G23 Surf Set Up

[Samu]

With such a heavy load I will need to remove rear ballast sooner if my fuel is below 40% because that is weight lost in the forward section of the boat. So I always try to surf with 70% to full fuel.

I don't think, that your fuel-tank is in your bow.

I ride with a similar weight distribution. Preferably with a well-filled gas tank about 50-80%. If the gas is completely full, I have to release some ballast from the stern!

[greggmck]

I don't think, that your fuel-tank is in your bow.

I ride with a similar weight distribution. Preferably with a well-filled gas tank about 50-80%. If the gas is completely full, I have to release some ballast from the stern!

Its not in bow. Its in the middle of the boat.

[greggmck]

[mintmonkey]

With that lead setup you should be fine with 5 to 6 people or about 900lbs of total body weight. I dont usually remove ballast until I have more than 6 adults. With such a heavy load I will need to remove rear ballast sooner if my fuel is below 40% because that is weight lost in the forward section of the boat. So I always try to surf with 70% to full fuel.

Do you have a thruster or ladder? I have seen situations where with too many people the ladder will scrub the wave. Finally when I'm running low on fuel my thruster can interfere with the goofy wave even with just 3 or 4 in the boat.

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

I do have the thruster which may be why I'm having significantly worse issues on the starboard side. I'll try letting some more weight out and shifting people up front next time to see if that helps. We did have close to full fuel last time we were out.

[greggmck]

A useful drill I usually perform whenever I have wave problems is to use the people in the boat to diagnose the issue. After proper setup I almost never see wave problems with my regular crew unless the NSS or NCRS is malfunctioning. This rarely happens but if it does a quick wave side change (e.g. starboard to port and back) or NCRS up to 5 and back to the surf setting usually clears the issue. However with a larger crew, especially since I am running 800 lbs of lead and almost always full fuel I can experience wave issues associated with being overloaded. In this case I will have my crew sit in the rear, then move some of them to the middle, then move some to the bow to see how the wave changes. This tells me where the imbalance exists and I can adjust ballast to restore the wave.

[wrut]

As requested here are my surf configuration/settings: After feedback from many pros, and good friends with extensive competition experience, I moved to an 800 lb configuration to simulate a competition quality wave (driver, caller, judge 1, judge 2, camera man + 500 lbs lead ) when I am surfing with only my son, daughter, and wife. If one regularly runs with a 5+ women/man crew, less weight is sufficient. It is very possible to over load the boat which will result in a washed out wave. If I have a large crew, I will remove ballast as appropriate.

Here is a wave level video of our wave: https://youtu.be/JTpKtG0SAyE
All ballast full. Speed 11.3 to 11.5 depending upon water temp. Colder = slower, warmer = faster. This video was at 11.5 MPH, NSS 0, NCRS 2.

Gregg, I finally got my last 6 bags to move to the 800 lb configuration. I ended up with a washed out wave this time out. I assume this is because even though it is just my wife (105 lbs), and two kids (45lbs each) that all of the other "kid stuff" like mission mat etc we have in the boat is weighting it down too much. Where would you suggest removing weight first? It seems as though if I had them sit in the front of the boat it was less washed out, so I am thinking I need to remove two bags, one from each of the right/left middle seats? They like to sit on the wake bench.

[greggmck]

It is very unlikely that you have too much kid stuff in the boat affecting the wave. What NSS / NCRS settings are you using? Do you have any heavy items in the rear lockers? If you do move weight take 50 lbs from each middle seat and put in the bow (so 3 bags in each bow locker) but no more.

Before moving weight my suggestion would be to run the NCRS from 0 to 5 holding it at 5 for 1 minute and then back to your setting to see if that cleans up the wave. You can run the NSS from 0 to 5 and then back to 0 too. In my opinion NSS should always be at 0 for surf.

Would you take a pic of the wave and send/post?

[wrut]

It is very unlikely that you have too much kid stuff in the boat affecting the wave. What NSS / NCRS settings are you using? Do you have any heavy items in the rear lockers? If you do move weight take 50 lbs from each middle seat and put in the bow (so 3 bags in each bow locker) but no more.

Before moving weight my suggestion would be to run the NCRS from 0 to 5 holding it at 5 for 1 minute and then back to your setting to see if that cleans up the wave. You can run the NSS from 0 to 5 and then back to 0 too. In my opinion NSS should always be at 0 for surf.

