How much ballast should i use.

138DNAparks · Outlaw Joined: 29 Aug 2004 Posts: 188 City: Moses Lake

Hey I got a 2003 Calabria Cal-Air and I was wondering what is the max amount of ballast i should use in it. Right now I fill up the Purevert wake system which is 700 pounds i believe and then add another 700 pound fat sac on the back seat. It throws up a terrific wake. I was wondering if I could put any more sacs in if that would be bad for the boat? anyone know?

randomhero · Outlaw Joined: 29 Mar 2004 Posts: 153 City: Yuba City

i think some lead in the bow would help ur wake a lot, but every boat is different so feel it out and experiment.

89 skier · Addict Joined: 30 Jun 2004 Posts: 729 City: Dallas

Pretty much any time you put more ballast in a boat you are going to exceed the weight limits of that boat. But from my experience the weight limit on the yellow sticker posted on all boats is to cover them in any lawsuits or disputes down that may occur. It's like a speed limit. It's there for safety but you can exceed it at your own risk.
My boat is rated at 6 person or 900lbs plus 300 lbs of gear...but I've had 1500 lbs of ballast plus 4 people and gear. So I've had double the capacity of my boat's limit and it didn't sink.
Another note is that water is neutral weight. So if your boat takes on water, theoretically it shouldn't sink to the bottom. But if you add weight such as lead to the boat, and it takes on water, you're boat is going to sink to the bottom.
One easy way to check and see if more ballast is what you need is to invite lots of friends out on the boat, and move them around the boat until you get the ideal wake.

astro209 · Soul Rider Joined: 09 Oct 2003 Posts: 279 City: Nor*Cal

89 skier, I am not clear on something. Is one of the risks of exceeding that little sticker the possibility of getting a ticket? I mean, if you get pulled over, and the sticker says 6 people, but you have 10, can you get fined for that?

My sticker says 7 people or 1100 lbs of weight. Over Labor Day weekend, we had 10 people, and 2400lbs of weight... It took some getting used to, but we did not have any problems.

138DNAparks · Outlaw Joined: 29 Aug 2004 Posts: 188 City: Moses Lake

Thanks. So how much more do u think I should put in without putting to much of a strain on the boat? How big of a fatsac should i put in the bow? the wake is perfect shape and big enough but a little extra hangtime would be really nice. Very Happy

Funkster · Posted: Sep 14, 2004 8:10 am Post subject:

You need about 2,500 to 2,700 lbs to get a good wake out of any boat over 21' and with the width of your beam that should be perfect.

Nauty · Addict Joined: 12 Feb 2004 Posts: 827 City: Lake Dallas

As far as the strain goes, the right size prop can take care of that. Changing the pitch can help your hole shot dramatically even when running with a lot of ballast.

I do sometimes wonder about how much weight is too much. This past weekend I ran with 2200 lbs of ballast, two adults in the boat, and 1 rider being pulled, all on a 17'6" boat. My boat was sitting very low in the water and it did scare me a bit, but the wake was the largest I've ever seen my boat produce.

Even though the wake was awesome I am contemplating going back to some smaller sacs. Decisions, decisions, decisions.......

afxsguy · Criminal Joined: 01 Jun 2004 Posts: 63 City: P-ville

nauty... a lot of the nautiques dont need much weight to make the wakes sick. i have a 1980 nautique and i dont put any more than 600 lbs in it.

as it is, with 600 lbs, water sometimes comes up over the front of the boat when we turn around and go through our own wake. the wake is sick. i wouldnt ven think of adding more ballast.

most other boats however are different. ive loaded about 2200 lbs in my dad's barefooting boat, and the wake still doesnt compete with the nautique!

Nauty · Addict Joined: 12 Feb 2004 Posts: 827 City: Lake Dallas

Afxsguy,

I think you're probably on the right track. I have a friend with a 2002 SAN. He runs about 1400 lbs in his boat and the wake is very large. My wake with the 1600 lb set up produced the same shape wake as my firend's SAN, just not as big.

After riding behind the SAN I had wake envy, so I bought some larger sacs to see how big I could get my wake. The wake was definitely larger than ever, but the difference wasn't that appreciable. I think I'm inclined to go with a slightly smaller wake and not have to worry about sinking my boat.

You can see what the wake looked liked with the 2200 lb set up on this link. Just look for my post.

http://forums.wakeboarder.com/viewtopic.php?t=32257&sid=1dd5b1929434d79e25d86bc5d17cd409

flukdfilms · Posted: Sep 16, 2004 2:03 pm Post subject:

as much as possible. just place it evenly and shift it around till you find our wake.

Funkster · Posted: Sep 16, 2004 4:06 pm Post subject: