All that ballast and effect on engine/trans?

[Whisky]

Hello TT Faithful,

Been looking for a '96 or '97 205 and am getting closer to pulling the trigger on a few I have looked at. Big question I have is the amount or extent of damage or premature wear and use on engines and transmissions with all of the extra weight/ballast these boats are pushing around. One guy has is boat loaded down with a ton of ballast not including the weight of people, gear, gas, etc. Seems like these engines are enduring a great amount of extra load and that a 700 hour boat might actually be wore out.

Looking forward to your informative comments and thoughts.

Whisky

[willyt]

Ran about 2,300 lbs in my old X2. Sold it last year.

i bought it with 740ish hours, put 220 on her myself. Ran into the new owners at masterbash norris this summer, she had 1200 and was still rocking.

I wouldn't worry

[Jerseydave]

I think the most important factor would be maintenance. Also did they change out the prop from a slalom (stock) prop to more of a wakeboard prop? Bogging the engine down with a lot of ballast at lower RPM's is not healthy for any engine.

Compression test it for sure. Check service records if there are any. Check for water in oil and/or in trans fluid.

How much weight did they run in it? Anything over say 2000 lbs. would be a lot in that hull.
Is it a powerslot?

[Whisky]

Appears that the two boats I am looking at have three 750 lb fat sacs. Have the LT-1 and four blade prop. Checking on what transmissions they have.

[swatguy]

I have around 1100 hours on my boat 2000 X Star. Never a hiccup.

I think the tranny abuse comes more from how tou drive it. I never go from neutral to go. I have seen people who do. It's always a gradual progression. I can see if you go from zero to full boar that instant load stressing everything


*disclaimer* I am no scientific data to prove or disprove the above statement nor am I a boat mechanic. Just something I think makes sense to me

[agarabaghi]

1600 hours on 2006 X1 with almost 4k in ballast. No major issues =D