SA350 (2013) New to me...Question on Ballast
 

Hello Everyone,

I searched the forum and read the owners manual but can't really figure out how the 900lbs subfloor ballast system functions. My boat has the 900lbs of subfloor liquid lead ballast along with the additional flex system bagged ballast.

I have three ballast switches or options on the screen for Port, Middle & Starboard. But, there is no distinction for liquid lead/subfloor or the bags. My guess is that if I need 50% ballast the subfloor fills and then it auto switches to the bags?

Can you guys help me understand how this functions? Everything seems to be working fine, the wake is clean and great. I just need to better understand how the boat works.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Roustabout
NC

I would put money on, That is always fills the subfloor ballast first then overflows into the bags.

What part of NC are you in??

Jon is correct they fill the subfloor then the additional bags are piggybacked off that. 50% full generally will not get water into the rear compartment bags. You can adjust the timers too if you want to change what 50% full means as well but that's more than I personally would get into messing with the factory settings. Also drain and fill when the engine is running. I've had issues when trying to fill or drain with the motor off and the voltage can drop enough to freak out the system and a hard restart with the battery switch was needed to get everything working as designed. Filling while faster than idle speed doesn't work too good either and at a certain speed the pumps will stop filling.

Also the three switches to the right of the driver will only run the pump for 1 minute. So better to fill and drain off the touchscreen. The manual switches are backup. And if we ve been filling and draining a bunch during the day as we idle in to the dock at the end of the day I usually turn the manual switches to drain just to ensure they are empty. They will show the minute countdown on the screen and you can hear when they are sucking air too. Good luck its a great boat, take some getting used to with so many parameters to mess with but once you program everything in with the rider profiles its really a one touch system for whatever you want to do.

Great info...very much appreciate it Jon and Chilidog (great screen name btw).

Jon, I am in Greensboro and trailer out to Belews. I am on the dry stack wait list though at the Marina. I plan to make it down to Norman and maybe up to Smith Mountain as well. May enter my son into the Fire in the Core Grom. Where are you? We are looking for other riders that can help up with some training - particularly with my son (11).

Chilidog, yeah, love the boat so far. Really bought it for the kids to wakeboard. Haven't used the surf system other than to test it out. It seems perfect for where we are as a family. So far, the perfect wake for my son is no ballast and it's clean on both sides at 17.5 mph. I just got around to setting up the driver profiles, shallow water alarms, etc. I tend to refrain from taxing the batteries very much. Heck, I really don't even like running the stereo in the cove but I am just goofy like that. When the kids turn the heater on I really worry about it. Good notes on pumps/timers and switches vs' touchscreen. No desire to mess with the timers. My learning curve is steep enough already!

Appreciate the help.
Roust/Steven

I live just south of Winston but ride Belews some, I used to go there all the time. I mainly ride Oak Hollow in High Point Thursday nights and we have a little place at Badin lake now so I spend a lot time there.

I forget about Oak Hollow. You like it there? Is there something special happening on Thursday nights? Maybe I should come out there. I love Belews during the week but man I can't take it on the weekends. My daughter was almost run over this past Saturday by some guy focused on his rider vs' driving the boat. Very close call that still haunts me. A place at Badin would be awesome. Abit of a drive for me though. What are you in? We are in a red/black SA.

Oak Hollow is my special honey hole. It’s owned by the city so you have to pay to put in each time. BUT it usually just you and a bunch of fishermen. Normal days they shut the gate at 7:45 (the time changes during the year).

On Thursday they let the fishermen stay out until 10, so during the summer you can ride until dark.

I’m in a black and Carolina Panther Blue Supra 24v. I would invite you out on mine but my Perfectpass just crapped out so I have to replace it with all GPS unit.

Send me a PM and will get together, it’s usually me my wife and our 2 year old. I know a few people around that are really good riders. I’m not one of them Lol