What's your 190/192/195 ballast setup?

[d_coyne1984]

I'm going to add some ballast underneath my rear seats and I am curious what others have done for brand and size and fit. I'm looking more for wakeboarding so I don't need to go too crazy. Right now I'm debating the Straight Line 275's (45" x 14" x 14") to save a little storage space, or the 350's. My goal is to get as much weight as possible while still saving a little bit of storage space to put my tower speakers and wake board rack in there while towing, for the lowest cost (ideally).

 

[nate kennedy]

I don't have a 19 footer, but you shouldn't have any issues with putting your tower racks or speakers in there while towing, assuming your talking about towing down the road. My 212x bags lay pretty flat when not filled. You should have plenty of storage when not in use... I can't speak for storage on your boat when they are filled. Good luck!

 

[d_coyne1984]

I don't have a 19 footer, but you shouldn't have any issues with putting your tower racks or speakers in there while towing, assuming your talking about towing down the road. My 212x bags lay pretty flat when not filled. You should have plenty of storage when not in use... I can't speak for storage on your boat when they are filled. Good luck!

Ah, good point. I don't plan on towing an extra 700lbs. I feel dumb. That obviously clears up that side of the problem. Still curious about recommendations on which bags work well or which don't.

 

[nate kennedy]

Haha been there! Sometimes just need a fresh set of eyes!

 

[RiverRat]

I can easily fit a 350 under the rear seats with plenty of room to spare. Surfing I place a 540 on the seat above that. I haven't tried a 540 under the seat yet, but dual batteries on the port side that aren't pushed all the way back and a sub box on the starboard side would have to be moved in my boat. For wakeboarding you could also fit a huge bag in the ski locker.

 

[Bill D]

I have Straight Line Sumo Sacs and Big Bags. I use the over-the-side Launch Pad Sumo Pump They have worked well so far. Fill and empty times aren't great, but still not bad.

 

[swatski]

@d_coyne1984 Here is a fun fact: your boat's rear storage lockers can accommodate the long 800lbs bags (and I mean full not empty, lol). And then, you can fit another one in the ski locker.
And then, you just need to figure out how to get up on plane.

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[RiverRat]

I've gotten my 192 on plane with two 350's, two 540's and two 200lb dudes on board. Probably wouldn't if I had a wakeboarder in tow...

 

[swatski]

My old 190 could go 35mph with 1,800lbs of water ballast, but it took some tweaking, it had a moded pump with L13 and a reflash.

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[d_coyne1984]

Alrighty then. I think I'll start with the 350's under the rear seats. Does anybody have the Freemotion Big Bag 350's? They look exactly like the Straight Line Big Bag 350's except it looks like the Freemotions only have 2 quick release ports where the Straight Lines have 1 quick release and one NPT port on top, and 2 NPT ports on the bottom. The Staight Lines are also $30 more. Can anyone confirm the ports? I want some flexibility to plumb a pump in the future

 

[d_coyne1984]

Does anybody have their bags plumbed with pumps? I really dislike having to move people from their seats while filling and want to plumb mine, but not sure about the best place for pump mounting and through-hull water pick-up placement. I am leaning towards the aerator style pumps for speed and cost. One to fill and two to empty for my rear bags. I already ran tubing to a Y-fitting for filling my rears with my sumo pump, but still need to attach to each bag for draining.

 

[SamCF]

It seems like you could run a water pickup off the jet pump. I don't know what the GPH is on my intercooler line, but it's as much or more than my 750 gph bilge.

I wonder if the engine flush port could be used to fill ballast. It should be pressurized, but it might rob from the cooling system. It shouldn't be enough to cause a problem at idle. Very easy to test, just a few fittings to get from the flush adapter to your normal connection to the ballast bags.

 

[hokiesax]

Does anybody have their bags plumbed with pumps? I really dislike having to move people from their seats while filling and want to plumb mine, but not sure about the best place for pump mounting and through-hull water pick-up placement. I am leaning towards the aerator style pumps for speed and cost. One to fill and two to empty for my rear bags. I already ran tubing to a Y-fitting for filling my rears with my sumo pump, but still need to attach to each bag for draining.

so what was your final ballast setup on a 190/192/195? With a 2019 AR195 the port and starboard side storage under the seats is different dimensions. What worked best?

 

[d_coyne1984]

so what was your final ballast setup on a 190/192/195? With a 2019 AR195 the port and starboard side storage under the seats is different dimensions. What worked best?

I decided screw it, and bought a true wake boat. Lol!

I ended up buying 3 aerator style pumps during the winter before I sold it so I intended on going through with my plan, but then the plan drastically changed when O four d a great price on a leftover model year Supreme. I was hoping I could install the pumps in the transom area underneath the clean out tray, but when I started digging into it I I found there weren't a lot of good mounting space options.

I had 350lb bags under the rear seats and that helped the wakeboarding wake quite a bit once 4-5 people were in the boat. I would have really liked to have tried that setup with the addition of the transom bags.

 

[hokiesax]

Did you still have the battery under the port side seat with the 350lb bag? Didn't know if the battery would get in the way or the bag push on the cables or something.

 

[hokiesax]

and which brand 350s worked best?

 

[d_coyne1984]

Yes. I had my second batter on the other side as well. I am fairly certain I had the Straightline Big Bag 350's from Wakemakerd.co.