Are ballasts necessary?

[boatsearcher]

I'm looking to purchase a new ski / wake boarding boat. It will be strictly for fun, no competion material here! Will the 24V (like the space in v drive better) suit both my waterskiing and wake boarding (without ballast) interests? My son is only 7 so he will probably get better at wakeboarding and want to do some tricks as he gets older, will this work without the ballast tanks? Any thoughts, comments, or suggestions greatly appreciated. Does the bow of this boat porpoise alot?

[David]

We have the 22V and the only extra weight we have is the 6-8 people with us in the back. Without ballast I can still get high enough to complete inverts and other tricks. My family is not at all competitive with that stuff either so I think without ballast is fine but thats my opinion.....

[Matt Garcia]

To answer your question I think yes it is fine for now but if you or your son ever want to increase the wake you can always have the option to add fat sacs in. The 24V will still put out a nice wake either way. When I first started riding I just used the TAPS with no ballast but as I got a little more comfortable with my riding and tricks I add around 1000 pounds of ballast and two other people in the boat and it is huge. If you have your ballast and TAPS set just right your bow should not porpoise at all, you just need to tune it.

[boatsearcher]

are ballasts necessary?

Thank you for the comments. I have found most boats need ballast to begin with, except the tige'. With that said, should I included the ballast to begin with or add later if needed? Isn't it easier to have them installed initially? You wouldn't add a sunroof to a car after the fact, would you? I really want the best boat possible and don't want to have to add later and have extra expense. Is the tige' ballast system okay or would I want to go to another brand?

[Domsz06]

If your not looking for huge wakes for now, don't get it. You can pick up a 700 lb sac and pump for like 150 and you can put it anywhere, and fill it up. If you have factory ballest put in, then it will always be there, taking up storage. Fat sacs when empty are just like another pfd, don't take any space at all. Just my .02

[Banks]

i would also say that ballast is not necessary. its a lot of money to spend for a convience factor. its easy to throw some fat sacs in and pull them out. and if you are worried about space buy things like the fat seats and side seats. i got a launch lounge this week to see how it was and it is awesome, going to get another so i can just put two on the side of the boat.
oh yeah if you want permanent weight you can always go with lead it stores easy and you can pull it out, or you can get things like tupoware boxes and fill them with quik dry cement and put the top back on. if you do that you can cutom fit weight realy well. like in the storage compartments.

[talltigeguy]

I've never been all that enthused about using ballast in my 21V. Wakeboarding is about technique. Guys who are good still pull every conceivable trick behind my boat, and with big air.

[lakeday]

If the money isn't an issue and you want the best boat possible, I would add the ballast. I didn't add it because I didn't want to spend the extra $$. I am planning to add fat sac's, but they are a pain to fill and empty....I would rather be able to just flip a switch. But for me it was an extra option that I could go without and save some cash.