ski nautique 2001 owners: ideas/plans for auto ballast share

orzech · Last edited by orzech on Sep 28, 2003 7:18 pm; edited 1 time in total

i have many ideas of what i want to do for auto ballast in my 88 nauti 2001. I want to see who has something for a d-drive with no floor storage at all. I have ideas for a sundeck, hard tanks and a bunch of other stuff but nothin that has really grabbed my attention.

i am starting to do research b/c it is oging to be a winter project to get an auto ballast done.... sick of dealing with pluggin/unplugging sacs/pumps.

here are a couple of my ideas:

pumps under teh rear seat with quick connect hoses to 3 bags... 2 on each side of engine box and one in the rear

HARD TANK IDEAS:
hard tanks covered in a padded vinyl on each side of the engine box and 1 under the seat

a mini sun deck which is the hard tank... and the hard tank as the back to your seat... you still have the the seats but it is shifted forward with the tank towards the transom covered in padded vinyl and square with the top of the seat.

hard tank behind teh drivers seat and a quick connect valve on the passenger side... leaves a walkway for when they are not in use. Kinda like the XTi

i hope someone can help with this... i plan on having a functional auto ballast system and try to save as much space as possible for people. If you have anymore ideas please post. I know everyone that owns a 2001 is dyeing to find a way to throw their great wake and still have a little bit of moving room (aka not having the entire floor turned into a water bed)

orzech · Posted: Sep 28, 2003 7:17 pm Post subject:

fewwww

that was a long post

orzech · Posted: Sep 28, 2003 7:20 pm Post subject:

one more thing... dont get to into pumps/hoses until there is a good plan for the actually water resiovers (SP?)

Funkster · Posted: Sep 28, 2003 7:38 pm Post subject:

Well you might be able to do something in the rear of the boat,like making a sundeck but I don't think you could do anything about the sac's on either side of the motor box and that is the biggest key in getting a good wake out of the older nauti's. That is one of the draw back's of the older nauti's...no room at all. I have come to piece with it and just sit people up front(in the seat's) and on the sac's. If you are really pressed for room you can alway's turn the rear seat around and throw a sac all the way in the rear,this will give you 3 more actual seat's. Keep me posted on what you find out please..thank's in advance and good luck!!

orzech · Posted: Sep 28, 2003 7:46 pm Post subject:

i am thinking of doing something permanent in the back and having quick connect hose for the bags on the sides so if we have fam. out we can just pull the bags out when they go skiing, tubing Rolling Eyes

, etc.

i keep u guys updated with ideas/plans

Funkster · Posted: Sep 28, 2003 7:54 pm Post subject:

That's a good idea and I think it would work good!!! Are you hauling or do you keep your boat on the water??

orzech · Posted: Sep 28, 2003 8:10 pm Post subject:

i keep my boat on a hoist.... heheheh

i am lucky and live on a lake. I started to clean the garage with my rents... i am convincing them to put the boat in there this year so we can work on stuff. last winter(when we got the boat) we just covered it and then threw 2 tarps bungeed down over the top of that, worked out pretty good. I am redoing my stereo myself. I have done a lot of this shizzle with my car twice and the boat twice changing headunits, subs, etc. dad is helping with ballast. I usually design the stuff and he helps build, install it. hopefully a tower this year... might be getting a older boss custom swoop for dirt cheap 6-800.

BIGMAC · Posted: Sep 28, 2003 9:26 pm Post subject:

MARION SCHLABACH has an 87 with built in ballast. The boat is for sale at http://www.flipsell.com/Phase3/home/DispVehicle.asp?VehicleID=5336. His email is moeandbrenda@tusco.net. You might want to email him or give him a call to get some ideas. He sounds like a nice guy and he has some pictures available too.

dwest · Newbie Joined: 09 May 2003 Posts: 13 City: Seattle, WA

Hey I'm with you guys, I have an 82' and am thinking about putting a tank
in the back where the rear seat is. Since the seat is just a lump of vinyl covered foam it can be replaced with a plastic tank and covered.
I found one that is almost the same size as the seat from American Tank,
www.americantank.com, it's 58"x20"x13". I know that's only like an additional 400lbs, but a little extra weight really makes a difference, to me anyway, in a boat that is as narrow as the 2001.
Have you guys found the same or are you looking to put 1500lbs or so in yours?
Just my 2c worth.
As for a tower, check my profile. I put an ICHOR tower on, looks pretty good and not too bad to put up and take down.

Funkster · Posted: Sep 29, 2003 8:22 am Post subject:

dwest, sweet you are a local guy,we are gonna have to hook up and ride sometime!!! I run 3 550 sac's one in the rear and one on each side of the motor box. I also put about 250-300 up front!! I wouldn't mind doing some type of sun deck to hid some ballast. I would just have to come up with something that follow's the same lines of the boat.

Bluesman · Posted: Sep 29, 2003 8:54 am Post subject:

We have an '82 SN model 2001. I agree with the previous post that side-sacks are essential. We figure 12 minutes to fill both, using a pump which plugs to the cigarette lighter.

