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Additional Ballast


Lee

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Searched and cant find the answer.

Starting the wake surf thing. I guess I need a bigger wake. My 06 VLX has all the factory ballast tanks (2 rear, 1 center, 1-bow + wedge). What is the best (and affordable) set up to add additional ballast.

Barefoot International has the Pro X Series sacs. They come in different sizes, some paired others single. I have no idea which ones I need (if any). I would like the final set up to fit in the lockers or under the seats if possible. I have heard the Pro X Series Tsunami Pump is the one to get??? Any help to save me from re-inventing the wheel is appriciated.

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Pro x 750 in the rear locker (I only surf on the port side, so I only use one bag), and I use Tsunami. Others have built theirs in, etc, but this is simple, and works well for me. If I don't have a lot of people on the boat, I aslo fill an old 250lb phat buddy and set it on seat, just under where the Illusion X tower mounts.

In addition to this, power wedge half-way to 3/4 way down, all factory ballast except the starboard side rear, and 10.4MPH... produces a very, very nice wake.

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One other thing.... w/ the 750lb in the back, there is no need to position your people in the boat in the rear corner.... they should be on the side you are surfing on, but they can sit more forward in the boat - the wake is longer and cleaner if the weight it a little more balanced that way.

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The pro X fat sac (single sac-20 X 20 X 50 ) filled weights 750 lbs. What are the thoughts on the Pro X Series V-Drive Sacs (a pair-16 X 16 X 42) filled are 800 lbs (400/ea). I don't know if the 2 will fit on top of each other in 1 locker for surfing with the option of placing one in each locker for wakeboarding.

Bad idea? Should I consider 2-750lb sacs or is this an overkill (Of course my wife thinks the hole idea is ridiculous) Help I need ammo.

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The pro x 750 is the way to go. I use one the rear locker and if I'm short on people I use another one on the side seat. It throws a nice surf wake. Also, I suggest you throw some extra weight up front or in the walk way to lengthen the wake.

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One other thing.... w/ the 750lb in the back, there is no need to position your people in the boat in the rear corner.... they should be on the side you are surfing on, but they can sit more forward in the boat - the wake is longer and cleaner if the weight it a little more balanced that way.

What he said. With a 750 in the locker you won't need to stack people on top of it, you'll get a longer cleaner wake with the people in the cabin on the same side.

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Where do all you guys put all of your "boat junk" ? I'd love to get a sack or two, but jeez, I have so much crap on my boat between cleaning stuff, life jackets, skis, wakeboards, surfboards etc, I have no room in the lockers. Not to mention, I have a bed web under my canopy with MORE junk. It never ends.

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I've actually tried to thin it out some. I also purchased more racks (2 on each side now) so I can get as many of the boards as possible up out of the boat. We put the main life jackets that we use on the sides of the tower, but we still end up having to switch things back & forth depending on which side we're riding.

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I've actually tried to thin it out some. I also purchased more racks (2 on each side now) so I can get as many of the boards as possible up out of the boat. We put the main life jackets that we use on the sides of the tower, but we still end up having to switch things back & forth depending on which side we're riding.

Same here.... last year and this year, I started out fresh with a new boat, and I just added ONLY the things I really needed when I initially packed it. I fit pretty much everything in the starboard ski locker....

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For interest sake I called Malibu about the extra ballast. They tell me that the factory set up is Maximum the boat is able to handle. I phrased the question many different ways in hopes to get some "practical", "real life" advise. No, not even a spark of variation from the party line. I know that liability ect. dictates what they say.

Anyone hear of problems with boat safety or structural damage as a result of 750 lbs in the rear locker?

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Look at it this way, depending on how many people you take with you, you may have that much or more just in people on your boat. We rarely do, usually it's just the 4 of us (2 adults & 2 kids) & that puts us waaaaay below what the boat is rated for. Are they going to say that you can't ballast the boat using the stock system & still put 11 people in it? Nowhere in the boat or documentation does it say that. My suspicion is that they're not as concerned with structural damage as they are with overloading your boat & then creating a dangerous situation. Using lead is a different issue for sure, but water is in theory the same kind of neutral buoyancy as people (meaning that if you swamp your boat, it will still float at the top whereas if you use lead it will go straight to the bottom).

And no, I've never heard of structural problems resulting from something like this. That doesn't mean that it hasn't or couldn't happen, but as with everything if you use a little common sense & prudence, you'll most likely be fine.

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I've actually wondered about that. For the VLX, I believe it says 11 persons or 1650 lb worth of people/equipment. Surely, they don't include 1200 lbs of ballast as equipment? I would agree with Tracie on this one in that Ballast + People = total load. If you don't have 1650 lbs worth of people, I couldn't see it hurting the boat to have extra ballast.

Now if you're loading heavy weight above a hard tank, that could possibly do some damage, but I think I Tracie has posted that her bags haven't damaged the hard tanks underneath at all.

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Thanks- this is good info. Ordered the 750lb fat sac with Tsunami pump. Now I need to prepare myself to surf the tidal wake behind the boat.

Tracie, I hope you dont mind but I told my wife that "even WakeGirl put this sac in her boat". It seemed to be the ammo I needed. Now everyone is happy.

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Thanks- this is good info. Ordered the 750lb fat sac with Tsunami pump. Now I need to prepare myself to surf the tidal wake behind the boat.

Tracie, I hope you dont mind but I told my wife that "even WakeGirl put this sac in her boat". It seemed to be the ammo I needed. Now everyone is happy.

Hmmm, & they wonder why I'm unpopular with the wives. :lol: My ears burn constantly. Keep us posted on your progress.

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Lee, let me know next time you go out surfing with that setup I want to check it out. I was at the WOW with wakegirl but didn't get to check out the huge wall of water behind her boat.

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We need to be better about that next time. I know that you also wanted to check out the Hammerhead & I wanted to see what the Powerwedge did to your wake. Next time we need to just jump in the boats & go. :)

Yea to many toys and not enough time! I could of spent a week there with the group and not had enough time to do everything I wanted to do. Oh well always next year! Biggrin.gif

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