Tips for Buying Ballasts for your New Wake Boat

If you’ve recently bought your first wake boat, you may be interested in buying one of their most popular accessories: ballasts! For tips on buying the best ballasts for your boat, take a look at the article below. Or, if you haven’t found your perfect wake boat just yet, feel free to visit either of our locations in Centerville and Hurricane, Utah to start browsing.

What is a Ballast? 

A ballast is a heavy weight that’s placed in a boat to help it create artificial waves. To use ballasts you’ll need a boat that is designed to produce waves, such as a wake boat or ski boat. However, ski boats are more focused on smaller, flatter waves, meaning ballasts are more commonly used on wake boats. While your wake boat may have already come with a factory ballast system, a majority of wakeboarders prefer to use additional ballasts as well. 

How Do I Use a Ballast?

To use ballasts you’ll need to buy multiple weights and place them strategically around your boat. This will add extra weight to your vessel, resulting in higher, larger wakes. However, figuring out where to place the weights to achieve the best wake will require a little trial and error.

Ballast Types 

Generally speaking, there are two different types of ballast bags available on the market: Fat-sacs and ballast-weight bags. Fat sacs are typically filled with water or sand and can be emptied or filled at your convenience. This also makes adjusting the weight of your bag much easier (although you’ll need a container to place excess sand if you’re not using water). On the other hand, ballast-weight bags come prefilled with extremely heavy metal weights, and can’t be emptied or filled. However, they’re typically much easier to move and transport, and require very little cleanup once you’re docked. 

If you’re located nearby in Salt Lake City, Utah, feel free to visit us here at Roger's Performance Marine for all of your boating needs! Not only do we offer an impressive inventory of models for sale, and we also offer helpful repair and rental services as well.