Too much ballast

Is there such a thing? I'm taking a trip to Alabama tomorrow with some friends to go and ride for the week. I have 250 lbs on each side in the back 500 in the center locker, and I just purchased two 450 lbs v drive sacs to replace the 250's. I want to put the 250's in the bow. My buddy has a 450 for the back seat he can bring. That's 2350 lbs, and four adults average weight 180 is this too much for a 06 mob lsv.

not sure, epic claims 4000 pds ballast, plus all the people(if you fit 10 peeps in, that's an extra 1500-2000 pds depending on peeps), not sure where to draw the line. you read the limitations sticker on the boat, and it's well under what the ballast alone is. this will be an interesting question.

you're boat will be fine with that much weight, only issue may be the prop and getting on plane.

Scott is right...and, unless they were lying when we bought our 07 Mobius LSV, those weight limits include ballast so you dont add the ballast weight to the boat's limits.

I also agree w/ Scott...your boat will be fine and planning might be an issue. I have 2700 in my VLX and it takes quite awhile to get on plane w/ the stock prop...but it's worth the wait! Oh yeah, and be prepared to spend some coin on gas...4 of us used a whole tank in one day.

I just bought a new OJ 14 1/4 X 14 prop that was recommended on this site as well as my dealer. It should help me to get on plane just fine . The only concern was sinking my boat, and I was also wondering if anyone else ran with this kind of weight in there boat.

Paul,

You'll be fine. When stacking weight in the bow be carefull of dipping the nose, or rollers coming over the bow. It just takes some getting used to. You should have a great time and you should get a good wake out of that combo.

There are a ton of people on this site running that much weight. GO FOR IT!

Your gonna have a great time. Send Some PICS

Leaving in three hours...man I can't wait. I don't think I slept two hours last night. My wife thinks I'm a nut. I'll post some pics of the wake when I get back. Stoked!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Of course, now that Paul's gone I can post some pics of what might be too much ballast...





Not mine, though. They're from the Wakeboard Report.

naahh, the first one could still handle another 100 in the rear

The second shot occured while the boat was being towed behind a houseboat when a large cruiser came by and swamped the boat. It happened to a guy that was on themalibucrew or malibuboatowners.com, he came on and told his story with the pictures.

My opinion is the first one (the submerged boat) doesn't have any ballast in it. The guy on back is wearing a barefoot suit, and they have a barefoot boom out with the lead handle attached. Looks like they're ready to barefoot.

In that case, the boat taking the picture (which appears to have swamped the ski boat) would be responsible for this.

1st one is photo shopped

If the first one is photoshopped the guy who did it is a star. You can see the side wake up to the rub rail at the stern and the froth from the bow wake angling properly

Donaldrhill, Im going with Art on this one. This one isnt photoshopped. This picture has been all over wakeboarding websites, and that type of perfect alignment of the water would be almost impossible to replicate.

Also the boat which has the person that is taking the picture looks like they are doing the famous ass drag and making a big wake. If they have any weight in the nose of that ski boat with those tiny walls its gonna look like its sinkin. My vote, not photoshopped

Paul is so right! Prop Prop Prop. YOU NEED to change your prop to the 14.25 X 14. I tested a 07 LSV with stock ballast (about 1700lbs) plus at least 3000 more in sacs plus 5 riders! It can take the weight.....just watch the nose. It will be a PIG until you change the prop. Then AWESOME! Have fun!

Those older dd boats will do that pretty easy. I have done that turning around in my own wake. Acutally it is pretty funny when people are sitting with their backs to the windsheild and get slammed with water coming over the front of the boat.

yeah...I'm pretty dang good with Photoshop and I don't think that was photoshopped.

The piece that makes it really legit for me is the license numbers on the side of the boat. You can see the light is refracting and warping the appearance of the letters, making them look like the roll off. It'd take someone who is an absolute master with PS to warp the letters like that.

Plus, to photoshop that, you'd have to lower the entire boat by 8-15 inches, which means, you'd have to lower all the people, the ski boom and the way the rope is hanging off the ski boom.

Upon zooming in there is no evidence of Photoshopping.

I vote it is real.

It's not shopped. It's just a really small boat with no ballast--but a lot of people--being passed slowly by a jackass who then took pictures.

I'm back and the wake was huge. A little too big for my wakeboarding abilities, but great surfing . I'll post some pics later tonight when I get to my house.
Also if anyone is thinking of riding or vacationing on a lake in Alabama, Wedowee lake is awesome and very affordable. I stayed in a large three bedroom lake house for $150.00 a night. We rarely seen anyone else out on the water other then people fishing.