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Brought the Fi home today. We did purchase it from Pat and his crew at Northwest Boat Sports in Oregon City. Very attentive hard working team. They are all ready to step up to help their customers. Ian took us for a demo to show how to set it up for wakesurfing awesomeness. Brian was great helping with the details. It has been a pleasure to do business with them. Looks like we might have light wind tomorrow so hopefully will get on the water. Picked up a new Soulcraft with the boat so ready to step up our game. All the best, Hein & Kim

We are bringing our Fi25 home on Tuesday. I'll be happy to answer questions as we get to know it. All the best, Hein

We brought home our 2019 Fi25 last week and had our first session the day after. I consider myself lucky to score a session on a new toy the day after I get it. It doesn't always work out that way. One result of that quickness to rally kept me from having the opportunity to mount the rear view mirror which came with the boat. That proved to be a challenge as we tried adjust the surf settings without really being able to see the wave change. I am not a fan of mirrors clamped on the windshield anyway and wanted to try a rear view camera instead. That is the upgrade that this first post is about. We purchased a rear view camera and display on Amazon a few days before picking up the boat from NWBS in Oregon City. https://amzn.to/2DEgZTg I spent some time figuring out how and where to mount the display above the OEM dash in good view of the driver without blocking the view in front of the boat. Scratched my head a bit, took some patterns, did some CAD work and machined some parts shown below next to the display for the camera. Figured out where to place the camera on the back of the boat. Wire was run along the right side under the seats. Then continued to fit the CNC'd mounts to the dash. Happy these were a perfect fit right off the bat. This step usually requires some iteration of CAD tweaks and CNCing of more parts until the fit is right. A bit of skill and luck this time around. Used some 3M VHB to attach the mounts to the back of the display. This camera is designed with some straps that normally wrap around a rear view mirror. I trimmed those off and removed the pads that rest against the mirror surface. That is were my brackets attach to the back with the VHB. Then I mounted the camera on the dash. I will add some VHB between the mounts and dash to hold it in place. This was just a test fit to verify the position. Here is the view from the driver seat. Back of barn and CNC machine are shown in the image. We will have to see if this is angled right when on the water but think it looks pretty good. Note that the display is actually upside down. The camera is designed to be mounted above a license plate on the underside of the cover that normally is above them. Having the display upside down actually improved the wire routing which I still need to clean up a bit. So this all worked out for the better. This camera also has a built in front view cam which can 'see' through' the windshield but we won't be using that feature. It can record and do a host of other things which may be fun to try. We can actually record our sessions on a thumb drive so that might be cool. It's 1080P so resolution will be pretty good. Will post some videos when we get a chance to test it out. All the best, Hein

It Shipped this morning! Should be here Saturday. Here are a few pics that the salesman send today.

A woofer change will not address this, as the current enclosure is the biggest factor in how the woofer sounds. You would need to change the enclosure volume. If the woofer is whats making all the unwanted noise, then you need to first determine if any external factor was the root case, before installing a new woofer.

2020 Ri257 (w/LSX). Canadian Blue Sparkle and White. Interior is standard white, hex black, hex deep bronze. I'm not swooned by the bombshell racks, so I have a set of PTM Edge wide-mouth clamp racks I'm trying to figure out how to get the right brackets to get mounted. Sorry for the kids tubing pic, its' one of the few I have with the interior. Our adults crew is 95% wakesurf.. and we hope to get the kids into it too. (my kids are only 6 and 8 y/o)

Thanks guys! Glad I could help Josh! Yeah, that’s what I seen/read Mob. I don’t do FB though. When it first started I told my wife “that’s the devil and I will never have an account”. Haha! at this point I’m kinda committed to that take! Haha! We can’t wait to get that ZS out on the water and get back to surfing!

Quick followup.. I went with the Ri257 (with the LSX) -- in all honesty because the Ri is more of a known quantity for me. I've spent 30+ hours on two different Ri257s, and I love the boat. It also became obvious from BoardCo answers that having the same hull means the boats are so similar it comes down to preferences. I was able to finally see an Fi23 in person, and overall I like the calmer RI styling and slightly higher freeboard for big Lake Tahoe, so that's the way I went. We took delivery two days ago.. and we couldn't be happier. Picture below. @BoardCo - Thanks so much for all your help answering questions on here, and posting awesome youtube videos of Centurions on the water! They really made a large purchase decision much easier. Your answer above helped me shed the FOMO of not having the Fi ski-pylon. @Duneit - We bought from https://www.mellomarine.com/ in Folsom, CA. Sally and Brandy have been fantastic to work with. Sally (the owner) negotiated the COVID-modified Tahoe boat inspection restrictions for us to get it in the water asap, and has been great.