Would you take a pic of the wave and send/post?

We left the GoPro at the house today by mistake so I missed getting video, however, we did have the 40 lb mission mat in the rear locker. I will try to move it. It did seem better if we adjusted the NCRS and moved kids to the bow. If the weather cooperates I’ll get some video tomorrow.

[greggmck]

Today we were surfing the goofy (starboard) side and occasionally we had a washed out wave. The regular (port side) side wave was fine. When the wave washed out I noticed our crew were gathered up in the middle of the boat so I asked one of our crew to move into the bow. The goofy wave became worse, completely washed out. Then I had the one person in the bow move into the rear of the boat on the goofy side. The goofy wave cleaned up completely. With our new 2020 I noticed we had the occasional wave wash out but attributed it to the NCRS not setting properly. However this recent experience had me thinking. My weight configuration was optimized on my 2019 G23 which had the electric tower which has a very large base and is probably much heavier than the mechanical tower we have on our 2020. So I moved some weight into the rear of the boat to compensate for the lighter tower in our 2020. This seemed to clean up the goofy wave so my crew could move around without the wave washing out. Here is the configuration we used today which produced nice clean goofy and regular side waves.

[Daveed]

My first Wake Surf boat was a 2013 G23 which I bought used in 2015. The previous owner spent a stupid amount of money on stereo equipment, which meant additional weight from amps and batteries port side. I then added 400 lb Fat Sacs to the transom compartments and the wave this setup created is still one of the best I've ever surfed on (I'm a normal footed surfer).

I traded in the '13 for a new '18 and I found the factory setup to be pretty anemic. I added 2-750 lb Fat Sacs to the rear and 250 lbs in lead ballast to the bow. Seems like no matter what I do I can never get a decent, clean port side wave (goofy side of the wave is always better due to the direction of the prop's rotation), let alone one that comes close to the wave on my '13. It's either big and long but super washed out, or reasonably clean but short with no push.

I did try moving the lead ballast to under the seats beneath the towers, as recommended on this forum, but that seemed to have made the problem worse, so I relocated back to the bow.

The setup that works best is:
3-4 people in center to rear of the boat
Factory bow ballast 100%
250 lead ballast in the bow
Rear factory ballast plus Fat Sacs 70% port and 60% starboard side (these percentages are prolly +/- 20%)
NSS 2
NCRS 5
Speed 11.8

When I get more than 6 people on board, all bets are off, and moving people around seems to have very little impact on the wave's quality.

I'm considering adding a Fat Sac under the bow seats. I hate to lose all of that storage, though, and I'm hoping I can get some input here as to how to make a wave that I can love again.

[Samu]

NSS 2
NCRS 5
Speed 11.8

• Speed at 11.8 is too much. We ride at 11.5 and that is already on the upper side.
• The worst thing you can do, is to move NSS away from 0. Let it stay at 0, so you generate the most out of your hull.
• Then with NCRS you can set the level which pushes the stern in or out of the water. With a Crew of 3-4 people:
  • I ride regular and I mostly go with a 3 on NCRS
  • My friends are riding goofy, for them we take a 3 or even a 2. If you go on a 4, the wave gets washed out!
• Consider the high amount of ballast in the lockers. I wouldn't do that. Mostly, there is at least one guy for the rope (additional weight). Move the weight to the middle of the boat.
• Take note about you gas level. It makes differences again.

[greggmck]

My first Wake Surf boat was a 2013 G23 which I bought used in 2015. The previous owner spent a stupid amount of money on stereo equipment, which meant additional weight from amps and batteries port side. I then added 400 lb Fat Sacs to the transom compartments and the wave this setup created is still one of the best I've ever surfed on (I'm a normal footed surfer).

I traded in the '13 for a new '18 and I found the factory setup to be pretty anemic. I added 2-750 lb Fat Sacs to the rear and 250 lbs in lead ballast to the bow. Seems like no matter what I do I can never get a decent, clean port side wave (goofy side of the wave is always better due to the direction of the prop's rotation), let alone one that comes close to the wave on my '13. It's either big and long but super washed out, or reasonably clean but short with no push.

I did try moving the lead ballast to under the seats beneath the towers, as recommended on this forum, but that seemed to have made the problem worse, so I relocated back to the bow.

