how do you afford the weight?

Hey guys, i just wanted to know, I have a mastercraft x30 2003 and it throws a decent wake unweighted but a little small so i wanted to get it nicely sized so i filled up the stock ballast i think is 800-1000 pounds of weight, now my family and i ride all day long, when we go we live on the water no breaks just one after the other so on an unweighted day we go through about 200 CDN a day in gas with 5 ppl in the boat but if we throw in the ballast we get half the day with that much money so how do you guys ride with ridiculous amounts of weight i know some of you guys throw in a couple fat sacs after stock ballast so how do you keep it up with gas prices as high as they are?

we work our arses off and b$#%ch about high gas prices the whole way!

It's simple. We paid attention in school, learned to spell, learned to use proper grammar and punctuation, and landed a high paying job.

That's one freak'n long sentence.

I see the difference as well its just the price you pay I guess. One thing though the ballast is only full when the rider needs its so young kids and girls ride with a very small amount of it. The better you are the more you need, so unless you are throwing expert level tricks you need very little.

Wake, it depends on skill level. If someone does not need a big wake I will drain the majority of the weight. Typically the rule is that you must clear TS w2w at 75ft plus no problem to get full weight.

Well, we make a choice. If we didn't spend 2K a month on gas we would have a lot of extra $$$...but we love our wake, and don't care about buying toys and expensive cars.


Oh, and our friends ALL pitch in on gas too!

run up the jolly rogers and board other boats! We carry a siphon pump and just take their gas on the water.

M-Dizzle, how do you enforce that rule? I have nothing against it and kind of think you should get to that point before you get the max weight, but there are several in my crew that are HS heros and I would feel like a jerk saying, well I'll take your gas money, but you aren't good enough for the meat.

Now we do have a guideline on one thing, if you let go of the handle 3 or more times on a successfully landed jump you get to wear a bikini top OR can pay for the entire gas bill. Lets just say no one has paid the entire gas bill yet.

I Agree with Andrea. Its a cost we are willing to pay for the enjoyment. But that also means that we have the funds to support the habit (generally).

Atthelake its more like: "Honestly, you dont need the extra weight. If you want it thats fine, but it will only create bad habits and poor form. Plus you should know that its 15-20 a set fully weighted and about 10 unweighted...your call". Generally it works out but usually its rare that I have to say that. At first people didn't believe me (and my buddy). Then they saw one of the guys we ride with actually listen to our advice/coaching. Later he learned like 4 inverts in one set and was absolutely ripping once we gave him the weight. That helped solidify the rule.

WakeXtreme,

Adding weight will really change your gas consumption! I rock out with 5,000lbs in my slammed X-Star. I can honestly tell you I burn about 8.5 US gallons per hour sometimes more. It is very costly but totally worth it the wake is INSANE! One thing I do to offset costs is obvious, collecting money from my homies who ride. Also I try and give as many lessons as possible to offset a lot of the gas costs. You can incoporate yourself and ALL you gas can become a business expense. Dont know if you get the same type/stlye of tax write-offs we get in the US, but it definetly helps. It just plan sucks that wakeboarding is a cash sink-hole!

Atthe Lake- also, sometimes people who are learning want the full weight because "everyone else is" and they struggle while riding. I know this sounds bad, but we just drain stock w/out telling them. The wake is still good with the lead, and they usually end up having more fun, and progressing faster, like M-D said.

I am with others and will spend the money needed to enjoy riding a big wake. I come prepared to spend at least 20 bucks a set but at times have spent 30 bucks for 15 minute run. Its just the price you pay to ride the way you want. I will continue to keep paying whatever it takes to ride with a huge wake. Enviormentalists hate me but I don't care

I love my carbon footprint!

jaime, i couldn't even finish the original post.

its a lot like gettin an escort. you can go the cheap route and get a so-so girl. or you can throw down and do it right. its your call but which would you prefer...

There is a lot of truth to my post, too. You are never too young to start paying some respect to the English language.

C'mon, man... Did you freakin' attempt to read his post??? He can at least make an effort.

Jamie, most people who "payed attention in school, learned to spell, learned to use proper grammar and punctuation, and landed a high paying job" have also learned along the way to treat others respect. These educated money-makers are also less likely to talk down to others, and, if they payed any attention at all, would have figured out that if you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem. The problem on our hands here is that inconsiderate people like yourself are making it difficult for the young sport of wakeboarding to grow. Why not use your infinite wisdom to help Wakextreme with some fuel-saving tips, etc..? Who cares if he has grammatical errors in his question? Especially on the internet, which seems to have its own dialect at times. IMHO, as an example. Or would you prefer that wakeboarding remain a sport for the priveledged?

Whateves this is a discussion board, people never spell right and always use horrible grammar. Just thought your came off on the arrogant side. No worries.

I thought your post was alright Jamie. I mean, if you meant it in a mean and malicious way then no, but I think every post needs to be taken light heartedly on an online discussion board.

Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. •••• is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. }

Or rather...

According to a researcher (sic) at Cambridge University, it doesn't matter in what order the letters in a word are, the only important thing is that the first and last letter be at the right place. The rest can be a total mess and you can still read it without problem. This is because the human mind does not read every letter by itself but the word as a whole.

This text circulated on the internet in September 2003. I first became aware of it when a journalist contacted a my colleague Sian Miller on 16th September, trying to track down the original source. It's been passed on many times, and in the way of most internet memes has mutated along the way. It struck me as interesting - especially when I received a version that mentioned Cambridge University! I work at Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, in Cambridge, UK, a Medical Research Council unit that includes a large group investigating how the brain processes language. If there's a new piece of research on reading that's been conducted in Cambridge, I thought I should have heard of it before...

I've written this page, to try to explain the science behind this meme. There are elements of truth in this, but also some things which scientists studying the psychology of language (psycholinguists) know to be incorrect. I'm going to break down the meme, one line at a time to illustrate these points, pointing out what I think is the relevant research on the role of letter order on reading. Again, this is only my view of the current state of reading research, as it relates to this meme. If you think I've missed something important, let me know.

Derek, your post is 100% correct. Thank you for adding an iota of common courtesy to this post.

Yeah Derek your right on. Sorry to freak out Jamie just thought that post was mean spirited. Haven't read enough of your posts to know. If umali would have said it I would have known he was kidding. (plus it would have been followed by a smiley face, Umali is the smile-icon king!)

what choo talkin' 'bout, willis?

Wow, alright. Of course if I wanted to sit here and edit all my posts and be anal and meticulous, I could. But I believe like alot of the others, that is needed for an essay, but for an internet forum if you get the message across thats really all that matters, because there are not any grades here.

Now to those who gave productive responses thank you.

Andy- How do you get 5000lbs in your boat.
fat sacs? and how much stock ballast do you have?
and if its fat sacs and stuff doesn't your boat get extremely cluttered?

I am with Callen on this. My crew does $15 -$20 per set depending on the length of the ride. Its up to each guy to throw in for the gas they burned. If you'r hommies don't pitch in for gas then don't invite them!

while i dont know andy i can tell you that getting 5000 pounds in a boat is very easy. the xstar stock ballast is what 1100 pounds? so you have that. then you add 2 sacks on either side of the engine for another 1000-1400 pounds depending on how much room you have in the compartments. then you fill up a sack in the walkway to the bow. then another in the bow across the seats. that gives you another 1000 pounds totalling about 3100 to 3500 pounds. also keep in mind that lead is extremely heavy compared to its size. you can get bricks of lead (lead foot) or pop bags which are bags of lead. these are easily stashed anywhere and can easily get 2000 lbs of lead with room to spare in the the storage or under seats.

keep in mind most of us that load the boat down like that arent out with the family like you are so were not worried about having a ton of space in the boat.

---

quote:

Wow, alright. Of course if I wanted to sit here and edit all my posts and be anal and meticulous, I could. But I believe like alot of the others, that is needed for an essay, but for an internet forum if you get the message across thats really all that matters, because there are not any grades here.