New gas new filter drained can could not get can all the way off big black hose in the way of dropping down far enough so I just sucked out the gas in can and put back together fired right up and ran with no codes so thank you for your help

Sad this forum is not as busy as it used to be since so many jumped to the Facebook groups .. the FB groups are not nearly as easy to search, and the threads do not get organized well ...

Finally did mine but went with the Angled Starboard and Port side specific LED's.

I just had to replace my steering cable on my 05 SV230 and figured I’d add a few things that might be helpful. First, as I understand it, Teleflex no longer exists and was replaced by SeaStar so the new part number is SSCX15420. I ordered from Fredwarner.net and it cost $150 w/free shipping. I followed a lot of the guidance from above, but just to add a little more, I had to remove both water hoses from the back of the water pump to make accessing everything easier. Just unscrew the hose clamps and they pull off. I didn’t need to remove the water pump or sideswipe and was able to reach the cotter pin on the pitman arm fairly easy, and I’m on the husky side. The hardest part was getting the threaded nut on the steering cable unscrewed from the shaft housing that’s held in place by the clamp with the 4 bolts. I used an adjustable wrench but I THINK it’s about a 1 ¼” nut if you have a wrench that big. You could always take the new cable to a hardware store and find the right size wrench since the nuts are the same size. The shaft housing would turn with the nut when I would try to loosen the nut, but not as much as the nut, so it eventually came off but was a tedious process. I sprayed PB Blaster on the threads but I’m not sure if that even made a difference, perhaps some vice grips would help if you could fit them in there. Once I got that unscrewed, I pulled the cable/shaft out of the housing and then tied a rope to the end of the shaft where the retaining bolt would normally be. Before I could pull the cable out from the helm, I had to remove the paneling underneath the dash on the floorboard to access the hole where the cable comes out. The cable/nut got hung up on the gas tank, so I removed the floor panel to get access to the cable. This was well worth the few extra minutes, plus it made it easier to pull the new cable back through. I also agree that it’s much better to buy a new cotter pin; I tried the old one to no avail, but a new one went in on the first try. It’s definitely helpful to have a second person to lend a hand but is possible to do yourself. All together from start to finish, it took me about 3hrs which includes re-installing the under dash paneling and floor panel along with centering the steering wheel and rudder.

Hi again, all. Thought I'd post a quick update. We took the boat out about a week ago for a test run. Prior to heading out, I poured in two bottles of HEET to help absorb any water or bad gas. At the lake, we had the same problems with acceleration. It idles fine, goes okay at low speed, but dies out when going for higher speeds. We ended up getting it started and were able to drive slowly back and load it on the trailer. A couple nights later, I took off the old water separating fuel filter and poured the contents into a glass jar to see if there was water choking out the fuel system. There was no sign of water, sediment, particles, or anything. So as far as I can tell, there's no water in the fuel. (Glad to know that the filter is working well, tho.) When I went to O'reilly Auto this morning to pick up another Sierra Water Separating Fuel Filter (they can order them and have them in about a day for about $2 more than Amazon), I talked to one of the guys there. His brother used to have a Ski Nautique and Moomba, so he knows the engines and layout a bit. He said that since there's no problem with the actual fuel (from what I could see), the problem has to be in fuel delivery - most likely the fuel pump. He said that if the fuel pump diaphragm is cracked, it could have enough pressure to delivery the fuel at lower speeds. It wouldn't sputter or anything, but appear to be fine at lower speeds. But upon acceleration, when the diaphragm is working harder to deliver fuel to the engine, it won't be able to keep up, and the engine would end up stalling out. He said on trucks with the Chevy 350 small block engine, if there's a problem with the fuel pump (cracked diaphragm or whatever), the excess fuel gets squirted out of the pump as you drive, and it ends up on the ground or somewhere else on the pump housing where it can evaporate. But you can't do that on a lake, so the gas ends up being sent to the crankcase and mixes with the oil. So he said to pull the dipstick, wipe it on a clean paper towel, dip again, wipe again, and then smell. If it smells of gas, then it's probably a bad fuel pump. So I came home, followed the steps and..... It smells a heck of a lot like there's gas mixed in with my oil! I had just changed the oil in our 4Runner (full synthetic, but should have a similar smell to regular used oil), and I smelled both of them separately. The oil from the boat DEFINITELY smells of gas. So the next step is going to be to put on a new fuel pump, new water separating fuel filter, change the oil... and then at some point, I'll get the steering cable (got it from Ron today) and the bilge pump done, too. Thanks for helping out, @Timr71 and @InfinitySurf. I'll keep everyone in the loop as I move forward. I feel like I'm finally on the right path!

