What do you pack in your boat?

[Raffit78]

Not sure if this has ever been in discussion.

Living in Cali. We are pretty unlucky that our trip to a good lake is 3 1/2 hours away. In doing so, we often take a big group with us.

With my 2004 22v boat, ballasts in rear and front locker, I seldom feel, I have room for much else.

Ideal family trip is 8-10 people, with life jackets, anchors and spikes, 2 soft coolers with snacks and drinks.

I feel the boat, just doesn't have much room.

Now I know, these days the boat manufacturers are only looking at one thing and that's to get the largest wake for boarding or surfing.

How about some way to get more rooms in the locker?

We go out with a buddy of ours in a Malibu lsv and although I'm not a huge fan of the seats being so low and knees feeling they are in your chest, I sometimes wish our ballasts were built lower and there was more room for storage in the boat.

I've seen the new z3, I'm interested but I'm the same problem. There's just not that much room when you are taking out a group, family of 6-7+

Am I the only one with this problem?

Rant over ;(

[mnpracing]

we have custom ballast in our Z3 (longer legs than the new Surf XL bags), and we don't have an issue with storage for day trips. Normally 5 people, but surge up to 10 + doggy isn't uncommon. Plenty of room in the area under the glove box, and in the storage compartment in front of the drivers area. We have Samson racks and surf bimini, so normally all boards are up in racks or in the bimini. Cooler is huge and holds all drinks and food. Sometimes we have a 2nd cooler which I put under the helm and don't even notice it. Still room under the driver's seat and in the compartment behind the driver's seat to store stuff. If we have even more stuff, when we have guests who all insist on bringing their own coolers and bags, we put them in the opposite rear locker from which we are surfing. Haven't really felt like we are cramped.

[Raffit78]

So the rear lockers have room to store other soft coolers, anchors etc. Without damaging the bags?

Or is this while bags are deflated?

[xpjim1]

I have full ballast also. Anchor goes at drivers feet. Shore spike and oars next to driver. Ropes go in built in ice chest. Small ice chest in front of rear seat. Soft sided cooler in storage under stereo. Xtra case of water in storage in front driver, life vests and noodles in rear lockers. Towels, pump and misc in compartment under stereo. Sunscreen and binding lube in cupholders. Trash bag at drivers seat. We have 7-9 people and seams to work.
Pretty much same group of people. We all know what we are bringing

[Raffit78]

Dang, so the locker in front of driver, I have all the Orange left vests (8-9)

Never thought of putting anchors under driver.

We have two large soft coolers,

Under stereo locker we put "girls bags" towels... Two small containers full of sun tan lotion and boat cleaning towels and bottles.

Riding vests, rear locker, noodles, all go in rear locker. As well as anchors spikes etc.

Guess I might have to remove all and re-organize.

[JohnnieMo]

I run with fenders and anchor in the compartment in front of driver. Safety equipment and tools immediately behind driver in front of Wake9 bags. Drinks in built in cooler. Food and anything else in my portable Tige soft bag cooler. All jackets and wetsuits in the passenger helm area. Ropes etc. in the back. Boards up top.

Any extra bags just seem to lay around. If I bring my BBQ, it goes in the off side locker.

I must admit, I want more storage. It is pretty tight. When I moved from my Larson to the Tige, storage and surfing were my two asks. I got one of them.

[Ewok]

I have the basic ballast with the 400b horseshoe sac under the bow seats and 1100lb bags on top of the hard tanks in the rear lockers.

I store my anchor just aft of the port bow sac leg, just open up the port bow seatback and there it is. Usually with a few bags on top of it such as wetsuits and extra towels or an extra backpack from our guests.

Continuing down the port side we put our dry goods cooler (food) with ice packs so the sandwiches don't get soggy, we also keep the diaper bag and kids snacks in another bag here as well.

Just under the observer seat I keep my tools, extra oil, transmission and V-drive fluid and extra belt. I also keep the mirror there and my ropes and helmet.

Just aft of the observer seat, under the port bench we keep the kids foam water noodles, water cannons and other toys for the kids to play with, and on top of that stuff we store the standard boat towels.

Aft of the port bench is the port engine locker, and with the bags deflated I put one or two surf boards there for the trip to the lake. I also put 2 of my fenders there. In the rear transom compartments I keep the surf rope and swim fins and snorkel mask and dock lines.

In the starboard engine locker I travel with another surfboard or wakeboard or two and the other 2 fenders. And maybe a stroller.

Foreward of the engine locker is the standard cooler location which I have filled with water, Iced-T, sometimes beer and of course, ice.

