Weighting a Malibu V-Ride

Just wondering how yall weight your V-Ride or pre 2005 VLX's? Thanks!

We have about 600lbs up front. 400lbs in the middle and 400lbs in the back. Of course the factor stuff is full too! This setup works good with new to int riders when 2-5 people are in the boat.

we always did front & rear factory full the wedge down 400 in the bow and a few fat friends for the middle. still to this day my favorite wake!

Full Ballast, no wedge, 750 in the nose.

That Era of Hull design responds very well to some nose weight. Add the wedge and the ramp will be more vertical. Without the wedge it is very rampy.

I know scotts mother!!!!!!!!!!!

400 up front, 600 middle, 900 back. Great wake. Add the wedge, even better!

fabs,
How do you guys get that thing to plain out? With all that rear weight. Or are you counting the factory tanks? With the tanks I run 900lbs and If no one sits up front even with a new lower prop it takes time.

usually run my 2000 vlx with the factory ski locker sack full and a 600 lb sack in each rear locker. I don't have factory ballast in the rear, but I put as much weight back there as I can. Usually don't weight the bow except for people. No problems planing out...

07 vride. I ride factory (middle and rear tanks) with wedge. We usually have about 8 people on the boat. i have the monsoon and it plains out fine. i wish i had a little more weight up front, but factory + wedge + 8 people and the wake is pretty nice.

2001 VLX. 750's next to the engine, stock MLS up front (440), 600# sack in the walkthrough + 200 #'s of lead in the middle. The wake is awesome!! Had to re-prop it with the OJ 475 & it planes just fine.

Joe pretty much hit the nail on the head. We didn't run quite that much weight in the back and we had a couple of hundred pounds more up front. That was perfect

We didn't use the wedge with that hull, I don't think it added anything to the wake. It just made it into a pig when trying to turn around in tight spots.

That hull and wake is best ridden when the wake is nice and rampy. Too much weight in the back tries to produce a more vertical wake which ends up being really soft and doesn't provide any real pop. Any bigger guy will just slice right through it.

Weight it properly and it's one of the most fun wakes to ride for sure.

How do you guys get 700 up front? I have 250 almost at the very nose and if any teenagers sit up front it reminds me of my old centurion dd and is very near the water. Would a 400lb bag in the walkway be better or can I keep adding weight underneath the bow seats? Or do I not have the weight balance of weight and need more in the aft/rear area I only have 300 in the rear.

You definitely need more in the back. There have been occassions where we have had the 440# MLS, the 600# bag in the walkthrough plus I have one of those integrated bow sacks from Fly High. We usually pull it out and sit it on the seats. Then we make sure to load up the 750's in the back all the way. We use the pop bags to balance it out from side to side. The nose does sit low so I don't let anybody up there when we're weighted like that. Paul is correct about the weight distribution...too much of the overall weight in the back makes the wake more vertical. It's WAY more fun when it's rampy, so we make sure to try and keep the ratio around 60/40 back/front.

If you load up your Bu this way, you will want to spend the coin and re-prop it. It's a dog with the stock prop...about 10-12 seconds to plane, it wouldn't hold speed well at all and you had to make your turns very wide. After re-propping, it was almost like driving the boat stock with the old prop...

I have an oj 475 on the way and am planning two 750's in the rear and an integrated sack up front but just waiting till we become better riders. I was told people tend to get some bad habits if you make the wake "big" right away.

Ewing, I got my weight up front under the seats. I pour 5gal gas cans with concrete they weigh 100lbs each. I have one under each seat. To fill the rest of the space I put a very thick garbage bag in and filled them full of sand 120lbs. I did the sam thing in the nose that fit 80lbs. I have a fat sack under the middle cushion that measures 10x16x70. it is rated at 450lbs. Since about half of that is under that cushion I count that weight but I haven't even though to count the weight from the integrated sack that gets way up in the front. We have only taken on water when 2 people sit up there. I think the 60/40 ratio posted in here is just about right. We have moved weight all over the boat and that is where we like it the most.

Scott, thanks I guess I need to put some more weight in the rear. I just don't think all of us are quite ready plus I want to do the whole bag thing and be able to fill and empty on the fly.

Make sure if you do get the bags to make sure you have enough fittings for filling, draining & an overflow (this is depending on how you set it up). Also, I would get larger bags so that when you are ready you won't have to spend the $ again to upgrade them. I rode today with full ballast and then just drained it half way for my buddy.

You'll probably still need some manual pumps for the extra bags up front - it's unavoidable unless you plumb them to the MLS sack in the locker in the floor. Good luck and have fun with it!!

No manual pumps for me, I will figure some way to get hose up there.

I agree on getting bigger then you need. We ride with our factory stuff empty for new riders since I can't dump other weight on the fly but that is the nice part about living on the lake I don't have to either. Also integrating all your bags is a good way to go.

I run 750's in the rear lockers, the belly locker full, and a 750 that we either put in the wlakthru for boarding or on the port side for surfing. No complaints on the wakes. We only fill everything to the max if there are only a couple people on the boat; with a good size crew it can get scary to drive.