New FI23 or used RI237

[joelmjohnson 13]

5 hours ago, h20king said:

Window tint is done lifefourm 9's installed ,trailer lowered and bimini brackets powder coated and installed.  Almost time to bring it home and get started on the stereo install. 

I saw that looks great. Im so anxious for ours to come in. Your pictures are torture!!   

Any issue getting the tint done? When I did my MB I had a hard time getting someone to do it. I ended up pulling the windshield to get it done. Mind you I wanted to powder coat the frame anyway.

[h20king 794]

3 hours ago, joelmjohnson said:

I saw that looks great. Im so anxious for ours to come in. Your pictures are torture!!   

Any issue getting the tint done? When I did my MB I had a hard time getting someone to do it. I ended up pulling the windshield to get it done. Mind you I wanted to powder coat the frame anyway.

No tint is easy now without the compound curves in the windshield it can be done now without removing the windshield 

[lovetosurf 48]

On 1/26/2018 at 1:29 PM, wheels said:

I just thought I heard that centurion went to all 16” props on all their boats for 18. 

Yup,  no engine upgrade required. 16x13 is what we tested on the Fi23 out here in Utah, ran beautifully, surfed at barely 3200rpm on the 409! 

Only limiting factor on the 409 is the 1 1/8 shaft, when you step up to the 450 or H6 I believe  it’s a 1 1/4 shaft which has a couple more prop options in 16” diameter like the 16x15 which was perfect on the H6 237 we tested.

[h20king 794]

1 hour ago, lovetosurf said:

Yup,  no engine upgrade required. 16x13 is what we tested on the Fi23 out here in Utah, ran beautifully, surfed at barely 3200rpm on the 409! 

Only limiting factor on the 409 is the 1 1/8 shaft, when you step up to the 450 or H6 I believe  it’s a 1 1/4 shaft which has a couple more prop options in 16” diameter like the 16x15 which was perfect on the H6 237 we tested.

Fi with the 409 comes with a 14.5 prop factory is 14.5 x 14  so guessing your demo had a 14.5 x 13

[lovetosurf 48]

1 hour ago, h20king said:

Fi with the 409 comes with a 14.5 prop factory is 14.5 x 14  so guessing your demo had a 14.5 x 13

Nope, 16x13, that’s how we’re running them here in Utah, it’s a fantastic setup!

Edited February 7, 2018 by lovetosurf

[lovetosurf 48]

1 hour ago, h20king said:

Fi with the 409 comes with a 14.5 prop factory is 14.5 x 14  so guessing your demo had a 14.5 x 13

Here’s a link to the prop if you want to give it a try (which I highly recommend if you’re at elevation). It’s the Acme 3145: https://www.wakemakers.com/acme-3145-propeller.html

Again, only limiting factor with the 409 is the 1-1/8th shaft which just has fewer 16” props available compared to the 1-1/4 shafts, but the 16x13 is a champ!

[h20king 794]

How much clearance is left? That's a 1 1/2'' increase in diameter which is huge. 

[lovetosurf 48]

5 minutes ago, h20king said:

How much clearance is left? That's a 1 1/2'' increase in diameter which is huge. 

Technically only .75 closer to the hull,  I honestly haven’t measured the gap yet but it’s not close enough to worry about hull burn etc. It’s one of the first things I looked at on the Fi as we had a tough time with clearance on our FS33 when trying to run more aggressive props. Thankfully it’s not an issue on these new boats.

Edited February 7, 2018 by lovetosurf

[h20king 794]

Just now, lovetosurf said:

Honestly haven’t measured it yet but it’s not close enough to worry about hull burn etc. It’s one of the first things I looked at on the Fi as we had a tough time with clearance on our FS33 when trying to run more aggressive props. Thankfully it’s not an issue on these new boats.

We are at sea level so never had to change a prop on our last couple boats. I can see the benefits of a 16''  prop so I'll look into it. Won't need to go as aggressive as a 16x13 though 

[lovetosurf 48]

1 minute ago, h20king said:

We are at sea level so never had to change a prop on our last couple boats. I can see the benefits of a 16''  prop so I'll look into it. Won't need to go as aggressive as a 16x13 though 

That’s awesome, it’s crazy how different they perform closer to sea level. We surf between 4500ft - 6000ft out here but when we took the boat down to Lake Mead (around 1000ft) it felt like it was running a supercharger!

