Buying Fat Sac Ballast

[anmut]

I'm looking at a ski locker bag (found in stock for about $180) and the transom bag (can't find in stock and seem to run as high as $500?), and finally a 12v "tsunami" pump to fill and empty. A couple questions:

Seems to be a lot of extra connections and pieces for pumps / bags - any recommendations so I have a workable ballast system without ordering additional parts?

Is Fat Sac bags the only and/or best choice for water weight on Yamahas?

Is 750lbs on the transom and 750lbs in the ski locker enough to get a decent wake on a 2020 212S for surfing (plus at least a few adults in the boat) or will I need a wake booster too? I can feel my money clip already crying in pain.

Any recommendations on retailers for aforementioned ballast bags would be greatly appreciated!

 

[biffdotorg]

If you are not plumbing the bags in permanent, I found I needed to match up the fittings on the bag to the pump. So I was shopping used, and found lots of bags with fittings designed for permanent install. In other words someone pulled the factory bags out of their wake boat, and upgraded to larger.

So I had to either adapt them, or replace all the fittings. So I stuck with buying a pair of Fat Sac branded bags (400lb each) and the custom fat sac for the stern. Then purchased the Tsunami pump, as all of the above had the appropriate fittings.

You can buy bags directly from Fat sac, but you will find no deals, usually full boat retail. But by getting the part numbers (like W707 is the 700lb ski locker bag) and then Ebay our Amazon search. Many are listed at retail, but sometimes someone will sell one for a discount or as a factory second. On ebay, watch for the counterfeiters from china. If it isn't shipping from the US, consider it a fake and if it ships, you may see it in October.

Gantlin will put together bundles, and it seems like a logical place to order your stern bag, and pump. They may discount for a bundle, and you know it's gonna work. I ordered just the bag, as I found a new Tsunami on Ebay for half price. I got lucky. Overtons always has coupons, and there are plenty of other places discounting brand name ballast bags, and they will tell you what connectors or pumps you should use.

Don't forget the wake boat forums. As those kids usually have loads of used Fat Sacs as they experiment. Or before daddy shucked out the change to buy them a new surf boat. Those bags go cheap, as they are worth nothing to them. But you need to know what you are looking for.

Many of the other brand bags have screw out fittings. So you can adapt them to the Tsunami pumps. Just ask questions, and you will be fine. And if they do screw out, you may be able to add the permanent fittings in case you ever decide to plumb them in with permanent pumps. Most will go with bags that have them with the factory fittings, so there are no leaking issues down the road.

Good luck!

 

[BigAbe75]

Wakemakers.com

there’s a discount code for jetboaters members somewhere around here. Transom bag from Gantlin.

 

[JBehrens]

+1 for Wakemakers.com get their Universal Fit Series bags (they make just about every shape and size) for the inside bags, Gantlin for the transom bag. Wakemakers sells all the fittings, if you want to save some money and go with the Wakemakers bags you can buy the Fatsac Tsunami fittings so that all the bags match up. Attwood also makes the Tsunami pump with no fittings (~$40), you can buy the Fatsac quick connect fittings and hoes from Wakemakers and make your own Tsunami pump for ~$85 in parts.

 

[biffdotorg]

That's a good tip on the Atwood pump. Just understand that the Supa Tsunami Juiced Edition is a 1700gph pump rather than the 1200gph atwood. It will still work, just not as fast of a pump.

 

[anmut]

+1 for Wakemakers.com get their Universal Fit Series bags (they make just about every shape and size) for the inside bags, Gantlin for the transom bag. Wakemakers sells all the fittings, if you want to save some money and go with the Wakemakers bags you can buy the Fatsac Tsunami fittings so that all the bags match up. Attwood also makes the Tsunami pump with no fittings (~$40), you can buy the Fatsac quick connect fittings and hoes from Wakemakers and make your own Tsunami pump for ~$85 in parts.

View attachment 121489

Dang, I was already on that website and had put my order together. Many thanks for that screenshot!

 

[anmut]

If you are not plumbing the bags in permanent, I found I needed to match up the fittings on the bag to the pump. So I was shopping used, and found lots of bags with fittings designed for permanent install. In other words someone pulled the factory bags out of their wake boat, and upgraded to larger.

So I had to either adapt them, or replace all the fittings. So I stuck with buying a pair of Fat Sac branded bags (400lb each) and the custom fat sac for the stern. Then purchased the Tsunami pump, as all of the above had the appropriate fittings.

You can buy bags directly from Fat sac, but you will find no deals, usually full boat retail. But by getting the part numbers (like W707 is the 700lb ski locker bag) and then Ebay our Amazon search. Many are listed at retail, but sometimes someone will sell one for a discount or as a factory second. On ebay, watch for the counterfeiters from china. If it isn't shipping from the US, consider it a fake and if it ships, you may see it in October.

Gantlin will put together bundles, and it seems like a logical place to order your stern bag, and pump. They may discount for a bundle, and you know it's gonna work. I ordered just the bag, as I found a new Tsunami on Ebay for half price. I got lucky. Overtons always has coupons, and there are plenty of other places discounting brand name ballast bags, and they will tell you what connectors or pumps you should use.

Don't forget the wake boat forums. As those kids usually have loads of used Fat Sacs as they experiment. Or before daddy shucked out the change to buy them a new surf boat. Those bags go cheap, as they are worth nothing to them. But you need to know what you are looking for.

Many of the other brand bags have screw out fittings. So you can adapt them to the Tsunami pumps. Just ask questions, and you will be fine. And if they do screw out, you may be able to add the permanent fittings in case you ever decide to plumb them in with permanent pumps. Most will go with bags that have them with the factory fittings, so there are no leaking issues down the road.