I did it! Got a really good deal on the new one and the trade-in. Can't wait to get it in the water. Thanks for the responses!

Newbie to the page! 1994 Ski Centurion LaPoint Tru Trac. PCM 351 Pro-Tec. The Cadillac of ski boats 26 years ago.

Just picked this up, works quite well. I can grab my drink or put it down without taking my eyes off the lake ahead. Heavy enough it doesn’t move around even over most waves. Called the beverage bandit.

A few things here: The Fi25 and Ri257 ride almost identically in rough water - you will be VERY happy with either one. The Ri257 has a tow point above the swim platform that is ideal for tubes. You can ski from this point but from my experience, the tower is a better spot. As far as this goes, it is one of the common misconceptions I run into when talking to people about skiing. People consider it near blasphemy to talk about water skiing from the tower, but for 90% of people who ski it is actually a better tow point than a pylon. It allows recreational skiers to get up easier and reduces overall drag once they are up. The benefit of having a lower tow point really only matters if you are pulling HARD through the wake and honestly if you are pulling hard enough to justify going to a pylon you aren't going to want to ski behind a Fi25 / Ri257 anyway. To give you some background I am a tournament skier, I own a Carbon Pro boat (along with a Ri257) and spend time in a buoy course regularly. When I ski behind a Fi25 or Ri257 I am barely impacted by skiing from the tower. This point causes me some frustration because for most people skiing from the tower is not just ok, but it is actually BETTER than skiing from a pylon, but when I suggest it I get weird looks like I don't know what I'm doing haha. Jack (one of our guys here) gets the same reactions and he can run into 34 off in a course (which if you aren't familiar is REALLY good). The Ri257 ski wake isn't quite as good as the Fi25, but they are close. Out of the box the Ri257 puts out a slightly better surf wave while the Fi25 has a slightly better ski wake. They have the same running surface and the only reason for the difference is the Ri257 is slightly heavier. That said, most people wouldn't be able to tell a difference between them as far as ski wake goes. As far as stereo control goes, you can have an automatic volume adjustment installed but you can save a lot of cost and actually get better functionality by installing an app on your phone called Volumatic. It is AWESOME and a lot better than the volume controls that are set to RPM in my opinion, plus it only sets you back about $10. The Supra SE550 has some great features and is a really nice boat. There are some nice features on Supra but for me there are at least 2 BIG things you will miss out on vs. a Centurion. The most important factor that can't be overcome with modifications is the rough water ride. If you are using the boat on Tahoe the water can get ugly fast and having a boat that won't beat you up or scare you going through 5-foot waves is a must in my book. The next one is the surf wave on the Centurion is a lot better out of the box. You can get the Supra to throw out a great wave, but if you do much research you will find that pretty much everyone is running 1,000 lbs. of lead to get it to surf on the level of a stock Fi25/Ri257. If you cruise around a lot that is a problem since you can't get rid of it. The other downside that is just speculation from me is that the ski wake on the Supra wouldn't be as good. Supra boats have a very stiff wakeboard wake and from my experience, that translates to a stiff ski wake. I haven't skied behind one, but I have heard the ski wake is actually worse than a Centurion just because of the wake shape. The best thing to do if you are looking at one is taking them both for a drive, the difference will become clear very quickly. Lastly, the H6 engine will work fine for you but you probably wouldn't be disappointed with the 550 (for 2020 it will be the new LSX engine). If you cruise around a bit the added power and reduced RPM on at cruising speed is really nice. As far as reliability goes, its a bit early to tell on the LSX but thus far they have had no problems at all and should be more reliable than the XR7 (550 Supercharger) was. The main benefit is similar power but the engine is naturally aspirated so longevity and reliability should be better. It's a new engine for the boat world but it has been bulletproof in cars for a while so we anticipate really good things. If there is anything we can do to help you out on the boat decision process at all let me know. Thanks!