---

sweet periods.


hey dude, why don't you try a different prop to save some gas when you add weight? If all you're doing is riding and not really any high speed cruising I'm sure you could find several props that would fit your application, and help you save gas.

(Message edited by thane_dogg on August 26, 2008)

and you wanted to know about your boat gettin cluttered if you have hella weight in it? V-Drive boats you dont really have to worry about that because there is sooo many compartments that can stow away weight. but as for myself. our boat is a direct drive(motor in the middle of the boat) and we pack about 4000 pounds into our boat. and ya its a bit cluttered but there is still room and you can lay on the back sacks if you want seeing as how we replaced them with a fat seat and a fat sack on top of it and another sac in the back storage and a sac in the ski locker and another in the bow. kills on gas but its my dads money so its all good for now

Good thing I got injured right off the start...
I've saved tons of dosh this season!

who cares, just ride and have fun, why invest the money in a wakeboard boat in the first place. Buy a runabout boat if your looking to save money on gas.

Right there with you J2.

"who cares, just ride and have fun, why invest the money in a wakeboard boat in the first place."

I ski w/ a 96' MC Prostar 190... Side Sacs'..
Still throwing out lots of moneys...Until this yr.

BIG wakes = BIG FUN

I cant, I've been riding no weight almost all season. Been getting real good a doing 180s, 3s, and 5s, though!

WakeXtreme,
Sorry if I made you feel bad. It wasn't intended to be mean spirited at all....

You are absolutely right that are no grades here. However, there are grades in school, and mastery of the written word is a powerful tool in "real life." According to your profile, you are 14... grade 9? You have a lot of writing in front of you. I also noticed in your profile that you have 187 posts. If you are going to be writing (typing?) anyway, why not practice getting your point across as efficiently as possible? It seriously isn't that hard to do it right the first time once you do it for a while...

..just something to think about. Again, not trying to be an a-h0le.

As for your original post.... it's tough man. I hear ya. If I actually got to wakeboard as much as I would like to, there is no way I could afford it!!

(Message edited by yooper on August 26, 2008)

I didn't know my 8th grade english teacher was on here!


Anyways, let everyone who is beginning or not "ready" for the sacks ride first. A few buddies I pull are just working on wake jumps, 180s, and some other basics. You don't need a jacked wake just to learn this. Also, make sure you to fill the sacks after you idle/drive out to your riding spot and vice versa. Common sense, but no need to run your boat with sacks while just cruising. Lastly, I kill my boat when we are switching riders/stopping for a break/filling or emptying sacks/any other things that don't require the boat to be running. Although rough on the wallet, its the price you have to pay to hit a sick wake!

for me, im a broke ass college student...i work and go to school but still am always broke...but my dad pays for gas on weekends whenever we go out on my parents boat I only fill the ballast up (and fat sacs) if its a perfect butter day. Because it does make a difference, and this season I have only sacked it out once...

It also all depends on your prop and weight distribution. If you are knowledgeable on weighting a boat you can have 4500lbs in the boat and still only spend 5 gallons a full long set each.

Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. •••• is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.

This is true, but try taking out the punctuation and making it a sentence that's a paragraph long. Then it's more tedious to read.

I'm rich biatch!!! J/K

Easy

You need a relative (like me), who foot the bill for everything. (Boat, insurance, gas, etc...)

I forgot...

If you put a lot of weight in the boat, don't forget to change your prop.

I'm running +-2000lb + 4-6 friends on a Session 22SI and a new ACME prop (1235 14.5 x 14.24). This thing is great and helps me save 20-25% when compared to the stock prop.

"I didn't know my 8th grade english teacher was on here!"

LOL! Thats good stuff.

yeah i got an x-star running 3500lbs of ballast plus up several people so gas prices suck but all my friends throw in some cash so i only end up being out about 50-100 a day of riding. So not nearly as bad as it could be. but yeah when its just the family it gets expensive quick as ••••