really like most was the fact that the swim platform wasn't in the water at all which means you aren't getting any interference and kept the face super clean.

So I need some help. Last night I tightened my battery grounds as we thought they might be the issue to some of the electrical problems I have been having. After that my gauges would no longer work, they would show the Mercruiser start up screen and that was all, my navigation lights started flashing, with all the switches off, and my horn no longer works. BUT, when I hold the horn button the radio now comes on and I am able to start the boat without a key. Although this could come in very handy if I lost my key, I think it could cause an overall bad boating experience for this evening and this weekends fiasco's... I have an appt. to get it to the dealer on monday, who will probably keep my boat for the better part of a month to only work on it a day. Anyone else had anything like this happen. I am a very DIY person and am an engineer. There is no way that tightening the negative battery post should have spawned these increadible hidden features to surface.... I am at a loss for words.

Sam -

Wow that is a story brother. I wish I could even begin to help man. Hope you figure it out soon.

Tim -

Hey, you fill the FRONT full and the PORT only half? Added 400 more pounds to the front? Usually we are full PORT Half FRONT and added weight in PORT. hmmmm

Definitely sounds like a grounding issue. Where do the guages and radio, etc. ground to under the dash? I would check there and follow all the way back to the batteries.

Sam, did you take any of the nuts off the batts to maybe clean the terminals before you tightened them? If so, I'll bet you a case of beer that you left the ground wire that goes to the ground distribution block off. That would explain all your problems.

No, I just tightened them. They are now off because of the above listed issues. I decided to put the boat in "time-out" with no battery connection until I get to the lake today. All of my electrical issues started when the dealer replaced dead batteries from last season, and seem to have escalated quickly. I can only hope it is not possessed and decides to either catch on fire, or run the bilge backwards to sink the boat while I'm on the lake this evening...........

Scott - yeah, we filled the FRONT full and added 400 more and then only ran about half on the port side. Weird, huh? Completely opposite of what I would think and my RZ2, it likes all of the weight in the back and nothing in the front . The surf rope that I have is super long and I could hold onto the handle and stretch out my arm and I was just barely at the back of the wave because that's how long the pocket was. The face was clean and not too steep, I could ride on top of the lip right behind the platform effortlessly. We are going to experiment some more and I will try and get pics.

Tim-
What about people up front have you tried that? I am not a huge fan of more weight (hate bags) but I may try people up there. 2 guys is 400#s Driver and surfer. Seems doable. Thoughts? How fast again 11 even and 25%?

Sam, same prob, same bet. Someone (they) left the ground off for the ground distribution block. The block is on the back wall in the batt bay. That wire fell down on me every time I messed with it. Reach around the back of the rear batt and feel around. or better yet, get a light, find the distribution block, follow the wire to make sure it's connected.

Scott - there were only 3 of us so we couldn't try people weight. I'm pretty sure we were right at 11.0 and the plate was at 25%. If you look at the gauge it was 25% from the left of it, I'm not used to the gauge enough to know which way but if you read the gauge from left to right, it was 1/4 of the way from the left. We were thinking that if you had a bunch of people in the back that you might not really have to fill the rear surf side very much at all and just stack a few people in the bow.

Guys-

Trailoring...I have been used to putting the cover on since that is what I had to do with my old boat because we would lose a seat if I didn't. So, I have put it on and off everytime going to the lake (45min away) Do I need to with mine now? Don't want to lose a seat cushion. Thoughts? How do you all trailor it with or without the cover?

No cover for me. but I don't go very far. It's been my experience that even the best covers end up scuffing the gel coat after a while. I really won't do it if I didn't have to.

My surf report. I have an original, year 1 landlock, and a TWP comp x 5.0 The TWP is awesome!

I recently decided to see what would happen if I really weighted the boat down. We filled everything+ added 1200# to the surf side corner(port). We went all the way up to 15mph and still didn't get a surfable wave. It actually sucked a lot. Not to mention, the rpm's were way to high for any kind a sustained riding. We ended up dumping the right side and one of the 600# bags and surfing at 11.7 like normal. So cross that off the list of things to try.

I'm very excited about Timmy's method, and will try to repeat his results tomorrow.

Timmy-
Interesting, we will b trying that set-up this weekend.

Scott-
No cover unless we have bags/gear that are light enough to fly out or if we know we will be on a dusty road.

HELP !!

Ok last night went out. Had great time but storm rolled in. Had to drop two guys off at different dock and then had to try to beat the F ing storm to anther dock where my trailer was. So had it pegged which I know I shouldn't but had to. Storm was really bad and we didn't beat it. It was about as scared as I have been in a while. Lightning bad and thunder like a mofo along with rain that was sideways. Anyway....didn't feel anything hit, but we started to vibrate. We thought we must have hit something but at that moment I didn't care. We made it back got it up. We looked and felt the rudders and prop and looked just as new as when I got it. So my friend thought that we may have experieces High RPM balance issue. Have you ever felt that? I was running way to hard on her to save my life ...lol at least I felt that way. I was running around 5000 RPM. It wasn't a bad vibration just enough to be really freaking annoying and worrysome. I couldn't put back in after the storm to try her out again but wondering what you all thought. RPM BALANCE or did I hit something? No nicks not even a scratch on the prop. It looks brand new.... I actually hoped it was the prop cuz that is easy to fix.

I got the electrical issue fixed, and from what I can tell will be a common issue down the road with these boats. After tracing all of the ground wires from the batteries to the dash, I found where all of the dash is grounded. It is grounded with a butt connector, but it is attached straight up and down under the dash. It seems that it fell off when I was trailering the boat, maybe rough ground did it. But for future reference, that is where it is.

This fixed all of my issues except for the perfectpass issues. My boat is still not holding speed. It will be set at 21.5 and beep like it has hit speed around 15 mph, then proceed to accelerate to around 30 mph then to drop back to 15 mph only to then hit 21.5 and start holding speed. With my wife driving this is a painfull experience on a board. On my old Malibu there was a way to adjust the amount of time that the perfectpass took measurements (something like nn). For the life of me I cannot find it on this boat. It seems to me if the speedometer is working with GPS signal it should be able to hold the correct speed.

Anyone have any input, I wish they would have gone with a perfect pass zero off system instead of a mercruiser one here....

Sam I had the same damn issue last night. I set it for 23.5 and it would beep around 15 mph then get all the way up to like almost 29 and never come back. I just manually drove it. It usually beeps when it gets to speed but last night it didn't. Actually it did with no ballast full, and didn't when we had alot of ballast in.

After my storm issue (see above) that seems like a small problem now. lol I am gonna drop boat in and see today if vibration is still there.