Took delivery of our ZS232 a couple weeks ago.

Pic

Update: The block to add an Air Chair to the Maximus tower does not need a separate angle adapter and fits just fine. So far it has worked terrific.

Thanks a bunch for all your advice guys. I decided the 2014 SV233 was my best option (newer, CATS, Ramfill, updated touchscreen, high altitude Acme 1847 prop, better looking exterior/interior) and made a deal today - HOORAY! The boat market in western Canada is much smaller and is crazy hot right now (as it turned out the 2012 SV233 I was considering also sold today) so I am thrilled to have secured a great surf boat now. The dealer agreed to give me first shot if any comparable Centurions came in on trade with 409 in the next few months. Many thanks to everyone on the Centurion Crew site for all the great posts - this is such a great resource.

Heres the deal, its mostly about surface area. Two 12's in a ported enclosure is nearly 4X the surface area as a single 12 in a sealer or free-air (infinite-baffle) setup. So you would definitely experience a reduction in overall bass output.

My 08 Avy listed. Just my wife in the boat.

just put 2 tanks of fuel through a 'new to us' 20 Ri257. I can't believe how fuel-efficient it is. Coming from using a 20LSV- that thing was chugging fuel.

I installed a new swim ladder for my boat, even with ballast its hard for my mom and some others to get up at times and I wanted them to feel comfortable since I had not heard any negative feedback regarding the swim ladder effecting the surf wave (and I can now confirm that it does not effect my surf wave the way I did it). Since only the new boats come with metal glassed in under the platforms and I have been too busy to go thru all that extra work, I decided to try something new as I did not want to use carriage bolts, I didnt want to drill thru my platform and then also have to replace the SeaDeck. That process didnt seem very strong to me, I imagine that will also let water into the center of the swim platform and for a guy as OCD as I am, I just couldnt bring myself too it. My thinking is if the process I used below fails.... then I will take the time to glass in stainless metal strips and will just cover the holes I made doing it this way. So, I ended up using 5/16" brass nutserts, 4 on each side and bolted up the frame using 5/16" stainless hex head bolts. 3/4" long would work but I did 1" long thinking that since the center of the swim platform is filled with the fiber I would drill the size hole needed for the nutsert and then "mushroom" the bottom of the cavity so I could add epoxy and strengthen it (I used a smaller drill bit and a hand pick to mushroom the bottom). It was time consuming but I after I prepped it all and had the nutserts ready to install.... I filled the hole with epoxy (I used a 2-part) and then inserted the nutsert using a makeshift bold. Immediately after the nutsert was in, I covered the bolt threads with wax so I could remove the bolts later (I used a commode wax ring for this) and then ran the bolt down all the way, it went thru the nutsert and into the epoxy bed I had created below it so the epoxy would cure around the bolt threads. I let it cure for 24hrs before removing the bolts so I could finish the install. I used 3M 4200 to seal everything and bolted down the swim ladder frame securely and then let that cure for another 24hrs. My thinking was that doing it this way, the swim ladder would be held not only by the nutsert which was also partially imbedded into the epoxy, but the bolts also continue threading into the epoxy and since the cavity was mushroomed, it would spreading out the weight more efficiently, this is also partially why I bought a swim ladder that had 8 bolt holes, but I also wanted one that had a spring loaded latch so the ladder would stay in place without velcro/rope holding it. I honestly don't know if my theory was correct on imbedding the bolts into the epoxy, but this swim ladder does not budge at all, I have probably been out 4 times since the install without any issues! Just before I started my install, I found another guy on the Malibu forum who was also installing his swim ladder the same way! Funny that we both had similar ideas.... I dont think he did the epoxy quite like I did, but he said his also turned out very strong. This is the ladder I bought ,NovelBee 3 Step Undermount Sliding Boat Ladder https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07YZL4MWR/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1 5/16" nutserts Holes with mushroomed cavity Bolt threads waxed and threaded thru nutsert and into epoxy to cure 3M 4200 to seal frame before bolting it up Installed

First thing to check is the cap and rotor. Look to see if there is any corrosion on the metal inside the cap. Some caps also developed hairline cracks, you you may just want to change it. Its a cheap item and typically needs replacement every few years.

