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I have a 94 Ski Nautique. I often run with two ski babes who like less wake, so I try to keep the boat light. Wake doesn't really matter with the sit down hydrofoil I ride the most. But the wake foil has become an attractive ride when we are done with the strenuous part of the day. I have been using 280 lbs of lead in bags to weight one side of the boat to get a better wake for wake foiling. It works pretty well. But it isn't all that much fun to drag the lead in and out of the boat when we switch it up. I'm looking at a Ronix ballast bag with a telescope system that makes it easy to fill and empty the bag (will fit nicely where my back seat bench used to be). I figure a 400lb bag will be a fun addition and will be easy to drain with the 3000gph pump it comes with. Seems reasonable since the boat is rated for 1110 lbs. Four people and 400 lbs of ballast should be right about there for the rated load. However, I searched CCF and see posts from owners who have added ridiculous amounts of ballast. Generally, they are wakeboarders who probably need more ramp to get air. Putting two 1000 lb bags in a Ski Nautique seems a bit irresponsible and I would imagine that my insurance company would not cover any incidents when the boat is overloaded. So, I am curious what the few owners with smaller boats and ballast are doing? Is it reasonable to flaunt the load rating? Any comments regarding setting up the ballast? I guess I'll start within my comfort zone. Play with placement. Maybe throw some of the lead up front. As it is I can toss the handle and wake foil my first wake with no ballast, but running with the 280 lbs of lead has been fun! Never enough toys... I do ride in a Bu with ballast, a surf gate and side paddles. But it doesn't go in salt water. My Ski Nautique with closed cooling goes everywhere :)
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