We added an water back seat this year. It added 1100 pounds. That was too much. The wake was so big and steep it was intimidating. The ski platform sat 3-4" below water level when the boat was stopped. The bow rode so high we couldn't see while driving. After we let out half the water the wake improved much. I put 80 pounds of water jugs in the bow, but that wasn't enough weight up front.

I'm thinking of having a sack custom made to fit the bow storage area, and plumbed with its own pump and a dash switch for easy fill & drain. My guess is that 150-200 pounds in the bow would get the job done.

Being able to lighten the front is important, too. After wakeboarding we went tubing and found the jugs in the bow made the front end heavy after we drained the side sacks and back seat.

orzech · Posted: Sep 29, 2003 3:23 pm Post subject:

i have like 250 in my bow in weights(barbells) lol, 350 on each side and a 550 in the back.

If that rear tank is 400 lbs, i would prolly go with the 2 550's on each side of the tank.

lets keep the ideas coming

dwest · Newbie Joined: 09 May 2003 Posts: 13 City: Seattle, WA

WOA!, You guys are brave, I take water over the bow somedays when the tuna boats come out.
Funkster, we'll definitely have to hook up. I'm out of commission for the season due to my decision to rebuild my carb. Took her apart, sure are a lot of springy things in there.
I'm usually at the north end of lake wa wednsdays and saturdays at 5:00 a.m.
What's your story, you in the seattle area?

Funkster · Posted: Sep 30, 2003 7:08 am Post subject:

dwest, Iam in seattle and I ride sammamish and meridian most of the time.

Maybe for the side tanks you could just carpet the hard tanks to match the floor and just sit people on them??? Iam not sure how big a 500lbs hard tank would be,but couldnt be much bigger than a sac.

Brian B. · Posted: Sep 30, 2003 7:06 pm Post subject:

anyone ever thought of having a hard tank made that was shaped the same way as your floor so you could walk on it and have it filled with water, anyone get what im saying. so your floor would be like a big fat sac thats only like 2 inches high.

orzech · Posted: Oct 01, 2003 1:58 pm Post subject:

yes, allready thought of

but one problem, our floors are only like 2 inches deep lol, actually they it just seems way too shallow of a boat to get some inplace of the floor. my original plans were to get har tanks under the floor but it is way too shallow of a boat to do this.

jumalian · Ladies Man Joined: 12 Jan 2003 Posts: 7625 City: san diego

Funkster's lying. He doesn't ride at all! Shocked

Funkster · Posted: Oct 01, 2003 5:35 pm Post subject:

jumalian, I have been riding at least 3 days a week for the last three weeks!!! Where is my double double!!!!

jumalian · Ladies Man Joined: 12 Jan 2003 Posts: 7625 City: san diego

Oh, I see how it is...Mr. A Team! Laughing

I told you about the double-double...I digested it a long time ago!

Funkster · Posted: Oct 01, 2003 6:00 pm Post subject:

I didn't say wakeboarding foo,you should come out to the track with us and I will show you some real air!!!

Hollywood · Posted: Oct 01, 2003 6:00 pm Post subject: ballast

I've been using good 'ole sand bags wrapped in a few layers of duct tape. I kind of like your barbell idea for side ballast. You could probably lay around 4 45lb disks on the floor, and make a carpeted board to sit over them. Then you only lose 3" of floor, but have close to 200 lbs on each side. You guys are talking much more weight than that, but that's just a cheap easy way to hide some weight. A sac siting in the bow with a quick connect is essential.

I'm also making judges seats for the sides, which could also intern be tanks for weight. I like the turning the rear seat around idea, but I've thought of better. Make a bench seat, put the sacs underneath, and place it rear facing between the regular back seat and motor box. that way you can retain the entire width for people. With this arrangement, there's room for 9 people comfortably. Doing some math, 9 people at 150lb each....hmmm that's 1350 lbs already.

Everybody knows that the cheapest and easiest way to get ballast is more people in the boat. Ride with other guys, you might learn something as well.

A bigger wake isn't alwasy the answer. Get better at your tricks off smaller wakes is far more impressive than huge air.

jumalian · Ladies Man Joined: 12 Jan 2003 Posts: 7625 City: san diego

You gonna lemme use a bike?

Funkster · Posted: Oct 01, 2003 6:05 pm Post subject:

Fo show!!!! You can ride the 50..hahaha!!! We all should go spend a weekend at the track,it would be fun!!!

orzech · Posted: Oct 01, 2003 6:14 pm Post subject:

Hollywood, i like the ides of side seats beside the engine box that are actually ballast tanks. One problem with the rear set turned around, you cant have it too close to the engine box or else you cant open it up.

and also, i was talking barbells up in the bow, not a sac.

orzech · Posted: Oct 01, 2003 6:26 pm Post subject:

BINGO CRAZY IDEA JUST POPPED INTO MY HEAD

hard tank behind teh drivers seat, the part of the hard tank closest to the driver seat is a spot for a cooler and the back half you can make into an observors seat. you can have teh coolor spot have like a vinyl cover/ hinged lid so it would be hidden.

