Cobaltchat.com

These really are just annoying little quirks that are frustrating as on operator and I will work them out over time. I hope Cobalt would appreciate the input and maybe make some of those changes in upcoming models.
I'm not the know all of water sports, this is my opinion and what I have found to work for me and my family. Most guests won't even realize these are issues until I bring them to there attention.
Other than those things this boat is a joy to operate and is beautiful. Mostly the water not splashing over the bow or having to slow to 5 mph to cross a wake, or burning 3/4 tank of fuel on a 40 min cruise. All issues with a dedicated wake boat of certain manufacturers.

Wedgehead wrote: Tue Jul 16, 2019 7:44 pm Wake board racks instead of surf racks, standard Roswell rack only will hold 1 surf board each and bungee will not reach to secure.
No Flush mounted cleats, the cleats grab ropes all day long. And the the grab rail around swim deck has opening on the sides that grab ropes also.
Tanks leak down due to siphoning, no vacuum break in the lines to prevent that.
Pump control icons are super small and can not hit precise enough when bouncing in the water to start or stop pumps.
No storage whatsoever for ropes or jackets on the R3.
You have to be 7+ ft to attach rope to tower tow point, with out standing on seats.
Duo prop water bubble will flip board over surfers head if the surfer is not far enough to the outside of the boats sides when starting. Which is almost impossible to achieve most of the time.
Have to trim down to 15 percent to prevent, then back to 43 to 47 percent to create surfable wave.
Not having an engine kill on dash is really frustrating and dangerous, because short cut is to leave engine running which is not ideal.
These issues you really wouldn't know until you spend a good amount of time in the boat.

Glad you are enjoying it for the most part. I had a couple comments related to this post.
The flush mounted cleats aren't as strong as standard cleats and can wear and break overtime which is why they don't use them, though as you point out they are more convenient for not getting tangled.

Have you looked at the option for "Surf Tow Ball (2)-Folding Arch only"? I use them and they are great and solve three or four of your issues. Since they are off the side of the boat people are a lot less likely to get caught up in the prop wash/bubbles and thus you don't have to trim up and down so much. Also you no longer have to be 7' to put the rope on and since the rope attaches on the outside of the tower it rarely gets caught up in the cleats, though it does happen occasionally.

I always kill the engine when people get in or out of the water and flip it to off then back on to save the Gramins from cutting off, then just start the engine when engaged. I agree that this doesn't seem intuitive or the right way to wire it. The garmins should come on in the accessory position also IMO.

Storage was definitely a concern of mine which is why I ended up with the R7 not the R5. I have plenty in the R7 especially since the ski storage is open. (sorry this doesn't really help you)

All great points and appreciate the info and will try all. We went with the R3 because we own a lake house with a huge dock and do not spend the entire day on the boat, we go in and out throughout the day with smaller groups. Hence the smaller boat, the 7 is more my speed and size I'm comfortable with but couldn't see spending and additional 60k.
Maybe the next one.

Wedgehead wrote: Tue Jul 16, 2019 7:44 pm Wake board racks instead of surf racks, standard Roswell rack only will hold 1 surf board each and bungee will not reach to secure.
No Flush mounted cleats, the cleats grab ropes all day long. And the the grab rail around swim deck has opening on the sides that grab ropes also.
Tanks leak down due to siphoning, no vacuum break in the lines to prevent that.
Pump control icons are super small and can not hit precise enough when bouncing in the water to start or stop pumps.
No storage whatsoever for ropes or jackets on the R3.
You have to be 7+ ft to attach rope to tower tow point, with out standing on seats.
Duo prop water bubble will flip board over surfers head if the surfer is not far enough to the outside of the boats sides when starting. Which is almost impossible to achieve most of the time.
Have to trim down to 15 percent to prevent, then back to 43 to 47 percent to create surfable wave.
Not having an engine kill on dash is really frustrating and dangerous, because short cut is to leave engine running which is not ideal.
These issues you really wouldn't know until you spend a good amount of time in the boat.

I hope Cobalt is listening!!! these are all the little details that they need to pay attention to!

Lockey14s wrote: Wed Jul 17, 2019 12:13 pm

Wedgehead wrote: Tue Jul 16, 2019 7:44 pm Wake board racks instead of surf racks, standard Roswell rack only will hold 1 surf board each and bungee will not reach to secure.
No Flush mounted cleats, the cleats grab ropes all day long. And the the grab rail around swim deck has opening on the sides that grab ropes also.
Tanks leak down due to siphoning, no vacuum break in the lines to prevent that.
Pump control icons are super small and can not hit precise enough when bouncing in the water to start or stop pumps.
No storage whatsoever for ropes or jackets on the R3.
You have to be 7+ ft to attach rope to tower tow point, with out standing on seats.
Duo prop water bubble will flip board over surfers head if the surfer is not far enough to the outside of the boats sides when starting. Which is almost impossible to achieve most of the time.
Have to trim down to 15 percent to prevent, then back to 43 to 47 percent to create surfable wave.
Not having an engine kill on dash is really frustrating and dangerous, because short cut is to leave engine running which is not ideal.
These issues you really wouldn't know until you spend a good amount of time in the boat.