The setup that works best is:
3-4 people in center to rear of the boat
Factory bow ballast 100%
250 lead ballast in the bow
Rear factory ballast plus Fat Sacs 70% port and 60% starboard side (these percentages are prolly +/- 20%)
NSS 2
NCRS 5
Speed 11.8

When I get more than 6 people on board, all bets are off, and moving people around seems to have very little impact on the wave's quality.

I'm considering adding a Fat Sac under the bow seats. I hate to lose all of that storage, though, and I'm hoping I can get some input here as to how to make a wave that I can love again.

The second generation hull (2016 - 2020) does not want weight in the rear lockers for surfing. The goofy wave is clean because prop torque rolls the starboard side of the boat down and lifts the port side of hull. You have put weight in the rear lockers and the port side NSS (the one that makes the goofy wave works efficiently in this attitude especially at the higher speeds you must use to get a clean wave). However, when you switch to regular side, the starboard NSS is completely under water because prop torque pushes that hull side down and you have added too much stern weight. Water washes over the NSS and the wave is washed out. The result is that it is possible to add weight to the stern for goofy wave but not for the regular wave. Rather than have stern weight on one side, most put the weight closer to the tower so that both waves are clean. These ideal weight configurations have been listed above in this thread. If you want to clean up your wave you should understand them and adjust accordingly. All the best.

[Daveed]

The second generation hull (2016 - 2020) does not want weight in the rear lockers for surfing. The goofy wave is clean because prop torque rolls the starboard side of the boat down and lifts the port side of hull. You have put weight in the rear lockers and the port side NSS (the one that makes the goofy wave works efficiently in this attitude especially at the higher speeds you must use to get a clean wave). However, when you switch to regular side, the starboard NSS is completely under water because prop torque pushes that hull side down and you have added too much stern weight. Water washes over the NSS and the wave is washed out. The result is that it is possible to add weight to the stern for goofy wave but not for the regular wave. Rather than have stern weight on one side, most put the weight closer to the tower so that both waves are clean. These ideal weight configurations have been listed above in this thread. If you want to clean up your wave you should understand them and adjust accordingly. All the best.

Thank you for that information, and for the previous response from Samu.

I have read through the previous posts and, until your reply, never really had a clue as to what the engineering and physics are behind making a surf wave. Obviously, I thought that simply adding more weight would be more better. I was pretty surprised to see how much lead ballast was being thrown around, as I thought my 250 was extreme, but I do see that's it's placed very strategically.

First this I will do is properly adjust the surf settings as indicated above and start with factory ballast settings and no auxiliary ballast

[greggmck]

Thank you for that information, and for the previous response from Samu.

I have read through the previous posts and, until your reply, never really had a clue as to what the engineering and physics are behind making a surf wave. Obviously, I thought that simply adding more weight would be more better. I was pretty surprised to see how much lead ballast was being thrown around, as I thought my 250 was extreme, but I do see that's it's placed very strategically.

First this I will do is properly adjust the surf settings as indicated above and start with factory ballast settings and no auxiliary ballast

Coming from the first generation hull it is completely understandable that one might think to add rear locker ballast bags to the newer boat. Unfortunately, this only washes out the surf wave and consumes the storage space of the lockers. Weight must be placed between the tower and the bow to produce an optimal surf wave on the second generation hull especially when one has a large crew.

[Johnny_Rock]

The second generation hull (2016 - 2020) does not want weight in the rear lockers for surfing. The goofy wave is clean because prop torque rolls the starboard side of the boat down and lifts the port side of hull. You have put weight in the rear lockers and the port side NSS (the one that makes the goofy wave works efficiently in this attitude especially at the higher speeds you must use to get a clean wave). However, when you switch to regular side, the starboard NSS is completely under water because prop torque pushes that hull side down and you have added too much stern weight. Water washes over the NSS and the wave is washed out. The result is that it is possible to add weight to the stern for goofy wave but not for the regular wave. Rather than have stern weight on one side, most put the weight closer to the tower so that both waves are clean. These ideal weight configurations have been listed above in this thread. If you want to clean up your wave you should understand them and adjust accordingly. All the best.

Not trying to hijack this thread--but going on a demo ride/surf on a 2021 G23 tomorrow and would like to know what to ask for as far as settings go for (what I assume will be) a stock boat...

Should add that we have a 2016 G23 and usually ride at 0/5; we have some lead in port rear lockers; under the port side passenger seat and spread out under the bow seats. 500 pounds total.

TIA