Help with ballast.

[csuggs]

Ive been spoiled this year after riding behind a 2008 Supra, a 2008 Nautique and a 2012 Malibu Wakesetter MXZ. I've decided to add ballast to my ol' 86 Sunsport because I can't afford a newer boat right now. I have tons of room below the floor in the bow since we cut out the factory cooler that was there. I figure I can get 400lbs in the center/bow very easily. Aft I don't have as much room. I would like to keep the use of my ski locker and don't want ballast bags in the floor. What to do?

[wiatowski]

Ive been spoiled this year after riding behind a 2008 Supra, a 2008 Nautique and a 2012 Malibu Wakesetter MXZ. I've decided to add ballast to my ol' 86 Sunsport because I can't afford a newer boat right now. I have tons of room below the floor in the bow since we cut out the factory cooler that was there. I figure I can get 400lbs in the center/bow very easily. Aft I don't have as much room. I would like to keep the use of my ski locker and don't want ballast bags in the floor. What to do?
Use fat people..... hahaha jk... or am I?
I use metal weights 10,20,35 lbs. and I have a couple of tractor weights that are around 18"*x8x6 and they are 160lbs. I ran them the other day with 3 adults and 4 kids in the boat.... quite happy with the wake around knee high/ 2'. Have you adjusted your wakeplate?
I prefer metal over water cause the sacs take up to much room.
saw this on WakeWorld.... give you an idea at least. http://www.wakeworld.com/classifields/viewlisting.php?view=2722

[Hematoma]

Man thats gonna be a challenge. How about under the rear seat? I have a 400# in the ski locker then a 750# under rear seat and a 750# in bow. I can get a decent wake without filling the ski locker bag though. Not to many options if you are dead set on keeping the use of the ski locker. On a side note I keep all kinds of crap in our ski locker and still able to fill the bag.

[csuggs]

I used MBU's over the weekend (Mobil Ballast Units - aka friends) but you don't always have them on board and unless it's the same friends each time, the wake changes. I don't really want hard weights because I don't always want the ballast. Will adjusting the wake plate down make a difference? Will weighting the bow help if I continue to use MBU's in the back?

[Hematoma]

Use fat people..... hahaha jk... or am I?
I use metal weights 10,20,35 lbs. and I have a couple of tractor weights that are around 18"*x8x6 and they are 160lbs. I ran them the other day with 3 adults and 4 kids in the boat.... quite happy with the wake around knee high/ 2'. Have you adjusted your wakeplate?
I prefer metal over water cause the sacs take up to much room.
saw this on WakeWorld.... give you an idea at least. http://www.wakeworld.com/classifields/viewlisting.php?view=2722Hard weight is good for moving around but water is neutrally buoyant and weights will sink.

[chrisk]

Are you saying you don't want any sacs on the floor? I have a 370# bag under my rear seat, on the floor and around 400# between two bags up in the bow. Between that, a few friends, and a decently full gas tank I get a pretty solid wake. Also, if you have an adjustable wake plate, move it all the way up, that will let the back end sink into the water further.

Are you planning on plumbing this all in, or using hand-held pumps?

[sydneyACE]

You will want to adjust the wake-plate UP a little bit. Maybe about 1.5"-2.5" up from the "flush" posistion. ("Flush = Parallel to the bottom of the boat.) This will pull the back of the boat down into the water and give you a little bit steeper/bigger wake. If you want to put a bunch of weight in the front, you might want to adjust the plate "UP" even more to counteract the stuff up front.

This site has some great info about how to shape your wake:
http://www.wakemakers.com/shop-for-wakeboard-ballast/
Click on "Step 1"

Long story short, if you want your wake to be "steeper" put more weight in the back/wake plate "UP". If you want to to be "rampier" put more weight in the front. (I would still leave the wake-plate "UP" because it simulates a small amount of rear ballast.)

Sounds like space is limited in the back, so solid weights make more sense because they give you more weight without taking-up as much space as water. It sucks because you have to haul the weight back and forth to the lake and it's kind of a pain to take-out if you want to run without weight. I've got about 550#s of solid weight in the back of mine, but I kind-of like it because it takes some weight off the trailer-tongue and my truck rides level now.