I hope Cobalt is listening!!! these are all the little details that they need to pay attention to!

unfortunately that is the problem with buying the first run of a newer style boat. You get to enjoy the pitfalls. They can do all the R&D they want but until the every day consumer starts to use it you find the nuances. Not making excuses by any means...

I believe this is the 4th or 5th year of the WSS edition R3's. I know for sure it was 2017 when tabs and ballasts were introduced. WSS has been around awhile. First year for full glass dash. These simple bugs would be worked out by now if they were going to do anything about it.

Wedgehead wrote: Tue Jul 16, 2019 7:44 pm
No storage whatsoever for ropes or jackets on the R3.

I found plenty of storage space forward of both cockpit consoles under the lift up bow seats. Is this place missing on the R3 Surf?

No those compartments are still there in the surf edition. Just not easy to organize or access those areas when you have passengers aboard. I think they should eliminate the "built in coolers" that I would never use as such and make them better storage areas. There is so much unused space under those areas down to the hull of the boat.

I think some of your comments can be easily addressed, but most probably not. I always looked at the WSS and now surf models as the standard runabouts with wakeboard or surf features. I'm not really sure that Cobalt intended them to be as full featured or work as well as a full blown surf boat. I think they are made for the folks that want to do those watersports but maintain that runabout ride and features. So there's concessions to be made both ways when you do that.

I think the garmin screen thing should be an easy fix. Not sure how, but that bottom time would be painful.

I would not want the popup cleats either. I have heard about massive failures on those. If it were me I would look into getting some covers 3D printed that just slide over the cleats and prevent ropes from catching. Surely that's a thing these days that is possible.

The rear stainless rail grabbing ropes is always going to be there. I've had the issue with tubing ropes on our rear deck, and also every time I run a power cord to charge. Unless they make the stainless rail go all the way flush there's the issue at hand.

I'm not sure about your comments on the storage for jackets and ropes. Sounds like you don't want to use the massive space under both lift up front seats, but that's what they are designed for. That's probably 50% of the storage on my 232, and where all life jackets and floatables go. I do have a rear swim pad wet storage bin though where I store tow ropes and it is nice. I don't have to worry about wet ropes forever as it drains.

Stick with it. I'm sure cobalt will make some changes and if you work with your dealer you will get some of the small nuances covered. It may not be free but with money anything is possible.

Wedgehead wrote: Wed Jul 31, 2019 6:44 am No those compartments are still there in the surf edition. Just not easy to organize or access those areas when you have passengers aboard. I think they should eliminate the "built in coolers" that I would never use as such and make them better storage areas. There is so much unused space under those areas down to the hull of the boat.

We use our coolers to hold all of our towels. I would agree get rid of them. Most bring on there own coolers. Yt used his this last weekend and they worked great for him. I don't have any storage issues on mine. Yes people have to get up. Would more be better sure.

Big Block Power wrote: Wed Jul 31, 2019 12:30 pm

Wedgehead wrote: Wed Jul 31, 2019 6:44 am No those compartments are still there in the surf edition. Just not easy to organize or access those areas when you have passengers aboard. I think they should eliminate the "built in coolers" that I would never use as such and make them better storage areas. There is so much unused space under those areas down to the hull of the boat.

We use our coolers to hold all of our towels. I would agree get rid of them. Most bring on there own coolers. Yt used his this last weekend and they worked great for him. I don't have any storage issues on mine. Yes people have to get up. Would more be better sure.

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Funny how folks use their boats. I honestly cannot remember the last time we brought a cooler onto our boat. The self-draining coolers work great for our drinks....as does the swim platform cooler with the drain closed.

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AsLan7 wrote: Wed Jul 31, 2019 7:25 pm

Big Block Power wrote: Wed Jul 31, 2019 12:30 pm

Wedgehead wrote: Wed Jul 31, 2019 6:44 am No those compartments are still there in the surf edition. Just not easy to organize or access those areas when you have passengers aboard. I think they should eliminate the "built in coolers" that I would never use as such and make them better storage areas. There is so much unused space under those areas down to the hull of the boat.

We use our coolers to hold all of our towels. I would agree get rid of them. Most bring on there own coolers. Yt used his this last weekend and they worked great for him. I don't have any storage issues on mine. Yes people have to get up. Would more be better sure.

.
Funny how folks use their boats. I honestly cannot remember the last time we brought a cooler onto our boat. The self-draining coolers work great for our drinks....as does the swim platform cooler with the drain closed.

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Oh so true. Maybe it's because my brother lives on the lake and we bring more eats and snacks than drinks. I guess if we drank more on the boat we would use them. Yts kept ice for 2 days.

AsLan7 wrote: Wed Jul 31, 2019 7:25 pm Funny how folks use their boats. I honestly cannot remember the last time we brought a cooler onto our boat. The self-draining coolers work great for our drinks....as does the swim platform cooler with the drain closed.

Agree. The built-in cooler is one of my favorite features. I hate having a cooler floating around in the seating area - it's always in the way.

- Mark

Don't use my built-in cooler. Mine drains into the bilge and pulling the plug is a pain on the lift. Use a large soft side cooler instead. Put it in the cooler and I'm water free in the bilge. Works fine.

I would think most that use those coolers trailer there boats and it makes sense to build your cooler at home or the gas station right on the boat. We build coolers up at the house and take them down to the dock, when we go out on the boat we bring a cooler with us. That's not so funny, just convenient.