Nautique 230 Wakesurf Issues

[Conrade]

Hello. I recently received a new 2018 230. I ordered it with stock ballast and then added 750s as recommended by the Nautique rep. Most of my time surfing (port side) in the past has been behind by friends 2016 Malibu LSV 23 that has 500s added. My expectation from what I have read was that the surf on the 230 would be at least as good if not better. So far I have been really disappointed....to the point I am considering trading the boat. The wake on the 230 does not have near the push as the LSV and is barely an improvement over my 210. The lack of push makes it a chore to surf back from the boat on boards that are easy to surf on the Malibu and my other friends Mastercraft. I've read all the other posts on 230 setup but would like to see if anyone as additional input. A few other questions I have are:

1. Has anyone else surfed a 230 vs. LSV? What has been your experience?
2. Some people have mentioned adding more weight on one side. The Nautique rep told me that the NSS was designed to work optimally when the boat is equally weighted. He said that having more than 200 pounds (people or ballast) on a side will hurt the wake. Has anyone else heard this?
3. I'm going to trying adding some lead. I've seen some people mention adding weight to the front and some not adding weight up front. I want a wake that has some push and allows me to not have to surf so close to the back of the boat. Do I need the weight up front to accomplish this?
4. I have been surfing with the NSS at 2 and the Hydrogate at 1 (10.9 mph)...the rep recommended the NSS at 0 and the Hydrogate at 5 but the wake was terrible. Any other suggestions?

Thank you!

[doug69]

I have a 2016 230 with the 750s and the added bow sac. You did not mention bow sac so I would add that. I had an issue where my bow sac was losing water and it definitely reduced the push. I run all ballast full at 11.2 and only use the hydro gate on the regular side as it seems to make the goofy side worse but cleans up the regular side. I will say the the regular side wake is not quite as good as goofy in general. I have surfed several boats including recent lsv and vlx. I will say that the wake behind the Malibus was impressive to look at due to size and push but the shape was lacking. If you want a big wave to just push you forever the Malibu was great but if you want a ramp to start trying tricks the Malibus I have ridden don’t cut it.

I find my 230 with ballast upgrades is similar to g23 with regard to wave and I personally prefer it to new x23 and Malibu.

Not sure on your level of surfing but I would be surprised to see an experienced surfer being happy with trying to do airs on a Malibu vs the nautiques. I used to think the Malibu had the best wave based on size and ease to ride when I was starting out but changed my mind when I started doing more on the board and trying airs.

Just my two cents.


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[Conrade]

Thank you for the response Doug. Have you added any additional weight besides the 750s and bow sac? Can you get as far back on the wake with your 230 as you could on the lsv and g23?

[nautiques4life]

I have the older 230 with NSS so I can't speak to specifics of your boat but ... 2 things that might help...
generally speaking, the more rear heavy you are the taller but also shorter in length the wave will be... This makes for great photos, but less push... Try more bow weight and less rear and you'll have more push and a longer wave a lthough at the expense of your wave height.
And part 2... Which is my own theory.. posted about this a few years back- not backed up by science or ever confirmed by a Nautique engineer. This doesn't apply to countering prop rotation for wakeboarding (because no NSS), but for surfing, if you heavily weight the surfer's side and have a listed boat you will be bringing the NSS on the opposite side out of rhe water, resulting in decreased effectiveness. Essentially if the top 3" of the surf system is above the water line so listing the surfer side of rhe boat with NSS seems like a bad move to me.
Good luck and have fun

[greggmck]

Hello. I recently received a new 2018 230. I ordered it with stock ballast and then added 750s as recommended by the Nautique rep. Most of my time surfing (port side) in the past has been behind by friends 2016 Malibu LSV 23 that has 500s added. My expectation from what I have read was that the surf on the 230 would be at least as good if not better. So far I have been really disappointed....to the point I am considering trading the boat. The wake on the 230 does not have near the push as the LSV and is barely an improvement over my 210. The lack of push makes it a chore to surf back from the boat on boards that are easy to surf on the Malibu and my other friends Mastercraft. I've read all the other posts on 230 setup but would like to see if anyone as additional input. A few other questions I have are:

1. Has anyone else surfed a 230 vs. LSV? What has been your experience?
2. Some people have mentioned adding more weight on one side. The Nautique rep told me that the NSS was designed to work optimally when the boat is equally weighted. He said that having more than 200 pounds (people or ballast) on a side will hurt the wake. Has anyone else heard this?
3. I'm going to trying adding some lead. I've seen some people mention adding weight to the front and some not adding weight up front. I want a wake that has some push and allows me to not have to surf so close to the back of the boat. Do I need the weight up front to accomplish this?
4. I have been surfing with the NSS at 2 and the Hydrogate at 1 (10.9 mph)...the rep recommended the NSS at 0 and the Hydrogate at 5 but the wake was terrible. Any other suggestions?

Thank you!

In my experience if you put too much weight in the rear of a 2016+ NSS boat the surf wave will wash out. I have achieved the best surf wave by balancing the weight front to back but putting about 300lbs additional on the port side to offset the prop torque. I have 900lbs of lead in my boat. 600lbs on the port side (200 rear, 200 middle, 200 bow) and 300lbs on the starboard side (100 rear, 100 middle, 100 front). I hope this helps.

[GemCitySurf]

Anyone else anxiously awaiting Charles’ pounce?


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[seveet]

When we purchased our boat we spent a lot of time in a 230 and a 23 LSV. Granted that was a 2014, but I don’t think they changed the running surface. The push on the 230 wave was one of the reasons we picked it over the 23 LSV. Couple of thoughts.