I have been playing with mine a TON the past few weeks, so if you want any advice just ask.

[csuggs]

OK. So it sounds like from the article that I don't want too much ballast in the bow, although that is where I have the most room currently. It sounds like I may want it on either side of the engine for wakeboarding and on the aft corner for surfing.

Chris - I would eventually like to plumb it in permanently, but I don't want to go through the trouble of that until I determine that I have a solution that works. So I might start-out using hand-held pumps.

[wiatowski]

I would do what Travis is doing....I guess I'm in the process of doing the same.... experimenting with weight, see where you get the best shape for you, and then looking at the options to see what you can do to hide it, or suit your needs....
Quite frankly though I'm super happy with my stock weight, and just have been tinkering with the plate. In the case of wakeboarding size doesn't matter so much as learning the skills. Watch this video that was posted on WakeWorld a couple of weeks ago :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DupkCGXnhQU&feature=gv

[wiatowski]

Hard weight is good for moving around but water is neutrally buoyant and weights will sink.
agreed but hard weight is good for experimenting.... didn't want to ignore this good and valid point.

[csuggs]

Thanks for all the input guys. I don't wakeboard too much, but my son does and he really likes the SHAPE of our wake with no ballast. He has ridden behind several newer boats and even though they have much larger wakes, he really does like ours. And he's doing some pretty good riding . . . landing more tricks all the time. But if I can get the wake a little bigger without changing the shape, getting him in the air a little higher will allow him to do a little more. In addition, we have started learning to surf, so I want to have some ballast for surf.

I measured the areas in my boat this morning:
1. I can fit a Fly High W704 Sac in the ski locker = 370lbs
2. I can fit a Fly High W713 Sac in the front center just forward of the driver = 400lbs
3. I can fit another W713 Sac in the side of the engine (this is direct drive) for surfing = another 400lbs.

I'm thinking that maybe having 370lbs in the back and 400lbs in the bow will give me some weight for a bigger wake without changing the shape too much . . . what do you think?
Then the additional 400lb sac on the side of the engine would get used only for surfing. I cannot find a sac to fit under my rear seat.

[chrisk]

Csuggs, all of those numbers are good. You will be pleased with the results. However, I don't know how your rear seat is built after your rebuild but there are ways to get the same sac you've quoted for your ski locker, underneath that seat. That's what I do, as well as others I've seen. Before I installed it my seat was designed with a middle support that would get in the way of the sac. So, I had to cut that out and redesign the seat support a little bit but it wasn't hard at all. Now that sac gets filled and emptied without a lot of people even noticing, and I don't lose the use of my ski locker.

[csuggs]

Csuggs, all of those numbers are good. You will be pleased with the results. However, I don't know how your rear seat is built after your rebuild but there are ways to get the same sac you've quoted for your ski locker, underneath that seat. That's what I do, as well as others I've seen. Before I installed it my seat was designed with a middle support that would get in the way of the sac. So, I had to cut that out and redesign the seat support a little bit but it wasn't hard at all. Now that sac gets filled and emptied without a lot of people even noticing, and I don't lose the use of my ski locker.

I looked at that. I also have a center support. I thought that if I could get two sacs to fit under the seats (one on each side) then I could fill either or both, depending on if I was surfing or wakeboarding. But I haven't found any that size - at least not by Fly High. Each side is about 8"D x 12"W x 30"L

Clint

[Okie Boarder]

Supras do tend to like front weight from what I've seen. Here's what I have and maybe it will give you some ideas. I have two of the factory Moomba/Supra bags that are 400#. IIRC they are 10x16x70. I also have an old launch pad bag that is 17" round by around 40"...somewhere around 350#. The way I have it set up is I have the 400# bags in the back, one in the ski locker and one under the rear seat (had to rebuild the rear seat to accomodate it). The 350# is up front under the cooler down in the bilge. I also used to run a 250# bag on the floor in front of the motor, but added some hard weight in the bow storage to compensate for that this year. This amount of weight and its placement gives me a pretty nice wake.