Thread: Adding weight to bow of boat

Ok guys, torn between buying a new boat or doing some work to mine... I'm looking to weigh down the bow of my boat while rigging, but want to be able to offload the weight to get back on plane, so no easy solutions for me.... I know some of the hardcore tournament guys pump their rigs full of water, but that's not the route I would ideally like to go. Other than lead or sand bags, anybody have any good ideas on adding weight with water that doesn't require flooding my boat? I've looked at the wakeboard ballast bags, but not real sure how easy they are to empty.

The reason it needs to be removable is to get the boat on plane. I just moved all batteries to rear of boat, and that helped it out a good bit, but adding more weight to the front will put me right back where I was before. Maybe I need to just move all batteries to the front and spring for a 150

How bout a plastic tank plumbed with a pump


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What's the purpose of weighting down the front of the boat?

Originally Posted by FurFlyin

What's the purpose of weighting down the front of the boat?

Cut down on bounce when fishing in high winds


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Originally Posted by MO' MONEY

Cut down on bounce when fishing in high winds


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I have still got rod bounce in my 20.5' glass boat. Its not a Ranger but it's a 3400lb rig plus all the other stuff and my big butt.
Keep it simple seems to come to mind in this situation...

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can't you trim motor to light front of boat while getting on plane

Originally Posted by Bassing_53

can't you trim motor to light front of boat while getting on plane

20ft boat with a 115, almost underpowered.


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Most boats plane out a little better with some weight up front. Helps them lay down quicker.

My 190 tracker planes out fine with 150# of sand on the bow and my batteries in center of boat. 90hp. But the 150 wasn’t near enough weight to hold that tracker down. I tried strapping down my 150qt cooler in place of my boat seats and rigging off of it but the butt and back didn’t care much for that. 150qt of water would weigh over 300lbs if you don’t mind mounting some seats to a nice cooler. Only tested that one Time but I believe not being able to put my legs and feet back under me would wear on a feller too??? Never no though.

I used to have a 20' Stratos with a 225 hp outboard. I also wanted more weight in the front. I ended up putting a container in the foremost compartment with about 200lbs of logging chain. I had plenty of power with the 225 so getting on plane wasn't an issue.


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