Be Careful ...

[skeeter]

Jerry, I do not agree with you. Yes everyone has a right to be there, But! you are still responsible for your boat wakes. If you cause another boat to either swamp or capsize due to the size or proxsimity of your wakes, you can and will be cited. You are also responsible for any damage that your wakes cause such as dock damage.

Got a feeling there is just about to be a new set of rules and some new marshals in town, due to these wake boats. Rumor has it there is just about to be something done.

Something is just about to happen on this and we will see. Any boat taking on balast that is causing excess wakes,might just be completly put out of business in Missouri.

After reading Bill B's informative post about wake-boats taking on ballast and my confession of total ignorance of this fact I decided to do a little long overdue self-education about this matter.

Went to two Company's websites that manufacture Wake-boats and drilled down on the specifications they were advertising. One Company was bragging about on-board tanks and "bags" selectively placed in the bow and under the driver's area, amidships, that could add 1400 lbs. of ballast ! The other Company was tooting their horn about how their 24 footer could carry 17 passengers and still add 1800 lbs. of ballast. !

This does explain how these boats are specifically designed and intended to throw such enormous wakes far in excess of what a vessel that size would normally be expected to generate. The additional weight and selective placement of that weight turns a "planing" type hull design into a hybrid "displacement" style hull sitting much deeper in the water.

1 gallon of water weighs about 8.33 lbs. so if they add the full 1800 lbs of ballast they are introducing 216 gallons of water into internal tanks/bags on their boats. This water can be from Zebra mussel infested waters and there is no way for them to cleanse those internal tanks/bags if they trailer from one body of water to another so their boats are prime suspects in transferring invasive species.

Is this a stretch ?....well, maybe, but if those tanks/bags retain water, even in small amounts, guess what can survive ?

[Quillback]

After reading Bill B's informative post about wake-boats taking on ballast and my confession of total ignorance of this fact I decided to do a little long overdue self-education about this matter.

Went to two Company's websites that manufacture Wake-boats and drilled down on the specifications they were advertising. One Company was bragging about on-board tanks and "bags" selectively placed in the bow and under the driver's area, amidships, that could add 1400 lbs. of ballast ! The other Company was tooting their horn about how their 24 footer could carry 17 passengers and still add 1800 lbs. of ballast. !

This does explain how these boats are specifically designed and intended to throw such enormous wakes far in excess of what a vessel that size would normally be expected to generate. The additional weight and selective placement of that weight turns a "planing" type hull design into a hybrid "displacement" style hull sitting much deeper in the water.

1 gallon of water weighs about 8.33 lbs. so if they add the full 1800 lbs of ballast they are introducing 216 gallons of water into internal tanks/bags on their boats. This water can be from Zebra mussel infested waters and there is no way for them to cleanse those internal tanks/bags if they trailer from one body of water to another so their boats are prime suspects in transferring invasive species.

Is this a stretch ?....well, maybe, but if those tanks/bags retain water, even in small amounts, guess what can survive ?

Good question, It seems it would be foolish to put 1800 lb.s of water in your boat and then tow it to another lake. Do they have inboard pumps that they can fill these tanks/bags? Pump out mechanisms? Just asking because to regulate this we'd need a law that prohibits arriving at the lake with full ballast. If they're going to fill these ballast tanks it should be done on the lake, and then there should be a requirement to empty them at the same lake when you leave. And a big freaking fine if you don't follow the rules. Or a better law would just be to outlaw taking on ballast to generate a wake - but that probably would be tough to pass.

[GNSfishing]

Everyone should remember, when you say, "they should make a law..." you may not like that law. I've lived in several places where fisherman made requests about skiers/wakeboards, etc. Many of those lakes ended up with restrictions that affected fisherman too. Horsepower limitations, speed limits, whole sections of lakes off limits to certain activities, etc.

Try to remember, it's public. When something is public, everyone MUST get along or the lowest common denominator will win.