Matt, You have a great boat that will throw a great wave. But you are doing it wrong! Lose the suck gate! It does not need it. That boat likes to lean! 1100# in the surf side locker, 500# under surf side seats, Center ballast full. Minimal bow weight (maybe 125 # and wearing a bikini), stack all your people on the surf side and back seat toward the surf side. Perfect pass at 10.7 to 11.2 (GPS speed). Boom! Big and long wave with tons of push.... much more "playful". But seriously.....lose the suckgate and slump that thing. Suckgates are for hulls that are not shaped for surfing.

So I am very happy with the mod. With the 15.5 inch prop, I gained 2 mph at top end. Dropped 400 rpm at surf speed and 24 mph cruise speed. Does 28 at old 24 mph rpms. Holds all ballast with no issues now for surfing. I was able to accelerate to 15 mph (upstream) with all ballast full with testing quicksurf (with the 14 inch prop I could not get above 9). At normal lean I was at 3100 rpm for surfing setup. So if you have enough adjustments in your engine mounts (room to go up in front and down in back) and enough clearance in the through hull, then this mod is 100% worth doing. I am very happy.

Just install new fresh air exhaust on my 2016 ri 237. Didn’t have to modify the stinger plate at all.

Final install pictures

Multiple locations on the web will ship very quickly. I just ordered 2 water impeller pumps (one is for next year) from skidim.com and they shipped it that morning. They are located in SC. Depending on where your located it should get there by the weekend. I can't imagine it would be very difficult to change. A couple of hoses and bracket bolts to unscrew. The most difficulty thing is always the accessing the part that needs changing. I believe Skidim may also cross reference the engine you list and help make sure the parts are properly chosen. By the way, never order water pumps, spark plugs (especially the expensive ones), belts and other critical components from Amazon they are notorious for faulty, phony counterfeited products they will break.

Finally got rid of my carpet and replaced the old flooring with Gator Step. Took a little time to get the template right but very pleased with the results.

My Diacom software showed up. I installed it on a Windows 10 image in Parallels on my MacBook Pro. The software was able to read everything on my engine, and was able to clear my old O2 sensor codes. Other than the price, the software seems fairly good. It gave a histogram of how my engine has been run, the Amount of time At each RPM level, the octane of the fuel, etc. It also reads fuel flow while the engine is running. I plan to take it out this weekend and record some runs to see how the boat performs.

If you want push button start that's one thing but to buy it just to be able to keep the stereo on when turning off the boat is the wrong reason and spending money where you don't need to. When I purchased my boat same thing happened every time I'd turn the ignition off the stereo would shut down. All I did was find the power wire that feed the stereo rocker switch and run it to the power block that is supplied by the batt. That way the rocker switch is powered whether the ignition is turned on or off and you can control the stereo and components with the rocker and not be dependent on ignition power.

Issue has been resolved

Great guys thanks for the replies. Guy was meticulous with the boat inside and out so I feel good about it. Thanks again.

If you are going to list it, you need the rub rail close to the water sitting still. Here is my 08 Avy. Little exaggerated, the run tail is usually just at the water level. Then here is my buddy at 6’7” surfing with his 8yo daughter. I would call up wakemakers and have them build you custom sacs that fill the locker and go up under the seats also. Have each bag it’s own reversible pump to fill and empty. It takes about 8min to fill/empty my custom sac. If you want to list it, you can. If you want to use the suck gate you can. Best of both worlds and just buying bags once. I started out with the 1100’s and then bought the custom. I bought bags twice. lol.

I just picked this 82 trutrac up! love the old school boats!

The BEST boat is the one that is paid for. I have an 07 Avy and love it. You can do everything with it. Yea, you can spend 3x as much for a new boat with all the bells and whistles, but your money may be better spent else where. Yea, I drool at the new boats, them remember mine is paid for and maintenance costs are not that much. We surf and board just fine behind our boat.

I'm pretty sure It's the 90 amp fuse on the starter. I put the tester on the cable side and got 12v. Put the tester on the other side with the nut and got zero's. The stereo not working was throwing me off but that ended up being a 10amp fuse on the back of the deck. Picking up a fuse from the dealer tomorrow and we'll see what happens.

I just had a flawless week on Lake Powell with my 2014 SV233.

