Wakesurf Ballast on Older Boats

[tomelenbaas]

I have an '88 Mariah which has a lower freeboard than some of the other Supras of that era.

By design, the Mariah has a very small, flat wake. I'm trying to get a wake to the point where we can wakesurf without having to continually hold onto the rope. I've reinforced and rebuilt the ski locker to hold a 350 sac, and that helps. But we still can't get enough of a wake to be able to let go of the tow rope.

Does anybody have any suggestions for how to configure some fat sacs to get a better wake on the Mariah?

The other question I have is how much ballast can these boats handle? My boat has a Coast Guard rating of only about 1200 lbs. including people and gear.

Thanks for any suggestions and input.

[jet]

Dude, my boat (a comp) is way smaller than yours and and I've had 3-4 people and 1600 lbs in mine. Don't pay attention to the rating. And you need 500-800 lbs of side weight not rear weight and then your friends need to sit on the fat sac side also. If any of your weight or people is touching the center line of your boat Its hurting the surf wake. My buddys SSV 23' NICE surf wake while a rider is surfing and walk to the non weighted side..it starts to wash out the wake, Its that sensitive. Jet

[87SunSportMikeyD]

Jet has pics of surfing behind his comp, post those up dude!

If you can fit the 350# sac in the rear locker (nice job!! thats what I do too), the only other sac you would need to surf would be a 750# sac that you put on the floor of your surf side. It doesn't have to be all the way full. If that seems like too much you could try a 400# sac but I would just get one 750.

I ALWAYS weight the rear on both sides (doesn't have to be a ton), and then add weight to one side. This makes for a meatier wave. Keep it all in the rear of the boat unless you get pushed into the transom of the boat a lot. If so add a bit in the bow. Prolly not needed for your boat. All passengers to one side and in the rear. Don't let one person sit in the 'fat buddy' seat all day, that is the only hot spot for co2. Let me know if you guys are interested in a great study on co2 w/ and w/o Fresh air exhaust.

[tomelenbaas]

Thanks for the input, and yes, I am interested in the co2 study.

[87SunSportMikeyD]

Study is GREAT done with a CO2 monitoring device, both with and without fresh air exhaust. Love this site, still new

http://wake9.com/

[dusty2221]

Study is GREAT done with a CO2 monitoring device, both with and without fresh air exhaust. Love this site, still new

http://wake9.com/

Nice link!

[87SunSportMikeyD]

It is good, huh? I think I will post it in a new thread if yall dont mind. Gotta keep the boards active! :)

[87SunSportMikeyD]

Umm I hope you found the video article okay, that link didn't lead straight to it. Here is a link right to the correct spot.

http://wake9.com/blogs/blog/category/news/page/3/