[joelmjohnson 13]

Lovetosurf,  thanks for the advise. Im at 5000', my dealer is ordering without a prop so we can try a few out. Ill make sure that the 16x13 is on the list

[joelmjohnson 13]

They started building our boat today!  Whats everyone's thought on additional ballast for the opti v hull? We didnt opt for the pnp 350# in the stern or 250 in the bow as I wanted the space for storage. Im planning to place an order with wakeballast for 500#. Will I want more? 

[Tleeah 33]

5 minutes ago, joelmjohnson said:

They started building our boat today!  Whats everyone's thought on additional ballast for the opti v hull? We didnt opt for the pnp 350# in the stern or 250 in the bow as I wanted the space for storage. Im planning to place an order with wakeballast for 500#. Will I want more? 

On our FI, we did not opt for the transom bag or the bow bag.  I love that transom locker for storage.  We have 500# of lead which will go into the transom and some weight forward the corner bags.  I did surf the boat with 300# in the corners (150 in each corner) and the wave was epic.I will start with the 500# and add more if needed.

On the transom bag, the bag sure looks small for 350#.  Maybe it can hold that, but the area seems a little small to hold 350#.  

[joelmjohnson 13]

Thanks thats what i was thinking. I guess if we need more than 500 its free shipping.  

[Tleeah 33]

59 minutes ago, joelmjohnson said:

Thanks thats what i was thinking. I guess if we need more than 500 its free shipping.  

show pics when you have them.  

 

[lovetosurf 48]

11 hours ago, joelmjohnson said:

They started building our boat today!  Whats everyone's thought on additional ballast for the opti v hull? We didnt opt for the pnp 350# in the stern or 250 in the bow as I wanted the space for storage. Im planning to place an order with wakeballast for 500#. Will I want more? 

Joel,

We went the same way. Here’s another option for your ballast bags: 

http://www.pop-products.com/our-products.html

It’s the best price I’ve found for steel, only difference being that they’re 40lb bags vs 50lb bags and not as pretty as the wake ballast bags which doesn’t bother me since they’ll be out of site.

[h20king 794]

I think skipping on any of the ballast will hurt resale if you don't plan to keep long term. You will be competing with boats like mine that checked all the important boxes. Even if you chose not to use the ballast you only get one chance to get it from the factory  JMTC

[Darkside 248]

Obviously different beasts,  but the RI on opti-v LOVES rear weight.   Bow bag probably not needed,  transom bag is needed.   BTW congrats on the FI!  Those are the absolute best looking boats on the market right now, by a large margin!

[joelmjohnson 13]

Thanks for all the replies all,

Will we all likely want more that stock ballast in the end?  

From what I gather ballast is set up like:

1. Ram fill 2500
2. Front hard tank 450
3. PNP 250 bow bag 
4. PNP Rear corners 1300 (650 each corner )
5. PNP transom bag 350

Im going with 1, 2, 4, and replacing 5 with 500# of lead. For grand total of 4750# of ballast.  So still less than full option stock ballast.  At what point do we hit diminishing returns? Any discussion. 

 

4 hours ago, h20king said:

I think skipping on any of the ballast will hurt resale if you don't plan to keep long term. You will be competing with boats like mine that checked all the important boxes. Even if you chose not to use the ballast you only get one chance to get it from the factory  JMTC

I hear you on not getting all the stock ballast. For us we plan to keep the boat for quite some time and I have plans for the rear locker!!!  

 

[Tleeah 33]

So funny story.  When I went out to demo the FI 23, we filled the PNP's and the ramfill bags.  I was messing with the controls and the sales guy forgot to fill front 450lb hard tank.  So I surfed it with the ramfill and PNP's with my 300# of lead in the back corners (150 on each side).  The wave was amazing and long.  Needless to say we figured out that the front tank was not full after I had quit surfing.  I was sold on the boat without the front 450# tank full.  The surf wave was great.