2019 G23 Wake surfing upgrades

[2019_G23_Dude]

My G23 has the smallest factory tanks, and the wave is underwhelming. So i decided to try to fix this. In my research I came to 2 possible ways:
1. Install “Wakemakers” auxiliary ballast tanks (~1000lb or ~2400lb options are avalible) I would also get a bow ~200lb tank.
2. Add lead weights

Which option would you recommend?
is there a better way that I overlooked?
if I do lead bags where to place them?
if I do auxiliary tanks 1000lb or 2400lb?

thanks for the help!

[hal2814]

Just so you’re aware, you don’t have tanks. The G23 uses subfloor bags. There’s a pretty large G23 setup thread somewhere in here with a diagram on how to place lead in the 16-20 G23. I’d do that. I would not do the wakemakers kit for a couple of reasons. You don’t want to overload the rear on any 2016+ G23. It’ll swamp the NSS plates and wash out the wave. You need weight midship which wakemakers doesn’t have a kit for. Also, wakemakers is seriously dropping the ball right now on anything not in stock. You may be waiting months or more. A friend of mine recently did a ballast upgrade through Buxton (our local Nautique dealer) for his 2019. They added 2 mid-ship bags. One is under the observers seat and takes up a decent chunk of that storage area. The other bag is on the other side somewhere that I can’t see. That’s really helped his wave and it may be worth asking them exactly what they do if you want to go the ballast route.

[blueroom]

https://www.planetnautique.com/vb5/f...23-surf-set-up

We did a lot of experimenting with our 16 and had access to as many lead bags as we wanted. Our conclusion, which also seemed confirmed by others, was that it was more about fine tuning than adding a ton of mass. Some mid-boat weight, a little bias on the port side, and a little up front. Adding weight to the rear did nothing, if not make things worse. The 600 or 800 pound options in the thread above all are a variation on this.

Other variables made a bigger difference - direction traveling on the lake (a big reservoir that must have had some undetectable deep water flow that seemed to make a big difference), wind, fuel level, other boats, etc. If you were out for the day you never could get as good of a wave in the afternoon as you did in the morning due to all of the above - which frustrated us at first but something we accepted as we better understood these variables. There are a lot of physics at play in making a good surf wave, and repeatability can sometimes be hard.

Anecdotally, there were a few times that I thought something must be broken - we just could not get a good wave, but it was something about all the conditions coming together to keep a good wave from forming - you just learned to quit fighting it on those days and go swimming. On the flip side, there were times where we were amazed at how perfect the wave was - no difference in our set up, just the environment.

[MN Ryan]

blueroom That's a great post. Though I don't have a surf barge, we see the same combo of factors at play.

[Scooter G]

Agree with blueroom & MN Ryan, conditions can change the wave. We never have a bad wave, just sometimes a better wave. Shallow water can be sort of a wave killer. When my Wife is surfing, sometimes I'll mess with her and start heading toward the side of the lake that runs about 10' to 12', if looks could kill, lol.
Our crew size varies, and I am running 500lbs of lead. Nothing in the rear as Blue mentioned, 100 bow as far forward as possible, 100 bow 50/50 before walk thru, 200 port mid, 100 mid starboard. Could probably throw some more lead in, but we do as much wakeboarding as we do surfing, and I also don't want the extra trailer weight. If it's not broken, don't fix it. Good luck with your project!

[s_kelley2000]

There is a lot of truth to other factors affecting the wave and making it harder to recreate the same wave especially when you start factoring in varying passenger loads. One side of our lake is 10-12 feet deep and the wave will not form nearly as well as it does on the 20+ ft side of the lake.

One thing I have found that helps to make a repeatable wave is to take note of the RPM when you have a wave you like a lot in order to give you sort of a baseline. If RPMs are higher than your baseline and the wave isn't as good then move some weight toward the bow (or dump some rear ballast) and vice versa if RPMs are lower. This is not an exact science but it has helped a lot on dialing in my 230 and my buddies VLX when we start adding more than the usual couple of passengers into the mix. We are both using suction cup shapers so we can adjust the height depending on weight so that its not too low in the water if there is extra weight which obviously you can't do with NSS. When at rest, I just try to set my wake shaper so that same amount of the shaper is sticking out of the water every time versus putting it on the exact same height on the hull each time.

[MN Ryan]

This is our home lake--that shallow hump in the middle (it actually comes up to about 7' most years) gets us more often than I care to admit. It's crazy to watch the wave just wash out.

[Scooter G]

One thing I have found that helps to make a repeatable wave is to take note of the RPM when you have a wave you like a lot in order to give you sort of a baseline. If RPMs are higher than your baseline and the wave isn't as good then move some weight toward the bow (or dump some rear ballast) and vice versa if RPMs are lower.

That is interesting rocket science, and I have never noticed or thought about it, but I heard it last evening on a late smooth water run. We ran across a shallower section of water at 12'-15', and then opened to 20' and above. I saw the wave change, but I also heard the pitch of the engine change which could only mean an rpm change. We run between 11.3 and 11.4 mph, nothing noted there, but I'm going to start watching the tach in those situations just for my own nerdy intellect. I believe what you say to be true. Don't want to know how to built the watch, just want to know how to fix it, lol.