lead plates in a 94 Sport Nautique

[kirkgolf1]

Hello! My dad just picked up a 94 Sport Nautique and I have a question about the wake for skiing and different weighting that people do for wakeboarding. The boat has a larger rooster tail that I have seen on any inboard I have seen, including other Sports. The dealer we bought it from said that the family that owned it did both skiing and wakeboarding. I think they put lead plates in the rear of the boat. Here are a couple pictures, let me know what you think.

[east tx skier]

Can you remove the plates? The pictures are really small and it's hard to tell if those have been "made permanent."

[causewayskiier]

slalom wake

I have heard conflicting ideas about weighting a boat for slalom skiing. I was once told that about 50 lbs of lead in the bow will lift the stern and create a smaller slalom weight. I was also told that this weight will only cause the boat to plow through the water to make a larger wake. I have a 206 and would like to reduce the 22 off wake. Any ideas?

[teamseal]

Kirk, you posted the same photos over on CCF, can you make them bigger?
Maybe you are looking at a repair over the sound dampening panels but with the pictures so small no one can tell what you have going on.

Causeway: A little weight in the front of your 206 will help it track better with a heavy hitter shortline slalom skier. that is really the only reason for the practice of putting weight in the front, does nothing for the wake. Do you have a tower?? I ski about once a week with a towered 206 and just gave up on 22 off with that boat and start right out with 28 off.

[east tx skier]

I tried 40 lbs in the nose of my 98 ski and, in my experience, it did little for the wake. Tracking was only marginally better if that. Low speed handling and hole shot seemed really sluggish. Lost the weight in the front and will stick to removing weight from the rear, i.e., back seat, instead. Just my limited experience with it.

The beauty of it is, it's easy to try for yourself to see what you think.

[causewayskiier]

slalom wake

Thanks for the responses I'm just now make the move from 15 to 22 off and the 22 bump seems to be affecting me a little. I don't have a tower, maybe I just need to start running with minimal gas and forget about weighting the bow. Tracking is great with this boat so that is not an issue even with shortline skiiers.