Trailering with ballast???

[jr49erfan1]

Trying to get 600lbs of pop bags to tune my boarding and surfing wakes, gonna end up with 600lbs of something solid regardless. I was wondering what PN'ers thoughts or experiences were regarding trailering your boat with ballast still on the boat VS removing to tow vehicle upon recovery. Would 600lbs, spaced about the boat be tough on a trailer? I have a tandem axel trailer by the way...

[HS]

Trying to get 600lbs of pop bags to tune my boarding and surfing wakes, gonna end up with 600lbs of something solid regardless. I was wondering what PN'ers thoughts or experiences were regarding trailering your boat with ballast still on the boat VS removing to tow vehicle upon recovery. Would 600lbs, spaced about the boat be tough on a trailer? I have a tandem axel trailer by the way...

You should be able to find the GVWR on the plate of your trailer to answer that question. You can find the dry weight of your boat on line or in your owners manual, then you'd need to add for fuel and gear. But more importantly, for safety also consider how the added weight affects the handling and braking of your tow vehicle, or on wet roads, and then gas mileage. My regular tow is less than 1 mile on flat roads from garage to the ramp, and on occasion I have left pop products aboard with no problems, but I don't as a typical practice. I wouldn't do it for long tows or highway tows.

[BombWake]

I tow my SANTE 210 with 850 lbs of Bomb Wake Bomb Sacks in it at least twice a week and have never had a problem with the extra weight hurting the trailer or the boat, knock on wood... My drive is about 30 miles round trip. I would say I have at least put 4000 miles on the trailer with the added weight. Also, my buddy runs 1000 lbs of bags in his SV211 and we tow the boat about 70 miles round trip with them loaded up as well. He has never had any problems with the added weight either.

As HS stated the trailer, tires, and bearings were engineered/designed to carry up to the GVWR so as long as you are under that rating for your specific trailer, it will not hurt the trailer.

[jr49erfan1]

Thanks guys for the responses. I got my 600lbs of pop-bags enroute, and should have them tomorrow. I'm pretty excited to see if I can see a difference with this additional weight in tuning my boarding and surfing wakes.

I've decided that even though I've only got about a 25 mile shot from my house to my primary ramp, a bulk of that is highway and twisty mountains, and I probably dont want to adversely affect my trailers braking and handling capabilities. Just add another thing to add to the pre and post ramp ritual!!!

I had contemplated a bunch of different routes, including lead shot procured locally, to weight plates and dumbells. Ultimately size and ability to conform this additional ballast to small spaces ended up being my deciding factor with going with a commercial product along with Troy at Pop-Products offering a pretty decent price, including shipping.