weight in boat?

[lofosho_97]

I have an 18ft glastron i/o with a 4.3motor. I added 250lbs in the ski locker and 350lbs n the rear on either side of the motor.there were 3 people in the boat,total people weight was 525lbs.the boat would barely pull me (150lbs) out the water.It did but i felt like i had to fight to get up.Should more weight be up front or what?I know that no one can tell me how to weight my boat, that its a trial and error thing but this produced alot of strain on my motor and me to get up.Is this the way the boat is supposed to do or should i switch weight locations?maybe less weight? I really dont want to block the bow seats or walk way cause thats where the girls like to sit.Could my boat just be a POS?It will scat with like 8 people and 4 peoples shizit in it so i dont think its to weak.Could the pitch of the prop have something to do with it?Also how much does a tower weigh?I just ordered the big air tower saturday.sorry for the novel.

[Wakebrad]

A general rule for i/os is that you want a lot of weight up front. By trimming up your engine you can force the rear of the boat farther into the water. You need weight up front to bring the boat back on plane which helps remove wash in your wake.

Move that 350lb to the bow and see how it reacts and trim up about half way once you are on plane. This configuration should help pull you out of the water better also.

Towers don't weigh that much so it won't make a whole lot of differnce in your wake or your boat's performance.

[Vampyre]

Wakebrad, good advice. I would definitely move that weight forward. I run 600 lbs in my bow walkway on a very similar boat as you. Sometimes , I don't run any weight in the rear at all.

The pitch of the prop will matter. I run a 21 pitch SS 3 blade (came with the boat).
I am ordering a 4 blade 17 pitch SS this winter.

The lower the pitch, the more "torquier" it is, or a better holeshot. high pitch works better for top end speed.

You should call you local prop shop, and see if you can demo different props, as it depends on your engine's RPMs also.

[vette74]

I have a 4.3 in a 19' boat I put a 700 in the locker and 2-250's in the back. For a prop I have a 17 pitch 4 blade aluminum. IMO the prop was worth its weight in gold it held speed better lowered the planing speed and I couldn't run the 700 in the front without it. I have run this weight with 10 people in the boat and it still got me out of the water however it did take about 50 yards or so to plane

[andy mogg]

We jsut sold our 175 Sierra Glastron with 140hp. Anymore than 6 adults in the boat and you were really pushing it. We trimmed all the way down for the hole shot and trimmed back up when on plane to get the wake right. If you only have 140hp, then that is way to much weight for the engine. On the other hand a 4.3 is a 180hp, isn´t it?

[RWB42C]

I was actually just wondering the same thing with my boat. I recently got into wakeboarding with the ski team at my university, but never wakeboarded behind my own boat. I have a 20 foot Mariah I/O. I was wondering if it would be worth it to find say a 400lb fat sack to put in the bow? I also dont have a tower and my dad would never pay to have one Would a fat sack be worth it for me?

- Rick -

[ballywho]

Just so everyone knows, it is impossible to put extra strain on the engine. You just can't do it. The prop turns at the same speed with the same amount of foward force and slippage whether you're completely dry or you're weighted with 12 people. It's just how far that given amount of force will get you.
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Acura ARX-02a

[DRAGON88]