R8 Surf 1st Captain's Report

[Soonerfan]

This was our first full weekend working our new ride with a full load and doing watersports. I will give some of my impressions of my 2022 R8S. I previously had a 2018 R7S for 4 seasons prior to ordering the R8S. We purchased the R8S to use and work hard every weekend with skiing, surfing, tubing, wakeboarding, and a lot of time spent swimming and getting in and out of the boat. We didn’t pick out this boat to cruise back and forth from yacht club’s to eat and socialize although occasionally we will cruise long distance across the lake to meet friends and eat. I say this as I believe it is important to purchase a boat based on the way you intend to utilize it.

The helm is a major upgrade and having the 2 large Garmins is a huge plus. Having the surf, media, and lighting controls integrated is also a plus. The 2 down sides of the helm for me were the platinum head unit and not having any type of indicator lights for the trim tabs. I took care of the head unit issue by upgrading it to a Fusion RA770 with 4 zones vs. the 3 zone RA670 that came with the boat. This allowed me to control the Rev 10’s that I added on their own zone and still utilize the integrated controls in the Garmin. I have not found a work a round for the trim tabs and this is disappointing as I can’t think of a boat that I have been in with trim tabs that didn’t let you know somehow the position of the tabs.

I ordered the boat with the Marine Mat vs. the Sea Grass in my prior boat. I think the sea grass is visually more pleasing but for the way we use our boat the marine mat is more practical and I think it was a good move for us. No more having to unsnap the sea grass and pull it out to dry every weekend which I enjoy. We went with the fresco chill interior and after one weekend I love it. Easy to clean, soft, comfortable, and it looks really good. Overall, the interior is very similar but there were some subtle changes such as relocating the Sub’s, a lift pull strap for the forward port seat with hinges, cup holders designed for large Yeti’s, power rear dropdown swim step, power captains chair, a slightly better trash can on the rear starboard, larger rear lounger, upgraded hydraulic arms on the engine hatch, zippered pouches in the canvas top for storage, and lights in the storage compartments.

I know this is subjective but I feel like the boat feels more solid than my R7S. It’s hard to explain but it just feels tighter than my R7S. It could be the additional weight or the trim tabs but it rides nice and smooth. I will say that I think the ballast and the engine noise is a little louder in the R8S vs. the R7S.

The exterior of the R8S looks nice but IMO but the lines are not as clean as my R7S. The new extended (side to side) swim platform is nice. The exterior of the R8S will be more difficult to clean as it has more nooks and crannies due to the swim platform and chrome graphic pieces to clean in and around.

Most of the above is positive but I do have some cons associated with the boat as well. The tower is taller which is nice in the boat but also makes it more difficult to get a rope on top as well as loading and locking surfboards up top. Cruising along at 30mph we lost one of the fancy chrome pieces on the port side near the rear. Looks like it was held on with just a little bit of some type of black putty.

The surf wake on this boat is insane compared to the R7S. It is longer and taller with a lot more push from the back to the front. Something I have to be careful with is shutting the boat down when a surfer falls as the wave will wash all the way into the boat soaking anything on the floor if you are not careful. I never had this problem with my R7 and I think is a combination of the additional weight and larger wave.

My biggest concern that I am hoping someone else here may have some feedback on is the ability to plane when loaded. My R7S, with the 380, fully loaded ballasts, 12 people, heavy ice chests, completely loaded down would plane almost immediately. I ordered this one with the 430 primarily due to the added weight of the boat I thought it would help and yes I had read that the plane time with the 430 was slightly longer than with the 380. We had no issues surfing. However, with 8 people, fully loaded ballasts, a couple of ice chests, full tank of gas, speed control set to 21mph, and a 200 pound wake boarder I could not get the boat to fully plane and get to full speed. It had no problem pulling him up but just sat around 13mpg struggling to try to plane and get to speed. I had to empty the ballasts to get him up to speed. Similarly, when just loaded with the above and even put into performance mode it might take 30-45 seconds just to get on plane. Again, if you empty the ballasts it wasn’t much of an issue. This is very concerning to me as I know we will have many weekends with another 1200+ pounds in the boat. Surfing isn’t the issue as I can adjust ballast fill for this. My big concern is the ability to fly from surfing to wakeboarding to tubing to just being able to get up and go from one place to another without having to empty ballasts. I am curious to see if it is just my boat or if anyone else has experienced this with the R8S.

I apologize to anyone that has made it this far as I know it was a long read. We had a great weekend and the boat was everything I hoped for with the exception of plane time. I just wanted to give my first impressions after a great weekend on the boat. If anyone has any question’s I will do my best to answer them.

[VTENGR]

Is taking out the sea grass after every weekend just an abundance of caution? I'm new to boating, but haven't been taking out my sea grass - I would say it's about 90% dry by the time I cover my boat - no issues so far.

[Soonerfan]

Is taking out the sea grass after every weekend just an abundance of caution? I'm new to boating, but haven't been taking out my sea grass - I would say it's about 90% dry by the time I cover my boat - no issues so far.

Probably partially as an abundance of caution as it was usually pretty damp when we would cover the boat. I didn't want mold to start growing due to lots of water and very little air circulation under the cover. I also put a small de-humidifier under my cover to help remove any moisture. The only real issue with mold I had was on the pop up rumble seat in the back. We would dry it off but it wouldn't stay propped up very far under the mooring cover and would grow mold that was hard to get cleaned off the vinyl. I would say if you look under your see grass and see no mold then everything is okay.

[VTENGR]

Is taking out the sea grass after every weekend just an abundance of caution? I'm new to boating, but haven't been taking out my sea grass - I would say it's about 90% dry by the time I cover my boat - no issues so far.

