My first ballast set up
 

Hey everybody,
I am riding behind my 96 centurion LaPoint Elite V-Drive. Up until this point I have been running 600 lbs total sand ballast in my rear lockers and about 300lbs of sand up front. I keep a sand bag handy in the seating area to move around and correct things on the fly. Not an ideal set up i know, but i am operating on a budget. Wake is ok, and i know this is not the best hull ever built, but it is time to step it up a little.
I just bought a set of 400lb each fat sacs for the rear lockers, that is all it looked like I could comfortably fit, so I am planning on running 800 in the lockers and 400 lbs of sand up front to see how it works. I usually ride at 20-22 mph and the kids ride 18-20mph.
Anybody out there have experience with this boat? Am I on the right track with the 2 to 1 back to front weight ratio. Also my front weight is 100 under spotter seat, 100 on floor in front of driver, and will be running 200 either on or under front seats. Any thoughts?

600# in the bow would be more than enough up there. When we get crazy in the MormonBu, I too put a 400# fat sac in each rear locker and then move my 550# of lead to the bow with another 50# of lead next to driver for weight distribution. That's on top of my internal ballast. Do you have any internal tanks?

Hey Curtis!
No, no internal tanks at all. Any weight I have, is what I put in. I think I can get 200 additional lbs of sand in the back if i get creative, but the sand in the lockers is a pain in the butt. Incidently, i was talking 400 lbs total sand up front for the new set up. Those lead bags you guys had were great! Heavy, small, flexible, and easy tohandle.
How is your recovery coming?
I finally got some riding weather out here so I am happy.

Sorry it has taken me so long to get back to ya. Recovery is done, I'm back to work. But my ankle is a little weak from being in a cast boot etc. anyways, I think you may want another 200# on top of the 400# you have in front. If the wake seems too flat or you feel the bow is riding to low. Try moving that 200# to the center of the boat.

Sounds good. I will proably take out the new set up for the first time tomorrow. Looks like a little cold to wake, but i will try various setups with the weight in front and see what works.

we had a 2001 elite v, and your front to back ratio seems right. I found that this boat would porpoise (bow bouncing up and down) any speed over 20. I got a fly high bow sac that fits under the seats. The boat rode a lot better with that full. the newer version of the boat got an adjustable trim tab that helped with this problem. This boat throws a nice surf wake. We had a 750 surf side rear, 400 under the side bench, and the bow sac with 400 or so in it.

Our wakeboarding set up was bow sac only for beginners, gave a nice clean wake at a slow speed.

intermediate riders 500 on each side in the back plus the bow sac. nice wake at 22 and 60ft

for a big wake. 750 on each side in the back, bow sac plus the 400 in the bow. Wake was steep and poppy would clean up around 25 at 70ft.

this boat is sensitive to side to side weight distribution if its uneven then one side will be washy, i had reversible pumps on the back bags and would drain a little while going to even the weight.

Hi WALove,
Thanks, that is some great information. I know exactly what you are talking about with the porpoising, have had exactly the same problem. I did not know you could fit the bow bags under the seats, thought they had to go on top. We just started surfing end of last season so I can't wait to try your wake surf set up. What speed was good for the weight you described and I am assuming you are surfing off the left wake. You are spot on with the side to side weight sensitivity on the wake board wake. I am always moving the sand bag around, or asking someone to move over!

11.5 mph for surfing. With extra bow weight you can go a little faster. The bow bad Is called the integrated bow sac from fly high,. It doesn't fill completely maybe 500lbs but it helps a lot and stays out of the way.

OK,
I finally got to take the boat out today with everything in place and a couple of guys. Unfortunately the wind was blowing from the one direction you really can't hide from on my river (east) and it was at least a little choppy all the time. Anyway, started out with 400 up front, 200 in rear seating area and 800 in fat sacs in lockers. There were three of us in the boat, each around 200 lbs. It looks to me like the wake is slightly larger than it was before, but not really a big improvement. Might just be a matter of perspective as it was choppy and this was only my scond ride behind the boat this season. Tried several speeds and moving the 200 in the seating area around, but did not come up with any really good single set up. I can definately feel a big difference in the performance of the boat. It is definately working alot harder/ need more throttle for everything. All that power must be going somewhere. Will continue to test and hpoefully get to try WAlove's wake surf set up next week.

Out again today. Just me and my buddy. Found some good water and ended up wih 300lbs under the front seats, 150 lbs under spotter seat toward front of boat, 150 lb in spotter seat, 100 on floor in front of driver, 100 on the back seat, and sacks about 1/2 full in lockers(about 400 lbs total in rear lockers. Nice rampy wake at 20 and 21 and a little less sensitive to every little change in speed and movement. It was a nice set up and showed the need for alot of weight in the front of this boat as suggested above. Ummm, forgot to post last night, was actually yesterday.......