One more photo of the rear view camera in use. I'm not sure the image wouldn't be better without the glare film but it's a keeper none-the-less. Driver is totally able to monitor the rider while still looking ahead. You can also see that we don't use cruise control due to the constantly varying magnitude and direction of the current in the Columbia river. GPS based speed control will absolutely not work for us. We ride by the using the tachometer. A smidge over 3600 rpm seems perfect for us. GPS speedometer can be as much as 3mph off depending on whether we are going upstream/downstream or at some angle across the flow. We were seeing 2-3 mph while floating at idle. If anyone else wants to try one then I would be honored to machine some of the brackets I used to install it. They are mounted with 3M VHB tape so should be removable with no damage the dash itself. Below are a couple photos of the bilge alarm install. The float switch is on the ground side of the alarm so just needed one wire going back. The alarm is secured under the dash with VHB and power wire goes forward from there to the positive post where the breakers are. I made an inline fuse holder with two flag style crimp terminals and stuck a 3A ATC fuse in. I ran the switch wire to the rear from the dash via the space behind the panel next to the driver (where throttle is located) until it emerged under the seats in back. Then just ran it along the back of the under seat storage towards the rear and then down into the bilge near the V-drive. Other lead from switch is grounded to the engine. I used the same wire routing for the rear view camera cable. Below. Fuse holder behind dash. Next couple photos. Buzzer is up under here: I like to keep the bilge ventilated with a box fan when the boat is in storage so moisture can dry out. I open up a seat back in front and also the fuel tank sender hatch. Flow-thru air comes out in those locations. The 18x18 furnace filter on top of the fan keeps dust from being blown in. Fan runs 24/7. All the best, Hein

I’ve been out on my 2019 Fi21 twice now. Once surfing and once wakeboarding. Water here is still 50F so we didn’t stay out too long! Surfing we just did everything full (pnp and ramfill), surf tab 70, stinger 40 and 11.8 mph. No lead yet. With 4 in the boat and 1 surfer, this wave was amazing! Not sure I need to carry the lead around all the time. Wakeboarding we went twice, once no weight, once with just ramfill full. This is the nicest, easy to balance side to side wakeboard wake that I have had (and I’ve had a 2017 G23 and a 2018 Xstar). I realy couldn’t believe how not finicky it was to balance side to side. Also very adjustable with the stinger plate from peaky to rampy. Super impressed. Our boat came with the 16x15 prop stock. We are not at elevation (about 1000’), and it performs great. Did not struggle surfing and cruising 25-28mph is a breeze, still below 4000rpm. I cannot be happier with this boat!

Nice boat Hein! We just joined the Centurion and FI 25 family ourselves!

Finally got the time to sit down and do a more detailed write up. Myself and a friend installed the SV version of these InfinityWave surf tabs on my 2014 Centurion SV244, we installed the tabs one evening and then I ran and finished the wiring a couple nights later on 04/13. Since the weather was crappy that weekend, my first LAKE TEST was on the evening of 04/17/2019. I can honestly say that my expectations were exceeded and after only 2-3mins, I had found the right deployment angle to make an excellent surf wave on the regular side. We only had a couple hours and myself and 2 buddies spent it surfing. I totally forgot to see what goofy wave looked like or get any pics or video without a surfer on the wave. I will do that next time out and post up more information. Initial reaction when getting the InfinityWave tab system….they look and feel very well made, its a beefy system and the finish is very nice. I love the fins on the bottom of the tabs since one thing that concerned me putting tabs on an SV244, is I knew that the factory Quicksurf tabs that were installed on the 2015/2016 models where not up to par and most owners I talked to or heard about preferred to still list the boat for the surf wave since they did not feel like the wave using the tabs had enough push/power. I believe with a deep V boat, the hull wants to direct the water outwards, not back toward the surf wave, so without the fins on the bottom of the tab which help direct the water coming off the bottom of the hull toward the surf wave, you don’t get surf wave that feels like it has power. I have Ramfill on my boat and since its important for the tabs to be up as far as possible under swim platform when retracted, the best position I found puts the actuator bracket mount behind the Ramfill tanks….so rather than run the actuator wire thru the hole in the bracket, I drilled/chamfered a hole for the wire approx. 3.5” toward the center of the boat & 3.5” higher than the bracket position so I could avoid the Ramfill tanks and get access to the wire. Actuator wire is 5/16” diameter, so I drilled a 3/8” hole (starting with smaller bit and running in reverse till well thru gelcoat), after the 3/8” hole was drilled I then got another drill bit slightly larger and ran it in reverse to chamfer the hole so I could avoid spider cracking and remove sharp edges due to wire running thru that (most people will not run into this and can run the wire thru the extra hole in the actuator bracket). Then I ran the wires thru hull and sealed the holes on both inside/outside of the hull. I then ran and zip tied all the electrical up to the bottom of the top deck along the outer perimeter and ran everything up to the drivers helm carefully concealing the wires and securing them with zip ties. For now, I am just fabricating a temp bracket to mount the switches below the steering wheel for easy access. My Ballast setup on this boat: Ramfill = 1,250 each side for total of 2500lbs. PnP bags in each rear locker at 700lbs each for total of 1400lbs. PnP bag under bow seats is 500lbs. Then I also have 500lbs of lead bags, I place 300lbs under the bow filler cushion and the other 200 lbs to the left of drivers feet on the floor against the built-in cooler. I fill the Ramfill tanks to 100% on both sides and then I DRAIN off the non-surf side Ramfill to 80% to give a slight list to boat. So basically 1250 Ramfill on surf side and 1000 Ramfill on non-surf side which gives a total of 4,650lbs of ballast. In video’s I posted links too above were taken on 04/17, total of 3 guys on boat including the surfer. Speed is 11mph and center trim tab is at 40%. PCM ZR409 engine at 800ft elevation and my rpm was at 3,150. Previously I ran the same ballast set up but used Nauticurl suck gate and with all things the same, my rpm was at 3,400, so using these InfinityWave surf tabs brought the rpm’s down for sure. Love that since its easier on the engine and I will save a little gas money to boot. Extremely happy with my purchase and wanted to post my experience since I know others are looking at these tabs and probably have similar initial hesitation like I did since these tabs are fairly new to market. Combine the performance of these tabs which I can now experience behind my boat with the great price and customer service and you have a winner!

