How to weigh a Calabria Pro V for the best wake?

Before I go out and buy all the gear, I wanted to hear how everyone is weighing their boats to produce the best "Wave." Any other Calabria wakesurfers out there?

Well, I can't tell you what I've already done, not having surfed my Pro V yet. But what I'm planning to do is use both stock ballast tanks, and buy a custom sac that takes up all of the Port Stern locker, plus the space under the seats on that side as well. I think Surfdad and others have a similar set up with different boats already, and I think it should be enough weight with just a driver, surfer, and spotter on the Pro-V.

And at first, just a Tsunami pump to fill and empty, probably, but eventually I want a plumbed-in, driver-controlled pump.

Of course, a simple solution is having 6 guys hanging off of one rail, which I hear works great, but I don't always want to run with a big crew.

I thought I might try and revive this thread to get some advice. My crew and I took some time off from wakeboarding impacts to recover from some blown out knees and concussions.

We're hooked! The feel of surfing is awesome, but we definately have some room to improve the experience. I expect this to be a combination of riding time and tweaking our setup.

We're surfing behind my 05 Pro-V, stock ballast, and an assortment of 3-5 adults plus a few small kids in the boat. We played around with ballast and seating but never really settled on anything. The board is a LF Venture 5'0".

We were able to ride without the rope for extended periods with both tanks full and all passengers on the left side, at speeds from 8.5 - 10 mph, the lower end seeming to work best. The problem is that we are riding alot of whitewash and have to stay just a few inches back from the deck, almost in the center of the wake. I see that in most of the pics here, people seem to be back further and more in the pocket.

I know it's hard to say without seeing things in action, but should we be chasing setup changes or just more practice further back? Both?

What is working for other Pro-V owners?

The consumate expert on the Calbria setup is Michael Daugherty of Wakesurfing Magazine and Shoreline Lakeboards. I'd bet that if you called him to get a subscription to his magazine he'd be more than happy to tell you about the best setup It sounds to me, though, like you have a combination needing some work on the setup AND need a few more miles of surfing under your belt. Properly setup with boat and suitable boards you should be able to surf at 9.8 to 10.2 as a low speed setting. We really don't have enough info on the folks surfing and a pic or two would help in the diagnosis.

We surfed a pro v last weekend,it was good,the pocket was about 20 feet long.The set up was stock ballast with a 700 pound sack on top of the side seat.

Yeah, I expect that a lack of specific info would be a problem. Just hoping to get going in the right direction. I like to tinker with setup, but I love the idea of more miles of surfing!

I've seen the pitch for a mag sub and a good conversation about setup with Daugherty here on WW before...but I'm reluctant to ask the guy that pulls the best riders, in a nearly sunken boat with 3 hydraulic wake plates to dial things in. That's not to criticize the setup, I saw the boat in action at Tulloch and it was impressive...I've just been in similar situations and know how people at that level usually have an 'all or nothing' attitude, rightfully so. I'm also hoping there are some other owners willing to share their experience without selling a mag sub. I'm not a cheapskate, but I already subscribe to enough Adverzines and I'm familiar with the helpful spirit of most online forums.

I see that you're in Stockton. My Pro-V is kept in a slip at Village West and we try to get out 2 or 3 times a week. If you ever want to tag along and trade advice for some waves, we would certainly welcome the opportunity.

I understand...I'm always up for riding, especially if it gets me out of the office.

Tom - for my Pro-V (now John's Pro-V) the key was weighting pretty evenly from tip to tail on one side.

The setup in mine was the stock ballast throughout, 300 lbs stack in the back locker, 600 lbs stack rolled next to the seat (more towards mid boat that the back of the boat), plus some cement blocks under the seats and then 300lbs stack in the nose. All the weight leaning towards the one side of course. We enjoyed it. Took some time to get that setup, about a week and that was testing different setups each day.

Ok, So I went out and bought 2 400 lbs sacks for the v drive storage units, 1 750 lbs fat sac, and 1000 lbs for the bow. Plus the stock 750 purevert. we put one 400 lb in the rear storage compartment, 1 750 on the floor on the port side and 1 (almost full) 400 lbs sac on the rear seat only used the port pure vert ballast. The boat was so leaning to one side and produced a very large wake. My feeling is that it is a little too steep. next time out I want to add the front ballast in the bow and see if this lengthens the pocket and can push us a little further back from the swimplatform.

Has anyone had a custom X Pro series fat sac made for their Calabria?

Tom,
Going a little faster would also lengthen the pocket at the expense of smaller wake size.

I love surfering my Pro V. Custom made sac in the rear lockers add about 900lbs to each side. 400lbs of lead on port side (passenger) and 200lbs of lead on the starboard side. Stock ballast of 375lbs on each side. I just load the side we are riding.

But the real key to these Pro Vs is the ride plate that is on the back. I replaced my "fixed" ride plate with a hydrolic one and it make all the difference in the world. With the new plate I can raise the tab all the way up and it creates a jaw dropping wake. The wake is HUGE and you can ride back a good 20-22 feet, even further on a longboard and a bit more speed.
If you add 6 or more people in the boat, it is as good a wake as I have ever seen. The size of the wake is easly over waist high at aroud 9 to 9.5 mph.

I am still experimenting with adding more weight to the bow, but it does not seem to change the characteristic to much. I will get a pic of this monster wake and post it for all to see.

Last week we had a very surfable wake with stock ballast, plus 1 Fat Sack (750 lb) in the port stern locker, and 1 Tube Sack (350 lb) on the port side seat pretty far forward. This was with two guys on the port side also. Speed seemed best pretty darned slow, around 9 mph. It got pretty washy when we got the boat faster. I'm debating getting another tube sac for the seat eventually, but it's surfable right now with a 4 man crew, and we're loving it.

jcstudebaker where did you get the hydraulic trim tab? Was it easy to switch out the fixed ride plate and wire up the hydraulic one? I would really like to do this to my pro v and any advice you have would be great. Thanks

9 year thread revival. Impressive!

I just purchased an older Calabria 2001. I'm interested in changing out the fixed plate. We get a decent surf wake on the port side but can't seem to get one on the starboard side. My son rides goofy foot so I have to do something.

I have an 06 pro v. Got my adjustable plate from Bennett marine. Helped a ton!