Ballasting my 2005 210 sante for wakeboarding

[andycriner]

I am having trouble dialling in the wake on my 210TE while wakeboarding. We spend about 90% of our time surfing. We are starting to use the boat for wkaeboarding more and I have not really figured out how much ballast in the boat is needed. I am running stock hard tanks. I have 2 striaght line 350# vdrive sacs and fly High 580# sac. The sacs came with the boat. Currently I have not tried any of the fat sacs as I'm not sure how to configure them for a good wake. I usally run with all three tanks full and my range of speed depends on the rider but 18-21 mph. My riders are all new at wakeboarding but getting better with every pull. Thier ages are from 10-18. Any thoughts on what I can do with my current equipment to smooth out the wake. How much wieght and where?

[Chexi]

Until they are comfortable riding 20mph plus, no ballast. Also, if they are not comfortable riding at 20-22, then they shouldn't be doing anything more than carving really, in which case the wake is not important. That said, the less weight, the slower you can go and get a clean wake. With no ballast, the wake should start to clean up around 19.5 if memory serves me.

[MrShelley]

I too have a 2005 SANTE 210 with factory tanks. I ordered some bags Friday to "beef up" the wakeboarding wake (NO surfing here). I plan on taking before and after pics of the wake so everyone can see the difference. It seems like that would answer questions for a lot of folks.

[gride]

Before adding any ballast besides factory riders should be going w2w both ways and in a perfect world switch as well

[andycriner]

My riders are going w2w pretty well. We tried the 350# sacs on top of the factory tanks and it helped some what. We had 5 people on the boat plus the rider so we had pretty full boat. The conditions on Sunday were tough really see a big change. 8-10 mph winds turn our lakes upside down. I also really had trouble getting the boat to plain off and come up to riding speed with that much weight. I going to try more weight in the front and less in the back next time.

[core-rider]

You are going to need more weight in the bow to overcome the added weight in the rear if you ever expect the boat to plane out quickly. I run about 225lbs of lead under the front most bow cushion with all 3 factory tanks full and "wedge" sacs on top of the rear tanks. Without the added weight in the bow planing off takes quite awhile even running the 1464 prop. I sometimes also add a 400lb v-drive sac in the bow sitting on the seats if I have a lot of people in the boat just to help out as well. Ideally you want about a 40/60 weight distribution front to rear no matter how much total weight you run. As mentioned already you will need to speed up when running extra weight. The legacy 210 hulls don't do well with weight and low speeds.