how much ballast

I have a 18' ski supreme, how much weight can I put in the boat before I have to start changing props? Just looking for good wake. How much and where? Thank You.

At least 5,000lbs or so.

My old 19' direct drive was small, low and didn't do well with a ton of weight, I'm assuming your boat is the same. I'd start off with pair of 400lb v-drive sacs on each side of the engine, depending how much power your boat has I'd also try a 750 lb sac in the back an 400lb in the blow.

we have an 86 malibu skier, i put one 400lb sack on each side of the motor

Originally Posted by rrkyle

At least 5,000lbs or so.

no freaking way impossible....

id say 2000 lbs

87 prostar 190, we put 900 on the back seat, 500 on the floor in front of it, and 400 in the bow. That's about all she could handle.

All the suggestions are great. These weights were added without changing the prop.

Go 440s next to the engine and a little weight in the nose. I'm not sure that boat is super well known for its wake but that'll help... The ppl saying 2k... You'll be pushing it getting on plane with that boat and no upgraded prop I feel. 1k or so you should be good

I had a 1986 19' ski supreme with the 351 Ford in it. The most we could realistically handle was about 1400-1500. You should also be very careful who you let drive the boat with that much weight in the back. It will be very easy to swamp the front or rear of the boat as our rub rail was only about 3" out of the water in the rear with that much weight.

Originally Posted by rrkyle

At least 5,000lbs or so.

Just make sure to get the optional periscope...

We use for training Supra Mariah Classic 1988 with 454 engine and we not use any ballast for learn new tricks such as spins or inverts. Usually speed 20 m/h and wake is enough for. We use ballast (approx. 2000) for few time per month only. I don't know your ride level and size of wake behind your boat but I'm sure that big wake not good for all levels or for all who want to learn.

If you don't get some weight in the nose to balance things out your going to think you need to change the prop. With some balance (I don't mean equal front to rear) you should plane ok with the stock prop. I do appreciate having the Acme 542 though when everything is full (about 2K lbs) and 5-6 people in my '85 SN2001.

what we used to do is fill sac's evenly around the boat (sides, nose and stern). try getting on plane. If you cant get on plane, take a little out (evenly) and try getting on plane again. if you get onto plane easily put more weight in, evenly. try getting on plane. repeat until your satisfied with the time it takes to get on plane.

Jo Lo any pics of that wake? Where do you put your ballast? We run 800s in my buddies 2001 and I'm sure at their fullest they're not more than 650... We did at one point run 4 440s and 3 85# bricks... He's got his prop pitched down to 13x10.5, acme repitch... I can't believe you get out of the hole with 3k and a 13x11.5...

Had a 750 in the back of my 85 MasterCraft with no problems and decent results this weekend. Have done two 750's with 400's next to the engine cover, and created a very nice wake, but took markedly longer to get up to speed with the 13x13. A little nose weight would've been nice in this setup. I'm thinking if you really wanted decent wakes with nice acceleration try a 750 against the back of the motor box, and 400's on each side.

Mine was hooked up with a custom auto plumbed set-up. I've got about 400lbs of dry weight in the nose, 200lbs or dry weight in the far back middle, a 400lbs sack horizontally along the back and a 400lbs sack on each side of the dogbox. The side ones roll up and hide away when not full.

I'm know these are not the best pics, I think these are from the first couple sets when we weren't running full capacity and still trying to get the weight and passenger locations sorted. The wake is definately bigger and cleaner now, about 65' out. I want to try setting up a surf wave but I'm not sure it this boat will do it.

Need more weight in the nose. We run 600ish side sacks slid as far forward as possible and 170# in the bow and the heaviest ppl in the observer seat. So it winds up with ppl 6-800 front, 1200 side, 400 rear- normal crew size

My fav setup was 440s placed all around the engine and 3 85# bricks in the nose.

Delta, you think I need more weight in the nose, not including driver and passenger? Because all of my nose weight is dry it bounces pretty good in the rear if I don't have any water in the sacs.