G6 Ballast upgrade

[TOYMCHN]

So.. I’m new. I’m two weeks into my first surf boat ownership and its been great. 2022 Moomba Max. It’s only been my wife and I so getting the wave dialed in has been a bit of a pain of trial and error. Changing wake plate settings, auto wake, ballast bag fill points, surf plates, on and on and on. She’s not particularly savvy with the settings so trying to yell to her while on the wave and explain what to change has been a bit frustrating haha.. all that aside, i think we dialed in the right settings manually, and autowake kinda sucks.. or maybe I’m just not understanding it, I dont know..

Either way, because Im the kind of person that can never leave well-enough alone, I’ve been researching ballast upgrades.

Im thinking about going with the wakemakers rear bag factory replacement to add more ballast weight to the boat.

When we built the boat, I didn’t option for the G6 pump system because im cheap and thought i could do it myself. There seems to be no information out there for doing this and if im upgrading to bigger bags with longer fill times, i think i want to get some additional pumps for this.

Has anyone done it? Im interested to see how the G6 ballast system is plumbed and wired. If anyone could offer an insight, I would greatly appreciate it.

[htfit]

You might luck out if all the compoments are there to add the additional pumps. It might be the case where they use all the same hardware between the g3 and g6 but just leave the additional pumps off. If that is the case, than I think it would be pretty easy.

If not, it may be more difficult than splicing wires and adding additional pumps like I have done before with the aerator pumps.

Another idea is just upgrade the pumps you have.

I remember seeing they are coming out with some ridiculously fast pumps.

Here is one I found doing a quick search.
At 30GPM, it would be faster than the 2 pumps on the g6 if I am not mistaken.

https://waterskis.com/ballast-pump-high-flow-30-gpm/

The only restriction on that would be the hose size. But even if you didn't get the full 30gpm with your current diameter hoses I am sure it would be faster.


Sent from my SM-G975U1 using Tapatalk

[htfit]

Couple of ideas when deciding what Ballast Bags to get. Just depending how much weight you really want to add, if you only add more weight to the rear, you will probably have to add more weight to the nose too to keep it balanced.

I have not plumbed in additional ballast to the nose outside of 150lbs of lead, but I have 720 lb ballast bags under the center benches and another 500lbs of lead under them.

I noticed if I add more weight to the rear without adding more weight to the nose it rides too high.

Not saying don't get bigger rear ballast, because more weight the better overall but if you only have 500 lbs in the center or no weight in the center, maybe upgrade those first, or buy the bigger bags for rear and put your stock 1000lb bags in the center. Just know you may end up adding more weight in the front.

Just a thought.

Sent from my SM-G975U1 using Tapatalk

[TOYMCHN]

You might luck out if all the compoments are there to add the additional pumps. It might be the case where they use all the same hardware between the g3 and g6 but just leave the additional pumps off. If that is the case, than I think it would be pretty easy.

This was my first thought and im hoping its the case. the only thing i would probably need to know in that case is how to route the plumbing. If it isnt, perhaps ill look into your suggestion of just upgrading to a faster single pump. Im a crane mechanic so im no stranger to this type of electrical work.


Couple of ideas when deciding what Ballast Bags to get. Just depending how much weight you really want to add, if you only add more weight to the rear, you will probably have to add more weight to the nose too to keep it balanced.

I have not plumbed in additional ballast to the nose outside of 150lbs of lead, but I have 720 lb ballast bags under the center benches and another 500lbs of lead under them.

I noticed if I add more weight to the rear without adding more weight to the nose it rides too high.

Not saying don't get bigger rear ballast, because more weight the better overall but if you only have 500 lbs in the center or no weight in the center, maybe upgrade those first, or buy the bigger bags for rear and put your stock 1000lb bags in the center. Just know you may end up adding more weight in the front.

Just a thought.

Sent from my SM-G975U1 using Tapatalk

Interesting, and thanks for the input. our boat has a front ballast and with that at about 80% full the nose of the boat just didnt seem to want to hit the pitch that seemed desirable for a wave that had enough push for me. for my wife, its fine.

now the other variable is the board, were currently both using the same board (hyperlite shim). I purchased a hyperlite buzz last night thats a bit more appropriate for my weight so ill try that out and see how it goes before i start throwing money and weight around.

Thanks for the help!

[Hayden]

If you're just starting out, depending on how much you weigh, and if it's just your wife driving and the rest of the weight is stock, you will absolutely need to add more weight.

For water ballast, I would read through some of the recent Max install threads. If you had really specific questions you could try reaching out to either Haknslash or z28ke who have both posted details of their installs.

https://forum.moomba.com/showthread.php?35078-Momba-Max-Wakemakers-Bag-Buster-install-video

https://forum.moomba.com/showthread.php?31541-Murder-Max-Mods&highlight=murder

Depending on you feel about leadwake, that could be another option.

