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Old     (BCPMike0663)      Join Date: Apr 2010       12-05-2016, 12:38 PM Reply   
I am looking at X stars from these years as my next boat. I thought the ballast systems were the same and evidently I was wrong. All these boats are in different states so I am going off of descriptions.

First one had Hard Tanks in the back and had bags in the back on switches.

Second Boat has ballast in the back under the floor.(I did not know this was an option)

Looking for some info on the PWT add on. Can I do the ballast under the floor option and then add the PWT system? How well does it drain? Is pain in the rear or awesome? My boat will be on a lift all summer but I want to be able to drain and fill easily. I am sure I will mix some lead in there as well.

I have already decided on the 400HP engine.

Any info would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Mike
Old     (spencerwm)      Join Date: Feb 2009       12-05-2016, 3:46 PM Reply   
Mike,
I love that second generation X-Star. Such an iconic boat. The factory ballast system consisted of a KGB center tank and two "rear" tanks. The ballast tanks are actually forward and stretch from the front of the rear compartment forward under the seats. In total I think the system had a capacity of 850 lbs.

From 2003 until 2009 it was a popular option to add the Fly High Pro X Series Mastercraft X-Star Additional Ballast System. This consisted of two additional 720 lb. rear bags and two under seat 250 lb. bow bags for a little over 1440 lbs. of extra weight on top of the factory. The bags fit great but the installation was not my favorite. You would fill the factory then turn a valve in order to fill the auxiliary bags. This process was reversed to drain. I like to piggyback the front and rear bags in order to flip the switch once to fill the entire system. You can add ballast to any X-Star. What and how you add depends on how much weight you need and how long you want to wait. The rest is just about money.

In 2007 the ballast timers could not be reprogrammed to go past 6 minutes. In 2008 the Jabsco AI Pump Timer Module (MasterCraft)
was added and allowed the system to be run up to 20 minutes once programmed to do so. To be honest these timers are a huge pain from any of these boats. There is a guy that owns WakeBlaster.com that will reprogram them for you. He doesn't charge much and the benefits are amazing.

The higher output engine will be awesome and when coupled with the correct prop will get you rocking fast even when fully loaded. I would look at either the ACME 2195 or OJ 845. Sounds like you want a lot of low end and these props will deliver quite a punch. If you are worried about fuel economy don't buy this boat and definitely don't add any ballast.

Any year you go with will be awesome. My favorite setup is 700 in each rear locker, the bow bags, 400 in the walk way and another 400 in front of the back seat. Hands down the best way to get the X-Star to that "Pro Tour" type wake.

If you think you are going to wakesurf get the WaveControl MasterCraft X-Star Surf System. You will run similar ballast to wakeboarding but will probably not need the weight in the cabin of the boat. Should be a pretty rad way to spend some time below 12 MPH.

Thanks,
Spencer - WakeMakers.com
Old     (BCPMike0663)      Join Date: Apr 2010       12-06-2016, 7:24 AM Reply   
Spencer,
Thanks for info. I need a good amount of weight. We have 1200 pounds of lead in my 2002 X-2, 700 pound sacs in each side compartment and a 500 pound sac in the bow. My wife and I still ride at a relatively high level but we have a couple of young children now so I need the boat to be more family friendly (right now the X-2 has lead and Sacs all over the place and is just plain too small). My goal is to have lead in the boat but try and hide all the weight and make it as easy as possible to drain and fill. Right now I have to manually drain all sacs besides the one in the center on the X-2. I had the ballast tanks ripped out because they were too small. I am hoping to get away from this set up with the new boat.
Old     (hrwboarder)      Join Date: Feb 2010       12-08-2016, 10:11 AM Reply   
Hi Mike,

Spencer had a lot of good input there and I would totally agree with his weighting although I don't normally run the 400 in the walkway unless I have people in the rear of the boat. We have an '08 40th Anniversary x-star and I wanted to just throw in one option for plumbing the bags.

You can always reprogram the timers and that's a good option. We actually plumbed the overflow off of the port and starboard "rear" tanks to fill the 750# bags in the rear and then overflow. For the fronts we put a bag under each side seat in the bow with a T-fitting and valve so that each side could be isolated. To run the pumps we did away with the timers (one wasn't working anyway, story for another day!) and just bought a relay box on ebay that actually fits in where the timers normally go. Wired the relays straight to the switches on the dash and it was ready to go. No more filling each bag and spending so much time on that!

