Our latest CustomFit bag is a surf specific monster for use in the Centurion Avalanche. Since this bag fits on the port side of the boat it will work on both C4 and standard Avalanches (we have bags for the starboard side of both models, contact us for more info). With a rating of nearly 1400 pounds, this bag completely fills all of the available space in the rear locker and under the port seats for the best possible surf experience.

Once filled you have the ability to build a fantastic surf wake, regardless of how many people you have out on the boat with you, and the bag is completely hidden in use so it doesn’t take up any additional seating in the boat.

Can be combined with our Centurion TankBuster Factory Ballast Upgrade, filled and drained with a portable ballast pump, integrated into a fully automated ballast, or any combination of the three. This bag is also compatible with WakeMAKERS’s Exclusive X-Link system for the fastest filling and draining possible, contact us for more information.

Have more fun surfing behind your Centurion Avalanche this summer, we’ll make sure you have the perfect wake, so you can enjoy a hassle free surf experience. No one has more experience weighting Centurion boats for wakeboarding and wakesurfing.

Our CustomFit ballast bags for the Centurion Avalanche are $813.85, hold a maximum of 1,390 pounds of water, and come ready to install so you can spend more time on the water. If you would like to purchase this bag, please contact a ballast expert.

We’ve added another bag to our CustomFit line of boat year/make/model specific solutions; this time for Tige’s 22i. This bag, which is rated at 530 pounds of capacity, is a perfect in the rear lockers of all 22i boats. Traditionally a difficult boat to add additional ballast to, these custom bags make it easy to add additional weight in the rear lockers for wakeboarding or wake surfing, and that weight is completely hidden.

Perfectly sized to fill all of the available space in the rear lockers, without doing any damage, these bags are the best way to get additional ballast in your Tige 22i wakeboard boat.

Combine with a portable ballast pump or add a fully automated ballast system for the ultimate setup.

Our CustomFit ballast bags for the Tige 22i are $289.95, and hold a maximum of 530 pounds of water. If you would like to purchase this bag, please contact a ballast expert.

The Fly High Fat Sac can already be used to add 750+ lbs of ballast weight to your boat, and in Supra and Moomba wakeboarding boats they can be used to replace the OEM bags. Think how much more fresh that wakeboarding ballast system setup is going to look when you color match it to your boat.

The Fly High Pro X Series wakeboard ballast bags were the first wakeboard ballast products designed specifically for use in a wakeboard boat. With a clean slate, Fly High rethought and redesigned nearly every aspect of wakeboard ballast bags. Constructed from a single layer of the same durable yet flexible material used to build white water rafts, the Fly High Pro X Series ballast bags offer unmatched strength and durability.  Strength and durability that can now be more customized to color match your wakeboard boat. So if your in the market for a beefier wake, step up to the Fly High Pro X Series wakeboard ballast bags and experience the easiest to use, most durable ballast bags on the market. In living color.

Starting at $149.95 Buy Now »

We sell a lot of Fly High wakeboard ballast bags, and many times customers are using them to replace smaller capacity sacs that came in their boat from the factory. Most customers want to reuse those factory bags elsewhere in the boat with a Tsunami wakeboard ballast pump}, but unfortunately the fittings used on those factory bags are typically cemented in place when they are made, which makes it much more difficult to replace them with the Quick Twist Adapter for use with the Tsunami pump.  Although it is possible to remove fittings after they have been cemented in place the process is not something most of our customers want to deal with.

Occasionally though they’ve asked us for instructions, which for the better part of a year has consisted of a brief outline of the process that we forward in an email.  Due to a request on the Moomba boats forum we finally got around to taking some pictures of the process, and figured we would post them here along with a description of the process for everyone to see.

Once you remove your factory fittings head over to our wakeboard fittings category to pick up some replacements for use with a Tsunami pump, or any other application you have.

Lay the bag out on a hard, flat surface (a cement garage floor works well) with the fitting of interest sticking straight up into the air.

Using a hair dryer (and only a hair dryer, nothing more powerful) on it’s low setting, apply heat to the area where the black flange in the bag meets the grey fitting. Leave the hair dryer in place for AT LEAST five minutes.

With the hair dryer still pointed at the bag, stand with your feet on either side of the fitting so the soles of your shoes are on the black flange portion of the bag. The hair dryer should be between your heels pointing at the fitting in the direction you are facing.

With the hair dryer still pointed at the bag, push the end of the fitting straight away from you. Try to get the end of the fitting to touch the ground while your feet hold the flange of the bag flush with the ground.

You will be “popping” the fitting out of the bag, NOT unthreading it. If it doesn’t pop out the first time that’s fine, just start over with step two above. It usually takes a couple of tries to get the process down, but once you do it one time, the rest of the fittings will come out easily.

Once the fitting has been removed both it and the port on the bag are undamaged and ready for reuse.

This process will allow you to use any of the standard Fly High ballast fittings with the ballast bags that came in your boat with fittings cemented in from the factory.

CAUTION: It is very easy to damage the bags beyond repair while trying to remove fittings either by applying too much force or too much heat. Start slowly, and if the fitting does not come out easily repeat from step 2 above.

If you are concerned about damaging your bags, or unwilling to attempt this process you can send your bags to us and we will remove them for a small fee, contact us for more information or to setup that process.

Fly High called us the other day to ask if we would be interested in buying some custom bags they had made that a customer had decided not to use. We said sure, why not, send them our way. Imagine our surprise when the box arrived tucked in among one of our shipments, and we opened it to find these custom made Tige bow ballast bags. When they said their customer wasn’t interested it never crossed our mind that their customer might be the company that built your boat!

