Securing swim deck ballast bag

[flycrg]

Well today was a ton of fun and sucked. My swim deck ballast bag for my 242 ls is now resting on the bottom of the lake. I had two ropes through the top handles. I had 1 rope from one rear cleat through the top handles to the other and 1 from the tower through the handles and back to the same part of the tower to keep it from rolling. At some point the handles broke and the bag went in the water and quickly sank under the surface. Diving in we couldn't find the bag.

So the point of the post is how do you guys secure your swing deck ballast bag? I've already got another bag on order and I'd rather not spend another $400+ on another bag.

 

[J-RAD]

Here's a step by step illustration on the method I use on my AR240. Each step is a different color. The rope passes thru each set of handles between the side cleat and the center tow point. The handles themselves have no tension on them and only act as a guide. It's very secure.

 

[sunbyrned]

I’m ordering the same bag as illustrated above because I have a difficult time keeping my round bag from falling in the lake. However, my bag floats. I wonder if yours does too and you just couldn’t find it.(?) Why would one float and not the other? Maybe keep an eye out for it today.

 

[BigAbe75]

Biggest thing in my mind is to make sure you are filling it full. The sides of the bag should be hard. If you have any extra room in the bag, it will slosh around. I really think that the bag full would sit there without moving without any ropes at all for the most part.

As @J-RAD said, go through the handles... but they are just guides to keep the rope from sliding up/down. Shouldn’t actually be pulling on the handles.

 

[jcyamahariders wife]

@flycrg Was your bag even filled all the way ? That is the #1 mistake I see in almost every surf video. People are not filling the bag till it swells. Honestly our ropes are only guides while filling and do not hold the bag on the transom. Our ropes are not tight and we do not use the handles to support the bag.

 

[marcham]

Our setup...

2 of the low profile eyes cane with the Yamaha wakesurf kit, the rest I ordered on Amazon.... they were labelled as a cooler tie down kit.

 

[InmyElement]

@flycrg Was your bag even filled all the way ? That is the #1 mistake I see in almost every surf video. People are not filling the bag till it swells. Honestly our ropes are only guides while filling and do not hold the bag on the transom. Our ropes are not tight and we do not use the handles to support the bag.


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Thanks for the pictures...Do you fill from the bottom or top?

 

[jcyamahariders wife]

When we use one pump we fill from the top. But sometimes we use 2 pumps. One over the side and our ballast pump mod.

 

[biffdotorg]

We have had great luck filling our bag with air first to position it. And then I have two matching grey ratchet straps that go through the spots shown. While filling from the top, we have the air purge plugs open or even pulled out at times to allow air out, but keep the shape and the straps in place.

And honestly, I agree with those above. When that thing is filled full, it does not slosh or move at all. I would not be able to push it off the swimdeck. It is important to have the bag designed for your boat as well. I'm pretty sure the bag for the 24' boats is bigger than the other boats and may sit in the seat further. I actually worried about crushing my speaker grill. But I slid it over just a bit so it puts little to no pressure on the grill.

 

[jcyamahariders wife]

 

[jcyamaharider]

Like @biffdotorg we always fill our bag with air first to position and tie down. Fill with water letting the bag vent and it sits solid the entire time surfing.

 

[biffdotorg]

We have an AR210 with one of those bags in the pole building. I should fill that with air and put it on our 242 swimdeck to see. But my guess is if someone used the 21' bag on a 24, the weight balance would allow that thing to roll off the platform easily. Could it have been possible that they bought the wrong bag?

FLYCRG, did you buy your bag new or used? Many have bought their bag used, and possibly didn't look at the model. And just "the one designed for a yamaha"

 

[jcyamaharider]

The drop from the 2 platforms for the 21ft bag is 1.5" more then the 24ft bag. I don't think that would be enough to make a huge difference.

 

[biffdotorg]

The drop from the 2 platforms for the 21ft bag is 1.5" more then the 24ft bag. I don't think that would be enough to make a huge difference.

Ahh, I was thinking it was the depth of the bag back in the seat was deeper on the 24 bag. So if you put a 21 on there it would put more weight out over the step and less on the seat. Thanks for the clarificaiton.

 

[jcyamaharider]

Ahh, I was thinking it was the depth of the bag back in the seat was deeper on the 24 bag. So if you put a 21 on there it would put more weight out over the step and less on the seat. Thanks for the clarificaiton.

The bag depth is different by 2", so still not a huge difference.

 

[anmut]

I did the same thing last Father's Day of 2020. Hadn't filled the bag all the way, it sloshed, and fell into the water. Lucky I was surfing when it happened and was able to not drag it behind the boat and tear off the handles. I had to pump the bag out of water while it was in the water. 700+ lbs of water and Newtons laws of motion are a b*tch.

As everyone else says, fill it to bulge. I use the same heavy duty dock ropes for securing the bag. Go from middle "tube rope connection" point to cleat through the lower handles, then from cleat up and back over top bag handles, then back to where I started. A couple double knots and she's good to go. Bulging the bag is key though!

 

[flycrg]

I’m ordering the same bag as illustrated above because I have a difficult time keeping my round bag from falling in the lake. However, my bag floats. I wonder if yours does too and you just couldn’t find it.(?) Why would one float and not the other? Maybe keep an eye out for it today.

That was my hope since once its in the water, its roughly the same weight +/bag and air weight. We stopped within 5 seconds of it dropping off on a still lake and searched for 30 minutes in 10 feet of water. Came up empty handed.

 

[flycrg]

Here's a step by step illustration on the method I use on my AR240. Each step is a different color. The rope passes thru each set of handles between the side cleat and the center tow point. The handles themselves have no tension on them and only act as a guide. It's very secure.

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That's similar to how I had them, except went around from cleat to cleat instead off to the tow point.

 

[flycrg]

@flycrg Was your bag even filled all the way ? That is the #1 mistake I see in almost every surf video. People are not filling the bag till it swells. Honestly our ropes are only guides while filling and do not hold the bag on the transom. Our ropes are not tight and we do not use the handles to support the bag.


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I'm willing to say it was filled as much as the pump would fill it. Filled it from the top with the top vent cracked open. Then filled it until water was coming out, massaged the remaining air out of the vent, closed the vent and filled it until water stopped flowing through the hose.

In hindsight and trying to figure out what went wrong and reconstructing the events of the day, I've got a theory. I didn't blow up the bag with air first as we repositioned from surfing regular to goofy in order to try and save some time. I think this may have left it in a non ideal spot that was more prone to shifting, possibly hanging off the swim beck some. Then when the bag shifted, it may have put stress on the handles. Once one of them broke, the rest went right away and away it went.

So corrective action for the future will be:
* Always air fill first for placement
* Ensure bag if fully filled
* Rope placement similar to what several of you guys posted
* Check placement, rope tension, fill at rider changes,
* If bag has shifted or rope tension increased, drain and refill.
* Add buoy with appropriate length of line for recovery if it falls off again

 

[flycrg]

Like @biffdotorg we always fill our bag with air first to position and tie down. Fill with water letting the bag vent and it sits solid the entire time surfing.

This might be the root cause. We filled with air for the regular riders, then to shift to the better (goofy) side just drained it, slid it and then filled from there. We didn't blow it up with air on that side and it could have left it in a bad spot