Ballast upgrade options/opinions

[MJO21]

I have a '13 z3. Right now it has surf ballast. We surf and wakeboard.

I am not wanting to spend a whole lot but interested in options. I think our wave us good but would like a bigger wave...especially a longer wave.

Was considering a 550lbs Launch Pad Fat Sac on eBay for $130.... But thought I should make sure it was worth it or I wasn't missing options. I would have to put a bag of that size on the floor of the boat....what happens if someone walks on it?

What is plug and play? Does that mean I can just put additional bags on top of the bags and they hose up together? (Although I only have about a foot on top of bags to top of compartment).

I would consider lead but I hate to always be cruising around with 500lbs all the time.

[chpthril]

Technically, a 2013 did not have a plug-n-play ballast system. It basically had 3 levels of ballast. Base, surf and pro. There are upgrade rear sacs that are nearly a plug-n-play upgrade for the OEM sacs. So, not really feasible to put a sac on top of the existing sac.

[MJO21]

Would you recommend putting bags on the floor or back seat or prepare to just replace my current bags?

[sandm]

I've been down both roads. supra had bags all over the place. you can step on them or sit on them and no biggie, just make sure the caps are on tight as if not, they will pop off and spew water all over the place. I know from experience. this was one of the driving factors to sell the boat for the tige as bags all over the place suck and filling/draining was a pita with a hose/pump over the side..
now the tige, first money I spent on upgrades was to order chp's sac for the rear/locker. never had a bag laying on the floor/seat and it was very nice. fill up, surf, drain and go home. all with pushing buttons and no more wasted or lost space to sit.
we never boarded and I only upgraded the regular side so when i had a boarder running, it was kinda tough to gauge weight as both sides were different sizes. if I was a regular boarder or had goofy riders, buying both bags would have been the preferred method...

my .02 is call mike and spend the coin. you won't be sorry...

[chpthril]

It depends on a couple things. if you have a small crew, then a sac or two in the floor or on the seats is not a big deal. Manual filling on a regular basis gets old quick though. The trick is going to be finding out how much weight you need and its placement. Both are factors.

If you are listing the boat, then a sac under the seat on the surf side will give you the weight. But if you are using a surf device and weighting more evenly, im not sure a sac in the floor or across the back seat is going to be in the right place. Im not sure the weight is going to be back far enough to be as effective.

From an ease of convenience and effectiveness, its hard to be an upgraded sure sac thats almost a 1000 lb net gain. But, it does come at a cost. The custom sacs are not cheap.