Re: Wakeboarding Boat Musts?!
Hydrofoil destroyed my steering/handling when I tried that...was removed wtihin a week. And I later learned that Smart Tabs will DESTROY a good wakeboarding wake. This is their only downfall as they do everything else very very well. I put the Smart Tabs on my last boat and the wake washed out so bad it just about disappeared. They were outstanding products for skiing and improving holeshot, also improving ride characteristics and didn't hurt my steering like the foil did. I was a big promoter of these products. But then we got into wakeboarding. For that they simply had to be kicked up out of the way, which unfortunately took away all their holeshot and lower-speed planing benefits.
Based on my experiences with both, before doing any Smart tabs or hydrofoil in seeking this improvement, I'd recommend anyone focus on the prop. 4 or 5 blades will make a big difference over 3. Generally speaking, they improve hole-shot and mid-speed handling/low speed planing. And you should aim for a lower pitch that allows the boat to reach or even very slightly exceed the max RPM at WOT.
For example: If your boat is rated at 4,400 to 4,800, you need to strive for that 4,800...and if your boat seems underpowered it wouldn't hurt to close in on even 4,900 to 5,000..with the understanding that you should rarely run at top speed to prevent damage or excessive wear.
Whereas if you're currently propped closer to 4,400 at top speed, you are very much overpropped for watersports, and are leaving a LOT of said watersports performance that your boat is probably capable of on the table.
People forget that these are almost ALL small block Chevys...their bottom ends can FAR exceed 5,000 rpms with NO damage quite happily (ask any hot-rodder or racer...they run these exact same blocks at 6,000+ rpms all day long), and the outdrives are generally rated to handle 5,000 rpms. So you won't hurt anything if you keep up with maintenance and overspin them a touch, but you will likely burn a little more gas. And I do NOT recommend running full throttle very often if you are propped this way.
