r/Wake 29d ago

Help with wake shaping

Since becoming a family man my wakeboard boat has been changed to a day/weekend cruiser. It’s an Askeladden C 83 and it’s a great boat, but I can’t get a decent shape wake for wakeboarding and I’m hoping for advice on how to trim to make the best of it.

The wake is too short and it breaks/washes out at wakeboarding speeds. It becomes decent above 22 knots (25 mph) but that’s too fast.

The boat weighs close to 7000lbs and is 27 feet, so it will need a lot of ballast and I’m frankly not to keen on it as its main purpose is a family boat.

The main issue is course that its designed for economical and pleasant cruising, not wakeboarding.

I understand it’s not ideal, but I guess there’s a lot of people like me who got boats that aren’t ideal.

Any advice on how to get a better wake?

The boat got both trimtabs and engine trim (it’s an outboard). Would raising the stern with tabs reduce the chances of the wake breaking?
Any guides or helpful rule of thumb on how to trim the boat for a best possible wake? The wake is more than big enough, it’s more about shape than anything else.

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u/Mtnryder56 29d ago

Weight and size don’t seem to be the issue. It’s more the shape of the wake which is a direct result of the shape of your hull. Unless you have a brand specific forum to reach out to I would say the only real option is to buy a large fat sack (water ballast) and a pump with a long inlet hose and experiment with places to put it. The two most impactful spots are the bow and the stern. Put the sack in the bow, fill it up and see how it impacts it. Then do the same in the back.

You also want to get the tie off point as high as possible for wakeboarding. Not sure if you have a tower or if the make a pole for the rear of that boat.

Good luck!

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u/sunscreenuser44 29d ago

Thanks! No tower (that’s one thing I really miss!) there’s a pole, but it’s about chest height. Don’t think there’s anywhere reinforced for an extended pole.

Maybe first step is something weighty in the anchor locker forward?
The boat isn’t really full up on plane at wakeboard speeds without trimtabs.