Best Place for ballast

[dalton565]

hey guys

im looking at getting some fat sacks for ballast, just wondering how much weight i would need and where is the best place to put it. as i have heard its better kept as close to the back as possible.

my boat is a 18ft campion w/4.3ltr inboard, seats for 8 people w/bowrider, i currently have no ski tower am using the hook but looking into getting a tower next yr

i have storage in the following places

- ski locker under floor
- 2 x storage comparments down each side of engine
- under back seat
- in the bow

im wondering how much ballast i would need i usually only have 1 or 2 in the boat max, i was thinking of putting a 150kg tank in the ski locker.

what do you guys think ?

for pictures of a similar boat see

http://s18.photobucket.com/albums/b140/Mini-Cooper_sportspack_pics/Campion For Sale/?start=0


however this one has a tower

 

[FLWakeRider]

Re: Best Place for ballast

Every boat is different, that is the first point to make here.
So, weight placement changes depending on what your boat can and can't handle.
Many boats can go a tad bit beyond what they are rated for as well (Mine is rated for 900/lbs and I have seen the same setup as mine with 1,000lbs in just ballast + 4 people on board).

But, anyways, a good place to read up is the following link:
http://www.wakeworld.com/Tricklist/TrickTip029.asp

Since yours is an I/O though, it changes things up.
I would actually, try and go with maybe 70 rear / 15 front / 15 middle (For balance).

I have not had a TON of actual testing of weighting I/O boats down, but I have doing a lot of reading on it recently, and many people do close to that ratio.
But as many others on here have said, it all about getting out there and testing.
Easiest way (What I have been doing), get a day where you can get a bunch of buddies on the boat, MAX it out!
Throw the line in the water with no border and start shifting weight all over the place.
Trimming the motor also has an affect on the wake too, so take that into. consideration as well. Once my boat goes on plane, I have my wife trim the motor up 1/4 of the way. It cleans up the wake just a bit and makes it pretty nice.

 

[JoeCrow]

Re: Best Place for ballast

Why do you want to add the ballast?
Is it to get on plane quicker or to cure another problem like bow steering?

 

[5280Hawk]

Re: Best Place for ballast

ballast makes the boat sit deeper in the water and makes a bigger wake, and therefore BIGGER AIR!

 

[drknute3]

Re: Best Place for ballast

Best place for ballast on an I/O is up front. You can always sink the rear more by trimming up the outdrive. Adding weight under the bow seats or in the ski locker are good places. On my 21 foot Cobalt, I added 600 pounds to the bow and then trim up the drive a little past 1/4 and the wake is very rampy with no washout. Too much weight in the rear can make the ramp very steep and not very rampy. What I did to figure it out was adding weight with sandbags first. I had 400 up front and 200 in the rear but the wake was way too steep. Moved all 600 up front and the wake was perfect. Then I replaced the sand with fat sacs so the weight wasnt premanent.

 

[FLWakeRider]

Re: Best Place for ballast

Does weighting the front down really work that well?
I have been hearing both of sides of the fence on that one.
(I guess it is like my original post, saying that each boat is different)
I have been playing a lot with the trim and really didn't consider weighting the front down to get more trim out of the boat.

Currently, once the boat is on plane, I can trim almost all the way up (Without setting it for trailering) and still stay on a decent plane. I noticed that after maybe the first 1/4 of trim, it made very little effect to the wake.
That is main reason I have had to put more weight near the rear. The trim helps clean up the wash out, and it does help it get a little more rampy, but it certainly doesn't seem to compensate what weight does in the rear.

Staying on plane and maintaining speed have yet to be a problem for me. Took me a good two days of straight driving to get the wife to learn to maintain her speeds, but she is pretty good at it now. Next time I go out (I think it wont be for 2 weeks), I will make sure to take some good shots of the wake and see what you all think.

 

[craze1cars]

Re: Best Place for ballast

I recently discussed my experiences on this topic here:

http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=274356