Search the Community

This is the first surfing boat we've ever had. Before this we had a 1994 Malibu Echelon for slalom skiiing (which the MB is still great for btw), and we got the MB brand new in 2014. This is the first time we're trying to add aftermarket ballast, so we're new to all this and just bear with me! So I finally learned to surf without the rope, and I was using only 900 lbs of factory ballast. Now i'm researching and found out it's way easier when you have a bigger wake, wish I knew that before haha. So can someone help a girl out and explain exactly what type of ballast bags I should get, and where I should put them? A lot of places say to put it in the rear compartment near the engine, on one side, then others say to put it in the bow for a longer wave. Which is best? Do I do both? Should I have the dealership put them in/ consult me on this or is that unnecessary? Trying to be cost efficient. What ratio of factory ballast verse bag weight verse weight from people/gear did yall use? Trying not to sink the boat. I was looking at the ballast bags on https://www.wakemakers.com/wakeboard-ballast-bags?gclid=CIznlePQltQCFRiewAodOUMFWw is there a certain one yall have used for your MB and like? Are they easy to use/ could you fill up and drain quickly? Also, can someone explain exactly what play and plug is? Does my 2014 B52 21' have it? I saw that MB just added play and plug to their 2016 model, but on another thread on here someone said their 2014 has it. I understand that if we got ballast bags we would have to manually pump them to fill/drain, but with play n plug you hook the bags up and the boat does it for you....is that right? Also how necessary is it to get GSA plates, and what exactly do these do? We surf mainly in the summer, not year round, so if these are wildly expensive could we forgo them? We LOVE the MB and are excited to get a bigger, better wake. If you see in my picture, our wake right now is pitiful. Surfable, but difficult. I attached a picture that I found useful of where to put the bags, but it's not specific to B52 21 and it doesn't say how much weight I can have. The second picture is a screenshot from https://www.gosurfassist.com/boat-ballast-setup where it tells you only put 750s in the back and none in the front? I thought that was weird. Also it tells you to fill up "all the factory ballast", which would mean filling up both sides and from what I understand you only fill up one side? Again it tells you to put bags in both sides of rear which is weird to me. Any help much appreciated. Thanks!