Will a fat sack help my wake

First off I would like to say hello to all being I am new to the wakeboard world and forum. I have only been riding for about 2 months, and would like to increase the wake size. I have a 06 Sea Ray 195 sport I/O w/ tower and was wondering if a 600lb fat sack would increase the wake size enough to make it worth while. And are there any other tricks to getting a bigger wake on a I/O. Thanks for the help.

absolutely. i'm not an I/O guy, but i think the right prop/trim is important as well

like nacho said, it will help, but learning how to control the trim on your boat will do more right now.

First off, I would like to point out that the type of drive doesn't make any significant difference: V-Drive, I/O or outboard can all be used on a good wakeboard boat. The tendency, however, is that I/Os and outboards are used on smaller, lighter boats so they get associted with small wakes.

Adding 600 lbs will definately increase the size of the wake. Whether or not it is enough is impossible to tell without knowing you and your boat.

Does your boat have a tower? Is the engine large enough to pull you up with an additional 600 lbs of ballast? Is the boat sea-worthy with that much ballast in it?

If you don't have a tower then I would say you are wasting time and money on trying to make the wake bigger. There is a BIG difference in getting the tow point higher than the rider.

Yes the boat does have a tower and I would say the engine could do it with the extra weight it just may take a little longer and maybe I would have to get a different prop. The reason I think that is a couple of weeks ago I was at the max on the weight and it took the boat a little longer to plain but the wake was bigger and that is what got me interested in the fat sac. Do you just put the fat sac in front of the back seat on the floor?

You can get a decent wake going in that Sea Ray hull with proper trim. Just trim up somewhere between 1/4 and 1/2 at boarding speed. You will see a nice ramp of a wake emegre from the washout. If you porpoise (nose bounces up and down in calm water) at this speed and trim, you may need to invest in some trim tabs or a hydrofoil stabilizer. That will generally stop the porpoising dead in its tracks with minimal affect on the wake. Once you get the best unladen wake you can from the boat, then it's time to start adding weight.

600lbs probably won't make or break the pull unless you have a lot of other people in the boat with you. But just to be on the safe side, if you add weight, do it in 100 lb increments. Also keep in mind that many I/O hulls don't particularly like planing at wakeboard speeds. If you do weigh down the boat, you'll probably want to put the weight in the middle or front. The general rule I've seen here and elsewhere is 60% of your weight in the front and 40% in the rear.

where was all the weight when you noticed it? start in the center of the boat, since you have one sac and move it front or back. I wouldn't put all of it in the back, you'll never get on plane

I have played with the trim and have seen a difference in the wake. The reason I do not trim during a run is the porpoising you were talking about and the diffulcuty of staying at a constant speed. When I had the boat loaded with people most where in the rear (behind windshield) and the boat would not plane until a couple guys went up front or to the center. Approximatly 800 lbs. So no I the boat would not plane with it in the back. On the 2 suggestions for the porpoising which in your opinion would be better. Thanks for everyones help.

When I was boarding behind my last boat ( a 20ft Chapparral w/5.7mercruiser) I would get to speed, adjust trim then play w/the throttle to get it back. Usually the rider would just have to give me/the driver a sec to get everything dialed in. It can make a good sized wake w/just the trim.

Aaron
We have a 2000 SeaRay 190 Br. with 5.0L, 1.62 Alpha drive and 19P 3-blade vengence prop.
With two crew and one rider we put a Tube Sac as far forward In the bow as possible then another Tube Sac In the Skii Locker that Is Located just behind windshield then a Fat Brick at the stern behind driver to balance the wake. Once on plane we trim outdrive up to just over 1/4.
It has made a very nice clean rampy wake at 22mph and 65' of line.
The wake Is still nothing like some of the bigger wake boats I have seen but still respectable.
If we load the boat up with full crew, 8 people we do not need the Sac In the Skii locker.
When we had full crew It would take forever for the boat to plane off and we would have to adjust Perfect Pass settings.
We tried a 19P and a 17P Merc. Hi-5 prop. The 19 was only slightly better But the 17P was awesome! The boat would just jump onto a plane.
With the 19P we ran 2800rpm at 22mph. With the 17P we ran 3100rpm at 22mph, so we had to watch that wide open throttle as It would have put us 200rpm over our max w.o.t of 4800rpm.

I am not sure what pitch prop is on it right now, it is the one that comes on the boat.I am running about 2600 rpm. I am going to see what it is but I beleive it needs to be a different pitch to get on a plane easier with the weight. I have the same motor and I think the same outdrive. How much weight are you putting in the 3 locations. I just ordered a hydrofoil stabalizer yesterday so hopefully it will be here by the weekend so I can play with the trim without making my pregnant wife mad for bouncing the boat around. I am going to look into my setup and check on the props. This might be a dumb question but you said with a full boat you would have to adjust the Perfect Pass settings. What exactly is a Perfect Pass and what are you adjusting.

Thanks for the help.

Tube Sacs are about 370lbs. and the brick Is 155lbs.
Perfect Pass Is a great speed control unit. Depending on weight of boat and how quickly you want the unit to adjust speed, there are settings to use.
What kind of Hydrofoil did you order??
Is It a trim tab that mounts to the hull?

No it attaches to the outdrive. Here is the link of the one I bought. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Whale-Tail-XL-Ski-Stabilizer-Hydrofoil-Boat-Motor_W0QQitemZ110021451516QQihZ001QQcategoryZ2645 1QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem Is this going to keep the boat from porposing with the trim adjuted? I am going to look into the Perfect Pass.

Aaron, I personally have an older I/O that only has a 4.3 V6. What I have found is that with a 250lb sac in the front, a 250 in the middle and a couple hundred in the back with the trim 1/4 up makes a pretty dang good wake. My boat only weights 2200 lbs which I know is way less then yours so with the right weight distribution you should see a good change. The reason I put more weight in the front and middle is because with the trim up it gets a bit rocky in any type of chop. Not to mention that I feel that with the trim I am adding quite a bit of push on the back of the boat, probably equivalent to a few hundred pounds. I'm no expert, so I'd say play around until you are happy.

Thanks for everyones help. I now have some things to try without chasing my tail.

"The tendency, however, is that I/Os and outboards are used on smaller, lighter boats so they get associted with small wakes"

I/Os are used on a range of boats from small to very large. Some argue that the wake table behind a DD or Vdrive is harder, which produces harder wakes. This could be complete crap, but I have heard it a few times.

Paul,

I actually posted a question about that in regards to the wake density, and it is true. On an I/O the last thing to touch the water is the drive, causing the wake to be softer on the rise, where on a inboard boat, the last thing to touch the water is the hull, making it a more "solid" wake.

Here is a picture of the wake with the trim all the way down. with about 5 people in the boat. (700lbs)

(Message edited by booze on August 16, 2006)