2006 Malibu LSV - Ballast and Wakesurf Question

[drewsy77]

Hey guys - thanks for this forum. 

I picked up a 2006 LSV - first boat. 

Question is with regards to factory ballast and wakesurf wake created without extra ballast. I've been playing around with the wedge and filling factory tanks and not seeing the type of wave I see on other boats. My assumption is I need to fill up some fat saks (which I have - came with the boat from a private sale). My biggest question, assuming the appropriate wake isn't possible with factory ballast and wedge, is can you put the actual fat sak in the storage lockers on either side of the engine compartment? There is a warning not to fill that area with anything over 75lbs (sticker on the compartment cover) - so I obviously don't want to cause any damage to the boat by putting excessive weight back there. 

Also - it's not clear to me how you guys actually fill the sack? Are you doing it at home with a hose before you go out or what? I know that probably sounds dumb but I can't figure this out. I have a shower head in my boat - do you use that to fill the sacks? 

Edited May 15, 2017 by drewsy77

[NWBU]

Welcome and congrats on the new boat! Your boat will make a very good wave but it takes a lot of weight to get the wave going.

If you're listing the boat to make the wave, you'll want to fill the front, center and rear side tanks that you want to surf on, leaving the other side rear tank empty. Then fill the fat sac in same the rear locker where you've filled the stock tank, since you're listing the boat to that side to make the wave. Ignore the 75lb sticker, everyone has been running 500-1000lbs in the lockers.

If you're going to use a suction gate that attaches to the side of the boat to make the wave, then you'll want to fill all the tanks and both rear lockers evenly.

What size are the fat sacs that came with the boat? If the bow rise is too much with them full, you can either not fill them as full or you can add some weight in the bow. You'll fill the sacs with a portable ballast pump like this: https://www.wakemakers.com/fly-high-tsunami-pump.html

[drewsy77]

Thanks for the reply - I really do appreciate your help! 

I would imagine listing the boat would be the best way to make a good wave so I will take your advise on that. 

With regards to the weight in the storage locked being up to 1000 lbs - that's seems crazy given the 75lb warning but I guess if no one else is having issues with putting the Sacs in the storage area? 

I looked into the suction gates just now after you mentioned them. Are they a game changer? Necessary? 

Here are a couple of pictures of the Sacs. Using a 143cm Wakeboard for scale. I believe after doing some research that the two big ones are 700# and the smaller one's 250? 

https://ibb.co/fsrUi5
https://ibb.co/mR9tAk

That pump looks like it would work out well. Thanks for the advise on that as well. 

[NWBU]

I haven't tried the suction gates yet but planning to try one in the next week or so. I hear good things about them and it's a quicker way to switch from a regular to goofy rider since it takes more time to shift the ballast weight from side to side.

[sidekicknicholas]

I have an 04' LSV .... I've noticed a much better wave with a suck-gate vs. listing.  I also added 1100# bags in the rear compartments vs. hard tanks (04' had them above the floor).  The wedge also seems to help the wave.

[AJwakedevil]

On 5/15/2017 at 11:08 AM, drewsy77 said:

...assuming the appropriate wake isn't possible with factory ballast and wedge, is can you put the actual fat sak in the storage lockers on either side of the engine compartment? There is a warning not to fill that area with anything over 75lbs (sticker on the compartment cover) - so I obviously don't want to cause any damage to the boat by putting excessive weight back there. 

Go ahead and put as much weight as you can get in there with the hatch closing. Keep in mind there are forces pushing on your engine bay dividers, so you may want to reinforce them. Wakemakers sells these kits and you can also DIY. Just keeps them from bending in towards the engine when the sac fills and pushes on it.

As for your question for the suction gates.. necessary no, but a hugge help yes. To list you must keep one side of the boat empty. Which means youre loosing out on potential weight. Using a gate allows you to fill everything totally full, and just swap the gate side to side if someone surfs goofy. You get faster side changes AND more weight used. 

One other thing to consider is buying the Tank Busters kit on wakemakers. Get those hard tanks out of there and some sacs that fit the compartment perfectly. That way when youre not using ballast you have full storage, and when you want to surf or wake you can take advantage of 750+lbs of weight vs the 200 the hard tanks give you. 

Best of luck, and ask any more questions. You can get a pretty serious wave going by taking the stock boat and throw $500 at it. Thats the tank busters kit plus new bags plus an over the side pump for your current bags.

[minnmarker]

And add a new prop to your budget if the boat has the original 16 or 17 pitch prop.

All that weight changes things.

[drewsy77]

On 5/17/2017 at 10:45 AM, AJwakedevil said:

Go ahead and put as much weight as you can get in there with the hatch closing. Keep in mind there are forces pushing on your engine bay dividers, so you may want to reinforce them. Wakemakers sells these kits and you can also DIY. Just keeps them from bending in towards the engine when the sac fills and pushes on it.

As for your question for the suction gates.. necessary no, but a hugge help yes. To list you must keep one side of the boat empty. Which means youre loosing out on potential weight. Using a gate allows you to fill everything totally full, and just swap the gate side to side if someone surfs goofy. You get faster side changes AND more weight used. 

One other thing to consider is buying the Tank Busters kit on wakemakers. Get those hard tanks out of there and some sacs that fit the compartment perfectly. That way when youre not using ballast you have full storage, and when you want to surf or wake you can take advantage of 750+lbs of weight vs the 200 the hard tanks give you. 

Best of luck, and ask any more questions. You can get a pretty serious wave going by taking the stock boat and throw $500 at it. Thats the tank busters kit plus new bags plus an over the side pump for your current bags.

Thanks for the reply! On your advise I looked into the tank buster kit but on their website but it doesn't look like they outfit for a 2006 LSV. I didn't have a chance to call them so maybe I'm mistaken and they do have something that would work for me. 

With regards to the suck gate - I just ordered the SWELL Wakesurf Creator off of Amazon for $229. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01K5Y6KQI/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1ou 

If you guys are interested I can let you know how it turns out. I also bought that Pump one of the guys referred me to from an earlier comment so I'm going to fill the stock ballast as well as the sacs in the rear compartments and add the additional smaller sacs to the front end of the boat to elongate the wave a bit. 

We won't be going out again until memorial day weekend but I'll let you guys know how it goes after that. Thanks for all the help!

 

Edited May 18, 2017 by drewsy77
Spelling and Grammar.

[drewsy77]

Updated on the SWELL wakesurf creator. I must say, this thing really does help the wake. My setup was with just stock ballast and we had 3 guys in the back, 2 girls towards the front of the boat. Sorry i didn't take any pictures but the wake was a ton bigger than I've been able to get using just the stock ballast and power wedge. I've got a bit more tweaking to do but you can tell a major difference using the SWELL setup. I'll take picture of a before and after this weekend, weather permitting. 

I'm going to fill up the 2 400# ballast I have as well as the 2 200# I have in the front, as well as all stock ballast and see how it does. 

 

[AJwakedevil]

1 hour ago, drewsy77 said:

 

I'm going to fill up the 2 400# ballast I have as well as the 2 200# I have in the front, as well as all stock ballast and see how it does. 

 

Load her up n let her rip