Surf wake with Nautique Excel

[Excel94]

I grew up surfing on the east coast of Florida so the idea of surfing on the lake is really appealing. I've seen lots of posts on how to weight various Nautiques to create a good surf wake but I'm having the hardest time getting a decent "wave" from my Excel.

Thus far all of my ballast has been of the human variety, but I've had 1100 pounds of people in the boat and tried moving them all around and not been able to produce a decent wave.

The Excel and the 91-94 Barefoot hulls have a definite vee and I'm wondering if that is a hinderance for wakesurfing? Has anyone had success with their Excel or Barefoot? If so I'll keep trying.

I'm willing to invest in some pop weight and fat sacs, I'm just trying to find out if it has worked for others before I throw money at the problem. So, any wake surfing Excel success stories out there?

Tim

[WakeSlayer]

RE: Surf wake with Nautique Excel

Sorry to say, I could never figure it out on my 92BFN. There are a couple guys on here that do have it sorted I think. Hopefully they can help you. My fix cost me a bundle.

[Excel94]

RE: Surf wake with Nautique Excel

Thanks for the quick reply.

So I'm not alone in my situation. Glad to hear some others may have figured it out, hopefully we'll hear from them.

Was your fix a new Nautique?

[WakeSlayer]

RE: Surf wake with Nautique Excel

my SAN, yes. I loved my BFN though. It was a great boat while I had it. Awesome boarding boat.

[Excel94]

RE: Surf wake with Nautique Excel

Anyone out there able to get a nice wake with an Excel or 91-94 BFN?

[g.grissom]

RE: Surf wake with Nautique Excel

The hull shape of the excel is similar to the Centurion boats, maybe look at Wake World for some set-up help under the Surfing section.
If nobody chimes in that has a set-up, I'd say you don't have enough weight. Most boats I have surfed behind will have 4+ people, the normal rear sack on the surf side, an additional sack on the surf side. the center sack full, and another sack up in the bow. The bow and center weight can be very important to plant the hull in the water, instead of plowing nose-up. If the wake seems to be short and crashing over, then usually you need more up front. It will feel funny to have that much weight in the boat, and it will list over a lot. When you let off the throttle, the boat will want turn away from the weighted side.

As an example, my friends Supra 21V has an 1100 lb center, 450 up front and about 400 on the surf side locker plus another 450 on the side. Then we add people. The wake gets about 2' tall with a nice long face.

[Excel94]

RE: Surf wake with Nautique Excel

Wow, I checked out the information on Centurion hulls and that's encouraging. Rather than a detriment, my V hull may actually be an asset for surfing. Guess I'm going to have to get up off my wallet to find out though.