Under the drivers seat I have a very loud air horn, first aid kit and signal flares.

Forward of the helm, behind the starboard bow backrest I keep all the life jackets. I have a 4 pack of 1 size fits all, plus 2 XL, 1L and 1M sized nylon life vests to be USCG approved, then I have my own nice USCG approved vest, one for my wife, and the kids (all 3) have nice liquid force USCG vests in this compartment. The kids also have a second set of live vests so they don't have to put on a wet one when it's time to go home to the dock (my wife changes them into dry clothes before they get in the SUV).

When I get to the lake the boards get put into the surf bimini or wakeboards go in the racks and we just move the fenders to the opposite side we are surfing. When it's time to go home I load the engine lockers in a similar way, except I put all the wet life jackets and towels in the engine lockers as well so they don't get the interior too wet and it gets a chance to dry out a little on the drive home (~25 miles).

I had to specify my ballast config because the new RZ2 with the pro level ballast takes up a lot of room in the compartments behind the bow seat back rests. I couldn't fit all the life jackets that I have and I wouldn't have room for the anchor, wetsuits and other extra gear we pack into the port side storage. I also put check valves on the vents for the bags so when they are emptied they are sucked dry and give me max room in the engine v-drive locker compartments.

I also leave a big bag of boat cleaning towels and cleaning supplies in the back of the SUV. No need to waste space in the boat on stuff you do off the water.

[JLG]

On our Z3

Rear transom: Shoes, tan lotion,surf rope, kids squirt guns toys.

Rear lockers: Surf boards while traveling otherwise boards in surf bimini or racks and lockers sit empty.

Compartments above engine: 4-5 Ski ropes

Driver under seat: 2 anchors, mooring ropes, flag, few tools, 12v pump, throw pillow stuffed 3/4 ways out by seat against helm so i never forget to get out and wind won't blow out while traveling

Behind driver seat on sidewall and under trash can: Stuff 6 neoprene jackets couple kids jackets, tube, speaker and bimini covers when not traveling.

Port helm locker: 2 slalom skis, wakeskate, 10 towels, 2 cu ft sub box, and still have extra space

Helm front locker where heater is: Had space for towels jackets before adding a 2 cu ft sub box! Now sits empty.

Cooler: LOTS OF COLD BEER! Bottle of Fireball of course for use when beached and using a sober driver! 10+ gatorade/water

There is plenty of space in these boats as you can see, you just have to personalize it to your family's liking. When we are at a lake where we need fenders we throw them in the bow when not in use or in a rear locker we aren't surfing. The sidewalls behind the driver seat has a ton of space if you look up under it. As you can see we use for life jackets we don't normally use. The jackets we use daily go in the back locker while traveling so we can toss out on floor and be on the water in no time.

[Thegerman618]

I might be a different situation as I don't have integrated ballast so I fill manually with 2 pumps. I have a Coleman folding BBQ, Medium Ice chest, life jackets, and ballast bags (folded Enzo, Jumbo V-drive, (3) 400lbs) in the rear lockers. Fenders and Ropes go in the wet storage in the back of the boat (along with flip flops). Anchors, spike, and mooring set-up go in the bow under seats. Tools, spare parts, battery jump box, air pumps, in the large storage compartment. VHF, Whistle, 9mm with Snake Shot, boat bling, and towels under the driver dash. Tow ropes (ski, wake, surf), flags, and misc. under the main seats. Leaves plenty of room under the passenger storage for about 5-6 backpacks and food. Plus on-board cooler holds exactly 30 Coors with ice. I have had as many as 12 on board and all had room to move around trips are usually no less that 5, what lake do you go to Pyramid?

[D&P Powell]

Raffit78 goes to Havasu Thegerman618 - he has one of the coolest wraps around.... now if we can just get him and his wife out to the reunion!

[xpjim1]

We all need to hook up in Havasu.

[dj2]

I might make a Havasu trip, we drive 3 miles to the lake we go to already, Havasu is not much farther.

[Raffit78]

Raffit78 goes to Havasu Thegerman618 - he has one of the coolest wraps around.... now if we can just get him and his wife out to the reunion!

Haha Dave! We miss you guys out in Havasu. We're going back out on the 21st.

Wish we can change up that reunion spot to havasu. Bet everyone would enjoy themselves. With all the restaurants. Casino, night life, plenty of space to board.

Tige regatta we can all stay at nautical.

I tried to see if we can come out to Mead last year, no rooms available.

[Raffit78]

We all need to hook up in Havasu.

We will be there 21st weekend of August, we stay at the kings view condos in the channel. If your there that weekend, stop by, beers or Gatorade, on me