ZO surging solved & 2009 - future SAN 210 - ZO only

[ericchile]

My prop is 1235.

Doing my best to keep the thread alive. I emailed the ZO guys from their website when I first responded to this thread about the price. Haven't heard back :-(

[Paublo]

If it ever porpoises, regardless of which prop, extra weight, or whatever else, you will not be happy until it is fixed. On my '09 210 the first year it only happened a couple of times and was fixed with adjusting the hydro-gate. The next year it started to happen more often. It just frosted me that I had to pay that much money to fix a new boat, so I put it off for a few months. Finally I bit the bullet and changed out the antenna and software update. It has never happened again and I soon forgot about having to spend the money. So I am happy again with my boat and Correct Craft- until you guys bring this thread up again and it gets me going all over again about spending that much for a fix that should have been a warrantee issue.

The moral of the story is to just fix it and hope this thread dies.

[Miljack]

What prop is on your boat? You had ballast in the belly tank full? Mine has only "porpoised" occasionally, and was caused by hitting rollers from other boats. I was able to correct using the Hydro Gate, by pushing forward to position one. What speed do you normally ride? We are running from 20.5-23 mph without issue.

My riding buddy has an '08 210 with the fly hi add on system, and we noticed that his would porpoise with the 1235 prop, but not with the 1579 prop. This was with the add on ballast full only. Stock ballast the 210 doesn't porpoise with either.

[ericchile]

Yea we took it out 5 times after buying it. Since I knew about the issue I was really paying attention. With a full ballest and no one in the front and me wakeboarding behind, my wife was not happy as I was not happy getting out of the water. We have used a friends out board boat for the past 3 years which had no cruise and was pretty sensitive. She said she would only support me buying a boat if she didn't have to worry about me being upset when getting out of the water. The pulsing was very noticeable, especially when the boat hit chop from another boat. It would then pulse for a good 2 min before settling down.

[Miljack]

@Ericchile, did you have a chance to ride your 230 before you winterized? With stock ballast, you won't need the update, if you plan on running fly hi add on, you will want to have it done.

You can get a little better price from Whitelake/Nautique Parts, but not much. WL is "selling @ cost" because of the widely known issue, so ZO must be close to that position as well.
I agree, the price for the wiring harness and antenna seem really out of line for what is there, but I think there's a gyroscope in the new antenna and is a custom unit for ZO...

[ericchile]

Well great... bought a very slightly used 2009 230 which never received this 'update'. One request by my wife was that the cruise system worked so that I wasn't yelling at her when I get in the boat. I knew I would need to update this but it looks like the cost is even more now.

$450 :-0 https://www.zerogps.com/product/r2-antenna-and-harness

How can a wire harness and antenna cost more to make then some laptops and ipads? I just don't understand the cost. Are they turning a profit of this problem?

[Quinner]

Has anyone experienced the porpoising when the boat is being operated within the weight limits on the coast guard plate, that would be the combination of Ballast weight + Human weight?

Using Tundra's example with his Jap truck, imagine if he added thousands of pounds over capacity in the bed of his rice burner, it would snap in half, maybe that will be toyota's next recall, LOL.

Tough deal either way, not sure I would be too happy if my brand new very expensive boat required a $500 "upgrade" and as mentioned by another poster, on an already expensive optional item, when being used in the same fashion as their own "team riders".

Good Luck, hope you all get it worked out!

[highrock]

I had my software updated on my 08 210 last weekend. I did not buy the new antenna and wanted to at least try just the update and see how it worked.

I would recommend trying that first as it really helped on my boat. It does make a world of difference with just the update. Going through rollers you do not have to mess with the gate anymore to get it from bouncing...it does it a couple times then levels out.

This is with about 3000 Lbs. of ballast in the boat as well if anyone is wondering and riding 23.5-24.

Plus its free if you have access to a cable to plug up to the boat!

[Chad52]

I sent Larry Shea at Correct Craft another email. I'll let you know if anything comes from it...

Chad

[Bevan]

I had my system upgraded with the software last year and it still porpoises. I just deal with it like the rest of you and use the hydrogate to smooth it back out. I wonder if the upgrade this year is any different and if it will help as Bevan says it did on his? I wish I had perfect pass instead of zero off.

Honestly, the improvement on my boat with just the software upgrade is like night and day, i couldn't be happier!

[JWAT]

seriously. all of ya'll either need to shut up and fork over the money or get together and force c.c. to do what's right. i would go with option B first. i bet if your dealers and the factory, along with zero off got letters from attorneys they would be more inclined to do something.

I already forked over the money as noted above...

[hourglass]

seriously. all of ya'll either need to shut up and fork over the money or get together and force c.c. to do what's right. i would go with option B first. i bet if your dealers and the factory, along with zero off got letters from attorneys they would be more inclined to do something.

[xrichard]

Yeah, I agree, too re: shape...I played with weight distribution when I first got the boat (old antenna/software) and I like how I have it currently (...biased toward the rear...). Just curious if moving some weight toward the front helps with the porpoising. The point is moot if it changes the shape of the wake much. One of these days I'll play with it some more. Could be shifting 10% of the weight from the back to the front will help w/porpoising w/o hurting the wake substantially.

[JWAT]

I have tried putting more weight in the front but I don't liker how it changes the shape of the wake when I weigh it down more in the front.

I agree...

[Latonkaboarder]

Latonka and JWAT....have you tried rebalancing so you have a bit more weight bias toward the front as compared with your current setup?

With the new software/antenna, my boat occasionally porpoises...but then it self-corrects after +/-4 oscillations. It doesn't happen very often--probably once per set (at the most). Before the upgrade, the porpoising was more frequent and would just get worse until I lowered the hydrogate. It's still irritating, but I think it has to do with my rear-heavy weight bias because I get porpoising with full ballast and without ZO engaged (but I've only noticed that at higher speeds--27-32 mph--while running back to the ramp. I haven't played around at riding-speeds...typically 22.5-23.5 for my riders).

Unfortunately, I'm often pressed for time when we ride (...in the mornings before work...), so taking 15-30 minutes to play with ballast/speed/porpoising is a big deal--one of these days I'll take the time.

FWIW, I run about 1800lbs...

I have tried putting more weight in the front but I don't liker how it changes the shape of the wake when I weigh it down more in the front.