06' Vride Bow Ballast Or Not

[Ndawg12]

I have heard many people give different opinions on this topic and I think I know what Johnsvt will say but I would like to quantify simply yes or no answers amongst everyone whether or not I need to add weight up front, yes or no.

Thanks

[skicrave]

I haven't read the rest of your threads, so excuse my ignorance, but what ballast does your boat currently have? Center and rear tanks? Are you running anything extra on top of that? Do you have a Wedge? Are you setting the boat up primarily for boarding, surfing, or both?

It takes a bit more information to really know whether bow ballast is needed, so fill us in, and we can fill you in.

[Ndawg12]

I haven't read the rest of your threads, so excuse my ignorance, but what ballast does your boat currently have? Center and rear tanks? Are you running anything extra on top of that? Do you have a Wedge? Are you setting the boat up primarily for boarding, surfing, or both?

It takes a bit more information to really know whether bow ballast is needed, so fill us in, and we can fill you in.

I apologize, I should have expected that response. Yes, I currently just have the factory center and rear tanks along with a manual wedge. Nothing has been added yet. I will typically ride with 3 or 4 in boat. I have 200# of sand ready to test with but since it's the off season I figured I ask. Thanks.

[johnsvt]

I do know 200lbs of sand fits under the front seats.

You must think I have some sort of evil bow ballast agenda, muwahahaha.

Seriously, I have ridden behind boats with same ballast as mine and no bow ballast, the wake was just not as nice.

[skicrave]

I apologize, I should have expected that response. Yes, I currently just have the factory center and rear tanks along with a manual wedge. Nothing has been added yet. I will typically ride with 3 or 4 in boat. I have 200# of sand ready to test with but since it's the off season I figured I ask. Thanks

Are you going to surf at all? If so, I would recommend larger bags in the back of the boat so you have plenty of weight. If not, you can get away with a smaller bag back there.

For wakeboarding, you can fill 300-400 pounds of weight in each locker, and together with the integrated bow sac and center MLS tank, you'll have a well balanced boat that will surf, ride and drive great.

[Ndawg12]

I'm not real interested in surfing right now. And I'm not that great at wake boarding and nobody that will go out with us is really that great either. So the actual size of the wake isn't really that important to me. However, the shape is somewhat important and I hear the boat planes alot easier with a few hundred #'s up there, that's probably the most important thing to me. Evil Bow Ballast Agenda, ha!!

[DUKENO1]

Nemire

I have an 06...bought it new and I have tried all sorts of ballast configurations. I also have the rear and mid tanks

from the factory. If you don't care about surfing I think you are fine without the bow ballast tank. The stock ballast

with the wedge, if you like, will give you probably all the wake you could want. The boat should come out of the hole fine with that

setup. Now for me and my peeps we like to wakeboard and surf. I found this past year that adding a sack up front along with the

stock weight really made a nice improvement to the wake for wakeboarding, got the boat up on plane a little faster, and allowed me

to not use the wedge. I personally don't really love the wedge for boarding for a couple of reasons. NUmber one is I can see the gas guage moving

towards empty whenever it's deployed ! Number two is the wake seems to get harder and I feel like I am being booted abruptly when

I hit it. I prefer a smoother transition. Take into consideration that I am a 43 year old looking to make it in to work on

Monday's so I am not a hardcore boarder. They may give you a different perspective!

Now taking that into consideration plus our fondness for surfing once in a while, I purchased the Flyhigh 750's a few months ago and will replace

my rear hard tanks with them very soon. I am also getting ready to order a bow sack through the group buy. My hope is that the wakeboard wake

will be great and all I will have to do to surf is drain one side tank and fill maybe one big fatsack for the seat. Right now we have to fill the factory

rear, stuff two more sacks in their with it as full as we can get them, big 600 lb sack on port seat, 300 lbs sack in front on port side plus the wedge.

The more people the better of course but sometimes it's just me and the gf. Anyway I hope this will work pretty well and save us from

having to spend as much time filling and draining fat sacks with a pump tossed over the side. We will see.....

[skicrave]

I'm not real interested in surfing right now. And I'm not that great at wake boarding and nobody that will go out with us is really that great either. So the actual size of the wake isn't really that important to me. However, the shape is somewhat important and I hear the boat planes alot easier with a few hundred #'s up there, that's probably the most important thing to me. Evil Bow Ballast Agenda, ha!!

Sounds like you would probably be fine without the bow bag. Having weight up front definitely makes the transition longer, but unless you feel like the wake is really abrupt, you probably don't need it. You could always demo the bag from us to make sure you like it...

I am also getting ready to order a bow sack through the group buy.

You may be interested in our PiggyBack Integrated Bow Sac system, which will fill automatically from the center MLS tank.

[Ndawg12]

Nemire

I have an 06...bought it new and I have tried all sorts of ballast configurations. I also have the rear and mid tanks

from the factory. If you don't care about surfing I think you are fine without the bow ballast tank. The stock ballast

with the wedge, if you like, will give you probably all the wake you could want. The boat should come out of the hole fine with that

setup. Now for me and my peeps we like to wakeboard and surf. I found this past year that adding a sack up front along with the

stock weight really made a nice improvement to the wake for wakeboarding, got the boat up on plane a little faster, and allowed me

to not use the wedge. I personally don't really love the wedge for boarding for a couple of reasons. NUmber one is I can see the gas guage moving

towards empty whenever it's deployed ! Number two is the wake seems to get harder and I feel like I am being booted abruptly when

I hit it. I prefer a smoother transition. Take into consideration that I am a 43 year old looking to make it in to work on

Monday's so I am not a hardcore boarder. They may give you a different perspective!

Now taking that into consideration plus our fondness for surfing once in a while, I purchased the Flyhigh 750's a few months ago and will replace

my rear hard tanks with them very soon. I am also getting ready to order a bow sack through the group buy. My hope is that the wakeboard wake

will be great and all I will have to do to surf is drain one side tank and fill maybe one big fatsack for the seat. Right now we have to fill the factory

rear, stuff two more sacks in their with it as full as we can get them, big 600 lb sack on port seat, 300 lbs sack in front on port side plus the wedge.

The more people the better of course but sometimes it's just me and the gf. Anyway I hope this will work pretty well and save us from

having to spend as much time filling and draining fat sacks with a pump tossed over the side. We will see.....

Thanks for the info, I will take that into consideration. Sorry to see your Devils getting whooped, right now as I type, ouch, I had Nova but not by that much!!!

[NvBoarder]

The basics: The more weight in the back the steeper the ramp of the wake, but with out adding weight to the middle and the front it won't be as solid. The optimum is 60% rear weight and 40% up front. That way the entire boat sinks into the water therefore making a bigger foot print in the water. I would add the weight up front, this will off set the current setup you have and make a very solid and fairly steep ramp.

[DUKENO1]

Yeah...props to Villanova. They sure laid a smackdown on my devils...

Thanks for the info, I will take that into consideration. Sorry to see your Devils getting whooped, right now as I type, ouch, I had Nova but not by that much!!!