Wakesurfing - bow weight 210 SANTE

[ES]

Do you have any suggestions regarding bow weight for a 2010 210 SANTE for wakesurfing?
Right now I run full stock ballast (port and belly), but no weight in the bow.
The wake is decent and the whole family can ride, but I wonder how much better it would be if I added some weight up front.
Ideally I would like to keep the extra weight below the seats, since with kids and filler cushion that area is generally occupied.
Would it be easier to add some lead weight or a sack+pump? If so, how much weight?
Thanks for your help.

[Andrew14]

For surfing, I ran my 2008 210 the following way:

1. Rear Factory Tank full (whatever side you are surfing on)
2. Rear 400lb Fly High Sac full (whatever side you are surfing on) in the rear locker
3. Belly Factory Tank full (no bow weight....I had the integrated sac that I used for wakeboarding)

Wave was pretty good....I've heard its even better with 750's in the rear lockers (they will fit).

[Whitetail15]

andrew 14
what sac did you have up front? under the seats with no seat storeage when filled? or under the floor by the ski locker?

[scottb7]

Andrew, just to be clear. In addition to the belly factory tank full, you also filled the integrated bow sac?

[ES]

Hi Andrew14, I already have the 750 lbs bag in the rear locker and it works great.
I am wondering whether I should add more weight at the bow, especially to make the wake longer

[HS]

Hi Andrew14, I already have the 750 lbs bag in the rear locker and it works great.
I am wondering whether I should add more weight at the bow, especially to make the wake longer

ES, yes, adding bow weight will improve things by lengthening the pocket and thus allow you to easily surf 8 to 10 feet off the transom. I surf with same year 210, and I too have the 750s on top of the rear factory tanks, plus I have ballast in the ski locker and 200# of pop bags under the bow seat cushions. Do it, you'll be very glad!

[Andrew14]

Bigbucks / Scottb7 / ES - I just sold my 2008 210, but when I had it, I was 90% wakeboarding / 10% surfing....so take my surfing advice with a grain of salt (I had it dialed for wakeboarding). My initial ballast set-up was the WakeMakers package that included three sacs - two 400's for the rear lockers and one 650 Integrated Sac. The 400's filled all the way in the rear and still left room for some gear (ie. so 750's will fill all the way and take up the entire trunk). With this set-up, the problem I ran into wakeboarding was that the boat would porpoise due to flawed Zero Off software / antenna packages in the 2008-2010 model boats (somewhere around 2010/2011, Zero Off fixed this problem with a gyroscope style antenna and software upgrade that eliminated the sensitivity). After talking to a Nautique Rep, he told me the fix was either $500 to upgrade to the new antenna/software OR $130 Tube Sac from Fly High to be plumbed into the ski locker (ski locker is now gone in newer 210's) using the overflow from the Factory Belly tank, then routing the Tube Sac up to the Integrated Sac under the seats. Once I did this, porpoising pretty much went a way and the boat ran fine with the stock 1579 prop. BUT, for surfing....I always just ran rear tank and rear fly high sac full, and only factory belly tank full (no tube sac or integrated sac). The wave was a nice balance of long and big/steep. I think with the 750's back there, you will want a little bit of bow/ski locker weight to compensate for the additional ~350lbs (difference in the 400's I was running and the 750's). What I would do is run 750's in the rear (only fill all the way up for surfing, for wakeboarding I would fill 1/2-3/4 full unless you have the bigger 409 engine or have the 1235 prop on the 343 Excal engine), get the Fly High tube sac (if your 210 still has a ski locker) and get the Integrated Sac (all ballast will be hidden). That way you can make the wave as long or as steep as you want it and have the ability to "dial" it around on the fly. I'm a fan of having more ballast (even if you don't use all of it) plumbed in because then it gives you options of tweaking the wake compensating for different size crews, gear, water conditions, gas tank levels, etc.

[ES]

Great advice, thanks!

[scottb7]

Yes, thanks for the time spent answering.

[Andrew14]

No problem guys - is the season here yet?!? Man, I swear this is the longest winter ever.....haha

[HS]

Hope the info helps. I spent a LOT of time on my first boat dialing in the ballast for WB and surfing. Back then I had 2 350 lb. sacs and then got a 370 Tube sac for under the passenger side bench, then we moved one of the 350 Straight Line sacs to the bow, which made a tremendous improvement. Situation is changing with the G and then NSS, but those without need to figure out what works for them.

[ES]

Thanks HS. I don't have any weight in the bow right now and I would like to keep as much as possible both seating AND storage space. Assuming it would fit, do you think that adding a 350 bag under the bow filler cushion would work? Or did you see that you needed to add the weight as close to the bow as possible?

[HS]

Yes. On the floor of the bow is where I ended up putting it. . .that was on my old boat (2007 SV 211) before I set up plumbed in sacs on the current boat (210). I tried it a few times on the surf side seat, but it made too much list for my other drivers to deal with.

[msbowhunter]

Plumb a bag in the ski locker to piggyback off the belly tank and see how you like it. Then move people around and see if the wave changes to suit you and justify adding more. I have found that adding more to the bow after filling the locker only increases swamping the bow. Most people don't go fast enough I believe. We run around 11.2 mph

[Prairiedawg]

Hi Andrew14, I am gearing up to buy some extra ballast equipment for my 2008 210 SANTE to set it up for surfing. From what I have read it sounds like the 750 bags are the way to go in the back corners, but I am trying to decide what to do in the front. I like the idea of the arrow sack in the ski locker, but I am wondering if I should add the arrow sack in the locker and the integrated bow sack? I have read that these sacks may not fill completely in my size of boat(which is why I am thinking of installing both.) From your post it kind of sounds like you do have both, and I'm wondering if you have your belly tank plumbed to your ski locker sack and your integrated bow sack, all using just the factory pumps? Thanks