Couple pics surfing the wave yesterday evening....more pics and details to come as soon as I have time to put it all together. Also gonna get pics/video of only the wave next time to show the shape/form. If you are on the fence about getting these surf tabs from InfinityWave @Shaka, its a no brainer at the price they are selling them for. Results could not be better in my opinion and I have high expectations when it comes to anything on my boat! Honestly, I was nervous about this initially since I knew the factory QS tabs where not too great on the 2015/2016 SV models. The shape of these tabs along with the fins under them to "direct" the water coming off bottom of the boat toward the wave to give you maximm push....works perfect and it seems that the lack of fins properly directing the water flow toward the surf wave was the flaw in the factory tabs. A deep-V hull is directing the water out, not at the wave and my best guess is that was why the factory tabs did not deliver results that owners were expecting and why many of the SV owners with the factory tabs list boat instead of using the tabs. These InfinityWave surf tabs certainly addressed tho issues.

I have started the InfinityWave surf tab system install on my 2014 SV244. I am totally pumped about this and look forward to testing as soon as these storms move out. Here are some teaser pics in the meantime. Tabs and actuators/wires all fully mounted and in place... just need to finish permanently installing my wiring and then fabricate my bracket to mount the switches at the helm since I dont want to drill into my dash at this time. Tabs look really good and I temp wired everything together last night to test it all, everything worked very well and I am excited at the prospect of soon being able to control my surfing with the switches! Shaka is very responsive, these guys are obviously dedicated to making sure that everything works well and they provide a quality product for a very fair price. I think this is gonna be a homerun!

Here are some pics...

