Weight bags for ski boat

[moski]

What’s the consensus for weight to add to your ski boat to balance it out?

Looks like wake ballast 50lb steel shot is one option to purchase....

just seeing what other options besides that..... preferably easy to take in and out of boat, the material to not get moldy, nor no rust either, like durablity etc......

would just like to balance out the boat when only few of us in it.

 

Thank you for advice

Moski

[Horton]

I have a six 45 lb bags in the garage. I never use them all at once but it's just handy to have as much as you need when you need it.

[BCM]

I use one of these with about 50lbs of sand from big box hardware store. It seals tight and is easily washable, no rust and so far no sand leaks. It was the cheapest and easiest method I could find that I was comfortable with.

[2Valve]

Water softener bags of salt work well.

[PatM]

I went to my local tire garage and asked them what they did with the lead balance weights they take off when changing tires? The guy handed me the bucket of old weights and told me to bring back the bucket after I dump the weights out. About 90 lbs of free lead weight. I put them in a Husky tool bag from Home Depot (about a $5-10 item). Works great.

[moski]

@Horton when you say six 45lb bags, where did you buy them and who makes them?

 

@BCM - thank you for idea. Like the bag. Not sure about using sand in case it breaks.

@2Valve - thank you for idea.

@"Pat M" - hell of a cheap idea. Thank you.

 

Moski

[vtjc]

I have 50 lbs of old wheel weights in an old 2.5 gallon plastic gas can that got a hole in the top.

[Dacon62]

Like @"Pat M" idea. For those of us that just want to buy something online,

https://www.leadwake.com/

[DavidN]

+1 for leadwake.com

Cheapest price on leadshot bags + free shipping.

High quality product, very durable

[MarkTimm]

Broken Plates from my Crossfit gym.

[bbruzzese]

+2 for Leadwake....

[Kwoody51]

+3 for leadwake

$60 shipped for 50lb is a pretty good deal for a bulletproof option.

 

I’m cheap and love all the other approaches but i’m also lazy and having a sealed up bag all ready to go straight out of the box is nice.

[eleeski]

I use old car batteries. I drain the acid out for safety. They are easily lifted by the stock handles to add or remove - except the tractor battery which is quite heavy for my old back. Three or 4 car batteries offsets the driver perfectly. I line them up along the passenger side of the boat when there is no spotter - put one in the middle of the back of the boat with a light driver. Note that I'm tricking so I do need perfect balance.

 

I do lose a couple bucks worth of core charge...

 

Eric

[BCM]

@moski - the bags are used inside Brute Force training bags, I have thrown mine across and onto the garage floor several hundred times without issue. From my experience with these bags I would be very surprised if you broke one. One of the common exercises with the bags is to pick them up on your shoulder and throw them to the ground as hard as you can, another is an overhead toss. Assuming you aren't shot putting them into the boat from across the dock, I think they will hold up. The closure is surprisingly strong as well.

[skihacker]

The 13 inch tool bags that lowes sells stuffed with wheel weights tip the scale just shy of 50 lbs each.

[hchwilson]

If I could only get my 80 pound boxer to sit on the left side of the boat...it would be the perfect set-up for me! No, he sits on the right behind the driver. SIGH.

[moski]

@BCM — no I don’t plan shot putting them lol

@skihacker - thank you

@hchwilson — lol lol — have you tried bolting down a bowl and then fill it up with food on the observer side to keep him their hahahahaha

 

@Kwoody51 —- think ill be going his way and the others on it.....

 

Thank you all for advice. Much appreciated.

[h2onhk]

Three 30lb dumb bells work good. Make sure the are the hex end type so they have a flat surface and don't roll around. Place them on a drawer liner non-slip pad and they don't slide back on holeshots.

[jercrane]

One more vote for leadwake and I’ll go one step further. I have 4 of these

https://www.leadwake.com/collections/frontpage/products/25-lb-bag?variant=35497736336

 

Very easy to move around and adjust weighting with the 25 and the handle.

[LakeOneSkier]

I first saw the leadwake bags last month while in Dallas, stopped by The Slalom Shop and they must have had 200 of them on the floor. Nice compact package. Ordered four 50 #'ers a few days ago. Can't wait to try them as my ski partner weighs 220 and I can definitely feel a diff in the wake when going L to R vs R to L.

 

Side note... they really need to change their name... they had 1 slalom ski, a 3 year old HO VTX sitting high on a shelf. I only saw it after I gave them crap about not having a single slalom ski and they said sure we do! ;-)

 

 

[savaiusini]

I use these: https://metaltecsteel.com/metaltec/shot_bags.asp

[parkerc2112]

50lb weight, pick your poison. We use a dumbbell. Makes a difference tracking.

[Wish]

Do I remember correctly.. Is puting some weight in the nose of a bubble back SN beneficial?

[georgea0731]

I used 2 x 50 lb weights from play it again sports. Be careful to wrap them in plastic bag. I was lazy and didn't at first and now have a rust stain under the seat on the carpet.

Anyone with a MC 197 tried to make the wake similar to the new prostars? FYI, a fellow novice skier, said her wake on a NXT20 was similar to the bump on my 197 at 15 off.

[The_MS]

@Wish for the driver yes but for the skier no

[Wish]

@MS as in better tracking but worse wakes??

[The_MS]

Will track a bit better but 28 off wake will be ankle breaker. Not big at 28 but solid enough to make you notice it

[John Brooks]

I do as @"Pat M" mentions, but I keep my bags at 25 lbs each. Easier to move around and able to micro tune the balance.