Axis Wakeboard Boat Forum

Alright guys please tell me what I am missing. Read a ton of threads on the topic and I'm still at a loss.

2016 A22 won't plane out at wakeboard speeds with rear-soft ballast any more than 1/2 full (only 500lb rear sacks so can't put more than 250lb in the rears if I want it to plane). All hard tanks full and bow sack full. No wedge. I even had the fiancé drive and climbed my 250lb self all the way forward as humanly possible. No help

Nor will it get above 10.7mph to surf with all tanks full - no wedge

410hp motor and I have tried both the 2419 and OJ 985 props to no avail. I feel like I am all tapped out in the prop arena.

I'm super frustrated given that I opted for a new boat just because of the motor and my altitude. I am running at 5300' but with some of the weights that I have heard you guys are running to wakeboard seems that my power can't be that far down due to the altitude? Isn't the computer compensating for this lack of air a good bit?

Does this sound right? What should I be trying?




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A couple of questions and a couple thoughts.

1) How many hours do you have on the new boat?
2)Can you confirm what your V-Drive ratio is on the 2016? There should be a tag on the transmission. The 2015 had a 1.48:1 ratio and the 350/450's had a 1.72:1 ratio. Not sure if any changes in 2016.

The elevation is robbing HP and the extra you are producing with the 409 is not producing enough torque through the vdrive. You may find you need more prop if it can physically fit.

HP Loss = (elevation x 0.03 x horsepower @ sea level)/1000
409hp @ sea level
5300' absl = (409-65.03) 343.97hp


You may try your current setup and borrow another fat sac, fill it and put on top of bow seats and see if you can plane or exceed 10.7 surfing. The extra bow weight may change the boat/prop angle enough to get you some better results.

Let us know what you find.

Thanks for the reply. I will check the Trans ratio today but assume things are as they were in 15 with the ratios.

If I remember right when I spoke with Eric at OJ he told me the ratio changes were necessary on the 350 and 450 motors due to their shaft angle being shallower than the 410 or something along those lines?

As I understand it I am all but out of prop options. The OJ 985 and ACME 2914 I have are the most aggressive things for it that will fit I believe?

I have just under 20hrs and have followed the break in period that my dealer suggested and are, for the most part, in alignment with the factory recs. No heavy loading, until recently and only for short runs and testing (no big long surf sessions). Similar to what the dealer did on my demo.

I have yet to have any more than 3 people in the boat but today will have a larger crew so I will experiment with moving human ballast around and see what that produces.

Thank you for the calculation on altitude which unfortunately throws me even further off given that if essentially altitude is knocking down my power to around the 350hp range shouldn't I be able to push around what the guys with that 350 HP motor can at sea level? I know I have seen some guys on here with much less prop and the 350 pushing around 4000-5000 lbs.

Know the input is appreciated.


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I think I remember reading there was little to no advantage to going to the 409 over the 350 in these boats as you lose the gearing advantage you have with the 350.

Again, my dumbed down understanding was the 350/1.72 gearing combo was very similar to the 409/1.48 gearing combo and so the only advantage you get is when you step up to the 450/1.72 gearing combo.

And speaking to the 350 engine setup at 5000' elevation....I've read about multiple people having issues in not being able to push good weight. To be honest I think you may be SOL...if you need that much weight to wakeboard. I'd try another 500lbs on the bow seat....it should help you be able to plane out.

As far as surfing speeds....most people go slower than 10.7 mph so I don't see an issue there except the fact that you're likely very high in RPM's.

I hope you get it figured out...no worse feeling, been there myself.

On paper there might be little advantage but go drive both and you will see the difference..

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Fair enough. I never went that far and was blunt in the fact that I literally had read somewhere the slight/negligible difference.... However I'm at 1000' elevation and have no issues pushing weight with my 'lil 350. Best wishes to this guy!

The main difference I noticed was getting around unloaded. For surfing not a big difference to me but anything over 20mph I could tell the difference. My next boat will have the 450hp motor for sure though.

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And I'm not knocking the 350 at all I was very impressed with it, I would have thought about one but the boat I liked the colors on had the 409..

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I run the 350 in my 16' T23 with the OJ 945. Ballast is around 4,500 but I'm only at about 500 feet elevation. No Issues at all.


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The 350's with less prop, but close to what you are running would be better all else being equal. The gear ratio is a lot bigger deal than most consider...especially at elevation. It may be worth calls to Acme and OJ to discuss what they recommend for the next step.

What does your dealer have to say? What kind of RPM's are you at when fully loaded and surfing at 10.7?