is this going to work? 1999 SS

[nizzy100]

Hi,

I have a 1999 Super Sport V-Drive but no tower, ballast or perfect pass.
I am looking into buying 2x 700 bags for the back (left and right of the engine) and 1x 600 bag for the bow, build a wakeshaper myself and buy a used Connelly Ride 5'2" board (I am 6' and weigh around 165 lbs).

I am pretty athletic and am a ski and snowboard instructor.
Will this let me explore and have fun wakesurfing or will this be a pain in the *** and not fun at all without a tower and perfect pass?

Also is this a decent board for beginners? There is not much out there in the used market and I can't really drop too much money on a new one not even knowing if it'll be worth it.

Thanks for your input

[MN Ryan]

I can't comment on that particular boat, but our first foray into surfing was behind a '93 MC ProStar direct drive, so I definitely think it's doable with your boat (and I am 6'2" 215 lbs). It won't be as convenient as a more modern boat, and you won't get a stellar wave, but it should get you started.

Ballast - you'll have to play around with it. With the ProStar, we needed most of the weight in the back. You have the advantage of the v-drive. It'll take a bit of time to fill and drain them unless you have more than one pump.
Wakeshaper - I've built several for < $30, and they work as well as the commercial ones I have tried.
Tower - Not necessary. It's a bit easier to get up with a tower, but we did it for years with no tower.
Perfect Pass - Now, it does suck without Perfect Pass, but it is possible. We would run a GPS app on a phone (find one that shows tenths of MPH). with practice, you get pretty good at holding speeds, though it takes some serious concentration.
I can't help you with the board. Sorry.

Play around with weight placement, shaper placement, and speeds without a rider so you can figure out what works with your boat. Be prepared to have passengers shift around on the fly. One person moving from port to starboard or bow to stern can make a world of difference.

Good luck!

[NautiqueJeff]

I agree. Biggest issue will be holding speed. You can install GPS-based PP yourself for about $1,200. It is WELL WORTH IT.

[MN Ryan]

Ha ha, yes! I got quite proficient at holding 10.0 manually, but once we stepped into a boat with PP, our whole crew was so relieved. And now I can get my wife to pull me!

[charlesml3]

Quote removed by Admin for not following the Guidelines for Quoting Previous Posts in a Thread.

When you ballast that boat down, holding speed manually will simply be impossible. It takes throttle adjustments pretty much every second to hold a heavy boat on surf.

-Charles

[MN Ryan]

It's not impossible. You're correct that you need to stay vigilant on the speedometer and throttle, but we did it for years in a '93 ProStar 205. If I recall correctly, we had 2-1100 lb bags (one on each side of the motor box) and a 250 lb bag on the rear bench.

Perfect Pass is 1000x better, but try it out, and if you enjoy surfing, look into upgrading.

[bturner]

I'll pile on with the others on the PP. IMO not worth the aggravation of not having it. If you're married or have a significant other, buying PP will save your relationship if they'll be driving. As far as the boat goes, it should do fine.

Facebook Marketplace has a couple used Mission Delta shapers locally right now that might be gotten for about $200. I have a Delta that works very well but you may be able to build one for a song. The only issue I see there is having too many unknowns in the fire at one time. You have a new (to you) boat that you don't know how to weight, where to weight or what speed to run. Adding yet another with a shaper that you don't know it it will work well adds yet another variable to the mix.

Lastly if you haven't set up a wake surf boat before it might be worth trying to find someone to go out that has the first couple times. Even with our experience we'll all go out with when someone gets a new boat to help tune it in. Getting a basic setup on a boat should only take a hour or so. Getting it dialed in so that it's repeatable under various conditions typically takes a season or 2 depending on how much you ride.

[MN Ryan]

Here are my most recent shaper builds. It's been a couple of years, but if I recall, I have less than $25 in materials in each one. Only you can decide if you have the skills/tools/etc to build one and if it's worth the cost savings to you.

Similarly, $1200 for Perfect Pass might not be a big expense to some, but only you can decide if it's an expense you can tackle.

If you were in MN, I'd let you borrow a wake shaper to try out. I don't really need 2 but like to have a backup.

[mgs917]

We had a 2000 SAN 210 our perfect pass didn’t work. I also didn’t have the internal ballast tanks hooked up. I used a 400lb sac in each locker and a 580lb sac in the ski locker. I used a wakeshaper. We could all ride ropeless. My crew were all around 5’9” 170-190 lbs. I think it is definitely doable

[hal2814]

I had a 95 Super Sport. Amazing wakeboard boat (probably still my favorite for that purpose). Surf wave was ok. We had a similar setup to yours. 800lb bags in the back, a 650lb locker sac, but we also had a triangle bag under the playpen. The 99 may not have a playpen so it would need to be an underbow bag if you wanted to do the same. I’d recommend looking around for a used wakeshaper. These days you may be able to find one used for roughly the same price as making one. Thick HDPE is expensive. But I’ll also note that our best wave came from listing the boat instead of using a shaper.

I’ll also pile on the pro-Perfect Pass sentiment. You don’t have a lot of room for error in a Super Sport. .2 mph can make or break that wave. 23 year old air guides even if properly calibrated aren’t going to be of much use. At the very least get a digital GPS speedo so you have a better idea of how fast you’re going. But PP would be a huge benefit.

Also, you may not even be able to push around all that weight with your stock prop. Mine came with a Federal prop that was not made for this sort of thing. I upgraded to an ACME 1234 and it was a beast for surfing and could still do wakeboarding speeds. The 1234 may or may not work with your prop shaft. As some point Correct Craft shortened them. But you’ll probably need something more than stock.

The tower really isn’t a big deal for surfing. It’ll help a little with initially getting up and that’s about it.

After I did all of this I ended up with an ok wave. You could surf it but you’re not going to progress far. The sweet spot is big enough to learn on but a little too small to be useful in progressing. We had fun for a year and by the end of the year I upgraded to a 230.

[nizzy100]

Thanks everyone for the responses. I'm just trying to explore wake surfing and have some fun. I think I will try with the ballast and a wakeshaper and see how it goes. Possibly adding the PP later on but it's outside the budget at the moment.

[MN Ryan]

Just load it up with weight and practice holding your speed. I would just rest my forearm where it was comfortable and used my fingertips to make minor throttle tweaks. Find a GPS speed app and a way to mount your phone where is it in your line of sight-- for Android, I use one called "Speedometer GPS digital" by herapaser that worked for us. Like anything, you'll get better with practice.

If you've never driven a boat with significant ballast before, take it easy, too. It's pretty easy to dip the bow if you aggressively let off the throttle. Turning is much less responsive, and you'll drift much further when you let off the throttle.

Have fun!