Ballast in ski locker?

[devovino]

So I just have a few questions, I purchased 4 sacks yesterday 2 fat buddies which weigh about 250 a piece I plan on putting under my rear seat, and two phat sacks called "side saddles" there supposed to run on either side of the motor. My question pertains to the side saddle bags, I would like to put them in the rear ski locker, but am a little concerned that over 500 lbs would be to much for the fiberglass locker, I have had the locker out and it does not seem overly sturdy, and probably not intended to hold that kinda weight, anybody that has weight in their rear ski locker ever have a problem with this?
And secondly, I have cut off my fenders to repaint them, and there is carpet on the back of the fenders, on the boat side. I want to ride tomorrow but have not had a chance to re-weld the fenders back on, is the carpeted side of the fenders designed to be a rub/guide point for the boat when re-trailoring it? Am I going to run into problems when I try to re-load the boat back on without these carpeted fenders? Thanks Devon

[cmtaylor777]

I have ran a 650 lb in my ski locker with no problem. I haven't ever really looked to see if its not holding it properly but like I said, i haven't had a problem.

[Salty87]

i'd stick some 2x4's between the gas tank and locker for a little extra support. wouldn't be a fun fix if it fell on the tank.

re:fenders....tough call. take it really slow and you should be ok. get off to the side too much and you might have some patching to do.

[devovino]

So I just ended up borrowing our welder from my fire station, and welded the fenders back on, fixed that problem.
I also was out with two budddies yesterday, we did some surfing/ wakeskating good times! We ended up pumping up the two wake buddies in the ski locker, they are about 500 LBS in the rear ski locker, no problems there ( that I know of...) and we had one side saddle bag about 300 lbs on the rear seat, and one side saddle bag on the floor, passenger side, so over a 1000 lbs of ballast in the rear, it made for a nice wake, not enough however to be able to allow us to surf to wake without the rope, close but not enough, so back to the proverbial drawing board, its kinda a science but a good time regardless. Boat ran like a champ, no issues a few little leaks though, one from a hose I pulled off to change my impeller that was not leaking before I pulled it off. Another from the dripless seal around the prop shaft, I was a pretty consistent drip, when I first got it into the water it was pretty heavy like a faucet that was barely opened, then as we ran her, it slowed down a bit, nothing the bilge could not handle. Might need to change the packing?

[Salty87]

Another from the dripless seal around the prop shaft, I was a pretty consistent drip, when I first got it into the water it was pretty heavy like a faucet that was barely opened, then as we ran her, it slowed down a bit, nothing the bilge could not handle. Might need to change the packing?

if it's a dripless seal, you should be able to tighten it down. is there a stainless collar on your driveshaft and a rubber 'boot' hose clamped to the hull? if so, loosen the screws on the collar, compress the boot more, tighten...you should be good. sometimes junk can get between the faces on the collar and the boot too. just pull the boot back while on the water and the water shooting in should clear it.