Zip Wake Question

[gbin]

Originally Posted by Ozark Bob

Gerry, I don't recall but is that one of your boats accessories? Sounds like a nice feature for helping control the boat.

Nope, but it's an intriguing option! I'm going to use my boat for a year and then see what if anything I want to change for the future - and I'll be sure to keep threads such as this one in mind.

My boat is apparently now ready for shipping.

Gerry

[SLE]

I can also report back on the zipwakes, I now have 8-10 outings on them since I installed them over the winter. bbheli, I find your speed situation intriguing a bit since the zip wake system will auto retract at 45 knots, and as you approach that speed the pitch curve has them most of the way retracted. They really aren't made to increase speed and I can't say I've noticed any change of speed vs RPM on mine.

What I have noticed is significantly less bow rise, to the point that you never lose sight of the horizon. My 21 1/2' boat with a 350 Verado, 15 pro kicker, 60 gals of fuel, rear livewell full and a dedicated house / starting battery setup with Verado on a setback jackplate and the kicker on it's own panther setback plate (extremely stern heavy), my minimum plane speed is soooooooo much better. Before Zip-Wakes, the bow never became fully planted until you approached 30 mph, it now keeps the stern up and bow planted between 20-21 mph and it doesn't start to fall off plane until 18 mph and below. I did find the pitch curve that the unit developed for the boat based on the boat specs was not all that aggressive. I have since custom edited the pitch curve to my own prefrence in 1 knot increments to be much more aggressive. without making those pitch curve adjustments I didn't really find I was getting a ton of benefit out of the auto function and found my self manually running the system. The ride of the boat has been greatly improved, especially at lower speeds and when running perpendicular and or quartering waves in rougher conditions. Being able to pick the windward side of the boat up really does help in those scenarios.

With that said, not sure I would own another boat without. Just so many benefits and virtually zero drawbacks short of the cost.

[JAK]

Originally Posted by SLE

I can also report back on the zipwakes, I now have 8-10 outings on them since I installed them over the winter. bbheli, I find your speed situation intriguing a bit since the zip wake system will auto retract at 45 knots, and as you approach that speed the pitch curve has them most of the way retracted. They really aren't made to increase speed and I can't say I've noticed any change of speed vs RPM on mine.

What I have noticed is significantly less bow rise, to the point that you never lose sight of the horizon. My 21 1/2' boat with a 350 Verado, 15 pro kicker, 60 gals of fuel, rear livewell full and a dedicated house / starting battery setup with Verado on a setback jackplate and the kicker on it's own panther setback plate (extremely stern heavy), my minimum plane speed is soooooooo much better. Before Zip-Wakes, the bow never became fully planted until you approached 30 mph, it now keeps the stern up and bow planted between 20-21 mph and it doesn't start to fall off plane until 18 mph and below. I did find the pitch curve that the unit developed for the boat based on the boat specs was not all that aggressive. I have since custom edited the pitch curve to my own prefrence in 1 knot increments to be much more aggressive. without making those pitch curve adjustments I didn't really find I was getting a ton of benefit out of the auto function and found my self manually running the system. The ride of the boat has been greatly improved, especially at lower speeds and when running perpendicular and or quartering waves in rougher conditions. Being able to pick the windward side of the boat up really does help in those scenarios.

With that said, not sure I would own another boat without. Just so many benefits and virtually zero drawbacks short of the cost.

"when running perpendicular and or quartering waves in rougher conditions. Being able to pick the windward side of the boat up really does help in those scenarios."

I find this interesting and was one of the reasons why I have been looking at this product. I am guessing that picking up the windward side really helps both the ride and with spray control? I also find it interesting that you edited the program to fit your application. Was this difficult or time consuming?

Thanks for the great feedback.

[SLE]

Originally Posted by JAK

"when running perpendicular and or quartering waves in rougher conditions. Being able to pick the windward side of the boat up really does help in those scenarios."

