Malibu type wedge on B52?

DonziMatt · Newbie Joined: 12 Mar 2011 Posts: 2 City: Portland

I have a 2002 B52 that works great, we wakeboard behind it. But now that one of my teenagers works at the local wakeboard boat dealer, he rides behind a new malibu periodically that has more ballast and a wedge, and hence a bigger wake.

So now, old dads boat is not quite good enough for the real gnarly tricks, even w/ full ballasts and extra fat sacks until the boat will hardly plane.

Looking at the malibu manual wedge, it would easily bolt to the B52. Anyone tried this, or is there something similar out there?

I'd like to get more wake w/out changing boats. I know the wedges were basically added to the existing Malibu boats, so the hull shapes weren't specifically designed for them. I can reinforce the transom to take the extra load. Anybody have any experience?

thanks, Matt

Brit Rider · Posted: Mar 14, 2011 8:05 am Post subject:

DonziMatt, Your B52 throws a plenty big enough wakewith stock tanks and a few other sacks in there... He needs to work on his technique more if he thinks you aren't putting enough of a wake out for his moves...

...and this is from someone who sells wakeboard boat ballast for a living!! Laughing

More importantly though, do not contemplate adding a wedge to your boat. It is not a good idea.

Nor*Cal · Ladies Man Joined: 12 Jan 2003 Posts: 9479 City: Sac

There are several posts along these lines ever since the Wedge came to market.

I agree with Brit Rider on this subject. I think it would compromise the integrity of your boat to add the wedge.

Get a new prop and add some more ballast. Teenagers are always looking at the shinier object, but fundamentals of wakeboaring will help more than the wedge on a non-malibu.

DonziMatt · Newbie Joined: 12 Mar 2011 Posts: 2 City: Portland

Come on fellas. I need more than "its not a good idea".

I know that the kids can get better technique and all that. But the fact is, there are boats out there w/ wedges that make a bigger wake.

I'm an engineer and a fabricator, so it's no problem to re-inforce the transom to take the extra load.

What I'm wondering is if anyone has done this before, and if there are some subtle hull shape changes w/ these boats that someone knows about that make them work w/ wedges. Because looking at the boats at the dealer, all the malibus and Axis boats are available w/ the same wedge, and their hull shapes differ. If the same wedge produces a good result on these varied hulls, why would it not work on the B-52?

thanks, Matt

Chattwake · Posted: Mar 15, 2011 7:11 pm Post subject:

My advice is that is you want a different wake, buy a different boat. Don't try to fabricate something that will ultimately hurt the value of what you've got.

Blindside_137 · Posted: Mar 15, 2011 8:09 pm Post subject:

DonziMatt, I agree with the consenus here, I wouldnt do it.

but I do know there was an australian mastercraft xstar I think that had a retrofitted wedge you could try to search the internet for how they did it

Blindside_137 · Posted: Mar 15, 2011 8:11 pm Post subject:

http://www.mastercraft.com/teamtalk//showthread.php?t=29995

Nor*Cal · Ladies Man Joined: 12 Jan 2003 Posts: 9479 City: Sac

Wakebrad · Ladies Man Joined: 11 Dec 2003 Posts: 12257 City: Dallas

I remember when the wedge first came out, people were trying to retrofit them onto other boats. I remember an old Nautique that put a wedge on there.

If you can find a wedge, I say go for it. The install really shouldn't be that bad. With a plate across the transom, it should distribute the load fine, and it's not like the install is super complicated. For most inexperienced boat buyers, having a custom wedge would be a positive and not a negative. Some hardcore MBers might be off-put by it, but how may hardcore MBers are there?

I found the thread:
http://forums.wakeboarder.com/viewtopic.php?t=423&highlight=

McNasty · Outlaw Joined: 02 Jan 2010 Posts: 171

There is a company that makes a type wedge it is called a switchblade or something like that. I know supreme and centurions use them on there boats now. It is a bit expensive though.

Wakebrad · Ladies Man Joined: 11 Dec 2003 Posts: 12257 City: Dallas

McNasty, ah yes, I think I had seen that before

http://www.switchbladewake.com/howitworks.php

Brit Rider · Posted: Mar 16, 2011 1:51 pm Post subject:

DonziMatt, This sounds like one of those occaisions where whatever people say, you're going to do what you want regardless. Laughing

Therefore we may as well let you get on with it and provide help/support where required. It sounds like a fun project, and so long as you built the transom up plenty, the worst thing that'll happen is it breaks and you can to remove it/fill the bolt holes. Smile

I'm going on record right now as saying this is a bad idea, but I'll gladly help you as I'm curious to see A) what it will cost B) how long it takes and C) how the end result comes in.

OK, first things first, we need to find a wedge! Malibu won't sell you one so you'll need your son to put in a dummy claim at his dealership by taking the hull number off another Malibu in their inventory. Failing that you'll need to find a used one, but I don't see them coming up that often.

Once you have the wedge, you can study it to get a rough idea of the forces it is built to take. You'll need to match your transom to this. My personal opinion is that you'll want a minimum of 3/4" transom, with some load spreading backing plates inside covering a decent sized area... Adding the reinforcement won't be tough but gaining access will. I'd suggest you remove the engine to make this more straight forward. To reinforce, personally I'd go down the route of marine ply, encased on woven glass sheets. I'd grind the interior surface of the transom as flat as possible, then use 3m 5200 adhesive to bond the wood to the transom (use plenty!) then fibreglass over.

Mounting the wedge should be straight forward but you'll likely have to do a lot of lake testing to get the angle right and counter it effectively with ballast.

I'd say this is likely to run you a minimum of 1 weeks work all in.

Hope that helps...
Very Happy

Mike

ridininmd · Wakeboarder.Commie Joined: 16 Feb 2006 Posts: 1231

Most people I know with newer Bu's don't use the wedge anyway, it screws the wake shape up. And I'm sure it would screw up the otherwise really nice wake on your B-52. But do what you want, in the mean time show your kid this video and tell him to quit bitching about the wake behind a really nice boat and learn some technique. If he can't throw a trick behind your boat he can't throw it period. The money you will waste trying to pull this off would be a lot better spent sending him to a camp.

Without further adieu I give you, the infamous Byerly behind an outboard, on a directional board, with sandal bindings footage...
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8159472377447193948#