Ballast for 06 24ve

[live2dive]

I have a 2006 24ve with the new hull design and Tapps system. The wake is good but I'd like to fine tune it a little by adding some ballast.

Any suggestions on the "perfect" combination of bag size and location?

[ragboy]

It depends on what you are going to do, just wakeboard, or also surf. If you are just going to wakeboard, you can get a sic wake by throwing a couple of ~400 lb sacs in each rear locker. If you only have a couple of people in your boat, then also get the integrated bow sac. If you regular have a lot of people in your boat, like I do with always at least 8 or 9, then you don't really need the bow sac, just use taps.

If you are going to surf, are you going to ride only one side, or both? If you are going to ride only one side, everyone is goofy or regular, get an Enzo Fat Sac and put that on one side, with like a 400-500 lb sac on the other, and also the bow sac.

If you are going to surf one side, and also the other, put as big of sacs as you want to, sacrificing storage in each rear locker. There is 400 and a 550 available from Fat Sac. I use the 400, but I have lots of kids, need the storage. If you don't have a lot of people wait and storage, do the 550s in the rear.

Also, if you have a lot of people weight, when you surf port/reg, make the lightest qualified person drive. I have my 12 yr old son drive, and put everyone on the port/reg side to list the boat. If you don't have a lot of people weight, then also get a couple of the 150lb fat sac bricks. They have handles, and you can throw them from side to side as needed.

On the bow sac, don't just fill that baby up. Start maybe with 200-300 lbs in there and try it out. The TAPS gives you the flexibility to push the nose down, or bow down in the water more, but if you have to much weight up front, you can't use the taps to bring it UP, so you will loose some of that ability to adjust. You have to experiment with how much to put up front, and it also depends on where the people are.

Basically, throw as much as possible in the rear, and experiment with the front. Surfdad can probably give you some more finer points on weight to adjust the wake for surfing.

Also, I have found you want to list the boat over to the point where you start to see the LINE in the wake from the swimstep digging in, then back off so you don't see it. I have a 24Ve also, so that has worked for me.

[eks]

Check out this 3 threads that have some really good info

EKS Ballast System


G-Money Ballast System


Tige Dunner ballast System

[live2dive]

Thanks, that's great advice and kind of along the lines I was thinkin. It makes sense to weight the back as much as you possibly can but I wasn't sure about the nose. I can see how getting too crazy up front could start to defeat the effectiveness of the Taps system. We have surfed behind the boat but the wave seems to need a little extra ummph unless the boat is loaded and we stack bodies on the port side. The bricks sound like a great idea. I have 5 daughters so when I have 7 people in the boat we're not talkin about 7 "down lineman"...so either I start feeding by girls more or I offset with the bricks - good plan.

I will try you port-side swim board tip and see how that works. How fast are you cruisin when you surf, or what are your rpm's?

[ragboy]

We usually go 11ish, 11-11.4 mph depending on surfers preference, and slow down to 10 or high 9s with a beginner. It seems that a beginner feels a little more confident slower, and even though the pocket is not as long, its more forceful/strong, and easier to ride at around 10.

Due to the prop rotation and driver, it is alot easier to list the boat over on the goofy side, so when surfing port, you really have to make sure you get the boat over. If you see the line from the step, you should be good, back off just a bit. If you can't get enough weight over there, kink the boat a bit by turning slightly into that side and it will have about the same effect, but you will need lots of room, because you will be making a big circle.

[talltigeguy]

Check out this 3 threads that have some really good info

EKS Ballast System


G-Money Ballast System


Tige Dunner ballast System

Hey, my system is better than all of those!
http://www.tigeowners.com/forum/show...t+system+rival

[live2dive]

Humility has always been one of Larry's (Tall) finer qualities. He actually thinks his boat is better than mine too!

[TigeDuner]

Hey, my system is better than all of those!
http://www.tigeowners.com/forum/show...t+system+rival

I suppose the decision is what type of system do you want:

State of the art with 3 pumps, or the old style with 6 or 8 pumps. Just kidding-they all move water and lower the boat-thats the goal of the system.

[ragboy]

For me, this spring was consumed with my tower swap/upgrade. But I planned to do a Rival install. At the same time, we have 3 sacs in the boat, 2 vdrive and one in the bow, and because we have so many of us, we almost never need any in the bow sac. We have 2 pumps, and I have 6 kids, so they just fill the sacs by hand while I nowake it to the buoys. A Rival install would be cool, but I can do without for now.

I want to replace my 400 lb sacs with 565s in the next couple of weeks. The 400 is 42x16x16, and the 565s are 42x19x19. I am thinking it will fit in there, and give me about 300 more lbs in the rear.

[TigeDuner]

Rag, you should consider using the ballast puppy pumps. You can actually mount the switch in the compartment with the sacs if you want. Alot less plumbing to mess with.

[ragboy]

I have seen those, and thought about it. The thing is, we go out at least 1-2 times a week until october, so I don't like to do anything that can interrupt, you know? So I might just wait til the end of the season to do anything. Although I am still thinking of bigger vdrive sacs, or even custom sacs to maximize my rear ballast.

[xpjim1]

I suppose the decision is what type of system do you want:

State of the art with 3 pumps, or the old style with 6 or 8 pumps. Just kidding-they all move water and lower the boat-thats the goal of the system.

Hey i take Offense to this post

http://www.tigeowners.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3897

Go with the fast pumps

Ok I agree with Tigeduner; Go with whatever one works for you

[talltigeguy]

Rag, you should consider using the ballast puppy pumps. You can actually mount the switch in the compartment with the sacs if you want. Alot less plumbing to mess with.

Actually, the reliability of the ballast puppy is my biggest beef. Hopefully they have gotten better, but the stories are still out there of multiple replacements per year. Always break at the worst time. They have them on my friend's Supreme, and they went out for him several times last summer. Something about a new impeller in it was supposed to fix all that, but we'll see.

I have yet to have one of my aerator pumps go out. Knock on wood.

Plus, it is just so much the cool factor to have water peeing out of the side of the boat...like a man...not out the bottom like a girl.

[G-MONEY]

I didn't know it was a peeing match......

[talltigeguy]

I didn't know it was a peeing match......

LOL!!!!!!!