I was a littler concerned about this completely draining but so far it's done quite well. If you want every drop out of the rear you may have to pick the bag up and give it a little gravity help but otherwise they drain well. We just hit each pump and make sure the water's completely out before trailering home.

Hope this helps!

Last edited by hrwboarder; 12-08-2016 at 10:13 AM. Reason: can't spell
Old     (BCPMike0663)      Join Date: Apr 2010       12-08-2016, 3:55 PM Reply   
What do you think time to fill and drain is? Thanks, Mike
Old     (Readyaimfire)      Join Date: Jun 2012       12-08-2016, 4:00 PM Reply   
+1 for the relays, the timers are a pain even when they are reprogrammed.
Old     (hrwboarder)      Join Date: Feb 2010       12-09-2016, 8:36 AM Reply   
PS on the timer issue.. If they're not reprogrammed to time correctly you can only run about a 10 second "bump" after the computer thinks the ballast is completely full. So you can't run a full timer cycle, turn them off, then run a cycle again which is annoying.

Time to fill and drain - I can't put a hard number on it although I've been meaning to actually check. Definitely on the range of 10 minutes compared to 2-3 but fast enough I can get them started and then start putting on my board and all. Draining maybe a little more time than filling.
Old     (cbarguy1)      Join Date: Dec 2012       01-09-2017, 2:11 PM Reply   
Spencer is the man. He's helped me a lot with my setups in the past. I've got a 2008 and the stock ballast is KGB 500 and two side tanks are 250 each for a total of 1000. With the timers set to max I can fill a 250 side tank and a 1000 lb fat sack so it's not an issue.

For my setup I've got a 750 in the locker in front of the spotter seat, a 750 in the starboard rear locker and an 1100 in the port rear locker. I also have about 500 lb of steel I can move around. For wakeboard I fill all the hard tanks and the two 750s. Since they are on opposite sides of the boat it rides level. The steel is opposite the 750 bags so that helps to stabilize it. My goal was to get everything out of sight, I can't stand having bags on the floor.

For surf I fill all hard tanks the port front 750 and the port rear 1100. Depending on load I may partially fill the starboard 750 also. I fill everything using the stock pumps and overflow off the hard tanks. Flow is managed using manual Y valves. Its old school but reliable and fill time isn't too bad. I can fill 1000 lbs in around 10 min give or take.

These old stars are so-so for surfing but better than a lot of people believe. I just got a "Nauti-Curl wake shaper to help clean up the wave. Nice unit and good price ($195). Even without it the port surf wave is tall and has a lot of push. But its short so tricks are limited. I'm hoping the wake surf shaper helps lengthen the wave. But I can free surf it for miles its got so much push. Obviously we surf regular. If you ride goody you are SOL. Its very hard to get a good starboard surf wave though some say they've done it.

As for the wakeboard wake, I'm sure you already know its good. Have fun shopping and let us know what you do.

Last edited by cbarguy1; 01-09-2017 at 2:20 PM.
Old     (BCPMike0663)      Join Date: Apr 2010       01-09-2017, 4:45 PM Reply   
Looking at a 2009 right now. Hoping to make a deal but it is out of state. My goal is super solid wage with all weight out of site. I don't want to have to fill and unfill using pumps. I am not opposed to lead in the boat but I want I don't want the wake to be monsterous when just cruising the lake.
Old     (Bret)      Join Date: Nov 2013 Location: Santa Rosa, CA       01-09-2017, 5:21 PM Reply   
mike on the x star just do stock ballast plus this: http://www.wakemakers.com/fly-high-m...st-system.html

and this: http://www.wakemakers.com/fly-high-m...rough-sac.html

Last edited by Bret; 01-09-2017 at 5:26 PM. Reason: make it better
Old     (beg4wake)      Join Date: Aug 2012       01-09-2017, 7:20 PM Reply   
I used to have an 08 X and the wakeboard wake was phenomenal! Surf wake was sub par and goofy side surf wake was nearly non existent! But if you're not concerned with surfing, the 2nd Gen XStar is an amazing boat. I had the factory ballast plus the PWT ballast added and would still run another 400 in the walkway...but that put out an amazing wake! I also actually had the 4 PWT bags plumbed in with each their own ballast pump (7 total pumps in all). Had the switches mounted under the dash. IMO, unless you don't mind sitting around for 10-15 mins, this is the only way to go! Granted, it isn't a cheap option and you have to add another through hull valve for those extra pumps. I would also recommend an upgraded prop if you plan on pushing all of that fully loaded, as well as nothing less than the 6.0 motor. Good luck shopping!

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