So if you’ve got a Tige Z1 these custom bow bags are perfect for you. If you’ve got another boat with an open bow, then chances are they’re perfect for you too, especially if you’re into surfing. Having a single custom bag made to these dimensions would easily cost $400 due to the shape, but since we got them for a deal we’re passing the savings on to you.

Buy This Custom Wakeboard Ballast Bag»

Add two of these bags to the bow of your boat and you’ll have a fully integrated setup that excels for surfing, is great for wakeboarding, and won’t break the bank.  Plus, you’ll still have your center storage area available for your anchor.

Included in the savings are some Fat Sacs, V-Drive Sacs, Rear Seat Sacs, and even some Inboard Surf Sacs and an Enzo Sac (there’s only one of those, so get on it).  We’ve also got a whole slew of Tsunami Ballast Pumps that are deeply discounted.  These savings are first come-first served, so head over and take a look if you’re up for getting double the ballast for your dollar.

If you have any questions about what ballast might be best in your boat, feel free to contact us.

This seems to be a popular topic lately, both on the forums, and for our ballast experts on the phone, so we figured it would be beneficial to write a full guide on how to design a ballast system around a reversible impeller style ballast pump. As usual, there are multiple ways to accomplish the same goals, so this shouldn’t be taken as the definitive guide on ballast system installations, but rather a recommendation on how to install a fully functional system that operates correctly based on our years of experience. Feel free to deviate from these plans where you see fit, or contact us if you any questions.

With that out of the way, let’s move on to the good stuff!

The Basics
Impeller style pumps (like Jabsco’s Ballast Puppy) are unique because they can pump water in both directions, which means you can use one pump to both fill and drain the same ballast bag(s). Additionally, impeller type pumps act as a check valve when not running, preventing the flow of water into or out of the bag which simplifies the design of the system.

Design and Layout
In general, all ballast systems that make use of reversible pumps will have the following principles in common, although the specifics may vary from one installation to another depending on the applicable goals or constraints.

The system design we’ve outlined in this article does use one check valve fitting which allows the water being pumped out of the bag when draining to exit the boat above the water line. This is a popular option for many people because it results in a visual and audible indication of when the bag is draining, and when it’s empty. Alternatively, removing the check valve, wye fitting and attached thru-hull vent will result in a simpler and cheaper system that fills and drains through the thru-hull intake fitting.

Water Source
Regardless of the specifics of the system, you will need to find a source of raw water to use to fill. This can be a dedicated intake fitting installed specifically for the ballast system, or can make use of an existing drain plug fitting in the bilge using our available brass integration fittings. We DO NOT recommend using the engine’s raw water intake as the source of water for your ballast system. The risk of damage to the engine is not worth the small amount of convenience during the installation.

Pump
This system makes use of a reversible impeller type pump manufactured by Jabsco. Their Ballast Puppy pumps are incredibly popular in this industry, being used by Mastercraft, Nautique, Supra, Moomba, Centurion and others in their factory ballast system.

Plumbing
The specifics of your installation will depend on your particular boat, but the basics outlined here are generic regardless of the boat.

Immediately after the thru-hull intake fitting install a brass ball-valve as an emergency shut-off point to allow you to immediately stop the flow of water into the boat if something goes wrong.

If you choose to implement a system that drains above the water line, next install a check valve fitting to prevent water from draining back through the intake.

Next is Wye fitting to redirect the flow of water out the thru-hull vent fitting when draining.

Then comes the pump, and finally you can make your connection to the bag. Because reversible pumps fill and drain through the same bag connection, you only need two connections to the bag, one for filling and draining, and one for venting. We recommend using Fly High’s Flow-Rite Quick Release Connector system for all bag connections so that you can quickly and easily remove the ballast bags for cleaning, winterization or storage.

Both the drain and vent hoses are terminated with thru-hull vent fittings that match the factory style.

Here is a summary of the parts used in this single bag system, along with an approximate cost for a system of this type. Obviously the total cost will depend on which bag you choose, whether or not you implement the above water line drain, and a host of other factors. If the cost is of concern to you, contact us and we can help you locate ways to save some money.

Hopefully you found this article informative, and it helped to answer some of your questions regarding wakeboard ballast systems using reversible pumps. If you have any other questions, or would like help designing a system to meet our specific needs, please contact one of our ballast experts and we would be glad to assist.

We’re proud to announce the availability of Launch Pad’s line of Ballast Bags and Ballast Fittings.  We have had a lot of customers requesting Straight Line’s new ballast products, and with the addition of their LINK adapter fittings which make it possible to integrate sacs into almost any system, the versatile Launch Pad products are sure to be popular.

Launch Pad’s new line of adapters allows their LINK equipped ballast bags to be used in many new applications.  From integrated ballast systems, to factory add-ons, the 3/4″ threaded adapter and 1.1″ hose barb adapter allow for a multitude of different system configurations.

Contact us if you have any questions about how to use Launch Pad’s new ballast bags and ballast fittings in your boat.

Gear Up For Summer, Warm Weather and Flat Water Will Be Here Soon!

The weather is warming up, and that means it’s time to start thinking about getting the boat out again and enjoying time on the water with family and friends. If you’ve been contemplating adding ballast to your wakeboard boat for the last couple of seasons, it’s time to revisit those plans so you can be ready to hit the water.

We’re getting ready for longer days by making sure we have all of our products in stock and ready to ship out to you, so send an email or give us a call at (888) 338-6085 to get your wakeboard ballast questions answered.