Wakeboard Boat

Key Features of a Wakeboard Boat

There are many types of boats available these days, but boats are usually made for specific reasons and sports. Wakeboarding is one of the sports done on the water. For the sport of wakeboarding, a person needs a big wake for gaining distance above the water. A wake is the wave that the boat puts off as it travels through the water. Gaining distance, or "air" as some people say, above the water allows the rider more time to do tricks, spins and flips and many other things. To make a big wake and boat better for wakeboarding, there are three main features a boat must have. These features include a deep keel in the design of the boat, a tower, and ballast system.

The design of the boat is the first main feature that helps the size of the wake. Wakeboard boats have a deep keel, a keel is the front of the boat where it "v's" together. The deeper the keel the more water the boat is able to displace as it moves through the water. Displacing more water helps to create a bigger wake. Another design feature of the boat is the wake plate. A wake plate is a trim tab on the back of the boat. The wake plate adjust the pitch of the nose of the boat as it moves through the water. By using the wake plate you are able pitch the nose of the boat further down into the water, and by doing this you force the keel deeper thus creating a bigger wake.

The second feature of the boat, is the ballast system. Ballast is the amount of water the boat displaces to stay afloat. A ballast system consist of a series of water tanks placed in the boat. Usually there are two tanks in the back of the boat on the left and right and one in the nose of the boat. These tanks hold around one hundred gallons of water a piece. On the bottom of the boat there are vents that allow pumps to suck in water from the river or lake to fill the tanks. After filling the tanks you have around twenty-one