I recently heard some rule makers discussing damage to the docks by wakeboard boats. It was brought up by some of the wakers the amount of fishing gear that is wrapped around their lifts. A serious proposal involved no wakes and no fishing within 100 yards of any dock.

I know it's frustrating, but just be careful. Any time you say "they should make a law," you may not like that law and by threat of force from Water Patrol, you will live by it.

If we could get the water patrol on the lake in enough numbers and enforce the laws and rules we have now would help a bunch. I was on the lake Saturday evening and night fishing and there were boats pulling kids on tubes which came within less than the 100 ft distance from our boat, they were also running after sundown with no lights on. Also jet skis running after sundown. The most of these boats pulling tubes, skiers and wake board boats ignore everything else on the lake except their own fun and pleasure. I know that some of these boat operators see us fishing and but choose to ignore us and come close even if the lake is clear of other traffic. Also there are the ones that are so wrapped up in their pleasure and they just don't see us.

[fishinwrench]

Jerry, So they actually made it illegal to fish off of the docks? Or ypu can fish FROM the dock.....but not fish AROUND the dock?

Having a hard time wrapping my head around that one.

[Jerry Rapp]

sorry for the confusion. You can fish off docks, but if you are in a boat you can't be within 10 feet of it, nor can you cast within 10 feet of it. Assinine for sure, but that is the rule. Wouldn't that be great at LOZ? Lake Egypt is a power plant lake with development all around it. Obviously the dock owners trumped the fishermen. You know better than I, but I wonder what the vote would be if Ameren polled all the dock owners at LOZ?

[sholder02]

Good question, It seems it would be foolish to put 1800 lb.s of water in your boat and then tow it to another lake. Do they have inboard pumps that they can fill these tanks/bags? Pump out mechanisms? Just asking because to regulate this we'd need a law that prohibits arriving at the lake with full ballast. If they're going to fill these ballast tanks it should be done on the lake, and then there should be a requirement to empty them at the same lake when you leave. And a big freaking fine if you don't follow the rules. Or a better law would just be to outlaw taking on ballast to generate a wake - but that probably would be tough to pass.

Yeah, they've got pumps to fill and drain the ballasts. Nobody in there right mind would trailer their boats with the ballasts full. Most guys I know drain them as soon as they're done pulling the boarder(s). My folks have an "X Boat" as well as a bass boat and use both. I know it's hard when you have a bunch of drunks run over your line but try not to group all of the "X Boats" into the "completely ignorant of common courtesy towards fishermen."

[skeeter]

Sure didn't mean to imply the wake boats weren't emptying ballast tanks/bags before trailering, but my understanding of the zebra mussel is that it can survive with very little water for a long period of time, about 48 hours drying time is recommended for a supposedly dry surface like a boat trailer to avoid transfer. Don't know if those tanks/bags are gravity drained or pump drained but they surely can't be easily completely emptied and dried out.

As far as the idea of wake boater's common courtesy towards fishermen, right, their operators aren't all careless jerks but those big wakes caused by adding ballast do travel a long, long way.

[ktm3ten]

Again, be careful on rules. A recent discussion on a wakeboard site talked about Livewells as a way to spread invasive species. They had never considered their pump in/out ballast tanks...

[edwin]

I'm pretty familiar with the inboard world as I own two of them now. Both are designed to create the smallest wake possible with no onboard ballast system. As mentioned, the wake boats have ballast systems that are nothing more than huge, closed live wells. They pump in / out just like a bass boat...in fact, some even use the exact same Johnson pumps as my BassCat. Additionally, the wake boats have to deal with the same dry tank rules as all other boats when it comes to zebra mussels.

All the new regulations / laws in the world won't help if they can't / don't even enforce the ones on the books today.

[Donna G]

. In the end, there is one major difference - the wally pleasure boater doesn't know any better or even realize what they're doing.

If they don't know any better, should they be operating a boat? When we drive erratically and cut people off on the roads, I don't think law enforcement accepts the excuse we didn't know any better. I agree, a lot of boaters DON'T know any better, but how scary is that. Yikes.