Probably partially as an abundance of caution as it was usually pretty damp when we would cover the boat. I didn't want mold to start growing due to lots of water and very little air circulation under the cover. I also put a small de-humidifier under my cover to help remove any moisture. The only real issue with mold I had was on the pop up rumble seat in the back. We would dry it off but it wouldn't stay propped up very far under the mooring cover and would grow mold that was hard to get cleaned off the vinyl. I would say if you look under your see grass and see no mold then everything is okay.

Thanks!

[stifflkd]

Did Cobalt say why the trim tabs do not have indicators. States that they come with it in the options chart.

[Soonerfan]

Did Cobalt say why the trim tabs do not have indicators. States that they come with it in the options chart.

No, my dealer even inquired and they just told him they aren't on the surf model. On my option sheet for my build it just says "trim tabs w/o autoglide", nothing about indicators.

[dsthomas]

So the trim tab indicators are offered on the non surf models but not on the Surf models, My R8S has the tabs and yes I wish I had some indicators. I've asked my dealer and they have said cobalts response had somthing to do with performance mode on the surf models but no other explanation was given.

Soonerfan, great write up. I agree with everything you said. I don't have expierience with mine loaded down as we are just four in our family. However, I do know from my friends that have dedicated surf boats that they can't get up on plane with full ballast period. So I'm thinking that my not be a reasonalbe expectation with the new hull design on the R8S.... Witht R7 there was less ballast and the thing starts out all ready weighing less. On the whole I love mine, I do think the 3,5,7's have cleaner lines but the wave my R8 throws makes any sacrifice worth it I think.

The only thing that we don't like is the that the wave takes longer to set up on the R8S. The R7S the wave formed instantly. The new models the tabs deploy once the throttle goes down but when you slow down they come back in. It make manuvering back around to the surfer much easer on the R8, but it takes a good 20 30 seconds for the wave to form once you get up.

[Big Block Power]

I guess you could try dropping a pitch on the props to see if that helps.

[stifflkd]

Did Cobalt say why the trim tabs do not have indicators. States that they come with it in the options chart.

No, my dealer even inquired and they just told him they aren't on the surf model. On my option sheet for my build it just says "trim tabs w/o autoglide", nothing about indicators.

You are right. I was looking at the non-Surf model. It didn't dawn on me that would make a difference but I guess it does.

[Soonerfan]

So the trim tab indicators are offered on the non surf models but not on the Surf models, My R8S has the tabs and yes I wish I had some indicators. I've asked my dealer and they have said cobalts response had somthing to do with performance mode on the surf models but no other explanation was given.

Soonerfan, great write up. I agree with everything you said. I don't have expierience with mine loaded down as we are just four in our family. However, I do know from my friends that have dedicated surf boats that they can't get up on plane with full ballast period. So I'm thinking that my not be a reasonalbe expectation with the new hull design on the R8S.... Witht R7 there was less ballast and the thing starts out all ready weighing less. On the whole I love mine, I do think the 3,5,7's have cleaner lines but the wave my R8 throws makes any sacrifice worth it I think.

The only thing that we don't like is the that the wave takes longer to set up on the R8S. The R7S the wave formed instantly. The new models the tabs deploy once the throttle goes down but when you slow down they come back in. It make manuvering back around to the surfer much easer on the R8, but it takes a good 20 30 seconds for the wave to form once you get up.

Yes, I forgot to mention the delay in the wake forming compared to the R7S due to exactly what you mentioned but lookout when it does develop "it's Huge". After writing this up I was thinking a similar thought that it may not be reasonable as well when fully loaded. I will experimenting with less to no water in the tanks when we have large loads and see how the wake looks. I am guessing it will be just as good. One of my main complaints with the R7S was that the wake was weak with a small load and got better the more people and load I had in the boat.

[Soonerfan]

I guess you could try dropping a pitch on the props to see if that helps.

I thought about this as well. As we have several big weekends coming up with lots for friends and family I will be experimenting with the amount of water in the tanks before shelling out the bucks to change the pitch.

[BobRae99]

The only thing that we don't like is the that the wave takes longer to set up on the R8S. The R7S the wave formed instantly. The new models the tabs deploy once the throttle goes down but when you slow down they come back in. It make manuvering back around to the surfer much easer on the R8, but it takes a good 20 30 seconds for the wave to form once you get up.

We surf behind a Centurion dedicated surf boat. While boat does get up on plane, it typically takes 30 seconds + for the surf wave to clean up.

[mathews@rsg1.net]

I do have small delay in getting on plane but I have the 380. I did see a surf model with surf gate and trim tabs combo.


reading you post post I had R7 Surf, and agree with your comment the R8 Surf just feels right Heavier etc. The the electronics are Glitchy if it does not boot up right then the garmin controls are delayed or not existent and you have too start over. The surf Gates on the malibu can be re calibrated I am l looking for this options via the garmin controls. The first time I used the gate the Clevis pin safety catch got wedged between the gate an actuator and shut off the system. Happened on both gate the first time out. I was able to reach in and rotate it out. THere is a lack of operator information on the surf system with cobalt.

[AsLan7]

I do have small delay in getting on plane but I have the 380. I did see a surf model with surf gate and trim tabs combo.


reading you post post I had R7 Surf, and agree with your comment the R8 Surf just feels right Heavier etc. The the electronics are Glitchy if it does not boot up right then the garmin controls are delayed or not existent and you have too start over. The surf Gates on the malibu can be re calibrated I am l looking for this options via the garmin controls. The first time I used the gate the Clevis pin safety catch got wedged between the gate an actuator and shut off the system. Happened on both gate the first time out. I was able to reach in and rotate it out. THere is a lack of operator information on the surf system with cobalt.

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So glad you found us M@rsg1.

Thanks for the contribution.

Any pics of your R?

And welcome aboard mate!

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[mathews@rsg1.net]

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