I/O ballast placement advise

I'm looking for some advise on what would be the best placement for ballast in my 20' Sea Ray Bow Rider in order to make the biggest baddest wake ever (okay maybe not ever, but as good as it can be). Does anyone have experience with this? My boat has a maximum capacity of 1400 lbs. And I generally ride with myself and two others at a time (maybe a fourth on a good day). I was thinking in the ski locker and in the bow storage compartments, but I am unsure of how much in each place or even if those places are the best for ballast on my boat. Thanks in advance guys.

(Message edited by poontank on October 25, 2007)

I started out riding behind a 20' Glastron. I found it best to put a bunch of weight up front and trim up a little. Basically, just trim up until the bow starts porpousing/bouncing, then trim down just enough to get it to stop bouncing. For most I/O's that's what it takes to get the wake clean. It'll take some trial & error with the weight placement. Good luck!

What Adam said

i just got rid of my '05 searay 19'...we sacked it straight down the center...one 750 going from the motor to the driver seat and then a 550 from the driver seat to the bow...if you dont ride with many people(we rode about 8 deep so you do the math on the weight), throw a couple more 100lbs on either side...we had that wake fat as he$$! of course it took about 2min to get on plane but the wake was insane...seriously!

Adam-what do you mean exactly by porpousing/bouncing? Do you mean to tell me that if you put weight in the bow and trim up it will start bouncing? That sounds crazy Does any video exist of this boating behavior?

Any of you have pics of the wake you were able to make with your I/O's?

Porpoising is common on any type of planing hull. If the bow gets up too high the boat loses lift and the bow drops. It then goes too far into the water and gets pushed back up by the water and the speed of the boat forcing it up farther than it should go which starts the cycle over again. You adjust trim or loading to get the boat at the right level. Run your Sea Ray at full speed and than slowly trim it up. The Boat will pick up speed as less of the hull is in the water until you start to porpoise. You might pick up 4-5 mph from trimmed down before it starts.

Thanks for the explanation Art. My boat starts cavatating before it starts porpousing (sp?) when trimming up to gain speed. Would it make a difference if I had a SS prop?

A stainless steel prop is thinner and is harder to cavitate so that would get you a bit higher. I really liked the Vensura Prop by Mercruiser. A hydrofoil may also help because it changes the water flow above the prop. It also helps get up on plane faster and hold wake speeds better.

If your going to weight a Sea Ray. Put a high 5 prop from Mercruiser and Do as Tyler said. The high five gets more bite when trimmed up.

Ken-Am I going to notice a huge difference going from a 19 1/2 pitch 4 blade aluminum prop to say a 17 pitch high five?

yes...if you plan to use all that weight

difference will be daylight and dark. The High 5 is designed to pick the transom of the boat up so when you add all the wait in wont just dig a hole in the water. You will even like it with no weight in the boat except top end will lose 1-2 mph.

I just sold my 19 foot Mariah and when we were loaded up with people the high 5 was the only prop to have. Mine was a 17 pitch at 3400 ft.

I used to have the same exact boat... the 5 blade prop makes all the world of difference...

we used to trim it up about half way and then weight it down 40% in front and 60% back... makes the wake steep... but it was better than washed out... for some reason... on the sea ray.. when we weighted it 60(front)/40 (back) like most I/O's, the wake had a tendancy to wash out most of the time... i would say on average we were full up on 1600lbs (200 over the max) ... and we had no problems... but it is your boat... im not recommending that you sink it... just telling you what worked for us..

our capacity was 1200lbs...we rode 550 up front, 750 in back, and about 6-7 people...i'd say the capacity doesnt matter...just be careful and aware of big rollers that would put unwanted water in the boat!