Since we are back on the custom DIY ballast install topic I wanted to show a bit of what my install was about. So for a baseline my boat is a '03 Elite V Air Warrior with the factory center ballast only which uses a jabsco Water puppy to fill the hard tank under floor. My plan was to install a ballast system which would fill/empty on the move and would work equally as well for surfing as it does for wakeboarding. I wanted the majority of the ballast to be hidden but not take up ALL of my storage. The system consists of me adding 2 Launch Pad V-Drive Bags (from a previous boat, and will be upgraded to Flyhigh 750's) in the rear lockers and the Flyhigh wrap around bow bag in the front. At first I had the bow bag piggy backed onto the center ballast but that has since changed and is now on its own pump, thru-hull pickup and vents due to the slow fill and for more adjust-ability. I hoped to do like many others and keep track of every fitting, hose, clamp and pump but I have lost track after changing things here and there along the way. Parts - It started by ordering two Simer "Blue water" utility pumps from hardwareworld.com one for each Launch Pad in the rear lockers.Later I ordered one more for the bow bag. From boatownerswarehouse.com came the brass thru-hulls for the inlet/outlets, chrome thru-hulls for the vents and a number of pipe to hose adapters. From my local home depot the rest of the threaded pipe to barb hose adapters, ball valves, clamps, check valves and bulk hose was bought. Carling technologies dual throw / dual pole switches with lights were purchased on ebay. Switch covers to match my "Contura IV" factory switches were actually ordered from the dark side over at my local Mastercraft parts department. Finally the bow bag and flyhigh fittings were purchased on ebay as well. First thing was to make a rough diagram of the rear ballast setup. Here is the start to the parts for the install. First hole cut was the starboard locker vent. I put it in the factory location next to the bilge and center ballast vent. (3/4" chrome plastic 90 degree thru-hull) I replaced the factory black plastic for the chrome look thru-hulls. I cut a hole on the port side in the same location as the vents on the starboard side. Installing a chrome thru-hull. I choose to put the intake/output thru-hulls in the bottom of the boat so they were always underwater unlike the factory thru-hull on the stern. Here is the factory thru-hull for the center ballast tank. Yes I know it is VERY dirty. That has all been cleaned up. The previous owner kept the boat in the water and did not clean it very well, these pictures are from just after my purchase of it this spring. The thru-hull in the bottom on the hull were measured, mocked up, and cut just in front of the V-Drive. Again very dirty but there were some yellow marks showing my center of each hole, it was taped up and holes cut. Some silicone sealant put around the o-rings on the thru-hulls Both holes cut, thru-hulls in the holes, ball valves threaded into thru-hulls and hose attached. Under the dash I put fuses into the factory labeled holders, verified wire colors and then attached the powers and grounds from the fuse box to my switches. Wired up the switches and put them into the panel. I used 25 amp fuses as the Simer draw a higher amperage than the Johnson or Jabscos. ] The Simer Pumps are mounted in the front of the locker on the seat backs. Attached the hoses from the ball valves, and attached hoses then leading to the lower fittings on the bags. I ran the 10ft wires from the simer pumps up to the switches. Later I found the factory pump wiring in the Starboard locker tucked up under the edge so I used that and removed the extra wiring. Some of you will notice the giant rectangular holes the previous owner cut into the seat back for "bass ports" for the huge sub boxes he had in the lockers... I am building some covers to put over the pumps to protect them, and using those ports as vents with some slotted covers on the seat side. The poor boat was butchered by the audio install shop / last owner. I set the bags in the lockers, attached the vent line to the 5psi check valve (so the bags will go into a vacuum when emptying) and attached the check valve to the TOP of the bag. Here you can see how well the pumps empty out every last drop of water with the check valves shutting off the vent hose. That pretty much wrapped up the rear install. The original front install was very easy to do the piggy back as well. I removed this plug on the back of the factory center tank. Attached a matching threaded to barb adapter to the hole, and ran that hose to the front. The flyhigh bag is almost a perfect fit under the seat. Here it is on top. Here it is set under the seats empty. Here is the hose tucked up under the observers seat from the center tank. I put the hose on the port side lower flyhigh fitting because I wanted to try to be able to fill that side of the bag first seeing as how most of our riders are regular (port) riders. I forgot to take any pictures of drilling the bow bag vent thru-hull but I put it right below the starboard front tower mount just below the rub rail. I attached the vent line to the center upper fitting on the bow bag then to a check valve and then the vent thru-hull. Finally here it is full. It will pop the seat cushions up if no one is sitting in them. After all that agian I decided I didn't like the piggy back system and scrapped that idea. I put one more thru-hull in the bottom of the boat, and mounted the bow pump in the drivers foot area. From the pump I ran the hose to a Y and to both sides of the bow bag so it would empty correctly. I am VERY happy with how it works and now I just have to clean everything up and make it look pretty. I figure it puts 500# in front, 880# in the rears and whatever the factory center tank is 200-400#(?). For wakeboarding with a full crew of 6-7 it is too much weight for me to have it all full. The boat planes out, but has a hard time on the stock prop. If it is just myself and my wife it is still a bit too much but I am kind of a wimp... But for surfing with that crew of 4-6 sitting surf side, the surf side locker full, center tank full, and the bow bag full the wave is great! Just incase we have a light crew I have 4 launch pad 85# bricks to move around. So there you have it, that just ruined my whole evening putting this together...haha