Moomba Mobius LSV 2005 ballast question

I am the proud new owner of an exceptionally well maintained mobius lsv, has roughly 300 hours on it. The guy before me (single owner) took almost OCD level of care for it. Anyway, the only thing he never used was the ballast system. He was primarily into wakeboarding versus I like to surf and wakeboard. I’m not sure if the ballast system is original to the boat but it hasn’t been touched in 10 years prior to my getting the boat. It has two 350 pound ballast bladders in the rear lockers and a 400 ish bag in the ski locker, it has 2 switches below the throttle that control it (original single ballast switch on dash disconnected). The issue with it is that regardless of which switch you flip to fill, it kinda fills them all equally and slowly. Also it will occasionally throw some sort of breaker? And the entire boat it self will die in the water and not restart or show any electrical activity at all for 2 minutes (freaked me out the first time). It also drains incredibly slowly. (It has a hole it drains out of similar to bilge but on the port side). I’m pretty sure the pumps aren’t reversible as it uses different ones to fill versus to empty. Did I mention it leaks? The bilge runs a lot when you are filling the ballast. I’ve only tried filling them about 3 times and have now realized that I really need to replace it.

Wondering how much poundage to replace it with etc. I’m wanting a safe reliable fast way to make an awesome wake. I was thinking 1000 pounds in both rear lockers, 400-500 in the ski locker, and 400-500 bow bags under the front seats. Anyway have experience with a similar age boat? Is there a limit to how much ballast I should put on it?

Here is a picture of me surfing the wake as it is- barely able to stay in the pocket even with my monstrous board, granted I am 6’3”.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...21f7b478b8.jpg


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The factory Gravity 3 ballast system should have 3 switches below the throttle to control fill/empty of each bag. Stock rear bags were 250# and the floor locker 400#. Check that the fill valves located near the v-drive aren't manually bypassed. There is a black lever on each valve. Are you filling or emptying when the breaker trips?
This would point you to the fill pump and valves or the dump pumps. There is 1 fill pump and 3 fill valves but each sack should have a dedicated drain pump and through hull connection. Most people updated to 400# or 750# bags in the rear lockers. You will need to add weight to the front. For surfing I run 400 in the center, 400 in the starboard side, 750 in the port side since we all surf goofy and 300 in the front. That plus a suck gate gives us a great wave. Also have a separate 400 to set on the seat and fill with a tsunami pump if we want to increase the wave.
Here is a link to the '05 owners manual.
https://crm.skierschoice.com/files/d.../moomba_05.pdf

If you surf goofy why is your port side bag bigger? That’s the opposite of what you would want.


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I have the same boat. You have to add weight. If you're not ready to invest in some upgrades, (kit from Wakemakers, drilling holes, etc.), then get a portable tsunami pump and fill all the bags manually. Once/if you decide that you can see yourself doing this a lot, then consider the upgrades.

I run 2x750, 1x400 (locker), 2x200 (under bow seats), 2x300 (on top of back seats), move people to the bow for longer wave as required.

Video of my wave on the link:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/dUNqcpLenK6E52yC7

Same with Hayden. Replaced stock ballast from Wakemakers to 750s in both lockers. Kept stock ballast in center locker. Use a wedge on opposite side of rider which cleans up any white wash and give good clean wake. Working awesome. Just adjust fill amount with number of riders and placement. That year boat can quickly get somewhat everloaded when you've got 6 husky hikers in with additional weight, and then you'll be burning 9 gallons of gas per hour.

Enjoy.

I’ve got same boat- 350:hrs when bought it in January. Upgraded 915lb port rear, 765lb starboard rear, and guessing 300-400 in ski locker center. Surf swell plate and we get a pretty nice wavehttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...6e3426cdcc.jpg


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I have a 2003 LSV without rear ballast pumps (just the ski locker one). Currently using Sumo Max 650 lb in the rear lockers, which leave about 5" of depth for storage and a few inches on top. Probably should have gone for the 750, but I'm having enough trouble balancing out the front anyway. It's surfable for sure, you just ride kinda close to the boat... but it needs balancing (I have to sit on the top of the seat to drive surfers lol.) Using stock ski bag and replacing with the fat sac 88"x19x19" 1080 lb bag (will realistically only fill to about 800 lb I believe). Will most likely end up putting another 400-500 lb in steel towards the bow so I rely less on the wakeplate to balance the boat for general riding, wakeboarding, and surfing.

My boat came stock with the 14x18 OJ prop... I replaced it with an ACME 1235 (14.5x14) and it made a huge difference on acceleration & pushing ballast. Top speed took a hit from 45mph down to 40mph on a full tank & typical weekend chop.