Where to put lead bags?

[Bch53211]

I have a 19 Helix with the integrated bow sac and wakemakers rear 1030s . I have been filling a manual 700 lb bag on the floor in the rear and wave is pretty darn good. The only thing I’d say that could improve it is to make it a little longer as I see some vids/pics of people surfing further back from boat. I now have 10 50 lb lead bags, where would you guys suggest I put them? Not sure I even need that much more ballast:) , I got ten because they offered one free if I got that many.

[Isaguel]

500lbs, I'd distribute it equally throughout. You already have a great wave, you just need to displace more water. If you want it longer then favor more weight towards the bow. Try 100 in rears, 200 midship and 200 bow.

[Bch53211]

Thanks for the input, I was planning on distributing it like you said . Interested to see the difference when I move a little more to the bow .

[Max20]

I’m certainly not a pro just yet but I believe the displacement is critical but so is pitch and roll to get the wave shaped correctly. I too am considering 500 lbs of lead and my thoughts are to put 250 lbs on each side of the boat near the back.

My thoughts: today with stock ballast, my bow ballast dumps water in order to get the pitch higher (nose up). So if I add more weight to the back I’m hopeful it will get the nose up with a full front ballast creating more total displacement while attaining correct pitch.

[larry_arizona]

You got the right idea, add to the rear until you lose control of bow pitch.

My guess is 500 to rear will be too much, but try it and add shift to the bow if needed. Might also need to bias some to surf side.


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[Isaguel]

My thoughts: today with stock ballast, my bow ballast dumps water in order to get the pitch higher (nose up). So if I add more weight to the back I’m hopeful it will get the nose up with a full front ballast creating more total displacement while attaining correct pitch.

Totally agree with this approach. That is why I do not use Autowake. It empties ballast in order to achieve a specified Pitch/roll. It works well for begginers who are building experience, AW will provide you a surfable wave with desired shape, but at expense of total displacement. In my opinion, once one becomes more seasoned with the dynamics that create and shape wave, it is best to move on from AW. I use speed and Wakeplate to achieve desired pitch but I never empty ballast or move weight around.
An example, I was surfing with my buddies X23 the other day. Great wave but too steep and short. He uses his AW to save profiles for different surfers, and it does empty ballast depending on profile. I kept suggesting fill up everything 100% and up the speed. He eventually agreed and from 11. 4 we eventually went to 12 MPH and it produced an awesome, long wave, smooth transition, beautiful curl, we could surf prolly 30ft back comfortably. And that was just adjusting 1 parameter. He saved it in his profiles and named it the Richard wave.
My SL surfs best at about 12 mph also. AW is a great transition tool in my opinion that allows anyone who's never done this before to spend 80K+ for a boat and have a surfable wave and a good experience.

[Max20]

Great feedback! Maybe I’m surfing too slow at 10.8. I’ll run the speed up a bit next time we’re out. The center plate is 25 or less

[Prospersigman]

12 MPH is pretty fast. Isaguel have you checked your speedo to make sure it is correct? My SL likes 11.3-11.4 I have honestly never gone any higher than 11.5.

[Isaguel]

I guess I should do that. I'll use the GPS speedo on my phone and my sons phone next time to verify, my phone was dead accurate with my truck as I tested it one day. I'll let u know. But we also surfed the X-23 at 12 mph, 2 boats with similar weight displacement, so I don't thinks its unheard of. We use skim style boards P5's, so we can get away with much lower amplitude waves, go back further with plenty push. Admittedly, I cant surf as far back with my Inland Surfer board.

[Bch53211]

This is all great stuff - I find my wave too steep and short. I’m going to employ some of the strategies and report back

[Bch53211]

Put 300 #s lead in bow , (plus wake-makers 1030s in rear with extra 100#s lead each side / 800 # manual bag on floor in rear / integrated bow sac ) . Ran at 12.1 the wave wave was beautiful and super clean - long enough to surf 15-20’ back but good push as well . Really fun to mess around and shape different waves.

[Isaguel]

12 MPH is pretty fast. Isaguel have you checked your speedo to make sure it is correct? My SL likes 11.3-11.4 I have honestly never gone any higher than 11.5.

Got back from great surf session today. I can confirm speedo is correct. Confirmed with GPS speedometer in Iphone. Surfed 12 mph. My son, 12 y/o, usually likes a 11.4 mph speed, he became comfortable with the very tall, steep wave with strong push. I had him try 12 mph and he raved about how long the wave was and how far back he could surf.

