Supra Mariah Ballast?

Buddy of mine just picked up a sweet Mariah with Pro Boss H.O. 5.8. Looking for specific ballast set up on this boat. Need both board and surf set-ups.

We ran a 600 on drivers side + 500 on rear seat in the middle for surf. Rubrail was in water but wake did not have much push and only got 2100rpm at 11gps so I know we just weren't pushing enough water. Advise?

It's not exactly the same boat, but it's really similar to the 1992 Supra Sunsport, which I ride regularly.
Currently it has an awesome delayed convergence system so we only run a 750 on either side of the doghouse, a 370 under the rear seat, and about a 150lb sack on the rear seat on whatever side we're surfing on at 8-9mph with wakeplate 9/16" down.

Now this won't work for you without having a surf system retrofitted on it, so here is our listed setup we ran before we did the surf system install.

-750lb on surf side by doghouse
-750lb on top of other 750 and rear seat
-370lb under rear seat
-wakeplate about 9/16" down
-around 9-10mph.

This produced a killer wake, not super short, but with tons of push.

For wakeboard wake we typically just run the 370lb under seat and it produces a decent wake we are comfortable with. We are primarily surfers, not wakeboarders, but when we take a set we can still get some good air for wake to wakes.

Your Mariah has a wake plate doesn't it? Where do you have it set?

Wake plate is not actuated

Neither is mine, but it should be adjustable. For surfing I'd imagine you'd want it all the way up to sink the rear down a little more

You do not want it all the way up. With it all the way up you get porpoising, you have a shorter wake, your RPMs are way higher, you use more gas, it's harder to steer, the boat works harder because the nose is so far up in the air and the prop is aiming down pushing the boat up and not forwards. You still want to sink the back of the boat, but you don't want to be plowing through the water vertically.
It seems counter intuitive, but that small change of putting the wake plate down some makes all the difference in the world. I measured the wakeplate when I adjusted it. It came up right about 9/16" of thread showing between the top turnbuckle and the bottom turnbuckle. You can play around with it, but that is what we are at and happy with. It wasn't fun at all with zero wakeplate. It got better with a few turns down, but it really made a difference when we went to around 1/2" and now we are settled at 9/16".

Originally Posted by phathom

You do not want it all the way up. With it all the way up you get porpoising, you have a shorter wake, your RPMs are way higher, you use more gas, it's harder to steer, the boat works harder because the nose is so far up in the air and the prop is aiming down pushing the boat up and not forwards. You still want to sink the back of the boat, but you don't want to be plowing through the water vertically.
It seems counter intuitive, but that small change of putting the wake plate down some makes all the difference in the world. I measured the wakeplate when I adjusted it. It came up right about 9/16" of thread showing between the top turnbuckle and the bottom turnbuckle. You can play around with it, but that is what we are at and happy with. It wasn't fun at all with zero wakeplate. It got better with a few turns down, but it really made a difference when we went to around 1/2" and now we are settled at 9/16".

Yea were not going to mess with the plate mostly because we barefoot too and don't want any porpoising. This boat is not the Sunsport hull and drives more like the SS/SSV that I used to have. I know one thing, the gas vent in aft might have worked back then, but is a stupid set up today. That is the first thing we are going to change and going to relocate that to about midship.

Still looking for the specific set ups for board and surf

Yes, relocating the vent is a must, otherwise you get water in it while surfing.
If you already have the plate down some, keep it that way. I think 9/16" is slightly more than half way down, I think they only have 1" of adjustment if I recall. I don't think having it all the way down would negatively affect you just in my experience. All the way up is more harm than all the way down. With a manual wakeplate it's definitely best to just set it for what you do most and leave it. Changing it underwater, guessing by feel isn't fun, neither is holding your breath and going under the platform to do it with goggles. I have had to do both and would rather not do it again.