How big of a Ballast can I go???

I have an 04 22SSV GG and with the all 3 of the Ballast full it gets a nice size wake but washes out bad at the top.

lately some lets say heavier people have been riding and when they ride in the back the wake cleans up nicely. when they leave the wake washes back out.

So my question is should I replace the stock bags with larger ones and what size will fit?

Or does anyone have any suggestions on how to balance the wake out with the current setup?

steve,
typically the heavier the easier you tend to wash out, but people load that boat up with tons of weight and you are fine.... here are the things you need to be looking out for...
- I tend to move the heavier people towards the front
-are you just washing on one side or both? If just one side than you need to balance people in your boat so there is even amount on both sides to clean it up on both sides. However when you have a rider on and they pull to one side of the boat it is natural for the other side to wash out.
-speed up.... this is probably your largest problem.... don't trust the speedo #1 and #2 the more weight you run the faster you have to run....get a GPS speedo and test it... I bet you are off and have no idea..... when we have lots of weight in the boat we run at least 23 MPH on a gps calibrated speedo... my dash says 25+, but i just need to calibrate my speedo
-play with your wakeplate...
-how long a line are you running... bring your line in to 70'. Maybe 75' max if you are pretty experienced....

I know people that run 1150 up front in that boat and 500 in each of the back compartments and do just fine.... there are several others on here that have the same hull as you that should be able to speak up on how they weight theirs....
good luck and be patient.... it takes some time to dial in a wake...}

(Message edited by tyler97217 on August 04, 2007)

Thanks Tyler,

Even when 3-4 sit up from and 3-4 in back we its cleaner when a big person is behind the driver (driver being 150-200.

We are still playing with it and just thought I would ask.

I saw your baby for sale, mans thats tuff, I hope every thing works out, you seem like you have got a good group up where you are. I watch you guys diggin on each other on PDX.

My wife is going to be in Seattle Mon- Wed looking for warehouses that we can use out there.

Thanks for the input.

Steve

keep this thread alive and I am sure several people can help you out with weighting that sucker.... it is a great hull and there are a ton of people on here that can help you out... if you change the topic title to the year and make of your boat i bet you will get much more attention.... hope truckin biz is treating you well and let us know if you make it to portland...

Thanks Tyler, Some day we will run into each other.

Steve -

You said that you have the '04 with the gg ballast but I'm not sure exactly what those bags hold. I've got an '03 gg but had to ditch the stock bags as they were way too small.

Right now my setup is a v-drive sac in each rear corner (400 each) and then the GG3 sac up front. The front sac is supposed to hold 1200 but since our compartment is small I think we can only get about 900-1000 in there. I haven't gps'd the speed but we run 70' @ 23.5mph with 3 people (~550lbs) in the boat. Wake plate is just a touch above 1/2 way down.

The other day we filled all ballast and put a 750lb sac right in the middle on the floor. With that weight and only 2 people in the boat (~350) we found that the sweet spot was to ride at 80' @ 25.5mph.

The last one may seem fast but the guys I was riding with are used to that speed and line length so it worked out. If your wake is washing out the only option is to put more weight up front, drive faster, or drop the wake plate.

Sometimes you'll have a perfect looking wake but it's too soft. If you find yourself working hard to clear the wake, speed it up 1/2mph and see if that helps. When you see the guys doing surfer cuts on the wake that's not just for fun, they are testing to see if they are at the right speed.



-Ryan