SL ballast for wakesurfing

[Johnnie360]

Hey guys, new member here considering upgrading to a new boat. We have it down to an Ri237 Centurion and the SL450. We walked through both boats yesterday and they are both very nice. The proof will be on the water as we are die hard wakesurfers and want a great wake.

We mostly ride with a small crew and know that stock ballast is never enough. My question is how much more ballast is required? Looks like there is lots of room for sacs in the rear lockers. Would these just tap into the tanks below and piggyback the stock system? Can the floor take the added weight? Should more ballast be added anywhere else in the boat? I’ve watched the Wake9 videos and they are great but I’m just trying to get more info on setups with light crews.

Thanks in advanced,
John

[Larry Arizona]

You will get far more Supra support for new Supra’s on the moomba forum.

Lots of SL owners on the moomba forum.


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[pedel]

I’d highly recommend lead rather than PnP. PnP both overloads the rear and eliminates great storage. I also run with small crews. I have 900lbs of lead I spread around pretty evenly (200 in the very rear surf locker, 100 up front and the rest in the middle on each side with about 100 more on the port side). Pretty close to the wake9 set up.


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[MJHKnox]

I also run lead. I ran 500# on the boat last summer. Same as above - spread out. I will add another 500# for next summer for surfing.

500# of lead allows me to move it around for wakeboarding to get a good shape on both sides.
Depending on your wake skill level, you could do w/o it and go with just bags. 1/2 full throws a nice wake.
I think the factory settings for 'advanced' are set at 3/4 full.

For surfing, I've known people to run 2-3 people and 750-1000#s and it will surf nice.
If I was running 6-10 people with 500#s it was a really nice surf wake. I ran my 300 surf side and 200 off side. Both in the compartments by the back bench seats.
If I was running 3-4 people with 500#s it was good, but not as good as above.

If you watch the Wake9 videos, they will tell you the boat does not like a lot of weight in the back lockers.
Pitch is around 9' with -2.5 roll.
I read about people putting weight from the tower back to the back seat area on both sides. And a little up front.

Hope that helps.

And yes, I agree w/Larry, more SL owners on the Moomba site. I read both.

[Johnnie360]

Thanks guys. What if I did say a 300# pnp sac in the rear locker then 4-500#’s of lead to distribute throughout? Is that still too much weight in the rear?

These pnp sacs, do they piggyback the current system or is it a complete separate pump install? I’ll check out the Moomba forums and see what I can find there as well.

[pedel]

You’d be fine if that’s the approach you want to take. Nothing is plumbed back there for it, but could be done. The other thing I’d worry about with a PNP set up in the surf locker is crushing that flimsy panel back into the engine. I know the new centurions have a bag back there, but it was designed for it. The nice thing about lead is it takes up almost no storage space (that rear locker is awesome!), and you barely notice it in the boat. That said, I don’t trailer so I don’t mind leaving it in my boat.


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[Johnnie360]

We’re at sea level so probably would get the 450 engine option. Does it run on regular gas? Also, the wake prop offered with this engine is the 3337 which is 16x15. Anyone using this combo?

[Shoebox]

I have a 2019 450SL, and while I don't have it completely dialed yet (only got it out 3 or 4 times before the season ended), it's still a fantastic wave.

I currently have 600 lbs lead in it (I think ). I have 200 in the rear board locker, 100 stuffed on each outside edge so I can still fit boards in there. 100 under each rear corner seat. 100 in the cooler well in the floor. 50 under the flip up seatback on the port side, and 50 somewhere else I can't remember right now.

The goofy wave is insane, I'm still dialing the regular wave. It's long, tall, and lots of push, but not as pretty as the goofy wave.

A couple of days ago, I spent several hours on a 2019 Ri237. It's a nice boat, but for essentially the same price as an SL450, it's not as nice as the SL. Lots of little things. No Chill Tech-type upholstery, no power driver's seat (if that matters to you), the controls/screens are more reminiscent of the earlier Supras, tower isn't as nice and it's not power either, stereo sounded good but chintzy remote by the driver and no controls for the passenger like the Supra has.

The Ri wave was of course excellent, and the ballast filled really fast. But I wouldn't say it was a better wave than the Supra. A little different, but not better. Supra wave was cleaner, the Ri has this weird line cutting through the face of the wave, which made a strange little curl that would grab the board. They were able to minimize it on a skim-style wave by nearly fully deploying the wakeplate and listing the boat by draining 25% out of the non-surf side.

One other consideration is fuel consumption. I'm averaging around 6.5 gph with mostly surfing. The people I rode the Ri with are pros who just moved to Centurion from Nautique and said they are averaging over 7.5 gph, where their G23 was about 6.0 gph.

The Ri was a very nice boat, but honestly made me appreciate my SL more.

[Shoebox]

We’re at sea level so probably would get the 450 engine option. Does it run on regular gas? Also, the wake prop offered with this engine is the 3337 which is 16x15. Anyone using this combo?

I have the 3337. Given the option, I'd go with the 16x17 with the 450 and 1.76 trans. It seems like it's turning a higher rpm than it needs to with the 16x15 prop, and top speed was only 36.4 at 5350 rpm.

I'll probably try to find a Black Friday deal on a 16x17 and use the 3337 as a backup.

[pedel]

I’m also at sea level and tried all the props and definitely think the 2775 is the best trade off for primarily surf. Disclaimer...my boat is a 2018 sl450 and I think the transmission changed at some point in ‘19 so make sure you get info from folks with the same engin/trans.

Here is a thread on the 18: https://forum.moomba.com/showthread....and-GPH/page10



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