Surfing 1997 Sport Nautique

[Addison]

I知 new to the nautiques, bought this winter to upgrade from the blue water mirage from last year.
i been reading about surfing and watching lots of videos but would like to jump start the learning curve with how much ballast I知 going to need or use to make a surfable wake. I recently purchased (2) 400 lbs fly high pro series bags and (1) 750 lbs fly high bag used with a pump off craigslist. Have not taken the boat out with the ballast cause the weather sucks. Looking at a wakeshaper device so I can try to weight the bot evenly as possible. Any suggestions on placement, wakeshaper, speed, ballast weight and bird would be great.

[hal2814]

I regularly surf my 1995 Super Sport, which has the same hull but is a v-drive. Surfing a direct drive is an uphill battle. I did that briefly in my old 1983 Ski Nautique. The v-drive has the advantage of about 900lbs in the back of the boat. I personally run 800lbs on each side of the engine in the back, 650lbs in the ski locker, and 600lbs under the playpen in a triangle shaped bag. You could try a similar weight profile keeping in mind your engine placement. I made my own wakeshaper. I made one with a 90 degree angle. I feel it works best with how our hull angles in the back but I know other people have had success with off the shelf Wakeshapers. As far as speed, I run 10-11mph by gps. One
thing I don稚 see mentioned is the propeller. If you have the original Federal prop on the boat, it won稚 be able to get out of its own way weighted down. You can call ACME directly with a recommendation.

[Addison]

So your weighting your boat over legal capacity? The prop on my boat is a 13x16

[MTRBTR]

I had a 97 Sport. Put one bag on the back seat and the other 2 on the floor on the corner you want to surf. I never had much luck with the suck gate. You might even need another bag on the side you want to surf. The more weight the better.

[hal2814]

There痴 not a legal capacity. This gets beaten to death in other boating forums and don稚 want to drag it in here but the short answer is that boat manufacturers are required to provide that recommended capacity on a plate in the boat. Some states use that recommendation as a legal limit but that痴 not universal. I suspect insurance may deny a claim if you are over recommended weight but I have no experience with that. The above is what I run but as always use your best judgement and don稚 use more ballast than you池e comfortable with.

That痴 probably a Federal propeller. You値l know if it needs replacing. It値l be very hard to maintain surf speed and take a lot of throttle to do so. If you get to that point, search the forums or ask for help. I知 not sure how the Sport is geared vs the Super Sport so my recommendations may not work for you.

[MTRBTR]

An acme 1868 would be a good prop if all you want to do is surf and wakeboard. If you slalom or barefoot it痴 not so good.

[Addison]

Thank you for your input as I知 new to wake surfing and inboard boats. Motor is a 5.7 pcm injected 270hp, The gearing is 1 to 1.23 on the transmission of that helps.

the boat will be used for little surfing, pulling a tube and lounging around on the lake with the wife and three little kids

[rcsmith727]

Best write-up for a homemade suck gate. Using the cutting board is genius and it looks professional. Try this one: https://www.planetnautique.com/vb5/f...e-sucgate-v1-0

[Addison]

That link isn稚 working for me

[rcsmith727]

That link isn�t working for me

I updated, hopefully that works. If not just search for sucgate