First mod to my SV244

[Nick213 583]

Did my first mod to the boat today. This boat will not get many modifications but wanted to do the tower lights I kept off my avy. Next will be stereo, definitely not going to be as crazy as my last few stereo builds.

These are the Rigid dually's wired to the touchscreen. I put the starboard light facing forward and port facing aft. They are controlled separately on the touch screen.

I'll add pictures of them in action on the water after our first night outing.

[InfinitySurf 302]

Nice ride Nick. You are really gonna like those, I have single LED spotlights facing front and rear on my boat and they are really handy and very bright for docking at night..sure yours are even brighter. Also found out that if you point the 2 rear ones at back corner of boat in water....they are awesome for surfing and does not blind the person behind boat (I really thot it would make seeing for the surfer difficult). Also have blue LED lights above my swim platform but no "underwater lights"...so wasn't sure how good it would be. Actually worked perfect on my TN trip and even earned us a citation for "night surfing".

Pic below was at Lake Norris, TN around a month ago....friend of mine is surfing. We got the ticket shortly after when I was surfing. He didn't buy the story that we didn't know it was not allowed, lol

[Nick213 583]

Nice!

Ill be be fine tuning the light angles the first chance I get. These are so bright I don't think it would matter if there facing down or not.

[InfinitySurf 302]

Let me know if you decide to want a suck gate, sure I can get you a good deal on Nauticurl. I bought my board and few other things from them, nice guys. For sure they will hook you up with a coupon code, its one of the cheaper priced ones out there. All the suckgates seem to do well enough, personally have had a great experience with Nauticurl, like how its one piece, aircraft aluminum and suction is perfect. Customer satisfaction/warranty is pretty incredible, one call/email is all it takes to make something happen (float came off on mine but I always tie to fender anyway...like you see in above pic...they shipped me a new one right away and know they have replaced a few for free that owners lost in lake). Obviously we have same boat, wave is completely clean, great push and wave gets super long if you add weight to bow rather than using trim (I keep my center tab about 30) and have the hidden bow sac and then I add between 200-300lbs of lead under bow filler cushion if just driver and surfer...the more people I have, I just reduce lead. Once I get like 7-8 people in boat, I only fill Ramfill to 70% or less cause wave will get so huge it will crash into boat when you stop cause surfer falls. Anyway, this boat will put out an awesome wave whether listed or suck gate. I am having a hard time pulling trigger on upgrading to RI cause I have not found something with comparable wave (and 257 is not an option for my current situation). No matter what I will upgrade within the next 2 years but thinking about just installing GSA tabs for next summer and buying them when they have their Black Friday sale. All the reviews I have seen on those GSA tabs is positive for anyone running a decent amount of weight. Be nice to have push button transfers

[Nick213 583]

I've considered trying one but as of now the waves work great set up the way the boat is. I have 400#'s of lead in the back lockers and never have to touch it no matter how many people are in the boat it throws a clean wave on both sides.

If I get the chance to try before I buy I will. Until then the basically factory wave with the A-plate works well enough for our riding skill.

ahh and these are not me riding of course lol 

[stoked 1,039]

I have the rigid dually's like you Nick. When in the water point them directly at your face when standing on the swim platform. When listed and surfing they'll point at the water right in front of the surfer without blinding them. The people in the back seat are a different story though... I like the one forward and one backward, may have to copy that!! Also, I highly recommend these, they take the blinding edge off of the lights: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0068C2IIQ

[Nick213 583]

Awesome thanks for the tip stoked. Since you don't have lights facing forward how the heck do you see in front of you when it's that dark?

I went out in my avy at night after I put them on it and couldn't see poo in front of me.

[stoked 1,039]

We mainly rely on night vision, turning off all forward lights. If it is too dark for that I use the docking lights. But if it's that dark anything you see you're not going to have a whole lot of time to react to anyway. So we stick to one specific channel of the lake that we know blindfolded

[Nick213 583]

So I did my second mod.... I got a PTM Edge 140 mirror.

 

i really like the mirror but hate that the best place for it is the center window. That would mean the window needs to be closed for it to be used ? We leave the window open for airflow on hot days. 

I mounted it on the port side window but know that it'll get bumped when someone walks threw to the bow. Also it rubs the dash when folded down.

 

Where do you guys mount your windshield mount mirrors? 

[gravity12 83]

I always put mine as far right as possible. 

[InfinitySurf 302]

I ran into exact same issues on mine...I stand up so not above driver, effects my view to the left and in center it gets hit constantly and I also keep my windshield open.... and so I put mine far left, partly where the windshield curves so its slightly angled toward me, then I can move it to top and right....and can see the rider perfectly.

Not able to take pic right now, but can do it Thursday if you like.

[MobEnzo 51]

Not the exact same mirror, but I put mine on left windshield. I put over enough so mirror doesn't hang into walkway. I haven't had issues with people bumping it...

[InfinitySurf 302]

With mine on left side (where windshield is straight) it does not turn far enough toward driver to see the rider on both sides, which I why I had to take it further, into the curve to partially turn mirror toward me. Mine is PTM Edge, but think its 100 degree instead of 140. Maybe with the 140 you can do it without getting onto curve since you have a bit more of a wide angle

[MobEnzo 51]

Nice, I might have to try that. I should've mentioned I pull very few goofy riders so hasn't been a huge issue.

[Nick213 583]

Great discussion, glad I'm not crazy and this is annoying to others as well. I've had a tower mounted mirror on all my other boats and think there the best way. You can get a gap in between the window and mirror.

So based on the info I have I'll move the mirror so it isn't intruding into the walk threw and go from there.

[stoked 1,039]

I had that mirror and swapped it out for a 180 degree mirror. I played around with everywhere and the best I could come up with was the walkthrough. We leave the glass shut and the dam out and get plenty of air flow:

 

I use the PTM mount for the mirror: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00C9V1RJG

 

 

[DrNate 426]

Man, those Rigid's are BRIGHT!

I just have the cheap CiPPA mirror that came with my boat but I just mount it right above my head.  Once adjusted properly, all I have to do is look up and can see the rider perfectly.  And it's nowhere near the walkthrough.  Not sure why this is an issue, perhaps when you're on the water towing you'll see what I'm talking about.  Here's a pic I snapped a couple weeks ago.  We're at wakeboarding speeds here, but for surfing I just adjust it slightly:

 

 

[Nick213 583]

Thanks stoked, I'm sure that's where I'll end up putting it in the end. I will play with it on Sunday while we're on the water.

[Nick213 583]

Well Nate my wife uses the bolster seat and would be looking right at herself with it in that spot. The windows are so dark on this boat it's really hard to see threw them when the sun is behind us.

[DrNate 426]

Well it's funny you so that, my wife uses the bolster also but my cheap little mirror has a lot of adjustability so she just rotates it back a couple notches and then left or right as needed.  My tint is definitely not as dark as yours, but on some days it is hard to see through and looking over the windshield is still not a problem.  Maybe next time we're out I'll take a pic of her driving and using the mirror.  It's so siimple, but it's hard to explain in words.  I did notice some of those mirror mounts will not adjust in 3 planes like mine, maybe that is the issue

Edited September 27, 2017 by DrNate