[HFarr]

Hey that's a pic I took of some sound dampening I added to my boat. On the hyperlite shim, you probably do need a bit bigger board unless you and your wife are close in size. A Connelly Ride is a somewhat bigger board that is nice and that's easy on the bank. Hyperlite landlock is one anyone can get up on.

Sent from my SM-G781V using Tapatalk

[haknslash]

This was my first thought and im hoping its the case. the only thing i would probably need to know in that case is how to route the plumbing. If it isnt, perhaps ill look into your suggestion of just upgrading to a faster single pump. Im a crane mechanic so im no stranger to this type of electrical work.



Interesting, and thanks for the input. our boat has a front ballast and with that at about 80% full the nose of the boat just didnt seem to want to hit the pitch that seemed desirable for a wave that had enough push for me. for my wife, its fine.

now the other variable is the board, were currently both using the same board (hyperlite shim). I purchased a hyperlite buzz last night thats a bit more appropriate for my weight so ill try that out and see how it goes before i start throwing money and weight around. Sure, having a bigger wave helps a ton but body position has as much of not more importance than ballast alone.

Thanks for the help!

Have you added addition bags over stock? The reason I ask is the “front” ballast bag on a Max is really more like a center bag with some front bias. The Max wave starts to come to life when you get around 5,000 lbs of ballast no matter how you slice it. It can be people, upgraded bags, lead whatever so long as you get to 5,000 lbs. You’ll want at least a minimum of 300 lbs in the bow. I use lead bags for that since we use the front storage for gear and stuff. I usually have anywhere from 5,300 to 5,600 lbs of ballast when surfing and the wave is legit for my 240 lb butt.

Keep in mind that if this is your first time learning to surf a lot of feeling the push has to do with body position and how you’re weighting your feet on the board. You want to be light on the toes and closer to the wave side edge as you learn. Square your shoulders to the boat back corner and not the wave and you will start to feel the waves push. It took me so long to understand this and several boards. It takes patience and no need in rushing into it getting frustrated. I know it can be at times but you will get it and understand the boat more. It will save your marriage having a good wife to help trust me so try and stay cool as y’all learn the boat lol.

As for the plate settings, I’ve tried a lot of different settings and I feel the stock surf plate settings give the most consistent results. You may dial in one 5% increment here or there for surf plates but you’ll find adjusting the lead or ballast weight to get desired roll and pitch will be better than cranking up or down the surf plates. The center plate is fine to play around with. It will make the wave steep and short or a long mellow mound with co curl. I usually don’t go beyond 15 on center plate but it all depends on what pitch and roll or surf wave you like. Just remember to have fun playing around and you’ll see what the boat likes once you’re back there.

[TOYMCHN]

Have you added addition bags over stock? The reason I ask is the “front” ballast bag on a Max is really more like a center bag with some front bias. The Max wave starts to come to life when you get around 5,000 lbs of ballast no matter how you slice it. It can be people, upgraded bags, lead whatever so long as you get to 5,000 lbs. You’ll want at least a minimum of 300 lbs in the bow. I use lead bags for that since we use the front storage for gear and stuff. I usually have anywhere from 5,300 to 5,600 lbs of ballast when surfing and the wave is legit for my 240 lb butt.

Keep in mind that if this is your first time learning to surf a lot of feeling the push has to do with body position and how you’re weighting your feet on the board. You want to be light on the toes and closer to the wave side edge as you learn. Square your shoulders to the boat back corner and not the wave and you will start to feel the waves push. It took me so long to understand this and several boards. It takes patience and no need in rushing into it getting frustrated. I know it can be at times but you will get it and understand the boat more. It will save your marriage having a good wife to help trust me so try and stay cool as y’all learn the boat lol.

As for the plate settings, I’ve tried a lot of different settings and I feel the stock surf plate settings give the most consistent results. You may dial in one 5% increment here or there for surf plates but you’ll find adjusting the lead or ballast weight to get desired roll and pitch will be better than cranking up or down the surf plates. The center plate is fine to play around with. It will make the wave steep and short or a long mellow mound with co curl. I usually don’t go beyond 15 on center plate but it all depends on what pitch and roll or surf wave you like. Just remember to have fun playing around and you’ll see what the boat likes once you’re back there.

i have not added any additional ballast at all. still has the factory 4000lbs. i will wait and see how the wave performs with more people on the boat before i go and spend extra money on bigger ballasts. i did order myself a hyperlite buzz in 5'2'' so we will see how that performs with me on the wave this weekend when we go out again.

when i said i was yelling TO her, not AT her from the wave i meant that i had to yell over the sound of the boat exhaust haha. shes picking things up great and we are both learning alot as we play around with various settings.

I appreciate everyones input very much

[Josh828]

I recommend getting some friends to come along, shouldn’t be to hard. Think of them as your ballast. I found I need about 2000lbs to make the mojo wave how I like it. But bow weight was very important to get a nice long push in the wave.

Also side note, when convincing 5 girls to pile in the bow when the water is 68 degrees. Make sure your driver knows not to take a wave over the front or you’ll never get them back up there haha