[Snowslydder]

on my craz I have been running 10.9ish, I will have to check out the higher speeds

[Isaguel]

on my craz I have been running 10.9ish, I will have to check out the higher speeds

Certainly, try not using Autowake and filling everything 100%, weigh the boat evenly with the lead, do favor some of the weight towards the back and try slowly increasing your speed and see what happens. Also, we use skim style boards which will lengthen the surfable wave, in my opinion. Not sure what board you're using.
You're displacing close to 9k lbs, not counting fuel or crew, so you should be able to surf faster speeds. I was surfing 11.4mph on the Mojo with less weight. I had Enzo's but no lead. It had a great wave, my teenage daughter and he friend could tandem surf with ease, you need a long pocket for that to keep boards from touching.

Let me add another point. Make sure your IBS is filling with water and not air. 2 yrs in, I finally discovered my IBS looked full and was tense, even popped out my cup holders, but then I realized it was 80% air. Once I knew the center tank was full I had to lift the front cushions, remove the air vent plug as it was filling, let all the air out and let fill with water. Once all air was out, put plug back in and it'll finish filling with water. You loose a lot of front weight with that causing your wave to be quite a bit shorter, loosing total displacement. What happens is, since it piggy backs from the center, it moves all the air from the center to the IBS. The drain is at the bottom, so, since 20 % was filled, the water line kept draining water when full but the air remained above the drain line level. That's why 20% full. The fix would be to put the drain line at the top of IBS which is not possible. Kind of a PITA, since I always had someone lounging in the bow and had to ask them to move.

[Bch53211]

Interesting about the IBS I will have to pay closer attention from now on.

[Tommy2slow]

Certainly, try not using Autowake and filling everything 100%, weigh the boat evenly with the lead, do favor some of the weight towards the back and try slowly increasing your speed and see what happens. Also, we use skim style boards which will lengthen the surfable wave, in my opinion. Not sure what board you're using.
You're displacing close to 9k lbs, not counting fuel or crew, so you should be able to surf faster speeds. I was surfing 11.4mph on the Mojo with less weight. I had Enzo's but no lead. It had a great wave, my teenage daughter and he friend could tandem surf with ease, you need a long pocket for that to keep boards from touching.

Let me add another point. Make sure your IBS is filling with water and not air. 2 yrs in, I finally discovered my IBS looked full and was tense, even popped out my cup holders, but then I realized it was 80% air. Once I knew the center tank was full I had to lift the front cushions, remove the air vent plug as it was filling, let all the air out and let fill with water. Once all air was out, put plug back in and it'll finish filling with water. You loose a lot of front weight with that causing your wave to be quite a bit shorter, loosing total displacement. What happens is, since it piggy backs from the center, it moves all the air from the center to the IBS. The drain is at the bottom, so, since 20 % was filled, the water line kept draining water when full but the air remained above the drain line level. That's why 20% full. The fix would be to put the drain line at the top of IBS which is not possible. Kind of a PITA, since I always had someone lounging in the bow and had to ask them to move.

Thanks for the heads up on the air. My wave hasn’t been as good lately and maybe that is what is happening. ��

[Pound]

^^^ I'm definitely looking for this next time. I struggled to get my bow to sit down at all this past weekend. Never felt like the bow was as heavy as it should have been. I ran it until it burped over the side. Could it still have air in it and still do that? Of course it didn't help that I blew out a drain fitting on one of my 1100 rears. That'll make you panic for a min.

[jnr4817]

I acquired these 100lbs weights. They 17” x 2.5”. I have enzos and am Trying to decide where to put them. I was thinking under glove box storage. Offset driver. Or cut them In half and make 4 50lb weights. 28887

[Tommy2slow]

^^^ I'm definitely looking for this next time. I struggled to get my bow to sit down at all this past weekend. Never felt like the bow was as heavy as it should have been. I ran it until it burped over the side. Could it still have air in it and still do that? Of course it didn't help that I blew out a drain fitting on one of my 1100 rears. That'll make you panic for a min.
I fill my front the same way. There doesn’t seem to be any good way to bleed the air from the bow bag as the the bleed valve is at that back of the bag in the dog house . I have tried bleeding it before and it starts puking water long before the bag is full. The overflow fitting is in a very good spot at the very front of the bag so with the boat pitched up that fitting is just about the highest point on that bag. The problem is that I never really know if that bag is actually full of water and not air. Can someone please chime in on this if I am missing something.

[Tommy2slow]

I am on a staycation this week so I decided to try making my own lead weights. I hit about 6 tire shops and collected 9 five gallon pails of discarded wheel weights. I am going to melt them down in dollar store loaf pans and them give them a coat of rubberized rocker panel protectant. I think each “ingot” will weight about 35lbs. I am going to do about a 1000lbs. I did a couple this evening and it seemed to go quite well. One didn’t release from the pan but the other dropped out without issue when it cooled down. Just make sure to do this in a well ventilated area as lead is really nasty. That is why I am sealing the lead in the rubberized coating before they go in the boat. I will ad another post when I get some finished and another with the wave after adding the extra 1000lbs.
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