Introduction, crazy noob questions, 25HP, etc.

I am just getting into wakeboarding again (though I never progressed much past crossing wakes when I learned in high school 15 years ago) and loving it. Here's the thing, though: we spend all our lake time as a family at a small sailing lake and the yacht club pool area where we belong. Atwood Lake has a 25 HP limit, so I bought a light, agile boat and the fastest available 25 I could get at the time. I have a Lund 1440V SS and a 2005 Nissan 2 stroke that's running as the 30HP variant thanks to a carb gasket swap and timing adjustment by my shop. Anyway, I can start just fine and the wake doesn't seem as terrible as it may sound from my little V hull. I even pulled up a 210 lb. friend for his first ride ever behind this boat. I weigh 160 so it's great for me. The boat planes easily (with some patience) around 16 and can pull up to 25, but I keep it around 19-21 or so for wakeboarding.

If I'm trying to make the most of my experience on this boat and lake, should I just stick to playing with rope length to be able to jump wake to wake and continue moving on from 180s and elementary grabs as best as I can, or would you try a 350lb ballast and 4 blade prop to (hopefully/potentially) keep pulling power while adding a bit more wake?

Any thoughts are appreciated. Like I said, I'm super new to all of this but want to make the most of my boat on our little lake. Thanks!

Instead of investing in ballast, I'd just keep adding passengers and see how that works first.

Get a wakeskate too.

Get a 30HP variant direct injected motor and Add twin turbos like some snowmobiles have while you are at it.

http://i34.tinypic.com/1qlftd.jpg

Thanks Wheeler. I definitely need to do that, not only to see what works with how much weight, but if it needs spread out differently, etc.

Alan, I at first thought you were just making fun of me because I somehow read it as trying to surf, ha! Good idea, though right now I have plenty to learn with small jumps and edge control on the wakeboard too.

Rex, that may be a little more noticeable if I ever open it up

Honestly the power isn't an issue at this point, but my boat's dry weight is also 600 lbs if I remember correctly.

Mx2 for the wakeskate. That's a straight up wakeskate boat.

x3 for the skate. probably won't be able to get a consistent wakeboard wake out of your boat. skate is silly fun, get on one

Dude, I love it. Shredding is shredding.

yep, a good stoke is all ya need!

grew up riding behind a buddy's 17' fish/ski. we'd fill the live well to add what we could!

BTW 350 is gonna be too much. I would recommend getting a couple sand bags to fill. or some lead tire weights in canvas bags. easy to move around and test what works best instead of draining/moving/filling a 350.

Thanks again for all the feedback/encouragement.

I swapped the giant wing tip fins that came with my board for Ronix Utility 0.8" fins and it's like a whole new board! I struggled to break loose over and over again and gave up a backside surface 180, then with the new fins as soon as I could grab the handle behind my back I spun right around my first try. Huge upgrade for $15 including shipping.

Next question: how likely do you think it is that I can actually go wake to wake on this tiny wake? I've shortened the rope and I'm still landing with my front foot on top of the wake at best with (what I think of as) a smooth progressive edge. This is a friend of mine riding for his first time, but shows the very meager wake from my reasonably loaded up 14' Lund (almost as loaded as I can be and still pull someone up with my 25/30HP Nissan). Excuse the crappy cell phone video screen grab!

I'm still having a blast no matter what, but it would be nice to actually go wake to wake, I'm just not sure how difficult that will be with this light boat.

I've done wake to wake back rolls on a wake that big. You'll be fine I'd just shorten up a bit

Have you thought about putting a hydrofoil stabilizer on the motor to plane off the boat quicker. I know my dad put one on each of his two I/Os and swore it made a difference.

I've done wake to wake back rolls on a wake that big. You'll be fine I'd just shorten up a bit

What about adding a fly high pole to raise your tow point? You fight rope geometry towing straight off the back of the boat.

Originally Posted by jessz71

Have you thought about putting a hydrofoil stabilizer on the motor to plane off the boat quicker. I know my dad put one on each of his two I/Os and swore it made a difference.

It planes at around 16mph or so, you just have to be patient for a moment.

Planing more quickly would only help get it up to speed quicker, but not actually help anything with wakeboarding since we are well above planing speed once we reach tow speed, correct? I could be missing something, but wanted to check. Thanks.

Originally Posted by simplej

I've done wake to wake back rolls on a wake that big. You'll be fine I'd just shorten up a bit

That's awesome, and what I was honestly hoping to hear!

More work is in order on my form for sure. I need to make some videos and see where I'm going wrong, if I'm coming off the edge too soon, etc. Thanks.

Originally Posted by h20king

What about adding a fly high pole to raise your tow point? You fight rope geometry towing straight off the back of the boat.

I have thought about it, but also think I may feel a little silly with one of those rigs in a 14' aluminum fishing boat.

I think I'll work on my edging (and lots of other things that are possible now) for a while and then re-evaluate, but I certainly wouldn't rule it out. I'd love to have a high tow point but I'm not sure how well it will work with my little boat. Here's the wakeboard monster, by the way Trolling motor has been removed but otherwise that's it!

I'm part joking, and part serious, this is where all the old home made tower threads would come in handy. That lund could look pretty BA with a tower.

The reality however is that you can go wake2wake without one.

If you haven't, check out the "Wakeboarding hall of fame" on facebook and look at the Shannon Best video they just posted up to see what was being done on small wakes by the pro's back in the 90's.