Ballast and fat sac help for 2010 211

[jbauer35]

I have an air nautique 211 and i want to put more weight in it to have a larger wake for wakeboarding and wakesurfing. i understand that the two involve different set ups but has anyone installed fat sacs to this boat? How big, where, and how are they hooked up? Is it worth it to get custom fat sacs?

[HS]

See RLS' post in this thread, but I think he said he pulled his hard tanks out and replaced them with sacs. http://www.planetnautique.com/vb3/sh...ake-surf-setup

I recently measured the available space in each aft hold to see what volume of water would fit in a piggy back configuration without covering the batteries (each side) or the Perko switch (port side), or interfere with the engine blower vent and hoses, etc. Because the available space on the port compartment is limited in hight due to the walk-thru deck, and wanting to achieve symetry in each sac, I felt that its height governs the depth of the fat sac for both (in my opinion). Same with width, not wanting to smother the Perko switch with the sac or cause the engine compartment partition to bow inwards. The Starboard compartment contolled the length. After figuring these dimensions, I came up with a volume that would allow less than 200# of added water ballast -- again, my measurments were on the conservative side. A guy in Newcastle, WA (Nauti_Dad) posted on his piggy back system, and if I recall correctly, he used custom fat sacs that were 250# for his 211. When PN came out in V3, those posts of his became archived and i can't find them now, but he had photos and a diagram of his install. It's pretty straight forward and kits are available through Fly High (fatsac.com) or wakemakers.

A few seasons back, I experimeted with a sac filled with 200# of water (almost 25 gallons in a 350# sac; not plumbed in) in the ski locker and pop products bags (200# each side) in the aft holds. This took the ballast from 625# stock to 1225# with a 40% front and 60# rear weight bias. It was pretty cool, and didn't lose any (much) storage in the aft compartments, but have been going with stock for now...although flipping a switch would be nice.

For surfing, when I have a small crew (2 plus rider) I put a 350# sac over the port walk-thru, a Fly High 370# sac under the passenger side bench and a 350# sac on the port bow seat, plus port tank and belly tank. Watch the rollers as the list is significant.

I haven't made the switch yet, one reason being the loss of storage space when the sacs are full.

[RLS]

I removed both tanks in the back. It has been a great change. Then I put a 1100 pound bag on the drivers side and 750 on the passenger side. If I were to do it again I would by two 1100 pound bags. Fill them as full as you can. I used the 750 bag because I had it already.

[wakewatcher]

Was this a straight forward conversion? I have a 2007 SV211 and a looking for a simple solution. Did you tie into the original pumps?

[ski4evr]

You can fit a wedge sack on top of both factory tanks in the rear compartments. Use the vent hose from the hard tank to fill the sac then vent the sac out the existing vent. Check out wakemakers.com for ideas and installation kits.

[yager97]

I was told by wakemakers I cant piggy back because I am running the aerator pumps, any truth to that as I see you have a 2005 211 what would be the same as my 2004 I assume.

[ski4evr]

My bad, mine came without ballasts, installed reversible pumps and bags. I did piggyback an additional tube for under the passenger seat for surfing. What options did they have for you, if any?

[yager97]

basically rip the hard tanks out, and replace the rears with bags.

[Mikeski]

If I am running with a light crew I pull the ironing board and put a 500lb sack at the back. If I am running with a heavier crew I run stock and it's fine. I like more weight in the back. I have also played with adding 3 40lb pop bags all the way in the back of each storage locker. That works pretty well but I don't do it any longer.