How much Ballast/weight do you run in the boat?

I have a 94 Sport Nautique. I run 600 lbs of Lead Foot Plates. 400 under the back seat and 200 in the bow. Plus 2 batteries. How much weight do you use to get your perfect wake?

My bro had a 92 sport. Ran a 350 on each side of the engine a 350 in the back seat, a 350 between the engine and the back seat and a 550 in the bow

I have a 02 SANTE, I run 850lbs of ballast, a 350 on each side on top of the tanks, a 350 on top of the ski locker and a 350 in the bow and 200 lbs of lead, 2 batteries and usually between 4 and 8 people

I ran 1400ish in my old 94 sport. Back seat out with ~900lbs. 250 in ski locker and 250 on top of ski locker. Could've used more but was good at that weight.

Isaac you'd freak out if we told you how much weight we really run. You need to get a few g's for that baby to get things really kickin.

Actually it depends on how fast your riding. Add 500lbs of ballast for each mph over 19.

1600+. Two huge bags on either side of my V-Drive and two small ones in the bow or near the drivers feet. These are filled by the Jabsco ballast puppy and two manual valves. The boat is a 2000 Ski Centurion Elite-V.

yeah also what length rope you like to ride. The farther back the more ballast to get the wakin kickin....is that correct? See 600 lbs does seem like much but I use to run almost 1300 in water weight. What I found is that I could not only put the lead in places i could not put the water weight, but futhermore, was able to stack multiple plates on top of each other making 200 lbs under each back seat which doesnot have that much room. Still maintaining usage of the back seat. I also thought about people weight. I figures if the stock nauty's come with 500 lb ballast that 600 would be cool. When I ran the water bags the wake was big, rampy, but not as vertical as I like. Then I realized the reason my buddies air was more vertical was because he had weight farther back over the prop. From what I understand...more wight directly over the prop will produce a more vertical wake while weight distributed throughout the boat will produce a rampy wake. Anyway point being that I was able to produce the wake I desired at the length I ride with less weight than I had previously used. I know it doesnt make sense but I was able to have more condensed weight in spots I could not with water ballast...plus accounting for people weight @ optimal 6-8 peeps. I dont know but with 8-10 peeps with 600 lbs of lead...the boat is weighted down, a bi-tch to manuver, and produces a bootin wake.

Evan-
lol hahaha i have heard in the areas of how much you guys run. Thats crazy. Maybe the newer boats are more bouyant than mine and need a lil more weight. I would like to ride behind one of your guys boat at Tulloch and see what kind of wake you boys are running. I would like to give you a pull as well. I think you would be amazed for how little weight how big the wake. But then again I think you guys ride out at like 80 feet. I dont think I have my boat set up at 80 ft. Best wake I think on mine right5 now is between 60-70. I guess your right more weight.....but I am just worried about the strees cracks...lol

(Message edited by zride on February 28, 2006)

(Message edited by zride on February 28, 2006)

Rear weight = Steep
Front weight = mellow

2000 Moomba Outback LS

1800lbs total of people and ballast is the max. I usually target 1600 to be comfortable.

As many fat girls as I can find!!!

Were can you buy lead weights? What are lead foot plates?

2005 moomba outback(my boat) with 1800 pounds 540 on front seat 1260 in rear=sick wake

2005 san210te(my best friends boat or my other boat ) with 700 up front and 800 in rear plus stock ballast=even sicker wake

in my sunsetter i run a 1000 pound fat seat in the back, a 500 lb bag on top of that, a 500 in he ski locker, another 500 on top of the locker, about 500 lbs of home made lead bricks under the seats in the bow, and about another 500 lbs of lead bricks in the back on the side of he fat seat. plus people. a total of 3500 lbs in balast before people weight. takes about a quarter mile to get up to speed. i ride 27 mph and 90 feet when the boat is loaded lke that.

(Message edited by westsidarider on February 28, 2006)

DIZAM, Jason now I see why you like the roam. You say its like a ollie on a skate board to get a pop. Sounds to me like your wake is like a old school skate board launch ramp. BTW can you ride 90 in the delta or are you in the reeds all the time.

depends on where u ride. i dont ride 90 feet all the time but when the tide is high, the wake is that big and if we ride in an open area like victoria or twin sloughs thats the ideal setup. its more like an ollie on a snowboard but same basic idea. i also find it fun to mess around in the tullies. somethin different. thats the other reason i ride the roam cuz there are so many different things you can do and never be bored of just hitting the wake.

Yeah Squid, sometimes he really shorten's the rope up. All the way down to like 85'. Ha, ha.

I have an 04 nautique 226 stock ballast 900lb then 2000lb over that without overloading the boat.So 10% overloading is 3200lb. the boat still handles nice with lots of room left. The boat has 62 cubic feet of storage.

I have a 2004 v220 supreme I am running 900 lbs of water ballast in the rear along with 2 battaries. Up front under the seats in the open bow area are two 560 lbs water sacs and I'm adding 400 lbs of lead to fine tune the boats side to side weight thats a total of 2400 lbs. I have to run at about 22 MPH for a good clean wake with all that weight.

Evan with all that weight and speed how long rope should I be running currently at 70 ft plus the handle so would an 80 or 85 main line be better at that speed?

haha thats funny evan.
tom- u can get a clean wake out of 70 feet. the bigger the wake the easier it is go ride a longer line. probably want to bump the speed up 1-2 mph for every 5 feet you add. the longer the line and the faster you go the harder and more rampy the wake gets. with a longer line you have way more space to cut and more time to grab in the air. give more line length a try. you may like it.

I agree with Jason. I started riding longer last season on occasion (depending on boat, weight etc.) and not only is it a different experience from what all he has said, but you feel a little more "free" I guess. It seems like you are a lot less teathered to the boat and a little more able to move around with less of the pulling feeling. Just my .02

Yeah Tom, Jason it right on. You'll have to play with it a bit. It's been a while since I've ridden a 220, but I remember thinking the wake worked about 75' and 23 mph. I personally would pick a line length and speed that you are comfortable with and ballast around that. That's how we've ended up at 80+ feet. We started loading the boats up and just ended up riding longer and longer to stay out of the flats. Also, keep in mind that different riders prefer different speeds. J-Rod rides 2 feet longer than I do and about .5 mph slower. He just prefers a longer, harder cut.

Anyway, I think 70' to 75' is really a great place to start. A lot of people forget that most of the great riders around learned to ride behind un-weighted boats riding shorter and slower. It's definitely more forgiving on the hard crashes. I started riding behind an I/O at 60' and 19 mph. I learned all my wake to wake stuff (grabs, etc), 180's both ways and 3's before ever riding a wake boat. I don't know, just something to think about.

Wow tom, 2 560's in the front? Have the same boat. Run @2200lbs. plus people,usually just 3 of us though. speed about 24.5 mph. 80 ft line.

2 350's in front
1000 in back
500 in center

03 V210, We run a 600 pounder in the floor at the front + 550 pounds of lead in the chain locker and under the bow seats. 350 pound custom tanks x2 in the rear giving around 1900 pounds + up to 7 peeps normally. All hidden and automatic. We ride @ 80 foot and around 23mph. The 210 is an efficent hull and doesn't need tonnes of weight, with this setup it gives a nice shape with a meaty consistancy.

we usually run about 1100-1800# in in sacks plus people.

we run about 2800 in a 210, 3500 in x-star

we run anything from 3,000 to 4,000 depending

Thanks for the info guys looks like we headed in the right direction, I have noticed the supreme needs to run a little fasted to clean the wake up than some other boats with same amount of weight.