Good luck!

Appreciate the thoughts - I never consider eBay for anything anymore, but might be a good place to look for some of the pieces.

The W707 is a direct fit for the ski locker? Thanks you just saved me measuring!

 

[JBehrens]

Dang, I was already on that website and had put my order together. Many thanks for that screenshot!

No problem. One thing I forgot to mention, if you want to go the way of the Attwood pump, keep in mind that it comes with bare wire so you will have to add whatever connection type you want.

 

[anmut]

Another question regarding ballast bags - do you guys keep the bags in a bag to protect them from being ripped at all or just stow them in the anchor locker?

 

[JBehrens]

I use my ski locker as storage (none of my boards fit), I would not recommend using the anchor locker.

 

[anmut]

I use my ski locker as storage (none of my boards fit), I would not recommend using the anchor locker.

LOL, yeah, that's what I meant - SKI locker. Anchor locker is filled up with anchor things.

 

[Brian147m]

Not to hijack the post, but, I have a 2014 212x that i picked up last fall, and after messing around with it this spring I can't seem to get a decent wave. I've seen pics from the previous owner so I know it's possible, but I'm struggling with setup.
I have factory Ballast, a wake wedge, and a 900lb Sumo ballast we put on the transom, top deck. A few questions. How do i set up the wake wedge?, I was told about a 10 degree angle on the wedge, but ours moves a lot up and down, almost 8-9 degrees of free play, so do I set it at a 10 degree angle while up" (water is pushing it up), or while down (gravity)? Also, I've considered buying the Custom Transom Fat Sac from Gantlin as well and adding the 900lb sumo bag to the ski locker, but the Transom bag is only 750lbs. Is it worth buying the transom bag over using the sumo? It's less weight, but obviously the weight is better distributed on the transom with some on the lower deck. Any help would be appreciated Thanks!

 

[anmut]

Not to hijack the post, but, I have a 2014 212x that i picked up last fall, and after messing around with it this spring I can't seem to get a decent wave. I've seen pics from the previous owner so I know it's possible, but I'm struggling with setup.
I have factory Ballast, a wake wedge, and a 900lb Sumo ballast we put on the transom, top deck. A few questions. How do i set up the wake wedge?, I was told about a 10 degree angle on the wedge, but ours moves a lot up and down, almost 8-9 degrees of free play, so do I set it at a 10 degree angle while up" (water is pushing it up), or while down (gravity)? Also, I've considered buying the Custom Transom Fat Sac from Gantlin as well and adding the 900lb sumo bag to the ski locker, but the Transom bag is only 750lbs. Is it worth buying the transom bag over using the sumo? It's less weight, but obviously the weight is better distributed on the transom with some on the lower deck. Any help would be appreciated Thanks!

From what I've read on this, I'd say your transom bag needs to come to one side more. Not sure how a centered bag on the back would work. Also (and again from my research), it appears that the minimum of ballast you want to run is 1200lbs and that listing the boat to port or starboard is very important. Also, water depth - best waves are in deep water.

 

[jcyamaharider]

Set the wedge when it is in the Stressed( press up on the wedge ) state but mainly just set it in the water until it looks good. The Transom bag will work better then a 900 pound regular bag because it is more mass on the surf side and not spread out of the entire transom.

 

[biffdotorg]

Appreciate the thoughts - I never consider eBay for anything anymore, but might be a good place to look for some of the pieces.

The W707 is a direct fit for the ski locker? Thanks you just saved me measuring!

A good thing to remember, these are literally bags, They are all direct fit. In other words, you buy the bag to as close of dimension as you can get to the space and fill it up. It will only fill the space you have, once the space is full, it’s full. The bag can be bigger or smaller than the space and not matter. If smaller, then you just need to be sure it will not move.

I have a 400lb bag in there right now, but have room for nearly two, so I was going to buy the bigger bag. But I was finding out that folks were only filling their ski lockers to 50-75%. So i questioned if I really needed it.

As far as storage, the Fatsac branded bags are made of tougher material than any bag you may store them in. Just be careful of storing anything sharp near them and your ill be fine.

 

[anmut]

Ordered my bags today. 650 transom that can sit either port or stbd side, and the 750 ski locker. Does anyone have any pics/video of the wave with this type of setup without using a wake shaper device? Just wondering what I should expect...

 

[biffdotorg]

You will get some volume, but it will be a dirty wave. The most shape is getting the most weight out and over the swimdeck. Wasn't that 650 priced similar to the custom fatsack designed for your boat? Any reason you went with the 650 other than it cost less?

 

[anmut]

You will get some volume, but it will be a dirty wave. The most shape is getting the most weight out and over the swimdeck. Wasn't that 650 priced similar to the custom fatsack designed for your boat? Any reason you went with the 650 other than it cost less?

I did end up buying the customer platform version:

Fly High FATSAC Yamaha Custom 21 & Supa Tsunami Pump (725lbs)

Free shipping, expert advice and our best price promise on the Fly High FATSAC Yamaha Custom 21 & Supa Tsunami Pump (725lbs) at WakeMAKERS.

www.wakemakers.com

 

[biffdotorg]

Ahh cool, I forgot they are rated for less lbs for the 21ft models. You will do well with that setup. I'm just waiting for my new jetwash deflector, so mine is pretty dirty right now with that setup. You can still surf it, but it has the potential to get much better.

 

[anmut]

Ahh cool, I forgot they are rated for less lbs for the 21ft models. You will do well with that setup. I'm just waiting for my new jetwash deflector, so mine is pretty dirty right now with that setup. You can still surf it, but it has the potential to get much better.

Now that I'm looking at it, I wonder if that's mis-labled? As the actual 21' fat sac is 750lbs, but that combo states 650...