After-market ballast

[glennr]

Can you add ballasts to a 1999 Pro Air Nautique? Also, will free weights placed in the rear of the boat (up to 400 lbs) harm the boat's structure?

[Miljack]

I have the same boat. I did a pretty big ballast project last winter with my boat, search under posts, I think it was winter projects. If you're using the boat for the first season this year, maybe just get some fat sacs and lay them on top of the existing ballast tanks. If you know what you want and would like to do a built in system I can give you some tips. It's not that easy on the direct drive boats, but it can be done. My boat has a custom sac in the ski locker, and two "Gravity Games sacs in the rear trunk for ~1500-1600 pounds of ballast. I did remove my stock rear tanks and do some significant plumbing and wiring to keep it all hidden.

Benefits;
wake gets really big with a 5-6 person crew
can easily wake surf with just wife and kid as crew
no throwing pumps and dealing with filling and capping sacs
gained rear trunk storage when not riding

disadvantages;
a big project for me
some tinkering is required as this is a alot of plumbing, pumps, wiring, etc.

[glennr]

Thanks much for your quick reply. If you had your choice - would you swap your same boat for a V-drive? I am trying to decide between a 98 V-drive and the 99 direct drive. The 99 has about 100 fewer hours. Your thoughts?

[Miljack]

It depends on your mission. If you are wakeboarding only, then go for the v-drive. If you still like to slalom ski, then the Pro Air is a little more versatile than the V drive. 100-200 hours is no big deal for the engine/drivetrain as long as it was maintained properly.