I need help with my ballast.....

I have a 1997 Prostar 205 and i need help i have a 1400lbs fat seat in the back and i usually put a 600lbs sac in the bow in between the seats...i need a way to hide a sac or two under the seats or something...if u have any inquires please write...thanx
Gator

It sounds like you are at the point of requiring to use lead under the seat (driver, spotter). Everywhere else is taken up.

By the way, I have a '98 PS205 with 1320lbs in rear (3 x 440lbs), and 440 in the bow. How is your set up/ wake like? I purchased the boat last fall and haven't used it yet.

I used to have a '98 205 D-Drive, and I bought 2 side sacs (12" diameter), and placed them into the sides of the boat (where ski's go) on either side of the motor box. Even fully filled, you could walk from front to back.

I put in two straps on each side to hold the bags into the sides. When I got lazy, I added 3 pumps, one to fill, tapped into the water intake, and 1 each at the bottom of each bag to drain.

Worked great, and added weight in a way that did not create too much front rise.

Dave

Yea, man that is probably like the same exact hull design as my 97.. it is a very nice wake.. i wish it was a little stiffer of a wake

what prop are you guys running -- i'm still running the stock prop -- great fuel economy, but it takes a sec or two to plane when full of peeps too...

hey man go get u a 4 blade..i think if u have a 1997 i think dont get me to lieing but i think its like a 13x15 right hand...i will have to look...wut kinda boat do u got???

hey dave i sent u a private message i dunno if u got it or not i really wanna know about wut kinda sacs u have and stuff....like that and wut size

i have a 94 ps205...the wake is great --just been kicking around the idea of another prop...

do u sack your bout out josh??
im telling u tho there is no other way then a 4 blade for wakeboarding it makes u jump on plane very quick

Gator,

Back when I did this, the sacs were 12" round, and 4' long. The ones below are now kind of squared. They would inflate to full, and the straps held them snug to the hull. I put two carpeted 2x4 boards, 4' long, to create a flat surface on the floor to help balance the bags. The cut-out where the ski's go were causing the bags to flop around.

I did the side weighting because my daughter's would bitch about not having the back seat available when someone was riding, and it was before the FAT Seat was on the market.

Worked OK at the time, though the X-Star I have now puts out a larger wake. It has the two locker tanks, mid-floor tank, and I just installed a V-Sack (under the seat type) to the front.

Here's a link to the side-sacs now on the market.

http://www.buywake.com/catalog/detail/FL_ZVcC1

Dave

hey thanx dave if u have ne ideas for the front of my boat like under the seats for weighting or ne thing let me know..and fill me in if u dont mind about tapping into your boats water intake how did that work??

http://www.wakeworld.com/Articles/2001/BallastSystem1.asp

gator -- yeah i sack it out -- i would like it to get on plane a little faster -- however my boat is very fuel efficient...

Gator,

Regarding the "tap" into the water system, there is a huge hose that leads to the water pump. At the area near the pump, it "may" tapered down to 1 inch on each side. I had the 340 hp LT1 option, which had reverse cooling, and split a 2" line into two 1" lines. Anyway, it was a matter of going to the hardware store for a plastic TEE, some clamps, etc. I just made sure the tee pointed down, and this kept the "fill" pump from cavitating when filling the bags.

However, when I bagged the front this time, my MC dealer (who also sells Centurions, Malibu's) said that they actually tap through the hull, put in a 3/4 inch FIP fitting, then screw a $50 pump right into the hull. Its the same type of pump you buy to fill the bags now. Because it's below the water-line, there is never any cavitation (when stopped or going slow).

EDIT: You need to buy a $5 valve that allows flow in one direction only, known as check valves. The draining cannot be sent back the same fill hose, so you'll need to have a tap into your bilge line (with another check-valve) to prevent the empying water to fill the boat, or drill yet another hole in the hull.

Not too keen on drilling holes, so I tapped into the X-Star's ballast "anti-freeze" fitting. In your case, you might find the TEE fitting less destructive, although purists might warn you to never run the fill pump with the engine running, so you don't starve it for water.

Dave


(Message edited by awf_axis on May 02, 2006)

thats good mine is good to..but the 4 blade helps so much better...as far as fuel efficeny getting outta the hole!