Here is a quick sketch

orzech · Posted: Oct 01, 2003 6:28 pm Post subject:

it would be kinda the malibu xti with the seats arond teh engine box and a storage compartment on the side

Hollywood · Posted: Oct 01, 2003 9:45 pm Post subject:

flsurflover · Outlaw Joined: 16 Jul 2003 Posts: 131 City: Melbourne, FL

orzech, won't that make your boat heavy on the starboard side with an extra body, cooler and ballast tank? How will you balance the port side?

I currently have one 600+lb sac in the rear and 200lb of lead in the bow of my '86 MC PS190 right now. I took out the rear seat so the sac sits all the way in the back. What I'm working on now is using 2x4's/plywood/carpet to make a box frame around the rear sac to keep it contained and covered. The plywood on top I'm planning to cover with foam and vinyl. The box will be 6-8" below the top of the rear transom, so it will be both a seat and step up to the top of the transom to go to the swim platform. If I put hinges on the lid I can also store small stuff on the sides of the sac if needed. Even lead on the sides if needed.

Lead in the closed bow is a major pain to put in and take out, so I'm getting another fat sac to put there. I'll make a simple frame to keep it in place. Until I make a custom ballast fill/drain system, I'm thinking of rigging a hose semi-permanently to the bow sac that I can cap and uncap at the dash, and connect to either side of a simple fat sac pump as needed. The bow only needs 300lbs in mine so it won't take long to fill.

The thing I'm most undecided about is how to weight the sides of the engine box. I'm not sure if I'd rather double the amount of fat sacs I have to fill/drain, or lug weights in and out. Either way though, I'll make similar 2x4/plywood/carpet frames to cover the ballast so you can easily step or sit on them. The frames won't be permanently mounted to the floor, they'll just sit over the ballast.

orzech · Posted: Oct 02, 2003 1:32 pm Post subject:

simple, adjust teh sacs/ballast and position the people in different spots.

orzech · Posted: Oct 02, 2003 1:34 pm Post subject:

also, it would just seem really cuttered with the box on the only walk way on the boat. Thats why i want to have a quick connect hose/sac connection so i can remove it if the boat is full of people that are nto wakebnoarding(family)

But that does sound like a good idea. I gotta do somethign similar in the back

Erik · Posted: Oct 03, 2003 10:29 am Post subject:

This is a great thread.

With real-deal fat 550lb side sacs on either side of the engine compartment, can you even open the engine cover? Isn't that sort of set up dangerous? Just asking.

gvb · Posted: Oct 03, 2003 11:03 am Post subject:

flsurflover,

I've got an 89' ProStar 190 and have had pretty much the same idea as you.

I'd like to do 350 or so in the bow.. anti-shoobies recommended a sac that fits perfectly up front (I'll have to search for old messages to find it... don't remember.), remove the rear seat and frame out a cover for a 550+ sac in the rear. It needs to be a useable seat though, and with the stock seat being so close to the floor, would something that is high enough to clear the sac still be usable as a seat?

-gvb

Luke · Criminal Joined: 27 Apr 2003 Posts: 94 City: BAY AREA!!!

Hey everyone

I didn't like how everyone had to sit turned around if they were in the back seat to watch the rider, so i welded together a frame had it powdercoated and just put some buttons on it to fasten the backrest to.
So far everyone loves it when there is 5 or 6 in the boat but we don't usually take it if there is just 3.

It sits right up against the engine comp and against each inside wall of the boat. Since the boat is curved it is wider at the top then at the bottom so you just have to angle it in and it fits plenty snug. The bottom of the seat is like other peoples just foam wrapped in vinyl so we just spin it around.

All in all I think it works out way better for having a lot of people in the boat. Also it keeps the rear most space in the boat open for poeple walking in and out, Bottle of lime and cooler too.

I was looking into buying a tank that would fit between the engine box and the wall and then getting a piece of padded vinyl to cover it. This way it is solid , people can stand on it without falling and kinda goea with the rest of the boat.

Heres a pic also an idea for ballast.

? Does anyone know just how much space is between the floorboards and the bottom of the boat Could you really put any effective ballast in there.

orzech · Posted: Oct 04, 2003 2:16 pm Post subject:

Luke, i am in love with your boat. This is the same guy that emailed about your tower a week ago. I ended up not getting the tower. Confused

the auction ended at lik 6-700.. something like that. I am def. gonna do soemthign this winter with my boat... not sure if i would want to flip the seat around or not. let us know if you do anythign with ballast for you boat

Luke · Criminal Joined: 27 Apr 2003 Posts: 94 City: BAY AREA!!!

yeah i knew it was you, I checked the ad and it ended at $560, that is pretty cheap for a custom swoop. The only thing i didn't like about it was how wide it was at the top. Ours really narrows in at the top, It follows the shape of the hull down the sides, but that one was really wide, not sure how easy it would have been to angle in the front supports.

I ll let everyone know what we do for a ballast setup.