New to the Forum Just Purchased 04 Air Nautique 226 TE

[prjeschk]

New to the forum and just picked up a 2004 Air Nautique 226 TE. Pretty excited about the boat, a big upgrade from my 97 Mastercraft Prostar 205. The boat only has 220 hrs on an upgraded ZR409 motor and is pretty clean overall.

That being said, there are a couple issues, and I've done a bit of searching, but if anyone has any additional input it would be appreciated. The first thing I need to resolve, the front right bolt point(upper to lower) on the tower has a lot of play. I haven't had a chance to pull it apart to compare one side to the other, but are there some kind of bushings in there that wear out? If so is there a good source for these?

Second issue is the port-side hard tank is leaking above 3/4 full. I filled the tanks full and closed all the valves and could see the water running from the port side compartment into the engine bay. It seemed to stop at about 3/4 full on the gauge. It looks like my best option is to remove the hard tanks and replace with some bags. I was looking at the Wakemaker plug and play bags for the rear. They only list a 400lb bag for the port side, and 720lb bag for the starboard side. Is this my best option? Everyone in my family surfs the port side so I'd like to get more weight on that side if possible. Is 400lbs the best I can do with the walk through? Any other advice on setting it up to be surfable is much appreciated. I do have a wake-shaper as well. We will also be wakeboarding tubing and doing some recreational skiing behind it for what it's worth.

[prjeschk]

So I looked at the tower last night and there aren't any bushings, the hole on the lower bar is just elongated. Anyone else ever deal with this? I guess I either find a replacement lower bar or have it welded shut and re-drilled?

[paticus]

So I looked at the tower last night and there aren't any bushings, the hole on the lower bar is just elongated. Anyone else ever deal with this? I guess I either find a replacement lower bar or have it welded shut and re-drilled?

I think it would help to send a picture of the tower issue, if possible.

Btw, you might be able to solve the unbalanced ballast issues with Lead Bags. You could install the 720 (starboard) and 400 (port) water ballast bags. Then put (6) 50lbs lead bags on the port side when surfing. When you are done surfing, and ballast is empty, move 3 bags over to the starboard side to even things out again.

[Pat]

SANTE 226 surfing.mov

Surfing the 226

Sorry, I can't help with tower issue. However, I can help with surfing this boat. I have same year, model and engine configuration. The 226 will produce an outstanding wave if set up properly. You must have a wake shaper and LOTS of weight. The common theme is more weight, listing of boat to surfside, and RPM. I recommend 600lb vshaped fatsac in bow with a 400lb fatsac directly underneath in walkway; these are underfilled to about 800lbs. Place a 750 in starboard stern locker and a 750 in port stern walkway. We have another 750 for center walkway by driver that we adjust depending upon number of people in boat which is typically 4-5 (75% of people weight on surf side assuming 4-5 people). I use two tsunami pumps to fill and drain the fatsacs. Most of us surf on the port side which is weaker wave side on this boat with right hand prop rotation. However, it can still be set up to produce a beautiful long wave with lots of push. The only hard tank i use is the one on the surf side to generate more list in the boat. The boat needs to be run at 3000-3350 rpm depending on size of person surfing and number of people in boat again. POINT OF CAUTION....driving this boat configured like this is potentially hazardous. The boat does not steer very well at idle speed and taking a big wave over the bow could sink the boat. We have never had a problem but I recommend only EXPERIENCED and COMPETENT drivers.

Another important consideration is propeller...THIS IS A MUST....you need a big 4 blade to optimize the push of your engine. I was advised to put on an ACME #1630 13.5"x14.25 cup .15" and shaft 1-1/8" Right Hand Rotation...can be purchased from wakemakers.com for about $500. Using a small prop not designed to push weight could seriously damage your engine.

I believe the 226 wave with my proposed configuration is almost as good as the wave of the newer models at a fraction of the cost. However, it is a headache to fill and drain all the fatsacs; it takes about 20-30 minutes each time to set up and takedown.

Good Luck and Be Safe!!!

propeller information:
https://www.wakemakers.com/acme-1630-propeller.html

[cmrdgrs]

Can't lend any advice, but I wanted to say that your boat looks super nice! Have a blast with it!