Cost Effective Ballast Questions...

carp22 · Newbie Joined: 01 Sep 2011 Posts: 36 City: great falls

I just finished high school so I really dont have a lot of money to spend and i have finally finished building a tower and speakers for our boat. This year my project is a decent excuse for a ballast system. Last year I bought empty sand bags and filled them with gravel and threw about 250 or 300 pounds in the ski locker. The problem is that i still need more wieght, and to save gas and for skiing purposes we would like to empty the wieght out when were not wakeboarding. The sand bags work but it is tiring and time consuming when a person has to take them out of the boat and put them back in all the time.

I thought about using low profile plastic totes and straps to hold them down, but im sure they would break with 200 lbs of water in them. I also thought about using just 5 gallon buckets full of water and putting lids on them, but that wont fit inside the ski locker. I am at a complete loss and do not know if it is even possible, but Id like to find a way to make a bigger and better wake that will hopefully cost me less than 100 dollars. I do have a lot of junk laying around and im open to any DIY project ideas. So just let me know if you think of anything.

giddyupca · Newbie Joined: 12 Mar 2012 Posts: 4

i have see guys take a tractor tube, cut out the valve and cement in a bigger valve like something off of a tube, that was leaking, you would be suprised how much weight you can put in a large tractor tube, i think the weight one it was like 700+lbs and was not full

jtryon · Criminal Joined: 27 Apr 2011 Posts: 54

less than $100? you can get two 550lb bags for a little more than that. and all this time you're spending trying to fabricate one yourself, you could spend mowing a couple lawns for the difference! Very Happy

carp22 · Newbie Joined: 01 Sep 2011 Posts: 36 City: great falls

Thanks i think ill look into finding a tractor tube. And i have a cousin that used to have a boat and he may still have his ballast system so i can ask him about that too.. And if not i found some tanks at my dads shop that are probably about 15 gallons and they could easily just be filled and emptied with a bucket... But that will be my last resort.

retoxtony · Newbie Joined: 11 Jul 2011 Posts: 18

If you know any farmers ask them if they have any old weights for a tractor that they dont use anymore. Tractor weights usually are flat and have a handle built into them that makes moving them around pretty easy. The ones i used last year were 103 lbs each and worked really well. They even had grooves so they stacked together nicely. Not the best looking ballast setup but it worked good. Lots of farmers dont use these weights and will be happy to give them away for next to nothing.

carp22 · Newbie Joined: 01 Sep 2011 Posts: 36 City: great falls

Thanks. I never thought of that i have 2 in my yard right now and i know a lot of people who might have some... I might try that, but would it be a bad idea to put them in a ski locker? Im worried they might crack the hull if theyre bumped around too much.

retoxtony · Newbie Joined: 11 Jul 2011 Posts: 18

They only problem they ever caused me was a little john deere green paint on the carpet in the bottom of my ski locker. I'm not sure if you'd want to leave them in the boat while trailering, i never did. I dont think it would cause a problem to leave them in, but if theyre easy to move, i'd rather not take a chance.

anw7405 · Outlaw Joined: 10 Sep 2010 Posts: 188 City: edmond

do you have a water pump of any kind? if so the tractor tube is a good idea or what i used to do is fill up my boat tube kind of laying over the back locker/swim platform. that way you can pull the plug where it just drains in the lake after you are done. it was a two man tube with a canvas cover and handles so lots of tie down options. I'm sure it was 750+. Air matresses would work but no tie downs.

kartman · Posted: Jun 22, 2012 4:22 pm Post subject:

just watch craigslist. you can pick up some old balast bags for next to nothing. usually they come with a pump.

JoLo_Si · Criminal Joined: 24 May 2011 Posts: 87 City: Orlando

I like the idea of filling the towable tube, finally a good use for those damn things other than carying the guy with the camera. I thnk I'm going to try this idea over the weekend for surfing.

Waterbed tubes also work good

carp22 · Newbie Joined: 01 Sep 2011 Posts: 36 City: great falls

I am gonna give filling the tube a shot... I'm gonna patch a hole in our old one and throw it in the ski locker... I did the math and it should hold about 1000 lbs completely full. I only need about 450 though. And my dad is going to hook me up with some air bladders that blow up to be about 8" around and they can be cut to any length so ill connect 3 of them with pvc to make a zig zag pattern about 7 foot long to stretch across the rear of the boat. Ill buy a manual pump and hopefully we can get a good size and shape out of the wake.

Jay Dutton · Posted: Jul 12, 2012 10:01 pm Post subject:

Suck it up and buy a real sac. I bought a used 750 lb Fly High for $75 last week in like new condition on my local classifieds You don't want to be messing with janky fittings and water spilling every where, plus the risk of it exploding. I recently swapped all my sacs out from the old style waterbed fitting ones to the new style fly highs, no comparison!

I also sold my old sacs for $40 each, so there are deals to be had.

carp22 · Newbie Joined: 01 Sep 2011 Posts: 36 City: great falls

we finally got the boat out with the old tube filled in the ski locker... everything worked perfect and i only spent money on the pump and the stuff to patch the tube up... The boat threw the best wake were going to get out of it... Thanks everyone