Custom SwimDeck Ballast Bag project

SamCF · May 18, 2018

haknslash said:
Had a little spare time at work today so here's a 19' boat Trapezoid version with extra handles. It's also a little wider (+6") to compensate for the loss of volume due to the angles. Capacity is the same +/- 1 lb. Thoughts?

View attachment 74628

I need that.

jcyamaharider · May 19, 2018

Looks good Kenny but can we try to keep the handles to 4? They are an expensive add on.

haknslash · May 19, 2018

Sure no problem! I was wondering if they were expensive add-ons

. I would guess the two on top and the two on the rear slanted area would be the ones to keep so that ropes can hold around it and on top of it. Thoughts?

jcyamaharider · May 20, 2018

Where will you attach the top rope to secure?

haknslash · May 20, 2018

More than likely the tower like you had yours tied off. How are the handles attached to the bag? I'm guessing a heavy duty epoxy or something.

Scottie · May 20, 2018

Got back on the water today. Got the bag to fill MUCH better than last time. Near perfect I'd say. That meant even more weight, since we didn't get it all the way full last time. Giant smooth curl, fairly long too. Surfed ropeless no problem, 2nd time ever, at 235lbs on a $199 surf board, so that's how good the wake was. With the bag properly filled and seated, much less tendency to roll off, much easier and better overall. I don't think the bag needs changing at all after today. You're going to have to carefully fill the bag no matter what, so handle placement might help a little I suppose, but it's not an important factor I don't think. No issues with air to the engines. Only issue we had was with people on the port side seat, surfer asked for more speed and I couldn't give him more than 10 mph, ha. Had to move people to the bow. I'll end up with a bag in the ski locker which should help with that. Overall, awesome addition. Comical wake.

nate kennedy · May 20, 2018

I’m in whenever the 21’ bags arrive!

haknslash · May 20, 2018

Yup you get that swim deck down in the water and these boats will make a wave! Nice job @Scottie

Scottie · May 20, 2018

The list seems to be the ticket for sure. Am I right in thinking a ski locker bag would help bring the nose down and allow another mile an hour or two if necessary? How might that affect the wake?

thcobb1 · May 20, 2018

Scottie, From my playing around I thing our 21ft boats prefer tail weight.

haknslash · May 20, 2018

Scottie said:
The list seems to be the ticket for sure. Am I right in thinking a ski locker bag would help bring the nose down and allow another mile an hour or two if necessary? How might that affect the wake?

Generally adding bow weight will lengthen a wave at the sacrifice of a little wave height. Our boats are a little different though as too much bow weight will raise the pump higher in the rear thus more jet wash. but you have a wave wedge so you should be fine. I'd experiment if you got the ballast or human weight to play around with. When @Bill D weights his boat he throws a fat sac over the ski locker, I think 540 lbs but I can't remember but he will chime in. I don't think he has any issues with going beyond 10 mph. Are you cavitating if you try to push it beyond 10 mph or is the boat topped out? How much ballast are you running?

Bill's cabin ballast placement and wave.l we have a 540 lb on the swim deck to burry it ankle deep in the water...

Scottie · May 20, 2018

Today was stock ballast full (400lbs each side), deck bag full (I'm guessing 800lbs). 230lbs of batteries port side. 700lbs of people in the boat. When I noticed the 10mph wall, I was pulling a 270lb surfer. It wasn't cavitation, just max throttle and 10-10.5mph was it. I moved 400lbs of people to the front, the nose came down a bit, and I had to back off the throttles as we moved past 14mph. I'm pretty happy with the wake, but it would be nice to surf at less than full throttle for 10mph. Mpg, noise, etc. I'm probably asking for too much now. Ha.

Bill D · May 20, 2018

Never had an issue with getting beyond 10 mph, but we have perfect pass, so it does the thinking. The sweet spot for my boat is around 2k lbs. 800 on the port seat, 540 on the swim deck, and 540 on the floor. More weight than that becomes counterproductive.

These new swim deck bags look awesome. I’ll be getting one this summer for sure.

nate kennedy · May 20, 2018

@Scottie I have a 212x as well. For me I found the best was 1180# fly high bag under port seat. 400# fly high bag under starboard seat. I also have 750# bag in the ski locker. As a guess I would say 1/3 to 1/2 full. That produced an ok wave but I couldn’t go ropeless. I added a 750# bag to the swim deck I never got 100% full and I could go ropeless. For reference I am about 230 pounds. I never had an issue with speed or throttle. I do have perfect pass but I was no where near wot.

Scottie · May 20, 2018

Thanks for the feedback guys. I have RideSteady which I'm still playing with, and it could very easily be related to that. There was a lot of stuff happening and I really wasn't focused on why we couldn't go faster, since there was no apparent malfunction or anything. I'll set it up again next weekend and see where we are. I don't want to derail this thread so if need be, I'll start a new one on the issue. Thanks again.

mraz72 · May 20, 2018

Looking to start wake surfing this season, been doing some reading, sounds like the stock ballast isn't enough, so I am very interested in the swim platform bag for the 24'. Where are we with that? There were a few available from @jcyamaharider?

So adding this bag (getting the swim platform underwater) and stock ballasts should get us a good start? Sounds like I also want to look into some sort of wedge to clean up the wake?

jcyamaharider · May 21, 2018

Scottie said:
Got back on the water today. Got the bag to fill MUCH better than last time. Near perfect I'd say. That meant even more weight, since we didn't get it all the way full last time. Giant smooth curl, fairly long too. Surfed ropeless no problem, 2nd time ever, at 235lbs on a $199 surf board, so that's how good the wake was. With the bag properly filled and seated, much less tendency to roll off, much easier and better overall. I don't think the bag needs changing at all after today. You're going to have to carefully fill the bag no matter what, so handle placement might help a little I suppose, but it's not an important factor I don't think. No issues with air to the engines. Only issue we had was with people on the port side seat, surfer asked for more speed and I couldn't give him more than 10 mph, ha. Had to move people to the bow. I'll end up with a bag in the ski locker which should help with that. Overall, awesome addition. Comical wake.View attachment 74771

Great job !!!! The bag looks good back there.

jcyamaharider · May 21, 2018

Michael Rasmussen said:
Looking to start wake surfing this season, been doing some reading, sounds like the stock ballast isn't enough, so I am very interested in the swim platform bag for the 24'. Where are we with that? There were a few available from @jcyamaharider?

So adding this bag (getting the swim platform underwater) and stock ballasts should get us a good start? Sounds like I also want to look into some sort of wedge to clean up the wake?

Yep this bag ( I have 2 left ) and our Wake wedge ( sold out for 2 weeks waiting on wedge blanks ) and you will have an awesome wave!

haknslash · May 21, 2018

Scottie said:
Thanks for the feedback guys. I have RideSteady which I'm still playing with, and it could very easily be related to that. There was a lot of stuff happening and I really wasn't focused on why we couldn't go faster, since there was no apparent malfunction or anything. I'll set it up again next weekend and see where we are. I don't want to derail this thread so if need be, I'll start a new one on the issue. Thanks again.

I don't have Ridesteady but the way other systems work was once you set it you can nail the throttle WOT all you want but it will not go beyond the desired/set speed. @swatski can you confirm?

mraz72 · May 21, 2018

jcyamaharider said:
Yep this bag ( I have 2 left ) and our Wake wedge ( sold out for 2 weeks waiting on wedge blanks ) and you will have an awesome wave!

Was there going to be a slight redesign or do we think sticking with the original design is the way to go?

Custom SwimDeck Ballast Bag project

Would you be interested in this type of bag for your swim deck?

Yes

No

Maybe

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