Center pylon on 211?

[SkiTundra]

Thinking about slalom wakes, my desire for a Sport 200, and my not sure I want to fork out for a Sport 200. Our 211 is OK, but certainly not a good slalom wake. Wondering if installing a removable center pylon would help the wake any? Seems like it would allow the 211 to plane a bit better and not pull the rear end down so much resulting in a bit less and smoother wake. This may not even be possible with the tank below the deck.

[MikeC]

I think you would be opening up a can of worms with that project. You have a number of issues with the 211 floor; first, it's removable therefore it's very thin and it's not made for any side load plus it's held down with about 6 #10 screws, the screws are great for holding the floor down but couldn't handle any side load at all; second, the fuel tank is only about 4 or 5 inches below the floor so even if you wanted to make a support structure below the floor it would be a very tight fit. I suppose you could find a shop that would build you a completely new floor with support molded into it then build some heavy duty attach points, but that could run into some serious costs.

One option, and I'm not saying this is a good option, would be to mount a pole between the floor and the tower, supporting it at both ends with a line attach point in the center (like a FlyHigh pole, but mounted at both ends and a line attachment in the middle). It wouldn't look very good and it would be a pain but it could accomplish your goal. Good luck.

[HS]

test?

As a test of your theory, maybe take a ride with the tow rope set up on the tower and see if the slalom wake is better?

[SkiTower]

skiing off the tower isn't better. The moment arm actually pulls the back of the boat down more. The one time I did it my boat porpoised pretty bad. Might have to do with the 300 lb sea anchor, though...

I would love to see your idea of a center pylon... One other thing someone suggested is putting ~100 lbs in the ski locker. Haven't tried it yet though.

[SkiTundra]

SkiTower is exactly right. I've skied off the tower (on two occasions I was so used to putting wakeboard and surf ropes on the tower I didn't even think as I put my slalom rope on it). Worse wake. The goal is to get the attachment point forward (which the tower does) but more importantly, lower (or in this case, just as low as the factory point just forward of the engine). The biggest advantage to moving the attachment forward will be in reducing side-pull of the boat during turns, but what I'm wondering is if it will also allow the boat to plane out a bit better and reduce the wake. Not sure on that last one.

Bro in law says he can make the infrastructure for me, but to do it strong enough will require some rather expensive titanium. Still waiting on the cost quote.