Worried about fat sacs

I have a 1979 Ski Nautique that I am using for wakeboarding. I have noticed a significant diffrence when I have an extra buddy on the boat sitting on one of the sides.
When I had bought the boat I knew I wanted to weight the back with fat sacs or some weight to get a decent wake.
I just bought a fat seat, and here is what I am worried about:

An old timer down the street was giving me caution that too much weight, if I go to a sudden stop could cause the wave to overtake the boat and flood it ... possibly sending it to the bottom.

Does anybody know the max limit in weight to a 1979 Ski Nautique, my tags are worn out. Any advice on how much weight I should add on, if I had driver and a spotter ?

Advice would be greatly appreciated !

You say you can't get a decent wake with a '79 without ballast?

My obeservation is 95% of the people out there have too much wake and too little technique. Perhaps you're in the the 5%.

You should be able to add the equivelent weight of passenegers in their locations, 3*150# in the rear, 6 @ 150 total max, or whatever your USCG plate says.

Remember your skier (ahem, boarder) counts as a passenger.

I had a '77 Skier and we used to 'sac it out pretty good. You definately should be worried about taking water over the stern. Just like previously said, give it a little throttle as the wake begins to creep up the back and you should be okay.

I have a 76 ski nautique, and I regularly use a 600 pound fat sack just ahead of the rear seat, and it makes a really great wake, however that said, I have added 3 bigger guys sitting in the rear seat, and I was afraid of sinking it. The water was only about 2 inches from the top in the back, so any sudden turns, or stopping could cause you to flood it. You have to remember, that these are a really small boat, when compared to even the "2001" model and especially these new boats, which is really what the fat sacks are marketed for, we have a really narow beam, so we can't displace to much water before we sink. Now I am not trying to discourage you, but I would sugest moderation first. Remember This is not a "world class" wakeboard boat, so you can never hope for that huge of a wake. That is why those boats are 23'+ long and weigh over 3000 pounds.

When we sac'd our '77 skier out, we had a 500lb all the way in the back where the seat goes...250lb sac between the drivers and passenger seat...and 250lb between the rear sac and the engine cover. It would definately get close to coming over the back, but if you payed attention when driving and slowing down, you could prevent it from happening every time. This was with two people riding in the boat and one boarder. The wake was pretty huge.

Check out my old classified thread for pics of the wake:

wakepics

I also have an 80 nautique and I would suggest that a Fat seat is a bad idea. The boat is smaller beam than most boats and doesn't need to have much weight to have an awesome wake. Thinner boat = diggs deeper into the water with smaller amount of weight when compared to bigger boats. I usually put about 500lbs or less in the back and it has a wake that throws a huge kicker. It is so steep due to the narrowness of the boat and if you stay stiff through the wake it throws you up amazing than any other wake I have ever tried. It is actually harder to ride, but more fun. This year I am going to plumb another 250 sac infront of the drivers seat which is supposedly going to ad volume to the wake instead of being such a kicker. This will hopefully help some of the less tallented people that I ride with and make the wake more predictable for some of the bigger tricks. I think fat seat is around 1100 lbs which is crazy and your boat will point out of the water like a boner. It will also kill some of your gasoline. Just make sure you have a tower etc. and with a little bit of weight you can do whatever you want. There is no glory making your boat look like a boner when your on the lake.

Billgatesceo:

You just made my day. I have a picture of my 75 Tique idling up the lake as my computer desktop wallpaper. I followed your link to the video sound clip of your boat. Its the sweetest music around - that's half the reason I own an inboard. Anyway I downloaded it and now whenever I need a boost, I go to my desk top and "start 'er up"