I find this interesting and was one of the reasons why I have been looking at this product. I am guessing that picking up the windward side really helps both the ride and with spray control? I also find it interesting that you edited the program to fit your application. Was this difficult or time consuming?

Thanks for the great feedback.

As far as running in the trough or quartering waves, picking the wave-ward side up allows the keel and bow to continue to cut the waves for a softer ride versus coming down flat on them with back 2/3rds of the hull and outer edges where it's flat resulting in the bone jarring rattle that everyone has felt at some time or another. As far as dryness of ride, that's a little double edged. The Yar-Craft 219TFX is an extremely dry boat to start even without tabs or interceptors. It might be a little drier under certain circumstance but in others, like when running in the trough, the bow is down more and throwing little more spray farther forward and onto the windshield, so I actually think it might be a little wetter in certain instances. the trade off of course is a better ride.

As far as editing the auto pitch curve, it's really no big deal. After you've ran the boat and determined what speed you would like the bow down more or up more, you simply go into the setting menu, select the pitch curve and you can edit the curve. The curve can be edited for % of interceptor deployment in 1 Knot increments so you have 45 set points. At 45 knots, the interceptors auto retract fully. The toughest part for me was doing a little math to get mph into knots and remembering the conversion so I knew where I needed adjustment. Basically on mine from 0-6 mph I have them fully retracted and at 0% deployment. from 7-28 mph they are deployed at 100% and then the deployment tapers off until I reach about 40 mph where they are again fully retracted. One side note, I did mount my interceptors 3/8" above the bottom of the boat so I wouldn't have any drag that would scrub speed from my top end. Because I have them mounted a touch higher than recommended, it takes the interceptor more deployment to achieve the same results. The computer calculated pitch curve would've probably been closer had it not been for how I mounted the interceptors on my particular boat.

[JAK]

Originally Posted by SLE

As far as running in the trough or quartering waves, picking the wave-ward side up allows the keel and bow to continue to cut the waves for a softer ride versus coming down flat on them with back 2/3rds of the hull and outer edges where it's flat resulting in the bone jarring rattle that everyone has felt at some time or another. As far as dryness of ride, that's a little double edged. The Yar-Craft 219TFX is an extremely dry boat to start even without tabs or interceptors. It might be a little drier under certain circumstance but in others, like when running in the trough, the bow is down more and throwing little more spray farther forward and onto the windshield, so I actually think it might be a little wetter in certain instances. the trade off of course is a better ride.

As far as editing the auto pitch curve, it's really no big deal. After you've ran the boat and determined what speed you would like the bow down more or up more, you simply go into the setting menu, select the pitch curve and you can edit the curve. The curve can be edited for % of interceptor deployment in 1 Knot increments so you have 45 set points. At 45 knots, the interceptors auto retract fully. The toughest part for me was doing a little math to get mph into knots and remembering the conversion so I knew where I needed adjustment. Basically on mine from 0-6 mph I have them fully retracted and at 0% deployment. from 7-28 mph they are deployed at 100% and then the deployment tapers off until I reach about 40 mph where they are again fully retracted. One side note, I did mount my interceptors 3/8" above the bottom of the boat so I wouldn't have any drag that would scrub speed from my top end. Because I have them mounted a touch higher than recommended, it takes the interceptor more deployment to achieve the same results. The computer calculated pitch curve would've probably been closer had it not been for how I mounted the interceptors on my particular boat.

Thanks for the information! Your mounting location also gives insight as to why the factory curve may have seemed a little shy from ideal. All of this is great information to help a person make an informed decision!

Thanks!

[bbheli]

Originally Posted by Ozark Bob

The increase in speed is reasonable. I get about 15 mph by trimming out the motor. If you trim the boat out with the motor and then turn on the zip wake does it still increase the speed? I would guess not unless there was a list to one side or the other it would. Bob

Missed this question, yes, you can get a little more out however they say not to trim motor, and it does start to make it a little squirley, i’m still messing around with that and custom setting so i’ll let ya know.