Mastercraft survey!!!!!

This question is for those that have older Mastercraft boats. I have a 1993 Prostar 205. I put 550 pounds up front. 250 on each side of the engine, and about 900 where the rear seat goes. I use the two side sacs to compensate for if there are people other than me, so they are not always full. Most of the time it is myself ( about 200 lbs ) My wife ( 125 lbs,) two little girls, and my son riding the board. I am interested to know if anyone uses more weight in an older mastercraft, and if so, how does the boat handle, and what is the wake like. Our wake is pretty good, But not as good as my friends 2002 X-9 with factory ballast.I was wondering if I needed some more weight in the back. Please list what boat you have and what ballast you have, and where is it placed.

I used to have a 93 prostar 205 and I weighted it as follows: 550 rear, 350 both sides of engine compartment. 550 up front seams to be a lil much maybe just put a few kids in the bow?

another warning. I had a extended pylon and when weighted... the combination was tooo much for the prostar. the skags that attach to the center pylon became weakened and my boat almot sank one day after getting gas. we got out of the no wake zone and i gassed it and the ski locker flipped up and water gushed out! I raced back to my house and drained the boat.. be careful with tooooo much weight!

Mike,

You need to put more weight in the front, and a little less in the rear. I would move the 250's up front to balance the wake a little better.

The optimal setup for that boat is, 550 up front, 550 on either side of the motor, and 550 in the back. This configuration makes a sweet hard vertical wake a lot like the X2, and much nicer than the X9.

(Message edited by SEATTLE on September 15, 2004)

Conventional wisdom suggests more weight in the back for a peakier wake and vice-versa, but If you have 2,200 lbs in the boat I guess it's gonna peak no matter what.

David,

The configuration I'm speaking of actually puts most of the weight in the center of the boat. In my experience inboards throw out the best wakes when evenly sacked vs the 40f/60r set up that most v-drives run.

I've ridden behind both the 205, and the X-2 series. I could hardly tell the difference between the two wakes when they were sacked properly.

If you weight too much toward the front(50/50) as suggested above you lose out imo. It does balance the boat....but why do you want it to. ok you've got lots of weight in the back so then you add more to the front to compensate but then the wake gets smaller. so your 2,000 punds of added weight make your boat drive more sluggish and chomp gas. I'm guessing that there is some method to the maddness behind the v-drive configuration (more weight in the back) If that seems to be the industry standard. I like a more peaky wake and I like to not throw more money out the window than what is needed. 2,000 pounds is too much weight for the 205. i learned everything behind that boat and then it almost sank! now we got a SAN and it spoils me rotten. When I get mad about my riding I always have to bite my lip and think about how big of a spoiled brat that I have become.

Wakeboarding is in direct contrast to everything that is going on in the world right now. We spend mad money on gas to go out and ride, drink, and chill all day while our country sends young men to there seath to fight for our oil prices. what do we do... weight our boats so they chug more gas and then we bitch about gas prices.

It little off topic but do you get my point?

Way to put things in perspective, Ringo. Iraq is not a war about oil IMO, but I agree we should be thankful for what we have here and thank our armed forces if that's what you're saying.

Cliff, a 190 is a different hull than a 205. I agree that it's best to have the weight centered "around" the engine on a DD, but he would have to add more weight to get a similair result from shifting about 200lbs to the back IMO.

Mike, I can't believe your wake with all that weight isn't as good as your bud's X9 with only factory ballast. I run a Fat Seat filled with a Launch Pad 350 on top. Another LP 350 in front of the engine cover and about 200lbs of sand up in the bow. Riders changes the formula, but with the wife and kids this would work perfect IMO.

I know guys that have 190's and they run a lot more weight which is usually more evenly distributed "around" the engine as Cliff suggested, but they dog their boats and I don't like to do that.

i have a 1991 mastercraft maristar. we put a 450 pound fatsack in back. that is all we put in the boat. and our wake gets massive. it has a 454 chevy engin in it.

Mike,
I have a '96 205 and I run 1200 under the rear seat and 550 up in the bow, but I am in the process of changing it to 1750 in the back and 1200 in the front. You will need more weight in the back to get a wake like a v-drive. A couple weeks ago we took my buddies '03 x2 out with the factory ballest filled, an additional 250 next to each back tank and 3 600lb sacs in the box, I can say only one thing- the wake was unbeleivable. The boat was a little doggy but not too bad.

hey i have a 95 ps 190. i use a fat seat in the back. and i fill a fat sac 3/4 in the bow along w/ about 100lbs of steel. decent wake especially if i have a couple of people in the boat. i think our hulls are different though. but we have to accept the fact we dont have wakeboard hulls and deal with it. i have a pretty decent wake and dont feel like it inhibits me in anyway. i do want to get another couple of hundred lbs for the sides. the 205 is the same hull as the original xstart(not sure which year though). anyway im guessing you probably couldnt load that thing down to much more and we will never get a wake comparable to the the x-9 as you mentioned. anyway good luck and if you come up with a better weight configuration drop me an email.

I have a 94 PS 205, I run a full tank of gas, two full sacks on either side of the engine pushed back agianst the back seat and a 350lbs tube sack in the bow ski locker. Thats it. I have a fat seat and have had that in the back and a tube and full sack up front, i don't like the wake then, too much weight and it doesnt get any better.

we are thinking of putting another 450 pound fatsack in back.

thanks guys for the input, it has caused me to experiment a little. I ended up putting a ski locker sac ( supposed to be 250 lbs ) behind the engine compartment, in front of where the seat goes. I am still wondering if the sac I have in my back ( homemade sun deck ) compartment is 900 lbs like it advertised. I took a measurement of it, and it is 50" long. the sac I have up front is 55" long and it is supposed to be a 550 lb sac. Anyway the outcome is with the added weight behind the engine, my wake has becaome as big as my friends x-9 which is great. Bad on gas good on getting air.

I have the 97 X-Star which has the 205 hull. Here's how I weight it...
Fat Seat in back = 1200
1 or 2 Side Sacs in bow hallway = 350 to 700
5 to 8 people + gear = cr@p load

It is awesome, swim deck is crazily sunk, and have to be considerate of other boats so as not to swamp them (the Delta is close-quarter riding). Had to get a 4-blade prop to compensate for all the weight and has made a huge positive performance difference. I'd recommend that to anyone who is putting more weight in their boat if they have a stock 3-blade.

Not to start any fighting, but I disagree with saying 2k lbs is too much weight. I have friends that ride with 3k and it is pretty wild. 3k of weight alone is pushing it a bit, but these guys were ballin. I am at essentially 2k of weight, then about another 1k of people and its awesome. Can be a bit sluggish if both sacs are filled in the bow 'hallway.'

Enjoy! Just experiment till you find what works for your purposes