What 3450 pounds of balla st looks like!!

[jcyamaharider]

I was pulling all of my bags out for the winter to clean them and figured I would snap a picture. I am going to move some bags around this winter so only one bag will be visible on the seat!! Maybe one on the swim deck but we will see.

 

[JetPowered]

That's nuts. I carry around too much of the kids crap to have any space for all of that! Or so I was discovering this weekend.

 

[jcyamaharider]

Most of the bags are in places that you don't even use for storage anyways. I have a ton of the kid stuff also.

 

[bobbie]

jerry....you are a very bad infuence on me! @jcyamaharider

 

[itsdgm]

Wow. That's a lot of bags.

 

[woodard1983]

What sizes are they & where are you going to hide them?

& why do you have to post a pic like that?? I just picked up 4 550lb sumo sacs & thought that I Was finally up there w/u guys...now I'm feeling inadequate

 

[007]

... I just picked up 4 550lb sumo sacs & thought that I Was finally up there w/u guys...now I'm feeling inadequate

Do you suffer from small ballast bag syndrome?

.....I'm pretty sure there is a pill for that!

 

[jawsf16]

That's nuts. I carry around too much of the kids crap to have any space for all of that! Or so I was discovering this weekend.

Amen to that. I drive around in the Swiss Army knife, Boy Scout family truckster. Gotta have something for everything, everybody and every situation... No room for bags of water hiding under the seats!

 

[Matt Phillips]

How is that much ballast even safe? For people on the boat and to tow to the lake...

 

[jcyamaharider]

What sizes are they & where are you going to hide them?

& why do you have to post a pic like that?? I just picked up 4 550lb sumo sacs & thought that I Was finally up there w/u guys...now I'm feeling inadequate

The 2 white ones actual go into another bag, those are my Aerial 550 pound bags, the big white one is an 800 pound sumo sac, the 2 smaller fly highs are 400's and the big fly high is a 750.

My plan for this coming winter is to relocate the big 800 bag to under the port seat, I have my batteries under there and a 12" sub so those will have to be relocated. I didn't use this area for storage because the 2 batteries and the sub took up all of that space. on the starboard side of the boat the same 400 bag will be back by the engine. I have a 12" sub under there as well and I have room for all of my life jackets, these will be moved because the other sub and batteries will now come over here, jackets will move to storage closet that I have shelving in. I will probably put one 400 in the ski locker and if I need more weight in that area I will also put a 550 in the locker. The 400 will be autofill and the 550 will be manual fill. My 800 bag was there and it took up the whole space so this should work fine. The 750 will go on the port seat where it always does. I can't give up our favorite seat on the boat for people to watch from. I will have one 400 bag dedicated to be on the swim deck if I need it. I will also have one spare 550 bag to put somewhere if needed. I rarely use every single bag, I have done this a couple of times but each time there was only 1 person in the boat.

@woodard1983 You will be just fine with the 2200 pounds of ballast. One of the best waves I threw this summer was with 2700 pounds so you will have a great wave!!

 

[jcyamaharider]

How is that much ballast even safe? For people on the boat and to tow to the lake...

The bags are empty until it is time for us to surf. I have a full auto system ( for 3 bags ) with ball valves for segregation to each bag and a Johnson ballast pump. I plan on putting in 12volt electric ball valves this winter to speed up in the empting and filling process. Right now I have to wait for the 750 to empty before I can turn the valve to empty the 400 under the seat. The other bags I fill with a tsunami 800 GPH hand held pump.

As more people come onto the boat to participate, the less weight I have to add in ballast weight. I just move bodies around.

 

[dustinjean]

@jcyamaharider do you have any pictures of your ball valve setup or a thread on the other forum? my winter plan includes wanting to do something like this and not have to buy a pump for each bag

 

[jcyamaharider]

I think the other forum has them in my ballast build thread. Page 2 has the pictures of the ball valves on the side of the engine. I can get you one of the ski locker.

http://yamahajetboaters.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=60&t=60391&start=15

 

[dustinjean]

thanks I want to buy some different bags than what i have now and move my batteries before i get into plumbing it im just trying to get some ideas before i start pilling up parts, im just tired of my wife getting mad every time i want to fill ballast as she has to give me a hand with some of the bags. every time she gets mad i just tell her i can go 10 miles down the road and buy an axis and she just tells me to get another job lol

 

[Geiger41]

WOW that cant be safe if they are all full and the boat begins taking on water for some reason. Be careful out there !!!

 

[woodard1983]

Why does everyone think it's "safe" in a dedicated wakeboard boat, but not ours?

Worst case scenario the boat starts taking on water....the water that would fill the compartments from the lake is just displaced by the ballast bag, which is full of water....

would I spend all day cruising w/my ballast filled? No, but that doesn't mean it's not safe to use while surfing

also, to keep perspective..the new Tige can come with 3500lbs ballast stock

 

[jcyamaharider]

And my boat has a higher freeboard then a dedicated......I am just as "Safe" as a dedicated wake boat. My boat doesn't take water over the nose when I have to power down to pick up a person like some I have seen do.

 

[dustinjean]

as @woodard1983 said about wake boats, people that have seen an axis a series knows they dont have much freeboard at all and are already heavier than any yamaha and i know of one guy on our lake that runs 4500lbs of ballast most days unless he has a bunch of people, and our boats are a lot more bouyant than any wake boat around with a lot more freeboard. you have to drive a bit different once loaded up as far as stops and turning around to pick up riders but if you drive with common sense its no different.

 

[OrangeTJ]

Why does everyone think it's "safe" in a dedicated wakeboard boat, but not ours?

Worst case scenario the boat starts taking on water....the water that would fill the compartments from the lake is just displaced by the ballast bag, which is full of water....

would I spend all day cruising w/my ballast filled? No, but that doesn't mean it's not safe to use while surfing

also, to keep perspective..the new Tige can come with 3500lbs ballast stock

I would imagine that most people who aren't into surfing are also not aware that people routinely load wakeboats with ballast well beyond their rated capacity (it's funny that some have built-in ballast that will exceed that capacity). I think how "safe" it is depends upon the conditions in which we're boating and how the boat is being operated. Certainly, there's less margin for error when you're carrying that much weight. The relatively high freeboard of our boats does help, though. I've been on loaded down wakeboats where a stray roller could have easily come over the cap-rail of the boat. I've also been aboard when a wake has come over the bow of a 23 foot wakeboat. You'd have to put A LOT of weight in one of our boats to get the sides that close to the water, but a bow dip could happen relatively easily. While not fool-proof, fortunately our boats at least have a cabin drain/scupper. I know that the two v-drive wakeboats I've been on did not.