How much ballast do i need?

[light200]

So i have a 2009 22ve,without any ballast right now, besides 3-4 average size people in the boat. i am a big guy(230) riding a 4'8" board, speed is about 11mph, taps at 1 or 0.....we cannot get a good wave to ride and go wireless, its like we are smashing the wake down.

do i need a bigger board? do i need fatsacs? if so how many pounds would really make a difference? any other tips or suggestions?

[ragboy]

Buy a 750 or 1000 lb vdrive sac and stuff it in the corner you are going to surf. Put about 2 people, or close to 400 lbs up front on surf side, and and the rest of the people in "ballast boy" seat. You want the rub rail to be within 2 inches of the water at speed, kissing is best. Check your speedo against an iphone or android GPS app, with accuracy to the tenth. Your speed should be between 10.5 to 12.5 mph to taste. I say use the app, because these speedos can be as much as 1.5 mph off.

Lastly, the size of the board is must less important, as the shape and manufacturer, what kind of board is it? For instance, a CWB ride is very slow, but a 4.5 Walker Signature is much faster, and can be ridden by people larger than the CWB.

We meet people on the lake all the time, and they ask for help, almost everyone has a CWB ride, some other big brand board like that, and they don't work well at all. We let them try out even our "seconds" boards, and they work night and day better. The TWP Signature or Comp X boards work well, and for a bit less money, something like the LakeWakes 5.2 boat board can work for riders up to like 260 lbs.

A 22Ve can throw a MEAN world class surf wake, so you got the right boat.

Remember to test when conditions are flat, for safety. And I always like to start with people in the front for ballast, so that you can move them out quickly if it gets rough and you don't want extra weight up front.

[jbort]

Have 2007 22 Ve with TAPS at 4-6 works for us. We now have 1000 lb custom fatsac thats automated per this thread that works great and we go 10.5-11.5 depending on people onboard.

http://www.tigeowners.com/forum/showthread.php?t=14123

before that we had 1-3 fatsacs filled manually in rear and seat lockers that worked well but painful to do. You can get one 400 lb bag to get started but you will discover more is better per Ragboy post above. I surf with Walker Project Bazooka 5.1 which is a great board and I'm 260 lbs. ST68 has same board and does well too. Hope this helps.

[ragboy]

Bazookas are great boards, basically a larger signature model.