Bow Sac

[tazz3069]

I know there has been talk here about installing a bow sack in their boats. I think that I just might do it this winter. The question that I have is what size, if any, and where to buy. I have seen several on different sights and cannot really find the one that fits my boat.

Also, for those who have install the bow sac, does it raise the seat up? I can not stand that my center ski locker lifts up when the bag is full. If I do decide to do this, I will add another two pumps, one to fill and one to empty, all new plumbing, and a seperate switch. The main reason to do this is for surfing. I was told that if there is more wait in the bow, the longer the wake will be. Right now, I add an extra 400lbs in the side the boarder is on. I just want to extend the wake for the rider. plus it will make it easier to navigate the boat. Right now, the bow is really nose high. Looks like a rocket getting ready to launch to the moon.
Tazz

[cab13367]

Tazz,

Just a suggestion - have you tried putting three adults in the bow while surfing to confirm that it extends the wake a noticeable amount? If not, you might go thru a lot of trouble and expense and be disappointed.

Al

[tazz3069]

I have had the kids in the bow. Come to think about it, I have had only adults in the rear of the boat. I just might hold off on this project for now. Thanx Cab. You are probably right.

[Hillbilly]

I know weight in the bow helps the WB wake!

[sandm]

we run the 400lb in the center locker and run another 440 up in the front. it makes a huge difference in the length of our surfwake and if I could get 600 up front, that would be ideal I think. I am guessing another 5ft before you lose it, but that's just a guess, never measured it
only downside is watching your wake as you turn to pick up a rider. with the nose heavy, boat tends to submarine. we have taken on a lot of water a couple of times from the wifey watching another boat too close to the rider and hitting the wake without powering over it..

if I had the room under my bow seats, I'd already have one installed..

my .02 fwiw

[newty]

I did the bow sack in mine. It makes a huge difference for surfing.
It was a really easy upgrade. I only had to use one pump to make it work.

To answer your questions, it does not raise my seats up, and I used the standard 600lb sack and it fits really well.
I can get you more info and a part number from flyhigh.

First thing I did was install a spring check on the discharge of the floor sack to create a little back pressure.

Then I plumbed a hose from the front (unused) outlet on the floor sack and ran it up through the battery access hole then up to the bow.

I then installed a pump right next to the heater and put a new through hull discharge fitting in next to the existing floor sack fitting.

The idea is that the floor sack will fill untill its full then when it tries to discharge out of the factory location the spring creates just enough backpressure that the water is forced into the bow sac. Then of course when its full is discharges out of the new fitting.

When you want to empty the bags you just turn on your empty pump for the floor sack and the pump makes enough pressure to overcome the spring check, and then energize your bow pump how ever you decide. Mine still has the cig plug on it and I ran it up to my cig lighter and tucked it away. When I want to empy it I just plug it in.

As far as time to fill, even with this set-up the floor and bow both fill faster than my rear sack's.
You could probably use your old rule fill pump then all you need is hose, sack fittings, spring check, and through hull fitting.

[cab13367]

There you go Tazz, sandm and newty have confirmed what you've been told!

I run a 750 in the back, the 400 in the front, then spread the people weight along the surf side of the boat pretty much equally from front to rear and we don't have any problem freesurfing, even when it's just me, the wife, and the two kids. I'll have to try and put more peeps in the nose next time and see how much longer the wave gets.

[sandm]

my only complaint about buying this launch20ssv was the depth in the seats. I only have around 10" of depth in the nose. about the same in the rest of the boat. really wish I had deeper seating. would make adding a bag much easier.

good luck and a little jealous here...

wife's only complaint about the boat are the 2 surfbags that are exposed when surfing..

[cab13367]

tazz,

As a point of reference, below is a pic of me surfing behind my boat. Set up is 750 lbs in the surf side rear locker, 400 lbs in the front ski locker, wakeplate all the way up, 10 mph, just 2 people on the boat (90 lb girl in the back corner taking the pic and 180 lb guy driving while standing on top of the ski locker door), about 30' of water. I'm about 180 and I'm on a relatively small (4'-6") but floaty board.

I think that for the amount of people and ballast on the boat, our boat puts out a pretty long, surfable wave. So I guess my point is that you can certainly add a bow sac and make it even longer, or you can just put more time in behind the boat and learn to surf what you have. For the added hassle of the bow sac and the storage space you have to give up, I've chosen to learn to surf what I have and I expect the same of others (you don't want to make it too easy to learn, then you have to wait longer for your turn ). Having a big floaty board also helps a lot (and mine is pretty small for my weight).

And I'm not an expert by any means, I've only been doing this two summers and I have no ocean surfing experience so it doesn't take that long to get the hang of it.

Just my two (and a half) cents.

[tazz3069]

That wake is awesome. Did by any chance, did you change the prop. I remove the stock prop and install a wakeboarding prop. Can not remember what size it is. I need to check. Well my season is over so I will need to experiment next season. Now its time to take out the quads and tear up the sand. I really do not have anymore mods I can do. Maybe add a glove box under the driver seat. I do need to find a way to lock or secure the center ski locker door down so that when the center bag is full, the door does not flip up and stub toes. I think that would be the most important mod for me this winter.