launch 21 direct drive

[tron1]

I am looking for a good cross over boat. can any one comment on the ski abilit of teh launch 21 and surf ability.. Any advise about cross over baot is appreciated

[Diggs]

I had an 03'. It is a great boat if you are looking for a direct drive. It is a very good ski boat and still can throw a money wake for wake boarding if you run stock ballast and then run another 1000 lbs around the engine cover. You can surf it but will need lots of weight on that back corner since it is a direct drive, but we did it all the time.
I would recommend getting one with a wake plate, cause it was an option then, but still not a necessity. Let me know if you have specific questions.

[Will_launch]

hey i also have a dd launch ss 02 and have been trying to surf it but cant get any push out of it. Would appreciate if you could post your previous set up as i have been trying for the past four weeks with no progress. Thanks in advance. Will

[Diggs]

Lots and lots of weight..... Normally on a Vdrive you have that extra weight of the motor and places to sit, so it is easy to get weight back there. With the direct drive it just takes lots of weight. How much weight are you running?
If I were gonna try I would:
-Put the wake plate up
-Set the perfect pass at about 10-10.5 MPH
-Fill your rear ballast
-Fill your front maybe 1/2
-Load whatever bags you have back in that corner (I would want around 1000 lbs)
-Load ALL of your friends back in that corner and sitting on the gunwale over there.

I bet you get a nice enough wave out of that

[Will_launch]

That's almost the Set up I try every time I go out.I got 2 550 ballast bags I put behind the drivers seat as far back as they go.one on the floor and the other half on the back seat and half on the bag. I'll try filling the front one a little more, I'm not exactly sure how much I'm getting in there. Thanks for the help.

[cmtaylor777]

I have been working on this for the past few seasons and I have a great wave now. I have an 04 launch SS direct drive. After doing a TON of research, I have found that this particular hull needs to be weighted more evenly. At first I dumped a ton of weight on the rear corner and never got anything worth a crap. After finding this out I leveled it out more and experimented with several different set ups. Here is what I found that works the best.

Wake plate Up
10.7 mph
Back hard ballast under seat- full ( assuming it is around 300lbs)
Front ballast under pass through - full (750lbs)
ballast in the rear ski locker - full (400lbs)
Ballast on floor running along the back bench behind the engine cover
full (650lbs)
ballast on floor next the the engine cover on surf side ( goofy for me)
- full (400lbs)

The more I moved weight to the rear, the less of push I would have. The wave would get taller but it would lose its push. The more I positioned the weight around the engine compartment, the better it would push.

Don't get me wrong, You need weight in the rear. What I found that works best is moving some weight to the center of the boat without putting any weight iin the playpen. I know v-drives like weight in the front but for my direct drive, she needs weight in the center and rear.

I will snap some pics this weekend and get them up. I am super happy with the wave now. Thought I was never going to get it right.

[Will_launch]

That would be greatly appreciated. I'm also wondering to what kind of board would be best since ive heard that the wider ones work best.