(1) are you filling the bags completely full? If you fill through the automatic fill for surfing, this will tell you they are full when they are not. Fill through the ballast screen and run the pumps until you see water spit out the vents.

(2) try to stay lower and a little wider on the wave. If you get to high on the wave you wiill definitely get pushed back.

(3) I am not as big a fan of a lot of bow weight. I try to fill the bow tank completely, but I usually only add to the IBS as need to keep the nose low enough to see forward without sitting on the bolster.

(4) Once everything is full drop 200 pounds out of the Starboard rear tank.

Try the above set up at 10.6 mph, hydrogate 2, NSS 2 mellow, NSS 4 more lip.

[charlesml3]

Everything you want to know is right here: https://www.planetnautique.com/vb5/f...summary-thread

[markj]

Hello. I recently received a new 2018 230. I ordered it with stock ballast and then added 750s as recommended by the Nautique rep. Most of my time surfing (port side) in the past has been behind by friends 2016 Malibu LSV 23 that has 500s added. My expectation from what I have read was that the surf on the 230 would be at least as good if not better. So far I have been really disappointed....to the point I am considering trading the boat. The wake on the 230 does not have near the push as the LSV and is barely an improvement over my 210. The lack of push makes it a chore to surf back from the boat on boards that are easy to surf on the Malibu and my other friends Mastercraft. I've read all the other posts on 230 setup but would like to see if anyone as additional input. A few other questions I have are:

1. Has anyone else surfed a 230 vs. LSV? What has been your experience?
2. Some people have mentioned adding more weight on one side. The Nautique rep told me that the NSS was designed to work optimally when the boat is equally weighted. He said that having more than 200 pounds (people or ballast) on a side will hurt the wake. Has anyone else heard this?
3. I'm going to trying adding some lead. I've seen some people mention adding weight to the front and some not adding weight up front. I want a wake that has some push and allows me to not have to surf so close to the back of the boat. Do I need the weight up front to accomplish this?
4. I have been surfing with the NSS at 2 and the Hydrogate at 1 (10.9 mph)...the rep recommended the NSS at 0 and the Hydrogate at 5 but the wake was terrible. Any other suggestions?

Thank you!

Although you’ve read all the threads, you’ve only applied some of the recommendations. In my humble opinion, you need front ballast added on top of stock and you need some Leadwake bags spread around evenly in the storage compartments if you don’t have a big crew. 500 lbs is a good start for the Leadwake bags.

[thejean]

I have a 2016 230 with the 750s and the added bow sac. You did not mention bow sac so I would add that. I had an issue where my bow sac was losing water and it definitely reduced the push. I run all ballast full at 11.2 and only use the hydro gate on the regular side as it seems to make the goofy side worse but cleans up the regular side. I will say the the regular side wake is not quite as good as goofy in general. I have surfed several boats including recent lsv and vlx. I will say that the wake behind the Malibus was impressive to look at due to size and push but the shape was lacking. If you want a big wave to just push you forever the Malibu was great but if you want a ramp to start trying tricks the Malibus I have ridden don’t cut it.

I find my 230 with ballast upgrades is similar to g23 with regard to wave and I personally prefer it to new x23 and Malibu.

Not sure on your level of surfing but I would be surprised to see an experienced surfer being happy with trying to do airs on a Malibu vs the nautiques. I used to think the Malibu had the best wave based on size and ease to ride when I was starting out but changed my mind when I started doing more on the board and trying airs.

Just my two cents.


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This. 100% correct.

[Conrade]

Thank you for all of the replies. I am going to order a bow sac and some lead. I will see where that takes me. I did surf behind a new G23 this past weekend. The wake was significantly more powerful than anything I have ever experienced.

[Infinity]

I have a friend with 2014 230, he added the 750 sacs in rear and has the bow bag weight (with lead would get even better). I went out with him a couple weeks ago and speed was one issue since he was going too fast and putting center trim plate down (which knocks down the wave), are you going like 10.8 - 11.4mph? Using center trim tab, you can make the wave steeper using "vert" setting (all the way up)...more mellow wave as you deploy the center plate (going down), not sure what NSS setting he was using (start deploying one click at a time till its clean with the right wave curl) but boat was weighted mostly level with a little list to surf side (worth trying especially since if you bury it too deep it can wash out the wave some as noted....so try some list too and see what happens).

Here are 2 pics behind his boat, once is of me and the wave was plenty steep and long enough to get back far enough to drive forward.
2nd pic is a mellow setting so the young one could try surfing without being scared.

That boat wave can be quite awesome, do NOT give up....just takes the right weight and settings and that boat will compete with anything out there, including the G's. (I also have a friend with G25, so I know first hand). Sure the G's can get a bigger wave easier since they are a lot heavier, but height is not everything, just a matter of the right setup.

[TGoss]

I added 500 lbs of lead bags on my 2016 230. Sweet.

[charlesml3]

I added 500 lbs of lead bags on my 2016 230. Sweet.

Yep. 500 pounds makes a VERY big difference on the 230. I eventually went up to a total of 850. The additional 350 pounds did make some difference, but not as much as the initial 500.

-Charles

[Randy1833]

2017 Super Air 230. Pro Ballast, 2,100 pounds water. 300 pounds lead on port side, 200 on starboard side (thanks to PN member input). Drop non-surf-side to 3/4 - 7-8 full, depending on weight in boat. NSS at 3, ramp in middle. I usually ride with wife and two small kids it boat. I’m 200 pounds, surf goofy. Lots of push, clean wake.


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