How to weight a Saltare?

[cadunkle]

'89 Saltare, want to try surfing. I have two 400 lb sacs and two 260 lb sacs... Where should I put the weight and is this enough weight? I was thinking 400 next to doghouse pushed against rear seat, another half on top and half on the seat, 260 across the rear bench or across floor behind motor, and ??? for the last one? Or maybe I'm all wrong on that. Let me know where the weight should be. Thanks.

[wotan2525]

Use as much as possible. I use twin 850lb sacks... one on the side of the doghouse and one behind the doghouse. Wish I had another 500-1000lbs back there and 500lbs in the front.

Also, unless you add weight or bodies to the front, make sure to adjust the trim plate down. This pushes the nose down and will help stretch the wave out. The Saltare has more push than any other wave I've riden (it should.... with all that displacement...) but it can suffer from being really steep and fairly short. Weight in the front or adjusting the trim plate will help this.

[ruby23m]

Trim plate down?? If thats the way to do it I've been doing it wrong the whole summer with it almost all the way up! Makes sense though, I'll have to try it- my wave was exactly as described, steep and short.

[wotan2525]

Down! Where have you been riding this year?? The only bad thing is that putting the trim plate down absolutely ruins the wakeboard wake.

[ruby23m]

Down! Where have you been riding this year?? The only bad thing is that putting the trim plate down absolutely ruins the wakeboard wake.

Mostly been staying down around the Kinni. Haven't been out nearly as much as I would like to though, I'm starting to think I need to extend the surfing season into October!

[texas scarecrow]

Also, unless you add weight or bodies to the front, make sure to adjust the trim plate down. This pushes the nose down and will help stretch the wave out. The Saltare has more push than any other wave I've riden (it should.... with all that displacement...) but it can suffer from being really steep and fairly short. Weight in the front or adjusting the trim plate will help this.

This got my wheels turning what if you installed the adjustable trim tabs that they use on fishing boats. They can be adjusted with the touch of a finger and they are usually usesd in pairs so you could tilt the boat left or rt depending on how you want to surf. A set only costs around 600 with controls.

[sybrmike]

That's exactly what I installed on my Salt as part of the rebuild - replaced the unhinged single wide plate with two smaller hinged half plates and swapped the turnbuckles for electric actuators. Unfortunately, the maiden test voyage was cut short last weekend due to slicing my knee open (stitches will dissolve, staples come out next week) before I could really play with the set-up. Plate control at the helm was nice for sure. They had a nice effect on bow attitude, but not much impact on left/right listing & looked to change the wake a bit. These observations were while at speed and completely empty (no ballast, no interior, etc.). It'll be a month or so before I can finish the interior, add ballast, etc., but I've promised a full write up once she's fully operational & I can really test it out.

Wotan - what size are those 850's? All my ballast will be hidden except for an "optional" surf sac (20x20x50 750#) on the floor next to the doghouse. Do you have any issues with the one next to the engine pushing on the cover & base? I just wanna make sure I secure both well enough to avoid movement. Also, I know you've posted before but now I can't find any pics of your surf wake since the forum rebuild. Got any pics with your 1700#? Thanks.

[wotan2525]

Mine are also 20x20x50, so maybe they are just 750s? In my mind I thought they were 850s, but I could have been wrong. They don't push the doghouse over, but when they are filled up you cannot open the engine cover because they rest up against it and will "spill" into the engine compartment if you opened it. And my doghouse base is rotten and not even screwed down -- still doesn't push it over.

I'll dig up a picture when I get to my home computer....

[texas scarecrow]

From my experiance all boats throw a better wake to one side. For instance my buddies nautique throws a great starboard wave but we cant even surf the port wave even if we switch over all the weight. Which side does the saltare do better?

[wotan2525]

Port. At least on mine. I've never been able to get a surfable starboard wake. Nautiques all have the opposite (right hand) prop rotation. Centurion let's you order a new boat with a choice of prop rotation.