2014 Z3 bow ballast upgrade

[DrPorter]

My 2014 z3 only came with the surf ballast. I have since upgraded the rear bags to the wake9 custom sacs ~14000 lbs each. I now need to upgrade the bow. When i heard how much it cost from the dealer, I started thinking of other options. Since the bow ballast is always filled to capacity it got me thinking about putting a singe bag up there, made by fly high, that is 1,000 lbs. The open bow sac w706 that is a triangle 54x54x54 and 12" high.
Do you guys think this will work under the bow in a 2014 Z3? Obviously I will have to add more drain, vent, and fill ports to the bag so it will fill and empty with both pumps.

[boardman74]

Nope..won't work at all. You don;t have a triangular area up there but rather a U shaped area. You have the cooler in the center. Storage wise underneath its just like what a traditional walk thru bow would have. Its not open underneath like some manufacturers playpens.

[DrPorter]

Nope..won't work at all. You don;t have a triangular area up there but rather a U shaped area. You have the cooler in the center. Storage wise underneath its just like what a traditional walk thru bow would have. Its not open underneath like some manufacturers playpens.

If you crawl up under the bow it is triangular shaped up until it hits the cooler and the stock bags don't go past the cooler as it is.

[Travism]

I was in the same boat as you, boat had surf ballast and I installed aftermarket read sacks. After many phone calls, research etc... I bucked up and order the factory ones from the dealer.

Good luck on your hunt and post up how you make out.

[mnpracing]

Nope..won't work at all. You don;t have a triangular area up there but rather a U shaped area. You have the cooler in the center. Storage wise underneath its just like what a traditional walk thru bow would have. Its not open underneath like some manufacturers playpens.

Did they change that area underneath the bow seats in the 2014 models? In my 2013 Z3, the area under the bow seating is a wide open triangular area. The stock dual bags (pro version) do come back past where the cooler sits just a bit (a few inches when full), so you'd have to measure to be sure, but that triangle bag might fit. The length of that bag would be 46.8 inches so I'd just measure that space in the bow area to see if it will fit. If the cost differential is enough, I'd at least consider it.

[DrPorter]

The triangle bag is 1000 lbs and only $180 so the cost savings is huge. Pro ballast bags would cost over $500

[CarFanatic]

Anyone know what size pro ballast bags are? I would just get 2 sacs similar in dimensions to the factory ones.

[chpthril]

The Tige OEM pro bow sacs are hockey stick shaped. Not any real good options to get much more weight than those.

[DrPorter]

I crawled up under the bow and the space is plenty big. 60+ inches wide by 60+ inches long by 12" tall.
So I went ahead and ordered the open bow bag from wakemakers. I'll let you know how the install goes.

[mls6722]

My 2014 z3 only came with the surf ballast. I have since upgraded the rear bags to the wake9 custom sacs ~14000 lbs each. I now need to upgrade the bow. When i heard how much it cost from the dealer, I started thinking of other options. Since the bow ballast is always filled to capacity it got me thinking about putting a singe bag up there, made by fly high, that is 1,000 lbs. The open bow sac w706 that is a triangle 54x54x54 and 12" high.
Do you guys think this will work under the bow in a 2014 Z3? Obviously I will have to add more drain, vent, and fill ports to the bag so it will fill and empty with both pumps.

that's a lot of ballast!!!!!

[Iwndr]

that's a lot of ballast!!!!!

I concur! If 28k of ballast is not getting it done for you it may be time to upgrade the boat.

[DrPorter]

if you can go big then why not go bigger. I am planning on running a similar setup to the wake9 crew, which will be about 3,000 pounds of ballast when surfing. The total ballast available will be close to 4,200 lbs but obviously I will not fill everything full in order to get the 9 degrees of required list. I am sure there are quite a few people with Z3s that are running a similar setup.

[Av8tor]

Doc - how'd the install go? Was it easy and was the bag a plug-n-play setup?

[Z1josh]

I put the fly high open bow 1000lb bag in my bow under the seats (13,z1) fits absolutely perfectly. Way better than dual bags IMO. Using a Johnson reversible to fill/drain.

[DrPorter]

The bag worked perfect! Way better than having two bags, and super easy to setup. I can surf to the full length of my rope, which is 25' long!