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Wake sports have evolved a lot over the past 20 years. From digital displays, GPS speed control, wake size and shape control with the touch of a button and even live cameras to watch the rider in tow in real time, today's wake boats are modern marvels of technology and features that make driving the boat or surfing behind it an absolute pleasure.

But what if you don't have $300,000 for a brand new, top of the line wake boat? Well there are some basics that all of these boats have in common and that can be achieved in much older boats and for a lot less money. The two most important aspects are wake size and wake shape.

Surfing behind the boat without a rope requires a big wake. The larger the rider, the larger the wake that's required.

We'll use our 2009 Nautique 216v wake boat as an example. In 2009, wake surfing wasn't yet a thing - wakeboarding was popular. So this boat was outfitted with two rear hard tank ballasts and one center hard tank ballast, adding about 1,000 lbs. of weight to a boat that already weights 4,500 lbs, and made a very generous sized wake that was great for wakeboarding. When we first started surfing behind it, the wake was only large enough for our kids to surf who at the time were in their late tweens and early teens. It also needed a wake shaper (more on that below).

So we added additional ballasts, known as "piggy-back" ballasts. These are additional bags that you place on top of the hard tanks which are then filled and drained with the same pumps and controls as the original ballasts. This makes using them VERY convenient. And we chose a size that we thought would add enough weight for the larger wake, but also preserve room for us to continue to use the ski and storage lockers while on the boat. They were 400 lbs. each in the rear and 370 lbs. in the center ski locker, making the total ballast in the boat now capable of about 2,200 lbs.

This amount of weight (plus the wake shaper below), for this boat, is now enough for kids or teens to do whatever they want on surfboard, and for larger adults to be able to surf comfortably as well. I could go larger if I were more serious, but for me and my typical passengers this is plenty. And we value the storage space that we still have in the cabin. The picture to the left shows the inside of the lockers with gear on top of the empty piggy-back ballasts - tubes, ropes, multiple boards, etc.

Size isn't the only factor - the shape of the wake is also important. A good surfing wake curls like the waves in the ocean. It's this shape that creates a "push" behind the rider, keeping the rider behind the boat without a rope and without slipping over the top of the wake and falling into the water. Newer boats (early 2010's and beyond) have wake shaping "surf tabs" built into the stern section of the hull to do this. Older boats (2000's and earlier) can be outfitted with an aftermarket "wake shaper" to accomplish the same thing.

When a boat travels forward, water is displaced around the hull and meets back together behind the boat, forming the triangular wake shape that all boaters are familiar with. A wake shaper is a small device that is placed on the side of the boat near the stern and just below the surface of the water. When the boat travels forward with a wake shaper in use, turbulence is created in the water on the side with the wake shaper. This turbulence results in a drop in water pressure, which in turn causes the opposite side of the wake to move more toward the middle and create the nice curl shape that is required for surfing. Using a wake shaper for the first time is like watching a magic trick!

There are many different models of wake shaper on the market. Most perform similarly, and the most important part is making sure it will secure effectively to your boat's hull shape. They use suction cups to mount, which work quite well. But whether the wake shaper would be best with two cups or three or some other number depends a lot on the shape of the hull near where it should be mounted.